Tom Dart plans to be delivering pizzas from the Cook County Jail by 2016.
The newest piece of equipment at Cook County Jail might be the ticket out for some inmates.
A hulking $16,000 pizza oven, so heavy it broke the moving pallet, was delivered Tuesday to Division 11, the medium-security facility at 3015 S. California Ave...
"It's amazing because I can make so many different dishes now," said one such inmate, 50-year-old Alfredo (his last name can't be printed as he is awaiting trial). "I was laughing with the guys that I can probably make one of them a pair of shoes out of pasta."
On Tuesday, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart was among the 40 people treated to a two-course lunch cooked and served by the inmates in the Division 11 dining room.
They ate grilled organic vegetables and mixed greens with a balsamic vinaigrette followed by lemony chicken scallopine with potato brandade and asparagus pesto. No pizza, though. The oven was installed the next day.
Dart said next on his list is making the program "sustainable and scalable" beyond the walls of Division 11, similar to what's been done at Due Palazzi, an Italian prison that has been Abate's inspiration all along.
"The ultimate goal is to box and sell [pizza] outside of here," Dart said. "I think we can do it."
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