Piece'a Pizza
by Tracy Evens, Special to Pioneer Press
Nella Curatolo has sold more than 40,000 copies of her "Made from Scratch" cookbook at her family's Italian restaurant and pizzeria, named for her husband, Gioacchino. "It's a tribute to my mother really, who immigrated here from Italy," says Curatolo. "It's too bad she didn't get to see our dream."
That dream is the Bellwood restaurant that has occupied the same block for 34 years. At one time, 25 family members contributed to the restaurant's operations.
The cookbook details some of her chef husband's Calabrese-style takes on chicken vesuvio, homemade lasagna and other Italian specialties. With everything made from scratch, including fresh ground meat sauce and homemade pasta, the size of the menu is just as staggering.
"He is just very passionate and particular," Curatolo says of her husband. "We've chosen to have just one location so everything is fresh and homemade. It's because we care."
Gioacchino's is most celebrated for its pizzas, ranging from cracker-thin crust, bubbling New York-style thick, deep-dish pan pizza, and Chicago-style stuffed pies. Its pizzas were given the distinction of "Best in the Western Suburbs" for stuffed, pan, and thick pies in a recent taste competition against almost 100 local pizzerias. To this day, only his wife knows the secret to Gioacchino's award-winning dough.
Specialty pizzas, such as salmon pizza with Alfredo sauce, are available for carryout, delivery, and dine-in.
As if he didn't put enough care into his signature recipes and ingredients, chef Gioacchino uses herbs largely grown in his grown garden, including a variety of basil plants, peppers, sage, rosemary, and oregano. It's no wonder families return to the same spot for generations to share in an authentic Italian family meal.