From Chinatown Stall to Lakeview Storefront: A Noodle Shop Makes Its North Side Debut — Plus, Milly's Pizza Brings Its Cult Pan Pies to Broadway
By Socialhood News · Lake View ·
Lake View neighbors, two additions to the neighborhood's dining landscape are worth your attention this week — one a beloved Chicago pan pizza institution that has planted its flag on Broadway, and one a quietly momentous debut from a Chinese noodle shop that has graduated from a Chinatown basement food court to its very own Lakeview storefront.
First, the pizza news that pan-crust devotees have been tracking since January: Milly's Pizza In The Pan has opened at 3409 N. Broadway in Lake View. Owner Robert Maleski announced the Broadway location earlier this year, targeting a mid-March opening, and the shop has now had months to find its footing and its regulars on the corridor. Maleski launched Milly's in 2020 after being laid off from his serving job during the early months of the pandemic — a classic Chicago story of reinvention under pressure — and built the brand into one of the city's most celebrated pan pizza programs. The new Broadway location offers more seating than some of Milly's other outposts and also introduces a limited run of Detroit-style pizzas, a new addition to the Milly's lineup that gives even longtime fans a reason to make the trip. For a stretch of Broadway that thrives on independent food concepts with genuine craft behind them, Milly's arrival is exactly the kind of anchor that rewards neighbors who eat local.
Now, the more under-the-radar story — and arguably the more surprising one: a Chinese restaurant that built its reputation as a stall in a Chinatown basement food court has opened its own standalone location in Lakeview. According to The Infatuation's continuously updated guide to new Chicago restaurant openings, the concept has dumplings and rice bowls on its menu, but noodles are the undisputed specialty. The arc from a Chinatown food court stall to a freestanding Lakeview address is the kind of chef-driven growth story that Chicago's dining scene does better than almost anywhere — a cook builds a following in one community, earns the trust of a broader city audience, and eventually opens the doors to a place of their own. For neighbors who have been quietly eating their way through the neighborhood's expanding roster of independent restaurants, this is a genuine find worth seeking out.
Taken together, Milly's Pizza In The Pan and the new Lakeview noodle shop tell a story about what makes this neighborhood's food culture worth paying attention to. Milly's is a pandemic-era origin story that has now earned its place among Chicago's most serious pizza names, and its Broadway location gives Lake View residents a local outpost for one of the North Side's most sought-after slices. The noodle shop, meanwhile, represents the other great Chicago dining tradition: the immigrant-owned concept that earns its stripes in one part of the city before bringing its cooking to a new neighborhood entirely. Both are the kind of restaurants that reward repeat visits and loyal regulars.
If you haven't made it to Milly's Pizza In The Pan at 3409 N. Broadway yet, the pan pies and the new Detroit-style option are reason enough to go. And if a bowl of hand-crafted noodles from a Chinatown-born kitchen sounds like the right way to spend a fall evening, keep an eye on The Infatuation's Chicago guide for the full address and hours as they update. As always, if you're spotting something new taking shape on your block — a permit posted, a storefront coming to life, a new face behind a counter — tag it on Socialhood. The sharpest neighborhood reporters in Lake View are the ones who actually live here.
Sources:
1. https://blockclubchicago.org/2026/01/13/petite-edith-is-open-millys-pizza-expands-and-other-north-side-restaurant-news/
2. https://www.theinfatuation.com/chicago/guides/new-chicago-restaurant-openings