The history of the original Il Forno Pizzeria & Restaurant in the West Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago.

In 1953 Bruno Pupolo had the foresight to offer Chicago a relatively new concept. A family Italian restaurant where pizza was made with daily homemade dough, Italian sausage, and fresh vegetables that were shopped for every morning. 

But the pièce de résistance was Bruno's pizza sauce recipe! The jukebox, a song for a dime or three for a quarter, always seemed to be playing. We lived 1 block away, so we ate at II Forno's often. Their pasta sauce fine-tuned my young pallet and began my love affair with Italian food. 

Pupolo decided to name the restaurant "Il Forno" (Italian "The Oven")

A photograph of an Il Forno 21" thin crust pizza cut tavern-style.

An example of a traditionally cut tavern-style thin-crust pizza.

Later that year, Bruno's son-in-law, Lou Bonelli, and his mother-in-law, Philomena Tancredi, purchased Il Forno restaurant at 2842 West Devon Avenue in Chicago's West Ridge community in the West Rogers Park neighborhood.

Chicago Tribune Help Wanted Ad, October 18, 1953.

From memory, the interior was unique, with perhaps 10 sets of glass light bars running up one wall from the floor, across the ceiling, and down the opposite wall to the floor. The lighting looked like heating element bars, making it feel like you were sitting inside a hot oven.

An example of the lighting effect used to represent oven heating elements.

The tables were covered with traditional red & white checkered oilcloth. Lou would always stand by our table to chat with my folks for a minute or two. The first memory is of Mr. Pupolo teaching me, hands-on, how to twirl my spaghetti with a fork and spoon.

The rest is pretty much Chicago pizza folklore. According to Lou, "the pizza place was such a new concept that people would come out of curiosity, and that curiosity stuck like perfectly cooked pasta on a wall." 

Several other Il Forno pizza restaurants opened in the following years. Skokie would soon follow on Church Street in 1956. Next, a Highland Park restaurant was opened in 1961 on Roger Williams Avenue in Ravinia, followed by Linden Avenue in Wilmette in 1965. The Skokie store then moved to Morton Grove on Dempster Street in 1970. The Highland Park restaurant, the current location, run by the 3rd generation, opened at 496 Old Elm Road (at Sheridan) in 1972. 

Mike Rudolph, who managed the Highland Park store from 1974, purchased the store from Lou in 1986. Rudolph is still serving the same homemade dough, family sausage recipe, and the same Bruno Pupolo pizza sauce that was created in 1953.

INDEX TO MY ILLINOIS AND CHICAGO FOOD & RESTAURANT ARTICLES.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Was the "Original Sally's Bar-B-Q Restaurant" on Western Avenue in Chicago's West Rogers Park neighborhood, North or South of Devon Avenue?

After exhaustive research, including old Chicago telephone books, I have verified Sally's Bar-B-Q Restaurants' dates and address history.

"Sally's Bar-B-Q Restaurant" opened about 1935 at 3541 West Ogden Avenue in Chicago (Telephone: ROckwell 2-0716). While on Ogden Avenue, they actually bottled and sold their "Alabama Kum-Back Sauce" in the 1930s and 40s.

Sally (right) with her husband Benny and her sister Irene (left). Irene worked as a hostess and cashier. Their brother Harry (not pictured) managed the kitchen.

Sally's opened their second restaurant and named it "The Original Sally's Bar-B-Q" in 1954 at 6445 North Western Avenue, Chicago (Telephone: AMbassador 2-8800). When it was razed, the Devon Bank built on the property.

Sally's Bar-B-Q 1950s Menu -  Click to view in full-size.

Sally's on Western moved south of Devon Avenue to 6335 North Western Avenue in 1966, in the building that was next to the Town Pump Restaurant & Nightclub at 6345 North Western Avenue in the 1940s and 50s. Validated.

Their baby back ribs were hickory, smoked over charcoal, and covered with Sally's "Alabama Kum-Back Sauce." The sauce was SO secret that Sally would mix up the spices in her little office, putting the spices in Ziploc bags (available c.1970), then hand the bags to her brother Harry, who managed the kitchen. When asked, he said even HE didn't know what spices went into the sauce, except for the tomato sauce, vinegar, and molasses. Sadly, Sally took the Bar-B-Q spice recipe to her grave.

The Original Sally's Bar-B-Q, 6335 North Western Avenue, Chicago.

The Original Sally's Bar-B-Q restaurant was closed in 1976.

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The "Devon-North Town State Bank" originally opened at 2345 West Devon Avenue in June of 1945. A new building was constructed and, in 1966, opened at 6445 North Western Avenue, the same address as the first Original Sally's Bar-B-Q Restaurant. The bank rebranded itself as The Devon Bank.

 

"Sally's Stage" (unrelated to Sally's Bar-B-Q) opened in 1977 at 6335 North Western Avenue by the Bortz brothers, Joe and Mike.

Telephone: ROgers park 4-9090

The entertainment featured a stream of comics, dancers, singers, magicians, and even acrobats. Sally's hostesses wore roller skates. The theater pipe organ would emerge from a pit below the stage, and the organist would lead a singalong to words posted on a drop-down screen or accompany a silent movie. The waitresses would hop onstage to sing. One night a week was amateur night when anyone with a semblance of talent—even if that talent existed only in the mind of the performer—could take the stage. 

Looking North on Western Avenue towards Devon Avenue.

Note the wooden roller skating floor.

Sally's Stage opened a second location in Lombard, Illinois, in 1979. The Lombard location became Blue Suede Shoes in 1983 and was sold in 1986.

Sally's Stage Full Slab of Baby Back Rib Dinner.

According to a Chicago Tribune article dated April 26, 1985, Sally's Stage was still going strong, with the hostesses on skates, etc. 

Sally's Stage was closed in 1993.

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Personally, the Original Sally's Bar-B-Q had the best BBQ sauce... EVER, in my opinion, and other people agree. The Babyback Ribs were prepared 'old school' where you had to bite the meat off the rib. Many attempts to reproduce  Sally's  "Alabama Kum-Back Sauce" recipe have come up short. 

Please leave a comment below about your experience with either the Original Sally's Bar-B-Q, Sally's Stage, or both. 

VISIT OUR SALLY'S BAR-B-Q RESTAURANT SOUVENIR SHOP

VISIT OUR SALLY'S STAGE RESTAURANT SOUVENIR SHOP

INDEX TO MY ILLINOIS AND CHICAGO FOOD & RESTAURANT ARTICLES.

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