ARMAND’S PIZZA IT’S ALL IN THE FAMILY

BY LARRY ATSEFF | PHOTO BY VICTOR HILITSKI

Since 1956, starting on Taylor Street in Chicago, then Elmwood Park, to today at West First Street in Elmhurst, the Michael Caringella Sr. family has kept the business in the family. Caringella’s daughter, Angela, says, “We have been in this location for 22 years, and we still use the same family recipes for the pizza and our other signature dishes. We offer many varieties of pizza including our Yardstick pizza which is 3 feet long and one foot wide. It is a big seller for larger families. We use the freshest ingredients. That’s the way it has been for 66 years, and it will never change. Why should it? Business is good. We also have a thriving restaurant in Arlington Heights.”

“Our customers and workers love us and have been with us for years. Back in the early days, many in our family worked in the restaurant in Elmwood Park. And, believe it or not, some of our workers from Elmwood Park, and now their families, still come over here…as customers. They like the way they were treated and, of course, they love the pizza and items like the stuffed artichoke appetizers and our homemade minestrone and pasta fazoli soups. My father and mother were very generous with their knowledge, their time and their money, helping others. It is like there is one large Armand family.”

When you walk in, you see a handsome bar to your left, and tables and chairs for 100 guests to the right.

When you come to pick up a pizza, you go to the window in the back, and you see a large, spotless, well-lit kitchen. It’s big because the menu is extensive, take-out is big and so is catering.

At the bar, there are a couple of key memories. Michael Sr., loved sports, especially baseball. In California where he lived in retirement, a group of major league baseball players was in a fundraising golf tournament, near his home, and he happened to speak to a man running the match. One thing led to another, and Michael, Sr. ended up with a rare, autographed picture of Joe DiMaggio. That picture is just above the first cash register in the business…still in use at the bar.

There is another picture that Angela is very fond of. It is a photo of her late son Mark with Francis Ford Coppola, the director of the “Godfather” films. Mark was running the Elmhurst store, starting in his late teens, and got to be an expert at everything from making the pizza to running the bar, and handling the books. At a wine-tasting event, Mark met Coppola and they got to be friends because of the famous director’s wine business. Those wines, of course, are on the menu. Mark passed away in 2019. Now, Angela runs the business in Elmhurst, while brother Michael Jr., runs the Arlington Heights restaurant.

As for the future, she and her brother are working on ways to continue to keep it in the family and keep the traditions. She concluded our interview, saying, “Everyone has food memory, and people have great memories of our food, so we want to keep it going.” ■