For Chicagoans, Pizzeria Due is numero uno. The pizzeria located in a Victorian mansion around the corner from the original Pizzeria Uno has been serving deep-dish pizza for decades. And on Oct. 22, the pizzeria celebrates 70 years since it opened in 1950 – 12 years after its famous sister.
According to Chuck Buttiglieri, president of the Uno Pizzeria & Grill, which counts 20 company-operated restaurants in its 100-location portfolio, “Due is more for the locals, whereas Uno is more for tourists. I think that’s how most Chicagoland people view it.”
Like any siblings, the original Uno and Duo have a playful rivalry that extends from guest service to sales and, of course, who can throw the best anniversary party. “In classic Uno fashion, Due is trying to throw a better party for the 70th than Uno threw for the 80th,” he says, adding that the guest list includes retired employees, city dignitaries and guests who have been dining at Pizzeria Due for decades.
While Buttiglieri is responsible for dozens of pizzerias, he says there is something about Pizzerias Uno and Due that has allowed them to prosper for decades, and he offers a glimpse at what he hopes Due will accomplish in the next 70 years.
Birthplace of Chicago-style Pizza?
The original Pizzeria Uno was a bar called The Pelican, and deep-dish pizza was not the star of the show but an enticement to get patrons to drink.
“Soon after, they realized that they had something here – that people were coming just for the pizza,” he says. Ike Sewell officially opened the restaurant with Ric Riccardo in 1943. As Buttiglieri tells it, “Sewell was a liquor salesman, and Riccardo was a restaurant guy.”
Even today, Pizzeria Uno only seats about 70 guests, so Sewell and Riccardo sought to expand upstairs in the same building. Unable to convince the landlord, they opened Pizzeria Due across the street.
Both Victorian mansions were built before the 1871 Chicago fire for the Mears family. The dining rooms of today originally served as servants’ quarters, and the site of Su Casa restaurant – opened in 1963 by Sewell – was a carriage house.
“When (Uno) opened, it was just called ‘The Pizzeria,’” he says. “Pizzeria Uno didn’t really come into effect until Due came, because that was one and two.”
Courtesy of Pizzeria Due
Uno vs. Due Rivalry
While multi-unit restaurants typically prize consistency, Pizzerias Uno and Due are given some leeway as the originals. It is not uncommon for visitors to Chicago to wait in line for hours to eat at Uno, the birthplace of deep-dish pizza. Pizzeria Due, meanwhile, is a popular site for locals to celebrate special occasions.
The differences don’t end there. At Due’s, the Four Cheese & Pesto pizza uses a fifth cheese, Munster. And due to the large number of tourists visiting the original Pizzeria Uno, the kitchen starts baking cheese and sausage pizzas as soon as the restaurant opens.
“We’ll pull it when it’s ready: pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, peppers on top and put it back in,” Buttiglieri says. For this reason, veggie toppings go on top of the sauce at Uno, while Due sauces vegetables since every pizza is made to order.
During the COVID pandemic, Pizzeria Due shut down for a short time, and Buttiglieri says customers would call Uno with to-go orders and request their pizzas Due-style. “During COVID, there weren’t a lot of tourists, so Uno got more of Due’s guests than their own guests,” he says. “It was an interesting time.
“They have a slogan here,” Buttiglieri says of Pizzeria Due: “Ike got it right the second time.”
Longtime Employees
A few years back, the neighboring pizzerias had to create an award for employees who had served for 50 years. Buttiglieri credits the number of 40- and 30-year employees at the two original locations to the pizzerias’ family environment.
“While we are a corporate entity, it’s always been a family,” he says. “Every day and every night in the restaurant, they make a family meal. They are very connected.”
Post-pandemic, he says, “people lined up to come back and help and get the buildings fired back up.”
Future of Pizza
In the next 70 years, Buttiglieri says he would like for Pizzerias Uno and Due to connect more with the public. The restaurants started offering cooking classes about a dozen years ago, so guests can experience Chicago deep-dish pizza at home. The success of the classes led neighboring restaurant Su Casa to offer tamale-making classes.
“People go out more for experiences, and I really want to lean further into the experiential world,” he says. “The classes are amazing when you teach people an art, and I truly believe that food is an art.”
Buttiglieri says he also would like to create a Chicago pizza museum. “The one thing that goes undisputed is at the corner of Ohio and Wabash, deep-dish pizza was born.”
