Connie's Pizza

About Connie's Pizza

Jim Stolfe faced a difficult choice. In order to open a family-style pizzeria on Chicago's South Side, he would have to trade his 1962 Oldsmobile Starfire. But the opportunity was too tempting to pass up, and so the Stolfe family, minus one car, started Connie's Pizza on 26th Street in 1963. It proved to be more than a fair swap—since opening that original location, the family has grown the business from a neighborhood pizzeria to a Chicago culinary icon. Connie's Pizza now features six locations throughout the Chicagoland area, and its frozen pies are sold in grocery stores in eight states, much to the envy of the other sixty-two.

Connie's might have expanded, but its focus on homestyle Italian cuisine remains unchanged. The Stolfe family's signature pizzas are still crafted from freshly made dough, which is then rolled out into crispy thin crusts or belayed into deep-dish pans. The savory foundation arrives from the oven topped with classic ingredients such as sausage and pepperoni, or sandwich emulating combinations of italian beef and giardiniera. Besides pizza, the chefs also prepare a number of pasta dishes and classic Italian entrees, including eggplant parmesan and hearty lasagna.