Chicago Pizza for Milwaukee

Rudy Malnati Jr. is bringing his family’s beloved Chicago pizza to downtown Milwaukee. Last Thursday, Malnati and MSOE officially announced the opening of Pizano’s Pizza & Pasta. The restaurant will be located at 1150 N. Water St. on the first floor of MSOE’s Tower Apartments and is scheduled to open in late spring. The building, which we reported on last week, has been under construction since 2007. Pizano’s dining room, positioned next to Juneau Ave., will be large enough to seat 260 people and there will be a banquet hall which will hold 100 guests. They also have plans to build a full bar alongside Water St. that will be separated from the dining room by a glass wall.

Malnati is part of a rich history of Italian food culture in Chicago. His father Rudy Malnati Sr. actually created “Deep Dish Pizza” back in 1943 with the opening of Pizzeria Uno and his famous brother Lou Malnati brought their pizza to the Chicagoland suburbs in the early 1970’s. Rudy Malnati Jr. continued the traditions of his family when he opened the first Pizano’s in 1991 and since then his restaurant has been nationally recognized. The Today Show has featured Pizano’s as one of Chicago’s best pizza places and they were named among the nation’s top by USA Today.

“I am excited to bring my family recipes and Italian traditions to Milwaukee for the first time. Our first Wisconsin location will feature our famous gourmet deep dish pizzas, our award-winning thin crust pizzas and other signature menu items,” said Malnati in his press release.

Deep dish pizzas on the menu will include the Vegetarian Special with basil, fresh garlic and sliced tomatoes and the ‘Hey Hey’ Jack Brickhouse Special with sausage and mushroom. (Jack Brickhouse? It’s fine for Chicago to name a pizza after a Cubs announcer but how about changing it to Bob Uecker for this city?)

The restaurant will have nine inch thin-crust gluten-free pizzas and offer slices to-go. The menu will also include such home-made pastas as four-cheese tortellini, angle hair and gnocchi, and chicken marsala and chicken cacciatore.

Indulgence Chocolatiers will open its third shop, as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, at 6538 W. North Ave. in Wauwatosa. Owner Julie Waterman opened her first place at 4525 N. Oakland Ave., Shorewood, in November 2012 and in August 2013 opened a storefront at 211 S. 2nd St. in Walkers Point, where customers can sample chocolates matched with wine, beer and cheese at the pairing bar.

The new Tosa location will also sell scoops of Purple Door Ice Cream; Purple Door is also a local company and is also located in Walker’s Point. Indulgence’s latest shop will sell its full line of chocolates and will have seating both indoors and out for guests ordering ice cream.

Now Closing:

The City Market Café & Bakehouse owners Julie Hollingsworth and Jeff Swanson closed their North Ave. cafe in Wauwatosa last Friday. The decision was made in an effort to focus on their other Tosa location on Watertown Plank Rd. Hollingsworth and Swanson first opened City Market in Shorewood in 1997. They also operate a City Market in Whitefish Bay. Ironically, City Market, despite its name, has no cafe located in the city.