Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
A new Pompei restaurant opened last month in Elmwood Park, guided by the third generation of the family-owned Chicago staple.
The original restaurant on Taylor Street in Little Italy started more than a century ago as a bakery that sold bread, cheese pizza and, later, pastries. In the 1980s, the menu expanded to include other varieties of pizza, plus sandwiches and “strudels” (similar to calzone).
The new location at 22 Conti Parkway in Elmwood Park is a great fit because of the area’s deep connection to Little Italy, owner Ralph Davino told the Wednesday Journal.
Many Italians settled in Elmwood Park after they were forced to leave their original neighborhood in the wake of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s expansion in the 1960s.
The Elmwood Park restaurant will feature the same menu as the Taylor Street location. “All our stuff is homemade. I can stand behind anything I make,” Davino told the newspaper. “The only thing I don’t make is the ice cream.”
Established by Luigi Davino in 1909, the restaurant was named because of its proximity to Our Lady of Pompeii Church. Luigi and his wife lived above the bakery with their five children.
Nowadays, the Chicago restaurant also features a catering arm that offers delivery as well as pickup from a drive-thru window. For more, click here.
