Vito and Nick's - the name of the place just sounds like it should have good pizza. Thanks to a tip from the Chicago Pizza Club blog site, I ventured to this south side institution one evening to have a thin crust pizza and a couple beers.
Vito and Nick's is in the Hometown neighborhood on Pulaski on the south side of Chicago (see map). It's definitely a working class area of south Chicago. The pizzeria is housed in a basic brick block building. It looks like there's some living quarters above the place. There's ample parking on the south side of the restaurant. Vito and Nick's, as the above logo says, was established in 1932 when Vito Barraco opened his first restaurant after running a tavern in downtown Chicago nine years prior. This had to be tough to own a tavern considering America was in the midst of the Prohibition. They moved to a new location on the south side in 1939. After the war ended in 1945, Vito's son, Nick, came to work at the family business - hence, the "Nick" part of the Vito and Nick's name. In 1949, with the help of Vito's wife, Mary, they began to make pizzas from an old Sicilian recipe they had in the family for years and years. The thin crust pizza was an immediate hit and they soon moved into a larger facility at their present day location. In 2003, they opened a second location in suburban Lemont (see map) that has an expanded menu from the Vito and Nick's at 84th and Pulaski. It also houses a bowling alley and a banquet facility. Note the logo at the top says this is the "original" Vito and Nick's. Evidentially, there's a Vito and Nick's II pizzeria on the south side which was started by Nick Barraco's son, Nick II. There must be some bad blood or something going on because on the Original Vito and Nick's web site they proclaim there is no connection to the Vito and Nick's II in Mokena or to any franchised Vito and Nick's II location. I got into the Original Vito and Nick's around 7:30 and got a booth toward the back. The dining area is a large open room with the bar area fully part of the dining area. The bar stools were full and the dining area had only a handful of places to sit. The White Sox game was on the two televisions behind the bar and many of the patrons were engrossed in the game. I don't know what it is, but sometimes when I'm by myself and don't get seated by a hostess I have a tendency to just disappear in the eyes of waitresses. I don't know what it is. I sat at my table for nearly 10 minutes before a waitress came over and asked, "Have you been waited on?" Nope, I hadn't. She apologized and went over and talked to an older waitress who had passed by my table a number of times without once stopping to inquire if I needed something to drink, let alone drop off a menu. The older waitress seemed a little scattered and somewhat put off that she had to wait on another table. I ordered a glass of Old Style and took a look through the menu. In addition to pizza, Vito and Nick's also serves traditional Italian food. But just as they say at Vito and Nick's, "It's All About the Pizza", that's what I was there for. I ordered a small (12") sausage, pepperoni and mushroom - the reference standard I have for all pizza places. My waitress brought me out a tall glass of Old Style and I sat and continued to read my Chicago Tribune waiting on the pizza, occasionally glancing up at the baseball game. It appeared Vito and Nick's is a community gathering place as a number of people who came and went knew each other. It had a great, homey feel to the place and had a nice relaxed atmosphere. My somewhat surly old waitress brought out my pizza and I ordered another glass of beer - she didn't even come back to get my empty glass when I put it out toward the edge of the table signifying that I wanted another one. I kinda got to thinking what I did to her to merit this kind of treatment. But all that was forgotten when I took a bite of the pizza. Oh man! It was just great. The crust was thin, but not cracker crisp thin. The sausage was in big chunks. The pepperoni had a nice little zing to it and the mushrooms were fresh. It was an outstanding pizza. I also found out that when you cut a pizza into squares, such as they do at Vito and Nick's, it's called a "party cut", versus the "traditional cut" in triangular wedges you see at other places. I have to say that I never knew that before that evening. I like the "party cut" better than the traditional way of cutting a pizza. I was able to get the waitresses attention for a third glass of beer toward the end of the my pizza. I wasn't able to finish the whole thing as the toppings were abundant. When she brought my beer back, I asked for a to-go box to take it back to my hotel. Well, that took forever. By this time, the place had cleared out and she was waiting on two other tables other than mine. I heard the couple seated behind me talking about the waitress, saying she wasn't having a good night. After another 10 minutes, I still hadn't gotten my to-go box, nor had she brought me my bill. I got up to go to the restroom and purposely walked out of my way to go tell the waitress that I needed my bill and a to-go box. When I got out of the restroom, I was headed back to my table and she came up to me with my bill and a Styrofoam box and handed both to me. I said, "Thank you," and she didn't say a word. Geez, maybe it was something personal that was going on, I don't know. The bill was kind of a surprise. The pizza and three draft beers came to just over $18.00. The beers were very reasonable - $1.50 a glass. You could get a nice little jag on at Vito and Nick's for less than $10 bucks. I left $21.00 on the table and walked out the door. As I was heading out to my car, the first waitress who originally came to my table came running out of the back door toward me. I had left the Styrofoam box of leftover pizza on the table. She gave it to me and I said, "Geez, I do that more often than not. Thanks so much." She looked at my plates and said, "You're from Iowa?" I said, "Yes. The Quad Cities. We don't get good pizza like this back home." She said, "Well, be sure to come back to see us again." I told her I would, but I hope that I don't get the surly older waitress again.
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