Did You Know About Pizzeria Uno’s Boston Connection?

When you think Uno's you think Chicago deep dish pizza. But did you know about Pizzeria Uno's Boston connection?

Of course, the OG Pizzeria Uno is a Chicago product. The first Uno's opened in Chicago's River North neighborhood in 1943, the brain child of ex-University of Texas football hero Ike Sewell and his friend Ric Ricardo, a WWII G.I. They were the owners, but the famous deep dish pizza recipe is credited to chef Rudy Malnati, Sr. For the next 35 years, Uno's became synonymous with Chicago deep dish pizza.

Then, in 1978, the famous pizza left Chi-town. That's the year Sewell franchised the Uno's name and concept to Uno Restaurant Holdings Corporation, based in the Boston area. MA resident and businessman Aaron opened the first Uno's outside of Chicago in Boston, expanding the menu and, eventually, expanding to 15 MA cities and towns. And their corporate HQ? That's in Norwood.

Once you do the math, that's a lot of pizza over the years: 45 years of Uno's in the Boston area, and 80 years of Uno's in Chicago. So Uno's is doing something special: "To celebrate our 80th birthday, we invite you to share your unforgettable moments at Pizzeria Uno! Tell us about your experiences, whether it's your first date, a family tradition, or your favorite hangout spot – we want to hear it all!"

You can share your stories here. And when you do? You'll be in the running for a two-night stay in Chicago, including a paid trip for two visit Pizzeria Uno's original location and a dining experience at the corner of Ohio and Wabash. It's a delicious slice of deep dish pizza history. Now, if only they'd bring back the Uno's where the old Woburn Mall used to be. That was my favorite one.

It's National Pizza Party Day, I guess? Turns out it's cheaper to throw a pizza party in Massachusetts than in most states.

It's becoming more and more difficult to keep track of all of these "National Days" these days. But sure enough, according to the National Day Calendar, National Pizza Party Day takes place every year on the third Friday in May. Fascinating. So National Pizza Party Day is like Thanksgiving, in that the actual date changes from year-to-year, as opposed to, say, Christmas, which is on a set date. Oh, and please don't confuse this with National Pizza Day, which takes place on February 9.

I wonder why they went with "the third Friday in May" for this one? The only thing I can think of is that it's probably the most likely time of year to have a pizza party? Think about it. Mid-May is the time of year when school is winding down, graduation celebrations are ramping up, and a lot of moving-up and moving-on takes place for kids. LOTS of pizza parties going down in mid-May by way of a celebraish. This now makes sense to me. So let's see how much it's gonna cost to throw one in the Commonwealth.

Turns out ol' "Taxachusetts" (my dad loves that one) is a fine place to have a pizza party. Gambling.com, who stays on top of sport betting sites, crunched the numbers on the crust. State-by-state, they measured cost of pizza, cost of beer, cost of Coca-Cola, and cost of potato chips: the standards for any good pizza party. States were given a Party Value Score out of 100, then ranked from least to most affordable. Let's cut into the Top 10 below and see where Massachusetts slices, er, stacks up.

Pizza Party Cost: $27.32

Party Value Score: 82

Pizza Party Cost: $27.32

Party Value Score: 82

Pizza Party Cost: $26.69

Party Value Score: 84

Pizza Party Cost: $26.64

Party Value Score: 86

Pizza Party Cost: $26.28

Party Value Score: 88

Pizza Party Cost: $26.26

Party Value Score: 90

Pizza Party Cost: $26.20

Party Value Score: 92

Pizza Party Cost: $26.15

Party Value Score: 94

Pizza Party Cost: $26.00

Party Value Score: 96

Pizza Party Cost: $24.75

Party Value Score: 98

Pizza Party Cost: $24.63

Party Value Score: 100