In addition to his development work with Grand Properties, Michael Chezan is the founder of Kidz Academy and Elite Urban Education Corporation, both companies focused on child care and education, and he contributes to Chicago’s Kids Foundation. In his time off, Michael Chezan enjoys eating Italian food.
Chicago has one of the biggest Italian immigrant populations in the US, so it has an abundance of Italian restaurants to choose from. Italians first began to arrive in the city in the 1850s, and came in increasing numbers throughout the early 1900s, settling especially in the neighborhood known today as Little Italy, located on and around Taylor Street.
Little Italy boasts places like Mario’s Italian Ice that have been around since the 1950s as well as small groceries like the Maxwell Street Market, where people can purchase their own high-quality Italian ingredients to cook at home. The neighborhood’s oldest restaurant is Bruna’s, which opened in 1933, but new places like Three Aces have also opened recently, keeping the area trendy. Taylor Street is also the location of the city’s yearly celebration of Italian food, wine, and culture, the Festa Italiana.
