Robert Maleski, the founder of Milly's Pizza in the Pan, is opening a second concept this winter — a thin-crust, square-cut pizzeria called Jake's Place, set to take over the former Armand's Pizzeria space in North Center. The restaurant, planned for 4159 N. Western Ave., is aiming for an early-December opening with a crust Maleski describes as crispy and as thin as a cracker.
Maleski is naming the restaurant after his 1-year-old son, Jake, according to Block Club Chicago. It's a sharp departure from Milly's, the round-pan pizza operation Maleski founded in 2020, which has built its reputation on thick, caramelized, cheese-edged crusts rather than the cracker-crisp style he's chasing at Jake's Place.
From Furloughed Server to Pizza Entrepreneur
Maleski's path into pizza started during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he was furloughed from his serving job and began advertising his pan pizzas on Facebook, the outlet reports. That side hustle grew into Milly's Pizza in the Pan, which debuted in 2020 out of a Logan Square ghost kitchen producing just 10 pizzas a day, according to Eater Chicago.
The pan-pizza concept quickly became known for its caramelized, cheese-edged crusts, tangy tomato sauce and limited daily output that often sold out, per the Block Club report from earlier this year. Since then, Milly's has expanded steadily — opening a storefront on Uptown's Argyle Street, then a Berwyn location, and more recently moving from Uptown to West Town. The chain now operates locations in West Town and Lakeview, with the Lakeview spot offering Detroit-style pizza, and Milly's was named one of the world's best pizzas by Time Out in 2025.
Scaling Up With a Bigger Kitchen
Maleski told Pizza Today, “We have a lot more space at our new location, which means we can scale up our operation,” referring to Milly's expanded kitchen, which specializes exclusively in round-pan pizza with a frico crust built on roughly 36 hours of cold fermentation. The larger kitchen and improved oven were expected to double production from 60 pizzas a day to 120, per Eater Chicago.
Jake's Place represents something different for Maleski — a chance, as he put it in the Block Club interview, to test himself against the city's best thin-crust pizza places and grow as a pizza maker. He said owning a restaurant had always been his dream, and he credited his grandmother, Emily Maleski, a Polish immigrant who cooked from scratch and passed her knowledge down to him. He also said he was inspired by Burt's Place in Morton Grove, founded by Burt Katz — who was also the original owner of Pequod's Pizza — to begin experimenting with his own recipes.
A Vintage Oven Already Waiting in North Center
The North Center building that will house Jake's Place closed as Armand's Pizzeria in the summer of 2025, and Maleski said the space needs little renovation since it already has a working kitchen and dining area. He reportedly spotted the for-rent sign while driving to check out a separate location in Evanston.
Inside, the kitchen already had a Faulds pizza oven, a style patented by John Faulds in the 1930s with a rotating, Ferris-wheel-style design that became popular at Chicago-area pizzerias in the 1950s. Maleski said the Faulds oven slow-cooks pizzas, making them extra crispy — a quality he's leaning into by also cold-curing the dough at Jake's Place, refrigerating it so it dries out and crisps further in the oven. A listing for the 1,530-square-foot space at 4159 N. Western Ave. previously described it as equipped with a pizza oven, two hoods, refrigerators, freezers and an 8-by-10-foot walk-in cooler, according to a property listing for the address.
What's on the Menu — and When
The menu at Jake's Place will probably stick to five or six pizza options plus a build-your-own choice, Maleski said. Potential offerings include a giardiniera pizza with sausage, a vodka sauce pie with pepperoni, a chili crunch and basil combination, and a supreme topped with roasted peppers, mushrooms, onions and sausage.
Maleski spent a year trying to perfect the caramelized crust that defines Milly's, and he's bringing that same attention to detail to Jake's Place's design, which will feature checkered tablecloths, retro signage, awnings and stained-glass lighting fixtures. The restaurant's hours will be 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday once it opens in early December.
