Pinzas, an Italian Pizza Style Chicago’s Never Seen, Arrive Wednesday in Lincoln Park

Chicago is a pizza town with stunning variety that’s allowed for pizza museums and pizza tours, and a new Lincoln Park Italian restaurant wants to add to the city’s landscape. Casati’s Pizza Vino opens on Wednesday at the northwest corner of Fullerton and Clark where Emilio’s Tapas and Standard Market Grill fed locals a few blocks away from the beach. Owner Stefano Casati is an Italian immigrant who learned the restaurant business working for Stefani Signature Restaurants.

Casati’s serves a variation of pizza that Chicago hasn’t seen. The restaurant at 444 W. Fullerton Parkway serves pinzas made of imported rice, wheat, and soy flours. They’re oblong shaped and baked in a gas oven. Casati said they’re popular in Italy because they’re lighter with less carbs. At the same time, the crusts are crispy and bubbly. He’ll serve eight different pinzas. Casati is bent on bringing current Italian trends to Chicago, believing that Americans sometimes romanticize the old world too much.

But the menu is more than pinzas. Chef Christian Fantoni has a menu of steaks, salmon, and handmade pastas. Fantoni worked at RPM Italian and Phil Stefani’s 437 Rush. Casati’s will have separate menus for the lounge and dining room. The bar will have a different vibe and Casati wants to offer customers specials as often as he can — not just during government-regulated happy hours.

This is Casati’s first own restaurant, and coincidentally his old boss — Phil Stefani — opened his first restaurant about a mile west on Fullerton. Take a tour through the space below. Casati’s Pizza Vino opens at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.