GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Pizza lovers will soon have a new spot in Grand Rapids to get their fix.
Grand Rapids restauranteur Mark Sellers, who launched HopCat, Stella’s Lounge, Grand Rapids Brewing Co. and more, on Friday will open Loretta’s Deep Dish. The takeout- and delivery-only restaurant specializes in the famed Chicago-style deep dish pies that put the Windy City’s pizza on the map.
The pizza joint is located in the basement of Max’s South Seas Hideaway, an immersive three-story tiki-themed bar and restaurant at 58 Ionia Ave. SW that Sellers opened in 2019.
Loretta’s also offers Chicago-style tavern pizza, oven-baked sub sandwiches and lasagna.
“I’m really excited about this, because I think the pizza is the best pizza in Grand Rapids,” said Sellers, who named the restaurant in honor of the aunt of a childhood friend who introduced him to deep dish pizza. “I think people are going to love it.”
Sellers said Loretta’s has been in the works for about three months. He purchased a pizza oven and enrolled chef Rich Williams in a one-week, advanced course at the prestigious North American Pizza and Culinary Academy, which is located just outside Chicago.
He said the concept is well-suited for the current culinary environment, where restaurants — because of the coronavirus pandemic — have been forced to pivot to carryout and delivery now that dine-in service has been temporarily suspended.
“Darwin said it best — he said those that survive are not the strongest or fastest, they’re the ones most adaptable to change,” Sellers said. “So, in the immortal words of Charles Darwin, I’m trying to follow that advice.”
Loretta’s menu boasts seven different deep-dish pizzas. Each pays tribute to the people, places and institutions the Windy City is known for.
For example, The Smashing Pepperonis — a nod to The Smashing Pumpkins, an alternative rock band from Chicago — includes cup and char pepperoni, a blend of cheeses, and house-made red sauce. The Wrigleyville Dudebro comes with cup and char pepperoni, ham, capicola, salami, spicy giardiniera, spicy arrabiata sauce, and is topped with grated Romano cheese and a blend of herbs.
“One slice can almost be a full meal,” said Sellers, who likens a deep-dish pizza, where the sauce is served on top of the cheese rather than underneath it, to a casserole or pie.
The restaurant also specializes in the lesser known Chicago-style tavern pizza.
Unlike traditional Chicago-style pizza, tavern pizza comes with a crispy, thin crust with a noticeable crunch when you bite into it. The 10-inch pizzas are cut into squares. Loretta’s sells nine varieties of tavern pizza. The Blue Line — named after the train route between the city and Chicago-O’Hare International Airport — includes pulled chicken, applewood smoked bacon, red onion, pineapple, peppadew with chipotle BBQ sauce, and is topped with avocado ranch drizzle.
“In Chicago, the locals don’t eat deep dish — that’s for tourists,” said Sellers, who lived in Chicago from 1998 to 2007. After you’ve lived in Chicago long enough to “become a local, everyone just eats that tavern-style pizza.”
In addition to pizza, Loretta’s offers 10 types of oven-baked sub sandwiches. They include classic meatball and pizza subs, as well as more intricate creations. The Millennium Park, a nod to the famed park in downtown Chicago, includes pulled chicken, brussels sprouts, applewood smoked bacon, artichokes, roasted red peppers, house-made red sauce and Nashville hot sauce.
There are also three varieties of lasagna for sale.
Loretta’s marks Sellers’ seventh restaurant concept, and his first since the coronavirus pandemic put a financial pinch on him and other restaurant owners.
In June, BarFly Ventures, the parent company of HopCat, Stella’s Lounge and Grand Rapids Brewing Co., filed for bankruptcy. The company, which Sellers founded, said at the time that its debt of $30 million had become unstainable. The company has since been sold to new owners, and Sellers is no longer affiliated with the entity.
Max’s South Seas Hideaway, which Sellers opened independently of BarFly, also filed for bankruptcy last year.
Sellers said Max’s sales have been hurt by the pandemic, and that it entered bankruptcy to work out payment plans with its vendors. He said the restaurant has not yet exited bankruptcy. However, Max’s remains open for business, and Sellers says he will remain the owner once its bankruptcy case concludes.
While there’s no shortage of pizza restaurants in Grand Rapids, Sellers said Loretta’s is unique because there’s few spots in town that offer Chicago-style deep-dish and tavern pizza. Another stand out feature: high quality ingredients.
Loretta’s makes its own tomato sauce and Italian sausage in-house, and it gets its bread from Beer City Bread Company. The cheese comes from Grande Cheese Company in Wisconsin, which uses high-quality dairy to create authentic Italian cheese for independent restaurants.
“I didn’t want to this half-assed,” Sellers said. “I did not want to do this to be just another pizza place. We’re using really high-quality ingredients because that’s what the world needs.”
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New Chicago-style deep dish pizza restaurant opening in Grand Rapids - MLive.com
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