Zelda’s has been dishing out pizza in Sacramento since the ’70s. Do you know its story?

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There’s no need to travel to Chicago to get your hands on deep-dish pizza.

Zelda’s Original Gourmet Pizza, 1415 21st St. in midtown Sacramento, is credited with introducing Chicago-style pie to the capital city in 1978.

Zelda Breslin opened the pizzeria, and her son, Kerry Matthews, currently owns it.

He’s getting ready to sell Zelda’s to someone who’s been working at the restaurant for 40 years, he confirmed Wednesday.

Zelda’s serves cheesy thick-crust pizzas seven days a week. Here are five things you might not know about one of the most loved pizza joints in Sacramento and its history:

1. Sacramento restaurant founder learned to make pizza in Chicago

Zelda Breslin was born in Illinois and learned to perfect her deep dish recipe at Pizzeria Uno in Chicago, which claims to have created Chicago-style pies in 1943.

“There were two guys, Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo, and they started this pizza in Chicago,” Matthews said to The Sacramento Bee in 2021.

He took over Zelda’s when Breslin passed away in 2006.

2. Chicago-style pizza wasn’t embraced by locals at first

Breslin was on a mission to bring Chicago-style pizza to the capital city, The Bee reported in 2006, but it took locals a while to warm to it.

She and her husband, Edward J. Breslin, considered bankruptcy at one point due to a lack of customers.

“Californians didn’t like thick, deep-dish pizza,” her sister Linda Ellington told The Bee the year Zelda died. “They were used to picking up little pieces served on tissue paper.

3. Pineapple doesn’t belong on Zelda’s pizza

You won’t find pineapple on a Zelda’s pizza.

“People call here and want chicken or white sauce, or my favorites. When they ask for pineapple and I just have to laugh,” Matthews said. “Pineapple does not belong on pizza.”

The Zelda’s menu has remained, for the most part, the same since it opened.

“Anything we have we had when (Breslin) was alive,” Matthews said. “We haven’t introduced anything since then. There’s no need to.”

4. Cash was once king at Zelda’s

When Breslin was still running Zelda’s, she refused to accept credit card payments, her son said.

“My mom had a 1950s business model,” Matthews said.

When Matthews took over, he started allowing card payments at the pizzeria, which in hindsight he says was a “big mistake.”

If he could, Matthews would have only accepted cash.

Today, customers can pay with either cash or card.

5. The restaurant hasn’t changed much since 1970s

At first glance, Zelda’s looks a bit inconspicuous.

The eggshell-colored building has a large industrial door in the middle. There are no windows, just a large sign with the name of the restaurant.

“Nope, no windows,” Matthews said. “That’s a damn good thing because I haven’t had any break-ins in 48 years.”

As you walk into the restaurant, your eyes might need to adjust to the dark interior

The restaurant has wood paneling and is filled with awards and a portrait of Breslin at the entrance.

What’s on the menu at Zelda’s?

Zelda’s thick, cheesy pies are known for their crust.

“I started with a basic recipe, and then perfected it for a more flaky, pie-crust type recipe,” Breslin told The Bee in 1987. “We’ve been very successful with it.”

Pizzas are sold whole or by the slice. Small, medium or large sizes are available.

In addition to pizza with traditional toppings such as cheese, sausage and pepperoni, Zelda’s menu features specialty pies such as the Everything, which comes with sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers, onions and anchovies, or the Spinoccoli, which has broccoli, seasoned spinach, fresh tomato slices and three kinds of cheese.

“We don’t do the funky ones like goat cheese and artichoke hearts, but we do sell a lot of garlic,” Breslin told The Bee in 1993.

The restaurant also offers appetizers, sandwiches, salads and pasta.

Pies range in price from $9 to $35, while other menu options range from $3.50 for garlic bread to $12.75 for a cheeseburger with your side of choice.

When are the restaurant’s open hours?

Zelda’s is open 4 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday.

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