The Barraco family, Sicilian immigrants, started out running a tavern in 1923; by 1939 they'd moved to 79th and Carpenter and added a kitchen slinging Italian-style sandwiches, and it wasn't until 1949 -- with Mary Barraco in the kitchen -- that pizza entered the picture at all. The restaurant settled into its current Ashburn storefront at 84th and Pulaski in 1965, and that square-cut, cracker-crust pie has barely changed since. Nick Barraco ran the place until he died in 2002; his daughter, Rosemary George, has run it ever since, and a second location opened in Lemont in 2003.
It's still cash only, still no ATM, and still the kind of neighborhood institution that shows up near the top of every "best Chicago pizza" list without needing to advertise. WBEZ marked its hundredth year in business in 2020.
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