BUSINESS: Pizza, pasta aplenty at Graziano’s in Niles

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Graziano’s, at 5960 W. Touhy Ave., Niles, prides itself on its cost-friendliness, use of locally produced ingredients, and popular hand-tossed, brick oven-baked pizzas. | Natasha Wasinski~For Sun-Times Media

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Updated: August 29, 2011 12:16AM

In the shadow of Niles’ Leaning Tower YMCA is family restaurant serving Italian dishes that might just make the village’s sister city, Pisa, proud.

Graziano’s, 5960 W. Touhy Ave., prides itself on its cost-friendliness, use of locally produced ingredients and hand-tossed, brick oven-baked pizzas.

As owner Steven Demet puts it, “pizza and pasta are the breakfast of champions.”

Demet grew up working at his family’s restaurant in Morton Grove, called Parfais in the 1970s and then Maxwell’s in the ’80s. He met his future wife, Maria Gonzalez Demet, while they studied at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. The couple opened Graziano’s in 1994 with Demet’s longtime friend, Robert Graziano. Graziano left his namesake after four years and the restaurant’s current general manager, Paul Cipolla, joined the partnership.

Demet’s father, Nick, worked his first job in the Graziano’s building when it was the Red Balloon. Now the 82-year-old takes phone orders at Graziano’s on weekends.

“It’s his first job and last job,” Demet says.

It’s like Graziano’s was meant to be, Gonzalez Demet adds.

Demet says Graziano’s opened when there weren’t too many family restaurants in the area. Now two and three generations of families are dining there, he says.

The restaurant’s two brick ovens can reach up to 900 degrees and create crispy, lightly burnt-crust pizzas that take only 5 minutes to bake. A combination of apple, cherry and oak hardwoods give Graziano’s pizza a distinct flavor. As the restaurant explains, “it’s the wood that makes it good.”

Saying Graziano’s serves a variety of pizzas is an understatement: There are 28 topping choices and a dozen signature pizzas, like the grilled steak fajita, vodka prosciutto and barbecue-chicken pies.

The eatery originally made authentic Italian-style pizza with light layers of tomatoes and mozzarella. Customers want lots of cheese and sauce, Demet says, so the pizzas have evolved into a Chicago-style thin-crust loaded with toppings.

The kids menu has peanut butter-and-jelly and mac ’n’ cheese pizzas that adults will often order, Gonzalez Demet says.

For Valentine’s Day weekend Graziano’s served heart-shaped margherita pizzas. Its marquee read: “Love Bites.”

The pizza may be more fun but it’s the pasta dishes that sell the most at Graziano’s. Favorites include the baked ziti chicken ragu, bow-tie pasta with vodka sauce, and classic spaghetti and marinara with two baseball-sized meatballs.

For dessert, old-fashioned black cows, ice cream shakes and banana splits are served from the restaurant’s retro fountain bar made by Chicago’s Bastian-Blessing, one of the earliest and most renowned manufacturers of soda fountains.

The majority of Graziano’s menu will make carbohydrate-lovers drool. To accommodate others the restaurant serves dishes that are vegan, gluten-free and low-carb.

A key to Graziano’s success is importance the owners’ place on supporting local charities and businesses. The restaurant regularly provides catered food for up to 100 at Catholic Charities events in Des Plaines. Recently Graziano’s donated 20 pizzas to District 219’s first “Pizza Wars” fundraiser to benefit the Education Foundation for Excellence. Graziano’s also participates in the Taste of Sister Cities and Taste Morton Grove.

“We like to stay close to the local community that has supported us all these years,” Demet says.

Graziano’s philosophy is the freshest ingredients are those locally grown and produced. Fresh blueberries for the crostada dessert come from Ciopolla’s family’s blueberry farm in Michigan. Homer’s in Wilmette supplies the ice cream.

The father of Graziano’s produce vendor used to sell to Demet’s father. Graziano’s gets its meat from the 120-year-old Harrison’s Poultry Farm in Glenview, and Chicago’s L&L Packing, a third-generation family-owned and -operated business established in 1955.

Graziano’s has been buying Bella Rosa tomatoes from a farm in Escalon, Calif., for the past 17 years. Demet says that unlike other suppliers the California farm doesn’t package the tomatoes with citric acid, which interferes with their true flavor.

“Maybe people wouldn’t know if we used frozen or cheaper ingredients but I would know,” Demet says.

Graziano’s uses 60 cases of tomatoes, 1,200 pounds of flour and 40 pounds of fresh basil a week. Garlic is a staple ingredient for everything, Demet says, except for maybe the ice cream. Ice cream is also the only food that’s frozen. Everything else is made from scratch and made to order, Demet says.

Shell Berman, of Skokie, used to frequent the Demet family’s restaurant, Maxwell’s. After it was sold, Berman followed Demet to Graziano’s. He now dines there two to three times a week. Sometimes his children and grandchildren travel from Milwaukee to join him.

“Every good restaurant can have a bad meal once in a while,” Berman says, “but I haven’t had mine (at Graziano’s).”

Most days Berman dines with friends John and Marion Engler. The three often split a single dish because the portions are large.

Berman says he’s only seen one person finish an entire plate at Graziano’s, a teenager who “probably had to run a marathon the next day,” Berman jokes.

Berman and the Englers say they keep coming back for the tasty food and great service.

Laughing, Marion Engler says: “I hope it doesn’t get too popular or we won’t get a seat.”