Even in a year when the word unprecedented has been used so much it’s starting to lose meaning, who could have predicted that a Michelin-starred chef would open a pizza joint with no indoor seating?
Yet, the recently opened Pizza Friendly Pizza (1039 N. Western Ave.) features the talents of Noah Sandoval, who landed two Michelin stars at Oriole and picked up accolades as the executive chef at Kumiko.
Turns out that even Sandoval would not have made that bet. In fact, when Bruce Finkelman of the restaurant group 16? on Center reached out about the project, Sandoval wasn’t exactly an expert on the subject. “When Bruce first asked me, I had never made pizza before,” admits Sandoval.
According to Finkelman, the partnership came about once he realized that Bite Cafe, his 25-year-old restaurant in that space, didn’t make economic sense during the pandemic.
“The kind of small restaurant that took eight to nine people to function on a daily basis, we just couldn’t do,” says Finkelman. “I was trying to think of things that would work, and the first person I reached out to was Noah. He is truly one of my favorite chefs and one of the greatest culinary minds in Chicago. And above all else, he’s a really nice guy.”
Sandoval certainly isn’t alone in making the transition to this kind of restaurant. After the coronavirus pandemic upended Chicago’s restaurant scene earlier this year, chefs have been trying to figure out how best to pivot. And street food, where dishes are served through a walk-up window to patrons standing outside, suddenly seems like a good bet. From bagels to Korean food to fried chicken, chefs and restaurant owners are offering foods Chicagoans crave, all from pass-through windows.
For Sandoval, all he had to do to make the leap was learn how to make pizza. He decided to work on thick-crust, Sicilian-style pizza. But while his initial attempts were decent, he claims that his perfectionism kicked in. “I wanted to respect the classics and not just put something out there,” says Sandoval.
For help, he reached out to John Arena in Las Vegas, who makes one of the most respected Sicilian slices in the United States. “I learned as much in two months from him as from anyone in my career,” says Sandoval. “I’ve been on the phone with John most days asking him questions.”
Meanwhile, Finkelman transformed the space behind Bite Cafe into an outdoor patio. To enter, guests must venture through the alley between West Thomas and West Cortez streets. All the food comes out of a window.
Although Chicago doesn’t have as robust a street food scene as New York, it has some establishments that have been serving food this way for decades.
Head to South Union Avenue on the eastern edge of Little Italy, and you’ll find a squat yellow building with a constant crowd of customers no matter the time. This is Jim’s Original (1250 S. Union Ave.), which has been open in some capacity since 1939. Here you’ll find classic Chicago street food dishes like fat Polish sausages and bone-in pork chop sandwiches, all topped with a slather of bright yellow mustard, pickled chiles and a generous forkful of sauteed onions. But there are no customer entrances, no tables and no bathrooms. The only place to eat is a chest-high stainless-steel counter that runs along the side of the building.
Since it has always lacked a dining room, Jim’s Original has been able to function pretty much as normal since the coronavirus pandemic started, though owner Jim Christopoulos admits that there was a dip in business at first. “April and May were really slow,” says Christopoulos. “We’re open 24 hours a day, and we lost all the late-night business because the bars were closed.”
But as the weather warmed, things have mostly returned to normal. “Our business was built for this,” says Christopoulos, noting that besides requiring employees to wear masks and putting markings on the sidewalk for social distancing, the restaurant is functioning like normal.
“Having been indoors all day, people want to get out, and we are one of the places they can always go,” says Christopoulos. “They’re still social distancing. Our employees are wearing gloves and masks. It checks all the boxes you need to do.”
Jim’s Original certainly isn’t the only established place in town with this setup or even this style of menu. Its next-door neighbor Express Grill (1260 S. Union Ave.) replicates almost every aspect of Jim’s. Also, if the restaurant has the words “Maxwell Street” in its name, then it more than likely has a walk-up window. That’s true of Maxwell Street Depot (411 W. 31 St.) and Original Maxwell Street (3801 W. Harrison St.).
Some hot dog stands have survived for years with a walk-up window. That includes Fat Johnnie’s Famous Red Hots (7242 S. Western Ave.), which has been dishing out specialties like the mother-in-law (a tamale topped with chili and placed in a hot dog bun) since 1972 from a shack with no indoor seating. But even newer projects like Jr’s Red Hots (2345 W. Armitage Ave.), which opened in 2017 and dishes out fully loaded Chicago-style hot dogs, makes do with a walk-up window.
Of course, there are hundreds of people selling food on the street in Chicago with little more than a cart or folding table. Unfortunately, due to restrictive city laws, many of these function without licenses. I don’t feel comfortable mentioning them here, for fear of getting them in trouble with the city.
But there is little doubt that there has been a surge in new places looking to get into the street food game.
Pizza Friendly Pizza isn’t the only new shop embracing grab and go slices. Pizza Fried Chicken Ice Cream (964 W. 31st St.) recently opened in Bridgeport serving, well, all the dishes in the name. The project is a collaboration among Ed Marszewski, whose family runs Kimski and Maria’s Packaged Goods and Community Bar next door, Eat Free Pizza, a pop-up specializing in Sicilian-style pan pizzas, and Pretty Cool Ice Cream, the local frozen pop purveyor.
Even some established pizzerias are adapting. Paulie Gee’s Logan Square (2451 N. Milwaukee Ave.), which had already served both wood-fired pizzas and thick, Detroit-style pan pizzas, decided to add a third option — New York slices — and serve them out its front window.
“We had wanted to do a slice shop with a window open late at night,” says Derrick Tung, owner of Paulie Gee’s Logan Square, “but we could never find the right space.”
After the pandemic hit, he and his staff didn’t feel comfortable opening for dine-in seating. While they could offer carryout, Tung was disappointed that there was no interaction with the guests. That’s when he decided to try serving New York slices by the front window. The slices use the same recipe as the Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop in Brooklyn, which was developed by Andrew Brown.
“Right now, this seems like the right spot,” says Tung. “After all this is done, we can find a new location where we can continue.”
Strains of New York’s street food also pulse through Takeaway Bagel, which you can find at the walk-up window at Superkhana International (3059 W. Diversey Ave.). While it’s definitely unusual for an Indian restaurant (reviewed here) to serve bagels, the project came about because Kelly Helgesen was working at the restaurant as a food runner. She had a bagel recipe she loved from when she worked as a pastry chef at Lula Cafe. Helgesen was even considering opening a booth at various farmers markets to sell them.
Of course, Helgesen had to put those plans on hold. But then Yoshi Yamada, a co-owner of Superkhana, approached her about serving her bagels there. “I had been at home doing nothing for months,” says Helgesen, “but they have that big oven, which is perfect for making bagels.”
By luck, Superkhana had installed a walk-up window during its build-out. Helgesen has been surprised by the reception. “On the first day, I made 100 bagels, thinking we’d have 50 left over,” says Helgesen. “But we sold out in less than two hours. That was really nice.”
Other restaurants also decided to add a walk-up window even before the pandemic. Miki’s Park (109 W. Hubbard St.) in River North had the bad luck of opening days before Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered restaurants to close their dining rooms in March. But owner Shay Ghazimoradi had built the space with a walk-up window, which allowed the restaurant to survive a tough first few months. “The intention was to catch people who were on Hubbard Street past midnight and serve them something that was easy, simple and quick,” says Ghazimoradi. “Turned out to be a blessing in disguise.”
While the walk-up window looks like it will be increasingly popular at Chicago restaurants for the foreseeable future, there is one thing all the owners worry about: the winter.
“What is going to happen when it gets cold?” asks Helgesen. “Chicago restaurants already struggle in the winter, but it might be really tough this year. We are thinking about all that, and how we’ll make it work.”
Finkelman hopes that Pizza Friendly Pizza will be established enough by the time the weather cools. “Obviously, eating pizza outside is much nicer when it’s sunny,” says Finkelman. “But the walk-up window gives us a chance to survive. Going into wintertime, we can let cars drive up. I think this sets us up to have a shot.”
