Stunod's Pizzeria Is Coming to Taylor Street — and for Two Brothers, It's a Lifelong Dream Finally Coming True
By Socialhood News · University Village Little Italy ·
University Village Little Italy is about to welcome a new neighbor, and this one arrives with deep roots, a great origin story, and serious Southwest Side street cred. Stunod's Pizzeria, a beloved Garfield Ridge pizza staple, is expanding to Taylor Street — and for the two brothers behind it, the move is about as personal as it gets.
Frank and Austin Battaglia will open the second location of their Garfield Ridge restaurant on the corridor they visited often as kids with their dad, a well-known food distributor. The second location is set to open on Taylor Street later this year. For a family that has spent decades moving through Chicago's food world, planting a flag on one of the city's most iconic dining corridors represents something far bigger than a business expansion.
Frank Battaglia first opened Stunod's Pizzeria at 6535 W. 63rd St. in 2019 with his brother Austin, after spending years pushing an Italian ice cart together on the Southwest Side. The name itself — "stunod" is Italian-American slang for a scatterbrained or goofy person — signals the kind of personality the Battaglias bring to their work: warm, unpretentious, and deeply rooted in Chicago's Italian-American community. "My brother and I always wanted to have our own shop," Frank Battaglia told Block Club Chicago. "It's a lifelong dream of ours to expand upon our concepts and open more locations."
The road to this moment, though, has been anything but smooth. Owning a business and opening a second location hasn't been the smoothest ride for the brothers, who have been working with tight profit margins and dealing with several challenges since 2019. "When you start two months before COVID, you're basically on hard mode," Frank Battaglia said. "I spent basically all my 20s inside these walls of that restaurant." That kind of dedication — grinding through a pandemic, navigating thin margins, keeping a neighborhood pizzeria alive when so many didn't make it — is exactly what makes the Taylor Street expansion feel earned.
For Little Italy, the arrival of Stunod's is a genuine addition to the corridor's identity rather than a departure from it. Taylor Street has always been a place where family-run Italian-American businesses find their footing and, over time, become institutions. The Battaglias grew up making the pilgrimage to this very stretch of the city with their father, absorbing the energy of a neighborhood that takes its pizza and its pasta seriously. Now they're joining it — not as outsiders, but as a family that has been part of Chicago's Italian-American food world for as long as they can remember.
The Garfield Ridge original has built a loyal following on the Southwest Side in just a few years, which makes the Taylor Street timing notable. The neighborhood is coming off one of its biggest summers in recent memory, with the 2026 Little Italy Festa drawing enormous crowds to the corridor in August. Arriving in the wake of that energy, with a fall opening on the horizon, means Stunod's will be introducing itself to neighbors during one of the most community-engaged seasons of the year.
No address or opening date for the Taylor Street location has been officially confirmed yet, so keep an eye on Stunod's channels and watch for updates as the build-out progresses. In the meantime, neighbors curious about what's coming can make the trip out to the original location at 6535 W. 63rd St. in Garfield Ridge to get a preview of what Taylor Street is about to receive.
Have you been following Stunod's journey, or are you a first-timer just hearing about the Battaglias? Drop a comment and tag @SocialhoodChicago with #LittleItalyChicago — let's give these two brothers a proper Taylor Street welcome before they even open the doors.
Sources:
1. https://blockclubchicago.org/2026/08/24/stunods-pizzerias-taylor-street-location-a-dream-come-true-for-2-brothers/