Chicago-style, deep-dish pizza was invented by a Texan. Pizzeria Uno in Chicago is the birthplace of this most wonderful of culinary delights. It’s not bragging if it’s a fact.
If you’ve never tasted a genuine, Chicago-made deep-dish pizza, then you must add it to your bucket list. A 3-inch-thick slice of tomato sauce, meat, and vegetables gives “pizza pie” meaning, flavor, and substance. The original Pizzeria Uno in Chicago’s Near North Side is a neighborhood eatery of national proportions.
Issac N. “Ike” Sewell was born in Wills Point, Texas, about 50 miles east of Dallas, in 1903. By the time he died at age 86 in Chicago, he had lived the equivalent of several lifetimes. As a lineman for the UT Longhorns from 1926 to 1929 he earned All-Southwestern Conference and All-American honors. After graduation he worked for Standard Brands of Chicago, selling Fleischmann’s Yeast, Chase & Sanborn Coffee, and other food products until he retired as a vice president in 1965.
Sewell opened the original Pizzeria Uno in 1943 at the corner of Ohio Street and Wabash Avenue and changed the way the Windy City and the world thinks of pizza. Now there are 136 Uno locations around the country, most in New England. The only Pizzeria Uno in Texas is at 300 Houston St. in Fort Worth. It’s worth a try.
1,056th in a series. Collect them all. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of “Day Trips,” is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
This article appears in October 7 • 2011.
