04 | May | 2009 | Mid-Michigan Dining

Vito & Nick’s II – Tinley Park, IL

4 05 2009

7020 183rd Street
Tinley Park, IL 60477
(708) 532-8486
Website
Menu

Vito & Nick's II on 183rd Street in Tinley Park.

My brother has recently found South Side Chicago pizza. Last summer, he went to a White Sox game with my aunt and some of her co-workers. Those co-workers stopped at a pizzeria in Matteson where my brother had a cracker thin crust Italian beef pizza for the first time. Since then, he’s talked about it on many occasions.

When J and I can only make it back as far as Chicago, we usually meet my parents for lunch on Sunday before heading back to Michigan. J hasn’t seen my niece since February, so I asked my brother if he wanted to meet for pizza in Tinley Park. Of course, he said yes.

I need to start this off by explaining the lineage of Vito & Nick’s. A few months ago, I reviewed The Original Vito & Nick’s on 84th and Pulaski. Vito & Nick’s II is not part of the original restaurant, but it is an offshoot of that tavern owned by the son of namesake Vito Barraco. That son opened two stores called Vito & Nick’s II which are in no way affiliated with the Original. The Tinley Park location isn’t one of those two. After the original Vito & Nick’s II stores took off, the store started to franchise. The Tinley Park store is one of those franchises. So even though it’s not a direct descendant of the legendary tavern on Chicago’s south side, they do have a pretty similar menu.

They open the store on 183rd near Harlem at noon on Sunday’s. We got there just a little before noon. By the time we got my niece out of her carseat and started walking towards the restaurant, a man was coming out to unlock the door. The waitress must have seen us as he was starting to push two tables together as we were walking in. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tags: Illinois, Pizza, Pizzeria, thin crust, Tinley Park, Vito & Nick's, Vito & Nick's 2
Categories : Illinois, Pizza, Tinley Park

Messana’s Candy Land – Tinley Park, IL

4 05 2009

7062 183rd Street
Tinley Park, IL 60477
(708) 342-2244
Website

Messana's Candy Land on 183rd Street in Tinley Park

Since we didn’t have enough time to make a trip to my parents house south of Chicago, I talked them in to meeting us for lunch a little closer to the city. It had been over two months since J got a chance to see my niece, so I sweet talked my dad and brother with pizza. J and I got to the restaurant about 15 minutes before they did and when we pulled in, we noticed a candy shop a couple storefronts down.

Messana’s Candy Land is near the corner of 183rd and Harlem Avenue not far from I-80. The store is in a mixed used building that looks to be pretty new. There are a row of stores on the bottom floor and a few floors of apartments above them.

When we walked in, we didn’t know what kind of candy store we were walking in to. It was just before noon on a Sunday and we were the only ones there. There was a man and a women working behind the counter making popcorn and stocking shelves. I didn’t really have an intention of buying anything, but some of the things were just too good to pass up.

Like most candy stores, they have some throwback candy that were popular when I was a kid. J found something she wanted and since she was grabbing some candy, I decided to pick up a package of Fun Dip. They were reasonably priced at $1.15 and who doesn’t like raw sugar? Read the rest of this entry »