Desi Boys Pizza & More Far North Side Dining News

Edgewater’s Broadway corridor has a new pizza joint, and it’s not slinging your standard deep dish.

Desi Boys Pizza opened two months ago at 6147 N. Broadway, bringing South Asian-inspired fusion pies to a stretch of the Far North Side neighborhood that sits close to Loyola University’s Rogers Park campus. Owner Bhavesh Patel said the early response has been strong, with customers working their way through a menu that doesn’t fit neatly into either a pizzeria or an Indian restaurant.

The concept is straightforward. You can order a classic pepperoni or sausage pie, or you can go for what Patel calls the “meaty twists” and “veggie twists.” Those include butter chicken pizza, chicken tikka, paneer tikka, and chili paneer pan pizza. Prices run $10 for a small and up to $30 for an extra-large.

“Like most people, I love pizza and I wanted to come up with something different and unique,” Patel said. “We have all the fusion pizzas, what we call the meaty twists and the veggie twists, and then we have our classic pizzas as well all under one roof.”

Patel isn’t a restaurant newcomer. He also runs Indian boutique clothing store Sahil Exclusive at 2605 W. Devon Ave. in West Ridge, and the fast-casual vegetarian spot Annapurna Simply Vegetarian, which has locations at 2600 W. Devon Ave. and in suburban Hoffman Estates. He said he saw a gap near Loyola and moved to fill it, betting that college students and neighbors hungry for something different would show up. They did.

The food is halal. Dough is made daily. Sauces are house-made from Patel’s own recipes. The menu also includes chili and tandoori wings, garlic and cheese bread, and fries.

“Everything is all fresh. The vegetables are cut fresh daily. The dough is made daily, and we manufacture our own sauces in house. That’s our own recipe,” Patel said.

He’s already thinking about what comes next. Patel said he hopes to open additional Desi Boys locations near other busy college neighborhoods within the coming year. Desi Boys Pizza is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The pizza spot isn’t the only change on the Far North Side’s restaurant front.

Fried Egg Cafe, a brunch restaurant that generated anticipation in the neighborhood, has opened on Bryn Mawr Avenue in Edgewater, as reported by Block Club Chicago, replacing an Italian eatery at 1039 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. The cafe’s menu includes pancakes and other breakfast staples.

Uptown, the dense and historically layered neighborhood just south of Edgewater along the lakefront, is set to get a cluster of new restaurants that signals continued commercial investment in the corridor.

Three projects are in the pipeline. A late-night coffeehouse offering Yemeni coffee is planning to open in Uptown, filling a gap for residents who want a place to sit after most kitchens have closed. The neighborhood is also expecting what’s being described as the nation’s first Puerto Rican supper club, a concept that would bring a formal, sit-down take on Puerto Rican cuisine to a neighborhood with deep ties to the city’s Latino communities. And a Mexican restaurant from a Michelin-starred chef is also in the works for Uptown, a sign that the area is pulling in culinary talent that might once have defaulted to the West Loop or River North.

Chicago’s Michelin Guide presence has historically concentrated in a handful of neighborhoods, but operators and chefs have increasingly looked to the Far North Side as rent and competition on the better-known restaurant rows have pushed up costs.

For Edgewater and Uptown, the current round of openings reflects a pattern that community development groups and city planning documents have tracked for several years: foot traffic around transit corridors, particularly along the Red Line stops at Bryn Mawr, Argyle, and Lawrence, tends to draw food and beverage operators looking for density without the premium price tags of downtown or Lincoln Park.

Patel, for his part, said the diverse customer base walking into Desi Boys has made the fusion concept work in ways he anticipated but still finds satisfying to watch play out daily.

“People are loving the pizza all the way to the crust,” he said. “You don’t have to be South Asian to know that cuisine, and to have that on a pizza, they’re all jumping on trying it, and they’re loving it.”