That's Amore! Mama and Me Pizzeria Celebrates 28 Years in Homewood

HOMEWOOD, IL -- When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's Mama and Me Pizzeria. In celebration of 28 great years in Homewood, the beloved pizza joint is offering half-off specials through the end of the month. Mama and Me first turned on its neon sign Sept. 1, 1989 on Dixie Highway. It has been amore ever since.

Owner Kim Phillipos was in her twenties when she opened the restaurant with her late mother, Bernadine Leetz, across the street from the Homewood Public Library. Fourteen years later Mama and Me moved down the street to its current location at 18219 Dixie Highway, in what some locals still refer to as the old Final Touch Bath. The sit-down restaurant seats 100 and offers a wide selection of wine, live music on weekends and an expansive menu of Italian cuisine made from old family recipes.

Phillipos is a Harvey girl and graduated from Thornton High School. Growing up, she’d watch her Aunt Lucia Martino make pizza in her kitchen during Sunday afternoon family dinners. The restaurant uses Aunt Lucia’s secret pizza recipe today to make Mama and Me’s famous pizza.

"I make my own dough every morning," Phillipos said. "We make our marinara sauce from scratch and create our own cheese made from a secret blend. It makes us different from everyone else."

She recalls her early years in the the restaurant business with her mother by her side helping to make Phillipos’ dream of owning a restaurant come true. Although her mother passed away ten years ago, the "mama" as in Mama and Me, is still the restaurant's guiding spirit.

“My mother and I would get up early in the morning to make dough, slice vegetables and get ready for the day,” Phillipos said. “Then I would go home. She’d work the afternoon shift, I did the evening shift. We did this seven days a week.”

Over the years, Mama and Me has been supported by loyal base of regulars. Her clientele is a mix of nice Italian boys in their 60s and 70s who enjoy good Italian cooking, young families and romantic couples of all ages. To celebrate their Big 28, Mama and Me is offering half off thin-crust pizza and calzone through Sept. 30, including delivery, dine-in and carryout orders. All-you-can-eat pasta is also half off this month in the dining room.

“It was always my dream to open my own restaurant," Phillipos said. "I just want to show my appreciation for our customers. I have some coming in that I haven’t seen in awhile. We want to thank everyone in Homewood for supporting us.”

Mama and Me Pizzeria, 18219 Dixie Highway, Homewood, is open 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. For reservations and catering, call 708-799-7770.