Robert Maleski learned to love cooking from his grandmother, Emily, who he fondly called Milly. Her culinary wisdom: “When you pay attention to the details, and you care about what you’re doing, the product’s going to be pretty amazing,” Maleski said.
Maleski’s restaurant, Milly’s Pizza in the Pan–named for his grandmother–aims to uphold this value. The newest location of Milly’s opened May 17, 2024 at 6737 Roosevelt Road in Berwyn.
The original Milly’s location opened Aug. 12, 2020 in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood, at 925 N. Ashland Ave. Since then, the restaurant has racked up praise from critics at ABC News, WGN News and the Eater, among others. TimeOut ranked Milly’s as one of the 19 best pizzas in the world (it came in at number 11) for having “the perfect harmony of flavors and textures.”
At both locations, Maleski and his staff make a limited number of pizzas every day using local, fresh ingredients, which customers can order by calling ahead or ordering online. Occasionally pizzas are available for walk-in customers, but the website recommends calling ahead.
The idea of Milly’s Pizza in the Pan started in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like the millions of people who had to take a hiatus from working, Maleski was also told that he had to stay home from his waiting job of 16 years. After March 17, 2020, the weeks of boredom turned into months, and the need to create struck.
After messing around with recipes and lots of test runs, it was time for the pizzas to be shared. After people on social media saw Maleski’s “creation,” as he says, the DMs flooded in asking how they could get one. “I’d say, send me 30 bucks for the ingredients and I’ll drive, drop it off on your porch,” Maleski said.
With growing interest in his pizzas and a possible career opportunity, Maleski soon after turned to a ghost kitchen, a communal kitchen shared by many restaurants that can be rented for use.
In 2021, the first brick-and-mortar establishment of Milly’s Pizza in the Pan was born. Starting a small business was not without struggles, most commonly financial ones, but even when money would be tight, Maleski was dedicated to maintaining independence for Milly’s. He didn’t want investors or partners to change the identity of the restaurant through rebranding or production alterations, he said.
The small-batch production process that Maleski learned from his grandmother could be sacrificed at the cost of making more money through mass production. Maleski wouldn’t let that happen.
Wyatt Waits, Milly’s newest employee, provides an inside peek at the preparation process needed to make each pizza. Being new to the job, he quickly realized the amount of care and perfectionism everyone pours into each pizza to make it true Milly’s quality. “Sometimes it takes over an hour just to slice all of the cheese because each slice has to be an exact shape and thickness,” Waits said.
The need for precision, such as ensuring the balls of dough are the exact right size to be perfectly shaped in the pan, makes collaboration and teamwork key parts of Milly’s. “Because everyone is so passionate, it makes it even more of an achievement as a team when the pizzas come out as beautifully as they do,” says Waits.
Burak Yarol, the manager, agreed: “You get to see customers light up when they taste everything. And when folks tell us verbally or online that it’s their favorite pizza in the city, in the world, or that they’re ‘craving it’, that hits different,” Yarol said.
Maleski made a pizza for this reporter and a classmate after our interview for this article. It was a Milly’s fan favorite, the OnlyPans. It’s signature Milly’s: deep dish crust, pepperoni, pesto, ricotta, Calabrian chili honey, tomato and peppadew peppers.
The addition of the chili honey among the other savory pizza toppings made the perfect sweet and savory balance. Every ingredient, from the subtle ricotta to the fragrant pepperoni, had it’s own moment creating a complex and layered flavor profile.
Milly’s Pizza in the Pan is open Wednesday through Sunday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Order online at millyspizzachicago.com
