By Jimmy Banakis
April 3, 2024
Our story begins in the town of Marigliano in the Campania region of Italy. The capital city of this region is Naples, the birthplace of intensely rich tomatoes grown in volcanic soil, pizza, and wonderful crusty bread. Baking was the principal occupation of members of the Granato family.
In about 1912 young Tom Granato and his future brother-in-law Raphael (Ralph) Amodeo immigrated to Chicago and settled in the Taylor St. neighborhood. Coincidently on his trip to America was a friend, another boy from Marigliano whose life in Chicago was to take a different path. That boy changed his name at Ellis Island to Paul Ricca.
In 1914 Jenny, a girl Tom knew from home arrived and they married. The same year Ralph married Tom’s sister Rose. The culinary history of America is a patchwork quilt of immigrant contributions to our culture. This tale is about one family’s gift to Chicago.
In the beginning of the 20th century Taylor St. and the area now encompassing University of Illinois campus had three distinct ethnic groups, Italians, Jews, and Greeks. Each group had its own place of worship, business district, undertakers, and small grocers.
All the businesses in each neighborhood catered to their own specific group. Italian bakeries baked bread, large tomato topped focaccia, and biscotti. Customers also brought pots of food to be cooked in their large ovens, as many did not have ovens in their apartments. Some bakeries also made food items, one or two daily, to carry-out.
They were essential to the community and operated much as they had in the Naples region. In this neighborhood of immigrants one hundred years ago, Tom Granato did something at great personal financial risk, that changed Chicago in a profound way forever. He gave Chicago PIZZA. Granato’s Restaurant opened on Taylor Street in 1924.
This was the first commercial Italian restaurant serving pizza in the city. I researched it myself at the Chicago Historical Society. Granato’s pizza was “thin crust,” the truly unique Chicago product. This was the type of pizza most of us grew up with, “tavern style.” The restaurant at first catered exclusively to those in the neighborhood.
Granato’s was still popular when it was demolished by Mayor Richard J. Daley in the late 1950’s to make way for the University.
Daley created deep resentment that exists to this day from those that loved those neighborhoods and thought those historic places should have been allowed to evolve instead of displacing thousands of businesses and homes.
Though I’ve made every type of pizza, I’ve always felt that Tom Granato’s creation is the true Chicago style pizza.
Tavern style exploded in popularity in the 1950’s after G.I.’s returned from the war. Many of them sampling pizza for the first time while stationed in Naples.
Deep-dish, invented in the 1940’s and a product I sold when I ran Gino’s East in the 1980’s & 90’s was limited to a few restaurants in River North until the 1980’s. The rest of the country now believes that it’s the only pizza we eat, yet it has never exceeded 10 percent of the Chicago market.
Twenty some years ago I met my charming friend Chicago attorney John Sciaccotta. John is the direct descendent of this historical restaurant family. The first impression I had of him was the passion he had for the family business. Tom Granato was his great-uncle. His maternal great-grandmother Rose Granato Amodeo was Tom Granato’s sister, and his paternal great-grandfather was Ralph Amodeo.
Papa Ralph was the legendary “Papa Milano” who began the Milano restaurants in 1929 at the corner of Clark and Diversey taking pizza off of Taylor St. and to the public.
1929, was the year of the St. Valentines Massacre which incidentally took place a few blocks away from the restaurant. Keep in mind that from 1920 to 1933, restaurants could not legally sell alcohol because of prohibition. Whether or not any was served at Milano’s has been lost to history.
I know my great uncles and grandfather always chuckled when I would ask about the alcohol ban. Rose and her sisters operated the Granata’s family bakery on Taylor St. before Ralph opened the first Milano’s.
When I asked John why the bakery was Granata’s instead of Granato’s he said that the sign painter spelled the name wrong, and the sisters thought it would be bad luck to change it. Soon Rose joined her husband and became the quintessential Italian Mama to her customers.
Rose and Ralph, their children, and grandchildren have owned and operated multiple Italian restaurants in our metropolitan area through the years.
The two that most of us may remember were Milano’s at State and Division (1953-1978), and my favorite, Papa Milano’s at State and Oak St. (1951-2007). These restaurants were initially operated by John’s great-grandfather Ralph, his maternal grandfather Carmie Amodeo, and his maternal grandmother Angie.
Later operated by his mother Rose Marie and his brother Carmie. I also remember John’s Great-Aunt Mary (Amodeo) and Uncle Jimmy Santeramo’s sausage shop in Oak Park.
Mary was an innovator who also sold frozen entrees long before that became popular. There was also an Uncle Junior (Ralph) in the family long before the “Soprano’s.” Uncle Junior was the most prolific restaurant operator in the family, opening Milano’s locally and nationally.
What was it about this family that set it apart from other entrepreneurs through the years? They cherished their customers. This is the quality all great merchants have. They instinctively knew that customers have a choice, and the blessing occurs when they walk into your establishment instead of another.
An astute business owner can never take this for granted. Rose, Ralph, and their children made everyone feel like family. They made you feel like you were in a comfortable familiar home. Hell, even today, I still feel as if I’m somehow related to this family. That’s how powerful this gift of theirs was.
Barney Kessel owner of Barney’s Market Club (1920-1990) also had this ability. Standing at the door he’d greet each customer saying, “Yes Sir Senator!” and then seat you imparting a personalized humorous quip. You cannot fake this quality. It must be heartfelt.
Think back. Chances are your favorite restaurants over the years made you feel as if you belonged. Made you happy. Sometimes an owner like my grandfather instinctively used negative reinforcement, “Get the Hell out of here!” followed by a hug and, “where have you been?” That was where I first learned that lesson. Not because someone taught me, but because someone modeled it for me.
I doubt Papa Milano’s had more than 70 seats. Some were so close together you comfortably engaged in friendly talk with other diners. It was a favorite spot for my wife and I when we were dating back in the 70’s. She brought me there. We loved the incomparable pizza and the pillowy soft gnocchi. It was also the go to spot for countless celebrities, Bob Hope, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Sid Ceaser, Jay Leno. Oprah Winfrey lived across the street when she moved here and ate there almost nightly. She continued to do this even after her successful career blossomed.
It was fodder for Irv Kupcinet’s celebrity column in the Sun-Times…. “George Raft and Rocky Marciano at Milano’s Saturday night….” I felt fortunate when John suggested I spend a week hanging out there in 2004.
At that time John’s mother Rose Marie was running the restaurant with her easy charm. Working in the back of the house, the pizza tasted historic to me. The crust was thin and crispy, yet light and buttery. The gnocchi were made daily, and I found a new favorite, the eggplant parmesan.
There was a concern at the time that the building was to be redeveloped into a high-rise. We discussed how the restaurant might be saved and relocated. John and I considered options, but none met our criteria, and at midnight on May 31, 2007, Papa Milano’s legendary run ended.
At this point, I hope you can get a sense of how one family that originated on Taylor Street in 1914 enriched and nourished all our lives. Just last week, as we discussed the pizza centennial, John was still wondering how we could resurrect Papa Milano’s.
The good attorney that he is, he owns all the recipes, trademarks, and signage. Who knows? The passion still simmers, and the DNA still exists.
Today, there are at least 8 distinct pizza styles enjoyed by Chicagoans. We all have our subjective favorites to be sure, but one thing we can all do during this centennial year. We can raise our glasses to the remarkable family who first gave Chicago it’s favorite food item. “Salute, beviamo alla nostra!”
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Jimmy Banakis is a life-long restauranteur. He was an honorary batboy for the White Sox in 1964. He attended Oak Park River Forest High School, Nebraska Wesleyan University, and Chicago-Kent Law School. He claims the kitchen is the room he’s most comfortable in anywhere in the world. He published an extremely limited-edition family cookbook. He’s a father and grandfather, and lives in Downers Grove Il.
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