Ex-Fresno State athlete opens pizza restaurant.

The Fresno Bee

Published 06/23/08 13:15:00

Back in 1978, Art Williams left Chicago to play basketball for the Fresno State Bulldogs. But over the decades, he never forgot the tastes of home -- the deep-dish pizzas and Chicago-style beef and sausage sandwiches his mother perfected as proprietor of the Williams Inn restaurant on Chicago's South Side.

Now Williams has brought those hometown specialties to Fresno. On May 31, he opened his new restaurant, The Chicago Connection, an all-family affair that he hopes his California customers will like enough to spread far and wide.

"It's like a gourmet pizza, you know?" is how Williams, 49, describes the deep-dish Chicago-style pizza he serves at his new restaurant in the Hoover Marketplace shopping center at the corner of First Street and Bullard Avenue.

Those familiar with his hometown's signature pizza pies -- and pies do accurately describe the thick-crust, heaped-topping Chicago-style pizzas when compared to the more common, thin-crusted New York-style pizzas -- know what he's talking about.

Or, as Williams, a star Bulldogs player turned Fresno educator, describes the difference, "It's like eating a cheap donut, and then going to a French bakery."

But The Chicago Connection isn't just about pizza. Williams also serves signature Chicago-style sandwiches, including tender corned beef and an Italian beef and sausage combination he calls "The Capone," as well as a selection of other dishes and beer, wine and champagne to give "that Chicago flavor."

"It's a family restaurant," he added. His brother, Steve Williams, is a manager, and his son, Arte Williams, runs the front counter. His wife, Debra Williams, and daughter, Niki Williams, also work there.

But if Williams' hopes for the restaurant come true, The Chicago Connection will soon expand beyond his immediate family. He's hoping to franchise the concept throughout the state, "and throughout the nation, really."

Raising a glass

Saint-Gobain Containers Inc., a Madera glass container manufacturing facility, has been recognized for its production of an award-winning product in a national packaging design competition called the Clear Choice Awards.

The plant is being honored for manufacturing containers for Tin Roof Cabernet Sauvignon, winner in the wine category of the competition.

The Glass Packaging Institute, the trade association representing the North American glass container industry, conducts the annual Clear Choice Awards, which recognizes companies that package their food, beverage, cosmetic and fragrance products in glass.

"Glass continues to be the preferred packaging material for 'premium,' 'pure,' and 'sustainable' new products," said institute President Joseph Cattaneo.

The Madera plant is one of 10 manufacturing facilities in North America that will be recognized by the Glass Packaging Institute.

Best Buy opens

Best Buy opened Friday in Clovis, in the Target shopping center at Willow and Herndon avenues.

The 30,000-square-foot store will employ 100 part- and full-time workers.

The store fills a gap in electronics retailers in the city, with many residents driving to the River Park area or elsewhere in Fresno to shop for TVs and computers.

A 2006 study showed Clovis had a shortfall of more than $18 million in sales of electronics when compared to other cities its size.

Best Buy will solve some of that, said Michael Dozier, the city's economic development director. The city is continuing to lure retailers in areas such as bookstores and sporting goods, he said.

Best Buy will also substantially increase sales tax collected by the city, probably in the six-figure range, he said.