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HINSDALE – They may be at a new location, but it's still the same old Baldinelli's that Hinsdale residents have been ordering pizzas from for 25 years.
The Distasio family has been running Baldinelli Pizza – Hinsdale's oldest pizza joint – since July 2013 when they took it over from a family friend. In October 2014, they moved the restaurant from its previous location at 32 E. Hinsdale Ave. to it's current location at 114 S. Washington St.
According to owner Tom Distasio, the new Baldinelli Pizza location features seating for 35, a banquet room that can accommodate guests for large events, a bigger emphasis on the restaurant’s gelato and Italian ice offerings and a new brick oven for “old world”-style pizzas, in addition to the traditional Baldinelli’s pizza Hinsdale residents have come to love.
“We wanted to expand and also bring in a place [for customers] to sit down,” Tom Distasio said of the reason for switching addresses.
Previously, Baldinelli’s pizzas were available for carry-out and delivery only.
“Now you can sit down and get a pizza fresh right out of the oven,” Tom Distasio said. “If the kids want a [traditional style] cheese pizza, we can do that, but the parents can order an old world-style for themselves if they want something different.”
The restaurant also now offers a number of seafood dishes – including a fish sandwich for Lent – and a roasted chicken dinner.
Vince Distasio, Tom’s son and the manager of Baldinelli Pizza, said that giving customers a place to sit down and eat in the restaurant has been good for business.
“It’s opened up a new customer base for us,” Vince Distasio said. “People never really knew we had gelato before, but now it’s right out there. Even in this cold weather [sales have] been fantastic.”
Tom Distasio believes it’s the quality of the food that has brought their old customers to the new location, in addition to new customers coming in for their first time.
“Everything is fresh; nothing is frozen,” Tom Distasio said. “We make everything in house. We make our own Italian beef, we stuff our own Italian sausage, our meatballs are all homemade. Everything is made right there for you.”
For Vince Distasio, it’s the customer service that keeps the customers returning time and again.
“We have a lot of regulars,” Vince Distasio said. “I like to talk to [the guests] and get to know them. I get to know everyone who comes in here.”