 | |
 | |
| Industry | Restaurant |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1966 |
| Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 10 |
| Products | Deep Dish Pizza, Tavern Style Thin Crust, Salads, Pastas, Sandwiches |
| Website | Official website |
Gino's East is a Chicago-based restaurant chain specializing in deep-dish pizza. Two cab drivers opened the original location in 1966.
Gino's East was opened in 1966 [1] by Sam Levine, Fred Bartoli, and George Loverde. Previously, they had opened the original Gino's in 1960 at 930 N. Rush Street.
They bought a building on East Superior Street "but didn't know what to put in it," Levine told a Tribune reporter in 1983, when the restaurant was sold to new owners. "Then someone said, 'Put pizza in it.' But we didn't know pizza from nothing." [2]
Gino's East served deep dish pizza at 162 E. Superior St., a block from the Magnificent Mile, from 1966 until 2000. In 2000, the building was torn down due to structural issues. The restaurant moved to the 600 block of North Wells just two days later. [3]
In 2003, Buona Beef built a new building at 162 E Superior St. After a few years, Buona reached out to the president of Gino's East, Jeff Himmel, in hopes of selling them the new property. Gino's returned to their original location, in a new building, in June 2006. [4]
Although the original owners were Italian (Loverde was born in Sicily and Bartoli was a first generation Italian American), they did not create the recipe for Gino's deep dish. Alice Mae Redmond, a Black woman originally working as a cook at Pizzeria Uno, was hired by the friends. [5] Alice Mae had worked at competing Pizzeria Uno for 17 years, where she developed a special dough recipe. She claimed that she did not like the crust at Uno's, saying it was "too hard to push". [6]
Alice Mae continued to work at the original Gino's and Gino's East as a pizza cook and recipe developer for 29 years, retiring in 1989. [7] Her nephew, Glenn Hudley, continued to work as a manager.
Gino's East is famous for allowing their customers to write on their walls. The tradition started by accident in the 1970s when customers would use forks and knives to carve their initials into the tables. In an effort to save their dinnerware, employees began to encourage customers to write on the walls and even provided them with pens and markers. Now, graffiti covers every inch of the restaurant. [8] Newer locations and franchises do not allow their customers to write on their walls, making the flagship at 162 E Superior St. the only location that still upholds the tradition.
In 2015, 5 Rabbit Brewery announced that it would cease doing business with Donald Trump because of his statements about Mexican immigrants. [9] The brewery had brewed a batch of beer especially for a bar in Trump Tower Chicago, but ceased shipping the beer to the bar and stated that the beer would be renamed to 'Chinga Tu Pelo' (Fuck Your Hair), [10] in an apparent reference to Trump's hair. [11] [12] A few days after that, Gino's East purchased that batch of beer from the brewery. [13]
Gino's buys its sausage from a Chicago-based family. [14]
Founded in 2015, Gino's Brewing Co. opened inside of the Gino's East River North location in 2015. McMahon focused on creating beers that followed traditional brewing methods, and leans towards lower alcohol by volume beers. [16] [17]
In 2015, all four of the brewery's flagships won medals at the U.S. Open Beer Championship, winning over 4000 submissions. Lasalle St. Lager won a gold, Broken English won silver, Killarney Connection won bronze and Gino's Pale Ale won bronze. [18]
The company subsequently opened other locations in the Chicago Metropolitan Area, including Wheaton, Naperville, Rolling Meadows, Lake Zurich, Deerfield, Oak Lawn, and Highland, Indiana. Another location opened in downtown Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, a popular tourist destination near Illinois. The Oak Lawn location closed in 2008. The Naperville location closed in late 2010 and the Deerfield location closed in 2012. There was one Gino's East location that operated in Manhattan Beach, California, but closed in 1991.
Additionally, Gino's East operates a mail-order business, where patrons can order frozen pizzas and have them shipped overnight. The company opened its first restaurant located outside the Chicago area in Granger, Indiana, but closed it in 2012. [19]
The restaurant eventually moved from its Superior Street location into another space at 633 North Wells Street (in the former Chicago location of Planet Hollywood). The tradition of writing on the walls, however, remains the same in the new location. The original location on Superior Street reopened in 2007. In 2014, the River North location moved just south of 633 N. Wells to 500 N. LaSalle Street, a building previously occupied by nightclub Lasalle Power Co.
In 2014 the company announced expansion into Texas (ATX Brands acquired franchising rights to operate the chain outside the State of Illinois), with the first location outside of Chicago to be located in The Woodlands with a November 2014 opening, followed by a January 2015 opening in Willowbrook, Houston. A San Antonio location opened sometime within the first quarter of 2015 along with an Arlington, TX location. A Downtown Austin location opened in late June 2015. The locations in Texas (Houston, San Antonio, DFW Metroplex) are former Bikinis Sports Bar and Grill locations which were company-owned by ATX Brands. [20]
In 2019 Gino's East opened its first Tennessee location in Nashville. Located at 311 3rd Avenue S. This location is also home to The Comedy Bar, a Chicago-based comedy club. [21] The new location opened in the SoBro neighborhood of Nashville, on March 14, National Pi Day. A $3.14 combo special of a slice of thin crust pizza and a can of Old Style beer was offered to the first 100 guests as well as a pizza eating contest where the winner received a year of free pizza. [22] The Nashville location boasts a large outdoor patio with jumbo yard games (Jenga, horseshoes and cornhole) a late night pizza window and a dual inside and outside bar. Murals by Nashville artist Brett Hunter can also be found throughout the restaurant. [23]
In 2020 a franchise was opened in Los Angeles, located at 12924 Riverside Dr. Sherman Oaks, CA. The new location took over a building that originally housed Rock 'n Pies. [24]
Today Gino's East has 10 locations.
Chicago-style pizza is pizza prepared according to several styles developed in Chicago. It can refer to both the well-known deep-dish or stuffed pizzas and the lesser-known thin-crust tavern-style pizzas more popular with locals. The pan in which deep-dish pizza is baked gives the pizza its characteristically high edge, which provides ample space for large amounts of cheese and a chunky tomato sauce. Chicago-style deep-dish pizza may be prepared in the deep-dish style and as a stuffed pizza. Chicago-style thin-crust pizza dough is rolled for a thinner crispier crust than other thin-crust styles. The thin-crust pizza is cut in squares instead of slices, and is also referred to as a "tavern-style" pizza.
Uno Pizzeria & Grill, or more informally as Uno’s, is a United States-origin franchised pizzeria restaurant chain under the parent company Uno Restaurant Holdings Corporation. Uno Pizzeria and Grill is best known for its Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Ike Sewell opened the first Pizzeria Uno in 1943.
BJ's Restaurants, Inc. is an American restaurant chain, headquartered in Huntington Beach, California. The chain operates under the names BJ's Restaurant & Brewery, BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse, BJ's Grill, and BJ's Pizza & Grill.
Goose Island Beer Company is a brewery in Chicago. The oldest currently-operating brewing company in Illinois, it began as a brewpub that opened in 1988 in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, and was named after a nearby island. A larger production brewery opened in 1995. A second brewpub, in Wrigleyville, opened in 1999 and closed in 2015.
The culture of Chicago, Illinois is known for the invention or significant advancement of several performing arts, including improvisational comedy, house music, industrial music, blues, hip hop, gospel, jazz and soul.
The Surly Brewing Company is an American craft brewery with facilities in Minneapolis and Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, and is noted for primarily canning beers, rather than bottling. Initially available only in and around the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the company expanded distribution to include all of Minnesota and at least 12 states and several international markets. During the early 2010s, Surly experienced rapid growth, with production of 21,000 barrels in 2012, 28,000 barrels in 2013, and 47,757 barrels in 2015. Surly's brewing system in Brooklyn Center is a 30 beer barrel (BBL) Sprinkman, one of four identical systems produced by Sprinkman of Wisconsin. The Minneapolis location has a 100 barrel system. Despite sharing a similar name and being headquartered in the U.S. state of Minnesota, the brewing company and Surly Bikes are separate enterprises. An agreement between the two companies allows the bicycle manufacturer to display the single word "Surly" on its products.
Lou Malnati's Pizzeria is an American Chicago-style pizza restaurant chain headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois. It was founded by the son of Rudy Malnati, who was instrumental in developing the recipe for Chicago-style pizza, and it has become one of the Chicago area's best-known local lines of pizza restaurants. Lou Malnati's operates a division of its company called Lou Malnati's Presents Tastes of Chicago, a partnership with Portillo's Restaurants and Eli's Cheesecake, which ships Chicago-style cuisine nationally.
Giordano's is an American pizzeria chain that specializes in Chicago-style stuffed pizza. Brothers Efren and Joseph Boglio founded Giordano's in 1974 in Chicago, Illinois. The pizzeria has since expanded to over 65 locations in Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, Nevada, and Wisconsin. The chain has also expanded to offer catering and ship frozen pizzas in the United States.
Chicago Franchise Systems, Inc. operates Italian-based Chicago-style restaurants in Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina, and Missouri which specialize in Chicago-style cuisine. They have operated since 1990, when they took over the popular Nancy's Pizza chain of pizzerias. Nancy's itself was started in 1971 by Nancy and Rocco Palese, a couple who invented the concept of stuffed pizza. CFS, Inc. operates as a franchisor for Nancy's Pizzerias and Doughocracy Pizza and Brews. CFS, Inc. launched Doughocracy Pizza + Brews in 2015, a fast casual pizza place that gives customers the "Freedom to Choose" their own toppings on a hand stretched pizza crust that can be paired with local craft beers. There is one Doughocracy restaurant, in Geneva, Illinois.
Ballast Point Brewing Company is an American brewery founded in 1996 by Jack White in San Diego, California. Ballast Point Brewing Co. started in the back of Home Brew Mart, a homebrew supply store White founded in 1992. As of 2015, it was the second largest brewer in San Diego County and the 17th largest brewery in the country based on sales volume. The company's main production facility is in Miramar. It also has brewery locations in San Diego's Little Italy and Scripps Ranch neighborhoods, as well as its original Home Brew Mart location in San Diego's Linda Vista neighborhood. In 2017, Ballast Point opened its first East Coast brewing facility in Daleville, Virginia, near Roanoke.
Issac Sewell was an American athlete, businessman, entrepreneur, and founder of the Uno Chicago Grill restaurant chain that originated in Chicago, Illinois, as well as founder of the Pizzeria Uno and Pizzeria Due restaurants there in 1943 and 1955, respectively. Sewell started as an All-Southwestern Conference guard as a player on the Texas Longhorn football teams from 1926 to 1929.
Patxi's is a small pizzeria chain based in Sausalito, California.
SPB Hospitality is a multi-brand restaurant operator headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company owned several casual dining restaurant chain brands, including Logan's Roadhouse, Old Chicago, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants, and Rock Bottom Restaurants Breweries. As of November 2019, CraftWorks owned and operated over 390 restaurants in the United States, but all of its owned-and-operated locations closed by March 2020, after a Chapter 11 bankruptcy followed immediately by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, and CraftWorks and terminated its 18,000 employees, leaving fewer than 25 employed. On June 12, 2020, SPB Hospitality purchased Craftworks businesses out of bankruptcy for $93 million.
5 Rabbit Cervecería is a brewery in Bedford Park, Illinois United States, that was founded in 2011 and opened in 2012. It is "the first Latin-themed craft brewery in the United States". Many of the beers are brewed with ingredients inspired by Hispanic cuisine and culture. The name of the brewery is a reference to the Aztec deity Macuiltochtli.
Virtuous Pie is a pizza chain based in Vancouver, Canada. The business has locations in Portland, Oregon, Toronto, and Victoria, British Columbia.
Rotolo’s Pizzeria is an American pizza restaurant chain that was established in 1996 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as a single pizzeria. It operates as both company-owned stores and franchises under the banner of Rotolo's Pizzeria and Rotolo's Craft and Crust, with 32 locations in 6 states. Its headquarters are in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
