Monday, May 7, 2018

Chicago's Gino's Goes "Deep" into the South With Planned Opening in Poncey-Highland

Gino's East of Chicago is coming to Georgia with a location on North Highland Avenue in Poncey-Highland.  Established in 1966,  Chicago-based Gino's will replace the former Rize Artisan Pizza in Poncey-Highland in the ground floor retail space of the 675 N. Highland apartment complex.  Rize closed last August after less than a year in business. Its Sandy Springs location closed this past March and remains vacant.  
Classic Chicago Gino's 


Gino's confirmed their upcoming opening in a Facebook post late last week, saying "Gino’s East is getting #DeepAF in Atlanta this summer."  'Coming soon' signage went up at the approximately 3,600 square foot space announcing the new location at about the same time.  The restaurant, which specializes in Chicago-style deep-dish  pizza, has sixteen locations nationwide, including the forthcoming Atlanta outpost and another in Nashville that is expected to open soon.  Most of the group's restaurants are in the midwest, but the company also operates single locations in Arlington, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona, as well as a pair of restaurants in Mexico. 

In addition to their chain of pizza restaurants, Gino's also operates a brewing company, Gino's Brewing Co., as well as a mail-order pizza and grocery business.  Locally, Gino's frozen pizza is available at The Spicy Peach in Toco Hills and Tip Top Kosher Market in Chamblee.  

"Breastauranteur" Doug Guller of ATX Brands, known for his Bikinis Sports  Bar & Grill, purchased the franchise rights to Gino's East outside of Illinois in 2014 and eventually opened at least five locations in Texas.  Today, only the Arlington location remains in business and online evidence suggests that Guller is no longer involved in the brand.  

While Atlanta has plenty of Neapolitan, New York-style and basic chain pizzerias, Chicago-style deep-dish is harder to come by.   There are franchised locations of Nancy's Chicago Pizza in Buckhead, Midtown and Johns Creek and of Rosati's, another Chicago pizza operator, in Cumming and North Buckhead/Sandy Springs.  (The Cumming and North Buckhead/Sandy Springs locations share a name and have similar menus but are not the same.)  

A fourth location of Nancy's in East Point at Camp Creek Marketplace recently rebranded as Opium Chicago's Pizza Restaurant. 

A new Nancy's is coming soon to Perimeter Village in Dunwoody.  


Atlanta does already have at least one pizza restaurant called Gino's, on Cheshire Bridge Road in Piedmont Heights. but it offers New York Pizza.   


Gino's East of Chicago expects to open later this summer.  



Are you excited for a new Chicago-style pizza offering in Atlanta?  What is your favorite type of pizza?  Where should Gino's open next?


Please share your thoughts below.  

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gino's was my one deep dish experience in Chicago. It was okay - just too much for me. I prefer the New York style. It also takes forever to cook because of how huge it is.

Anonymous said...

This is GREAT news! I love Chicago style pizza!

Unknown said...

I want Lou Malnati's Pizza.

Anonymous said...

Aurelio’s Pizza in Marietta is another good Atlanta area, Chicago Style pizza spot. Just don't try to order it for lunch. They only serve Chicago Style for dinner.

fsg said...

Do the franchised branches of Gino's East encourage graffiti inside the restaurant, like the original does? (Graffiti allowed everywhere but on the seat cushions, as I recall)

Anonymous said...

wooohooo!!!!!

Unknown said...

Yes lawd! We NEED some Chi town pizza badly! I can NOT wait! Portillos? Are you next? :)

jeff a. taylor said...

Armand’s on Capitol Hill in DC was a GREAT Chicago style for a couple decades until last year. Their secret was they did an all-you-can eat buffet of pie and salad which killed the absurdly long cook times. Accordingly, it wasn't cheap, but it was a decent value if you were a starving Hill intern basically living on one meal a day. On their end it still made money as 3-4 slices is about all anyone can down. Of course that location closed down last spring.

BK said...

Like the commenter above mentioned Aurelio's does a deep dish for dinner, the pizza they're really known for is a great representation of Chicago style traditional pizza with its flaky buttery crust, the same more spiced tomato sauce and, most importantly, the authentic fennel sausage. I'll definitely eat some Gino's East and leave some graffiti on the wall if they let you do that outside the Chicago locations. I've got to say leftover cold Chicago Deep Dish pizza is probably the best leftover food in the world...

Anonymous said...

The Lou Manaltis is best from Chic-town ! I also like the IL Gina’s. The VA Gina’s near D.c. is good too but not as good as IL Gina’s. And yes to the Portills too. The chi jumbo wieners with sports pepper!! Mmmmmmn...,

Anonymous said...

The Chicago in Atlanta website (http://chicagoinatlanta.com/pizza) says it isn't family-friendly because of advertising. Is that the deep AF thing?

I've been to Rosati's in Cumming. Excellent. Aurelio's wasn't up to par. We need a Giordano's and Lou Malnati.

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