Lou Malnati's Pizzeria

Lou Malnati's Pizzeria is a family-owned Chicago-style pizza restaurant chain headquartered in Lincolnwood, Illinois [ [http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/product-compint-0000348810-page.html Lou Malnati's Pizzeria] , Goliath, 2007-08-21, accessed on 2007-10-19] . 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 restaurant chains.cite news |first=Carolyn |last=Walkup |title=Malnati's gives back to ghetto neighborhood - builds new restaurant in Chicago's Lawndale area |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_n1_v29/ai_15990669 |work=Nation's Restaurant News |publisher=BNet |date=1995-01-02 |accessdate=2008-03-07]

History

Lou Malnati began working with his father Rudy in the 1940s making deep dish pizza. In the 1950s, he co-managed Pizzeria Due with his father. [cite news | last = Leonard | first = Will | title = On the Town with Will Leonard | work = Chicago Daily Tribune | pages = E-10 | publisher = Tribune Company | date = 1955-08-14 | accessdate = 2007-10-19] Lou and his wife Jean opened the first Lou Malnati's Pizzeria on March 17, 1971 in Lincolnwood, Illinois. [Boykin, Ames "Celebrating Schaumberg: Marking the Village's 50 Years", "Daily Herald", August 12th, 2006.]

The Lincolnwood restaurant was very successful, and the family subsequently opened another store in Elk Grove Village. After an initial rocky start, the second restaurant proved profitable and the company continued to grow. As of October 2007 Lou Malnati's owns and operates 27 stores in the greater Chicago area. The chain participates in the Taste of Chicago and has been active in local charities.

After Lou Malnati died of cancer in 1978, his wife and sons Marc and Rick took over the business and they continue to operate it today. The main competition for "Lou-Mal's," as it is often called, are Giordano's Pizza and Gino's East.

Lou Malnati's Pizza Style

Lou Malnati's is a prototypical Chicago style pizza. A thin crust of pizza dough is laid in a seasoned deep-dish pizza pan and raised up on the sides. The ingredients are placed on a Chicago style deep-dish pizza in the opposite order of a thin crust pizza. The first ingredient is thick slices of mozzarella cheese that are placed directly on the dough. Then additional ingredients like mushrooms, onions and sausage are spread on top of the cheese. The pizza is then topped with a tomato sauce made with whole chunks of tomatoes. One of the more popular features of a "Lou-Mal" pie is the "sausage patty," which is, as the name describes, a single patty of Italian sausage below the layer of tomato chunks or sauce, as opposed to the more traditional crumbled sausage.

References

External links

* [http://www.loumalnatis.com Lou Malnati's website]