A Slice of the Action at Milly’s Pizza In The Pan

Robert Maleski waited tables for 16 years until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Unable to work and with “nothing really better to do,” Maleski began making pizzas in his apartment — a hobby that would become a franchise.

After four years of operation, Maleski’s restaurant chain Milly’s Pizza In The Pan was awarded 11th place on a list of the 19 best pizzerias in the world, published by international magazine TimeOut March 5.

“I had no idea until my buddy messaged me — I didn’t know,” Maleski said. “It blew my mind. I couldn’t believe it.”

During the first few months of quarantine, Maleski posted photos of his homemade pizzas on Facebook, and people began messaging him for the pies. They worked out an arrangement — customers would Zelle him for ingredients, he’d make the pizza and then drive it to their address for a contactless delivery — then he started thinking about making it a legitimate business.

Maleski started Milly’s Pizza In The Pan in a Logan Square ghost kitchen in August 2020. Two years later, Maleski opened a brick-and-mortar location in Edgewater at 1005 W. Argyle St., a 10-minute Red Line ride from Loyola’s Lake Shore Campus. Two years after that, he opened another location in Berwyn, IL.

Maleski named the enterprise after his grandmother, who he credited with inspiring his love for cooking.

“Whenever I’d go visit her at her house, she was always in the kitchen, making everything from scratch,” Maleski said. “She definitely put that passion in me for cooking and creating.”

Milly’s Pizza has three employees at each location who handcraft up to 60 pizzas per day. The limited kitchen space, labor-intensive pizza-making process and high demand mean both locations often sell out before the end of the day — even before noon, according to pizza maker and manager Daniel Hyde.

Hyde began working at the Edgewater location in January 2024 and transferred to Berwyn in November. Hyde, who has 10 years of pizza-making experience under his apron, said Milly’s business model is unlike anything he’s worked with before.

The process begins with fermenting pizza dough for 24 hours. Then, employees hand-chop fresh vegetables, mix the sauce and slice cheese until the pizza goes in the oven.

“The fact that we only do 60, we make sure to really try to perfect all 60 of those,” Hyde said.

Before landing on the TimeOut list, customers were able to preorder pizzas up to six days in advance, but due to the heightened publicity, Milly’s now recommends preordering the day of, rarely having pies available for walk-in customers.

“A lot of pizzerias are into just putting out numbers and putting a lot of pizzas out to make as much as they can, and we’re kind of the opposite,” Maleski said. “We take our time with every single pizza to try to make them special.”

Pizzas are available as 10- or 14-inch pies and range from $20 to $32. Maleski said the most popular menu item is the Only Pans, garnished with pepperoni, peppadew peppers, tomato, ricotta, Calabrian chili honey and pesto. Customers may opt for additional toppings, including pineapple, bacon and Mr. Bing Chili Crisp.

In January, Milly’s was nominated for a Jean Banchet Award for Culinary Excellence. The decades-old, Chicago-based awards added a “Best Pizza” category just last year, making Milly’s one of the first pizzerias nominated for the achievement.

Maleski said for the future, he hopes to own his own location instead of renting it, but he doesn’t want a giant restaurant if it means losing the pizza’s personal touch.

“I think that keeping it small makes it special and unique in its own way,” Maleski said.

Milly’s Pizza In The Pan is open Wednesday through Sunday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.