Italian Express opens on Devon Avenue (1983)
Mohammed and Jamila Ismail founded Italian Express, a halal pizza and gyros restaurant, after recognizing a need for Zabiha halal fast food in Chicago. The business started on Western Avenue and later moved to Devon Avenue.
It became a neighborhood fixture for halal pizza, gyros, and wings.
Over 40 years later, Italian Express still serves Devon Avenue and remains a community favorite.
It shows the Devon Avenue halal food corridor has sustained family-run restaurants for decades, giving Halal Wing Shack a proven local market to enter.
