Where to enjoy a local pie for National Pizza Month
Chances are you’ve been celebrating a food holiday and didn’t even know it.
October is National Pizza Month, and since we’re a little more than halfway through it, odds are good that you’ve eaten some pizza already. And you’ll probably have it again before the month is over, since Halloween is one of the five biggest pizza sales days of the year.
According to pizza.com, which you would think would be the authority on such matters, about three billion pizzas are sold annually in the U.S. and the average American eats 40 pizzas a year.
The Chicago area is a mecca for pizza, having birthed national chains like Lou Malnati’s and Giordano’s. But there’s plenty of good, local pizza shops in the suburbs. Here are some well-loved local spots where you can celebrate National Pizza Month properly.
Bar Salotto
1421 N. Rand Road, Arlington Heights, (224) 857-8159, barsalotto.com/
Voted best new restaurant in the 2024 Daily Herald Readers’ Choice Awards, Bar Salotto bills itself as a boutique pizza bar and has an intriguing list of pies including the fig & pig, with mozzarella, fig jam, whipped ricotta, prosciutto and arugula, and the namesake salotto pizza, with mozzarella, potato, white onion, rosemary, olive oil and an Asiago crust.
DoughDaddy’s Pizza
649 N. Cass Ave., Westmont, (630) 828-2113, doughdaddys.net/
DoughDaddy’s was the highest ranking suburban pizza joint in a recent Yelp poll of the top places to get a pizza in the Midwest, coming in at No. 9 overall. The father-and-son-run shop specializes in classic tavern-style pizza.
Little Pops NY Pizzeria
1819 Wehrli Road, Naperville, (630) 210-8084; 2799 Maple Ave., Lisle, (630) 687-8444; 3015 E. New York St., Suite A13, Aurora, (630) 687-9400, littlepopspizzeria.com/
Opened by New Yorkers in 2014, Little Pops was recently named best New York-style pizza in Illinois by The Washington Post. After first opening as a carryout and delivery shop in Naperville in 2014, they’ve expanded with another to-go location in Aurora and a full-service restaurant in Lisle.
Pomodoro E Mozzarella Pizzeria
1850 Main St., St. Charles, (630) 549-0589, thepomodoroemozzarella.com
The Pomodoro E Mozzarella also came in high in the Midwest Yelp poll at #33. They offer thin, Sicilian, New York and pan pizzas, as well as gluten-free or cauliflower crust.
The Quonset
2602 Grand Ave., Waukegan, (847) 623-7115, quonsetpizza.net/
The Quonset has been serving thin-crust pizza and making their ingredients in-house in Waukegan since 1946.
Tievoli Pizza Bar
44 W. Palatine Road, Palatine, (224) 452-5683, tievolipizzabar.com/
Owner and second-generation pizzaiolo Giovanni Labbate will represent the U.S. Pizza Team in Parma, Italy, after being named Grand Champion at the California Pizza Challenge in late August. The restaurant’s wood-fired pizzas include the namesake Tievoli (I love it spelled backward) topped with garlic and oil sauce, crema di pecorino, bacon jam, mozzarella, peppadew peppers, pepperoni, red onions, oregano, fresh basil and hot honey.
V & V Paesano Pizzeria
374 S. Main St., Bartlett, (630) 289-5780, vvpaesanopizzeria-bartlett-il.securebrygid.com/zgrid/themes/10583/intro/index.jsp
In Bartlett since 1981, the family-owned spot uses all homemade ingredients, including the sausage.