A new family‑run pizzeria in Mandarin is bringing Chicago tavern‑style pizza — the ultra‑thin, square‑cut pies favored by locals back home — to Jacksonville. Nick’s Pizza Co., a takeout‑only spot at 9766 Old St. Augustine Road, also serves another Chicago favorite: Italian Beef sandwiches.
Owned by Nick and Heather Voigt and their son, Jake, Nick’s Pizza Co. focuses on authenticity, from cracker‑thin crust and edge‑to‑edge toppings to ingredients sourced from Chicago and Wisconsin. The restaurant has quickly drawn attention from transplanted Midwesterners and curious locals through social media buzz and word of mouth since opening.
“The quality of the food. That’s what brings people in … but then it’s that feeling of family here and that feeling of home,” Heather Voigt said. “That’s really what we’re trying to build: this is what it would be like if you went into a local pizza joint in the Midwest.”
As her husband notes, their goal — “Midwest nice” — is the hospitality of friends and neighbors.
The arrival of Chicago tavern-style pizza in Jacksonville adds diversity to an established lineup of regional styles, such as Chicago deep-dish, Columbus, Detroit, St. Louis, New Haven, and traditional New York pies. Jacksonville is also home to popular versions of Neopolitan and Neo-Neopolitan pizzas. In addition, there are local Indian, Mexican and Middle Eastern fusion offerings.
Nick’s Pizza Co. menu: Tavern-style pizzas, Italian Beef sandwiches and more
Nick’s Pizza Co. offers four signature pizzas, but customers can also “build their own” choosing from a selection of meat and vegetable toppings.
Getting the dough right, Voigt said, was difficult in the beginning.
“I did about 40 batches where I’d keep testing it and throwing it away because it just wasn’t crisp enough. So, finally, about a month ago, I kind of cracked the code and got it how I wanted,” said Voigt, adding that he thinks the Northeast Florida humidity sometimes affects the dough making.
Jake Voigt helped refine the dough. He is also the restaurant’s baker, whose speciality is a homemade chocolate cake.
“I make sure I get the best chocolate powder for it. And also combining as many recipes I know to make the perfect butter base, super delicious batter,” said the younger Voigt, who also makes the restaurant’s cookies.
Pizza sizes are: 10-inch, which serves one to two people; 12-inch for two to three people; 14-inch for three or four people; and 16-inch, which serves four or five people. A 10-inch gluten-free crust is also available. Prices vary depending on size and toppings.
“Nick’s Special is our biggest seller. It’s just a good combo. It’s like what we would order back home,” Voigt said.
Heather Voigt said the sausage is the key to that pizza. It’s a premium Chicago-style brand.
“The sausage is from Chicago with the fennel in it. And it is crumbled, not sliced, on our pizzas. And the cheese, we get the cheese from Wisconsin, the best cheese in the world. And we shred it here,” she said, noting they garnish the pies with a sprinkle of Parmesan and oregano.
Nick Voigt also makes the pizzeria’s own tomato sauce. All the vegetable toppings are fresh and chopped daily.
Also centerstage on their menu is iconic Italian Beef —
In addition to pizza, Nick’s offers another taste of Chicago: the Italian Beef sandwich.
Considered by many as the ultimate Chicago sandwich, the Italian Beef sandwich features slow-roasted tender roast beef simmered in a seasoned au jus, known as “gravy.”
At Nick’s, the beef is piled into a crusty French bread roll from Turano Baking Company, which originated in Chicago. Traditionally, the sandwich is “baptized” by dipping it in the warm au jus and topped with hot or mild Giardiniera, a classic Italian relish of peppers and crunchy pickled vegetables.
The sandwich can also be topped with mozzarella cheese. In addition, Italian Beef is also served as a pizza.
The couple said they’re looking to expand the menu in the future, possibly adding a Chicago-style hot dog or a taco pizza.
“We won’t put anything here that’s not true to the Midwest,” Heather Voigt said of their insistence on authentic premium Chicago-style ingredients.
Signature pizzas:
Sandwiches:
Jake Voigt is the family’s pastry chef, who learned the basics from a caterer back home in Illinois and has honed them at the pizzeria. His desserts are as popular as the restaurant’s pizza and Italian Beef sandwiches.
Topping the roster of sweet treats is “Jake’s Super Chocolate Cake, a decadently rich double-layer cake, his chocolate chip and double chocolate cookies, and his Cookie Sundae, a seven-inch chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge.
The pizza is generating social media buzz among former Midwesterners as well as Northeast Florida newcomers who tried it for the first time.
One poster described it simply as “legit” in a Facebook post.
In addition, award-winning Jacksonville chef Dennis Chan of Blue Bamboo Canton Bistro posted: “This mom, pop, and son-run restaurant packs a lot of love into their food.”
‘Sharing a true taste of home.’
Although the pizzeria is their first as owners, the husband and wife both have worked in the restaurant business, beginning in their hometown of Woodstock, Ill., about 60 miles northwest of Chicago.
The couple met as co-workers at a mom-and-pop Italian restaurant. Back then, he was a cook and she was a waitress. They initially went their separate ways, but the couple reunited in 2016 and married in 2018.
Although Voigt spent most of his career in the restaurant business, he took a detour: working at and ultimately buying a retail metal supply company. He ran that company for 15 years before selling it. Looking for new challenges, the couple decided to open their own pizzeria.
Chicago tavern-style pizza has been a tradition on their family table, the couple said.
“Growing up in the Midwest, Friday nights meant one thing — calling our favorite local pizza place and bringing home a pie that was always just right,” Nick Voigt said of the pizza that was “thin and crispy, loaded with great sauce, generous toppings, cut in squares, and finished with plenty of amazing cheese.”
Other styles of pizza, like New York and Detroit, are good, but Chicago tavern-style is their favorite.
“I love New York pizza, but this is the pizza that I grew up with, and I want to share it with everybody,” Nick Voigt said of their decision to offer Chicago tavern-style pizza.
Every pizza they make is inspired by their memories of those Friday night pizzas back home and “built with the same care and quality we grew up with loving,” Heather Voigt added.
Not all Chicago pizza is deep dish
Since opening their pizzeria about a month ago, the family said it’s been fun meeting transplanted Midwesterners like themselves and introducing Jacksonville-area natives to Chicago tavern-style pizza.
“I think it’s interesting because everyone, if you’re not from Chicago, everyone said ‘Oh, is it deep dish?’ when we said we opened a pizza place,” Heather Voigt said. “It was because everyone outside of Chicago and the Midwest thinks we all eat deep dish.”
They said deep dish is more of a once-in-a-while treat for locals that is favored by tourists. Tavern-style is a daily staple considered by locals as Chicago’s signature pizza, according to Chicago food writers and social media posts.
Tavern-style pizza became popular in the 1930s and 1940s. Rooted on Chicago’s South Side, it is likely believed to have been created by tavern owners as inexpensive bar food intended to keep patrons drinking.
Chicago deep-dish pizza, invented in 1943, is similar to a casserole. It’s baked in a pan, has a thick buttery crust and a layer of tomato sauce on top.
Chicago tavern-style pizza is cut into small “party squares,” which make it easier to eat and share. People need a knife and fork when they eat deep-dish pizza.
Nick’s Pizza Co. took over the roughly 1,100-square-foot space vacated by Stoner’s Pizza Joint in the Mandarin retail center.
The new pizzeria is open from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, noon to 9 p.m. Friday, and closed Monday and Tuesday.
They expect to expand their hours during football season, Heather Voigt said.
Teresa Stepzinski is the dining reporter for the Times-Union. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @TeresaStepz or reach her via email at tstepzinski@jacksonville.com.
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Nick’s Pizza Co. brings Chicago tavern‑style pizza to Mandarin
Reporting by Teresa Stepzinski, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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