UPTOWN — From an industrial kitchen in Logan Sq., Robert Maleski introduced his aspiration enterprise all through the pandemic and found early accomplishment.
Now, Milly’s Pizza In The Pan is opening a sit-down and takeout restaurant in Uptown. Milly’s will open Feb. 15 at 1005 W. Argyle St., Maleski said.
Maleski opened Milly’s right after being laid off from his server task throughout the early times of the pandemic. He used the chance to realize a very long-held aim of setting up a pizza company.
Maleski couldn’t open the sit-down joint he wanted — so he went an significantly well-known route and, in August 2020, opened in a ghost kitchen area in Logan Square, presenting delivery and pickup.
Milly’s choose on pan pizza — impressed by iconic Chicago pizza maker Burt Katz — was a hit from approximately the commence. As a a single-gentleman operation, Maleski offered out just about nightly in the early times, he reported. The business enterprise designed the Chicago Tribune’s 25 most effective pizzas list in 2020, just months right after opening.
With the small business on sound footing, it was the appropriate time to make the jump to a storefront, Maleski reported.
“Originally, it was my notion to open up a brick-and-mortar, and we identified a spot in Evanston,” Maleski reported. “We just didn’t have the resources. … It created sense to test it now.”
Related: Logan Square’s New Pan Pizza Shipping Is A 1-Male Procedure — And It is Bought Out Each and every Working day
In Uptown, Milly’s will continue on to present delivery and takeout, but it will also have a dining place for about 20 people today, Maleski explained.
Moving to a storefront spot can help Maleski obtain his aspiration of owning a community pizza area. It also aids clients get the pizza in its excellent placing.
“I want people today to get their pizza refreshing,” Maleski explained.
Milly’s is named right after Maleski’s grandmother, Emily — she went by Milly — who inspired him to get into cooking. But Katz, the late founder of Burt’s Area in suburban Morton Grove and unique proprietor of Pequod’s Pizza in Lincoln Park, is the inspiration at the rear of the merchandise.
Following a go to to Burt’s a several years in the past, Maleski was an immediate lover of Katz’s legendary model of pan pizza. That led to him shelling out months seeking to make his individual model, operating on recipes in the course of and after shifts as a server at Seasons 52 cafe in Schaumburg.
Maleski was furloughed from that position in March 2020. After settling on a recipe for his pizza, he launched Milly’s a couple of months later.
In going to Uptown, Milly’s will be just one of a number of spots in the Asia on Argyle district that is not a Southeastern Asian organization.
Maleski mentioned that originally gave him pause. But soon after checking with the regional chamber, Maleski was reassured the location could do the job and provide neighbors excess meals selections, he claimed.
Don Pablo’s Kitchen area, which specializes in empanadas, is opening next door to Milly’s, supplying Maleski further reassurance about the place, he claimed.
“They felt the local community was in need of a further food items alternative,” he stated.
With the Uptown restaurant, Maleski hopes to take Milly’s to the future stage and achieve a longstanding aspiration.
“I’m stunned at the success, to be trustworthy,” he claimed. “It’s a aspiration.”
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