Our Story · Since 1968
Rosie’s recipes.
Freddy’s kitchen.
For almost 60 years this family has made Sicilian classics for Chicago — slow-roasted beef, hand-rolled meatballs and the Muffuletta they helped bring to the city.
The original Rosie
Meet Mama Rosie
The recipes started with her.
Since 1968, the Pecoraro family has been feeding Chicago’s northwest side homemade, old-world food. At the heart of it was Mama Rosie — the matriarch whose Sicilian recipes, brought over in the 1960s, still shape everything we make.
It was Rosie and Papa Joe’s bakery that brought one of Chicago’s original Muffuletta sandwiches to the city — the same recipe you can still get from us every single day. The Italian beef and the all-beef meatballs? Those are hers too, made the old way, with no shortcuts.
“The house always smelled wonderful from that homemade goodness.” — and that’s exactly what we’re still chasing.
Meet Papa Joe
The sweet side of the bakery.
Papa Joe came over from Sicily in 1964 with a trade already in his hands. He had learned it under one of the island’s best pastry teachers, and for as long as the bakery’s doors were open he was its head pastry chef — the cannoli, the cookie trays, the Easter bread rings, everything sweet in the case.
Mama Rosie had the savory half of that kitchen, Papa Joe had the other, and Freddy grew up underfoot in both. Pastry is the part of the trade that won’t let you rush it. That’s the half Papa Joe handed down, and you can still taste it in a cannoli we fill to order.
Owner · Chief Sandwich Maker
“I’ve been in the kitchen with my parents since I was five years old, learning to cook from their original recipes. I’ve taken those classics and put my own spin on them.”
— Freddy Pecoraro
Meet Freddy — the sidekick
Carrying the torch (and the marinara).
Freddy Pecoraro grew up at his parents’ side in that bakery, chopping fresh vegetables and herbs and learning every recipe by heart — Mama Rosie’s little sidekick. In 2013 he opened his own shop, Rosie’s West Town Deli, in Ukrainian Village. Two years later it moved to Logan Square and became Rosie’s Sidekick Sandwich Shop.
For years he ran the shop and his parents’ bakery side by side. The name says it all: this is Rosie’s shop, and Freddy is proud to be her sidekick — the one keeping the recipes alive. His rule is simple: if he won’t eat it, he won’t serve it.
Real flavor takes time, which is why our kitchen crafts it all by hand. We roast our Black Angus beef in-house, hand-roll every meatball, flame-grill the Italian sausage, and slow-simmer our Sicilian basil marinara and soups. Every cut of chicken and eggplant parm is breaded to order, and cannoli are piped fresh. The only outside touch? Freshly baked loaves brought in daily from Chicago’s iconic D’Amato’s Bakery — because nothing else compares.
No “fake food”
What “real” means at Rosie’s
Freddy learned a long time ago: quality ingredients aren’t a marketing line, they’re the whole point.
The bread
Brought in daily from D’Amato’s
Now the bread comes in fresh every day from D’Amato’s Bakery in Chicago. We’re proud to serve it, and proud to say where it comes from.
The beef
100% Black Angus, house-roasted
Slow-roasted with just the right Italian seasoning so the beef and au jus pop — never salty like the chains.
The meatballs
All-beef, baked never fried
Tender, gluten-free, all-beef meatballs in our homemade tomato-basil sauce — straight from Mama Rosie’s kitchen.
Only imported EVOO
No seed oils, ever. We finish with 100% imported extra-virgin olive oil, the way Sicily intended.
Old-world Sicilian, since the ’60s
Classics the Pecoraros brought from Sicily, kept intact and made fresh every day.
Keto, vegetarian, gluten-free
From keto bowls to veggie subs, there’s something honest and delicious for most every appetite.
The journey
From a family bakery to your neighborhood
-
1964
Papa Joe comes over from Sicily
He lands in Chicago a trained pastry chef, having learned the trade under one of Sicily's best teachers.
-
1968
Rosie and Papa Joe open the bakery
The Pecoraro family starts feeding Chicago's northwest side homemade, old-world Sicilian food.
-
For decades
The bakery & the original Muffuletta
The bakery becomes a neighborhood institution, bringing one of Chicago’s first Muffuletta sandwiches to the city.
-
2013
Freddy opens his own shop
Rosie's West Town Deli opens in Ukrainian Village, built on the recipes Freddy learned at his mother's side.
-
2015
Logan Square, and a new name
The shop moves to N. California Ave. and becomes Rosie's Sidekick Sandwich Shop.
-
2022
The bakery closes, the recipes carry on
After more than 50 years, Rosie and Papa Joe's bakery closes. The classics keep coming out of Freddy's kitchen.
-
2026
Chicago and Chicagoland catering
Logan Square stays home base, and Rosie's caters anywhere within about 30 miles of the shop.
Taste the legacy
Come hungry. Leave family.
Almost 60 years of Sicilian recipes are waiting in Chicago. Order online for pickup or delivery, or come say hi.
