Welcome to PEZZO (pay-t-zoh)! Here at Pezzo, we carefully select the freshest ingredients available and prepare all our pizzas and menu offerings on a daily basis, Pezzo per Pezzo (piece by piece). We pride ourselves on being a “from-scratch kitchen” – picking from locally grown and/or organic producers when and if possible. Our philosophy is that our menu offerings should be prepared and served just as if they were hand-selected and privately served in your very own home. From carefully cultivating our fresh house-made mozzarella, to creating our specially formulated dough, to using the best-in-class tomatoes for our perfectly seasoned sauces . . . it is our mission to produce an assortment of delectable fare that reveal our careful attention to quality and detail. From our table to yours, we truly hope you enjoy the flavors and experience that have been thoughtfully and meticulously made, with you especially in mind.
Pezzo’s specialty is our coal-fired and deep-dish pizzas . . .
Special attention is taken to artfully prepare our coal-fired artisanal pizzas. Each pizza artist meticulously arranges the toppings, then each pie is hand-turned in our natural coal-fired burning ovens, to produce a picture-perfect pizza with just the right amount of char.
Our Chicago Deep Dish Pizza’s are truly authentic to the originality of the gold-standard of Chicago-Style Deep-Dish pizza. Our distinctive deep-dish pizza dough is prepared fresh daily, precisely formulated and cooked to produce a delightful crispy crust on the outside, with a slight chewiness on the inside, that has a light buttery flavor. This is sure to satisfy your palate! Together with our specially house-made tomato sauce and rich mozzarella cheese that is lavishly layered beneath the tomatoey surface, we fully believe that you will fall in love with our deep-dish pizza.
While we are most known for our exceptional pizza’s, we also invite you to try our other incredible house-made taste-satisfying options.
Our Inspiration
Pizza was originally introduced to America beginning in the late 19th century, with the expanding population of Italian Immigrants. Specifically, its’ introduction happened in 1897 in New York, when a gentleman by the name of Gennaro Lombardi, an Italian immigrant, opened a local grocery store called Lombardi’s. In an attempt to satisfy his customers, he began offering slices of pizza to his patrons as they patiently waited in line at his grocery store. Gennaro’s version of “pizza” consisted of a touch of tomato sauce, lightly layered on top of dough, with a light dusting of Romano cheese on top, which was then cooked to perfection. These particular pizzas became so well known that Gennaro Lombardi decided to open Lombardi’s as a restaurant – serving pizza. To this day, Lombardi’s restaurant is considered by many to be the very first “pizzeria” in the United States.
America’s adoption of pizza as a favorite food quickly grew and resulted in the development of differences from the original Neapolitan pizza. Along with the different cheese and flour used in a Neapolitan pizza, one of the other largest differences was the heat source used to cook the pizzas. Given the abundance of coal in the 19th century, and its’ use as a major heat source, coal began being used as the primary source of heat for cooking, such that coal began replacing wood altogether. Today, for many pizza connoisseurs, coal-fired pizzas are still considered to produce the very best pizza.
Pezzo therefore considers our own pursuit of the perfect pizza, as a tribute to all those who have made pizza what it is today. Pizzeria Pezzo’s menu is steeped in age-old traditions, cooking methods, as well as the best quality ingredients possible. With our unique ambiance, use of finest ingredients, made-from-scratch daily offerings, and best-in-class guest service, we hope that your dining experience with us is truly amazing!