Chicago Suppers, from Deep Dish to Global Comfort
Eating after work on your own comes with different schedules here. Pizano's Pizza & Pasta opens daily, while Expat operates Thursday through Saturday, adds an automatic 18 percent gratuity and draws reports of crowds at late events.
Loop and Fulton Market
Madison Street Supper
Pizano's Pizza & Pasta closes at 11:00 PM every day. In the Loop dining room, tin ceilings hang above red-checked tablecloths, with sports memorabilia on display. Buttery deep-dish pies share the menu with ultra-thin pizzas built on cornmeal crusts. Classic Italian pasta dishes offer another dinner choice. Rudy Malnati Jr. opened the restaurant in 1991. Seasonal sidewalk seating adds an outdoor option for a meal after work.
Randolph After Dark
American cafe classics and global comfort food share Expat's menu in Fulton Market. Cocktails and natural wines round out the drinks. The venue opens only Thursday through Saturday at 4:00 PM. Thursday hours end at 10:00 PM. Friday and Saturday nights run until 2:00 AM and 3:00 AM, respectively. Bills include an automatic 18 percent gratuity. Visitors report crowded late-night events and inconsistent service. Cover charges may apply to select late-night and promoter events.
Two Takes on Supper
Pizano's Pizza & Pasta anchors the pairing in Chicago pizza tradition, with buttery deep-dish pies, ultra-thin cornmeal crusts, and classic Italian pasta. Expat shifts the emphasis to American cafe classics, global comfort food, cocktails, and natural wines. Their settings carry the contrast, tin ceilings, red-checked tablecloths, and sports memorabilia at the first, a 1950s look and photo booth at the second. Read together, they offer different expressions of comfort, one rooted in Italian staples, the other spanning a broader menu.
