If you were to make a list of the most iconic Chicago foods — and not the ones like deep dish pizza and Italian beef that are the subjects of hair-splitting debates, but the truly quintessential ones that speak to the city’s rich culinary contributions — Pasta Yiayia at Lula Cafe would almost certainly claim a spot there.
Not only has Lula churned out upwards of 50 Pasta Yiayia [pronounced YAH-YAH] orders a day, six days a week for almost a quarter century, but the recipe predates the restaurant as a staple of co-owner Amalea Tshilds’s childhood. Her two, now teenaged, children have grown up eating it just as she did.
