In 1972, Torontonian Jan Mercutio returned home from a trip to Chicago with a craving for authentic deep-dish pie. Unsatisfied by the local offerings, she practiced up in her kitchen, guided by three words she had scrawled on her calendar during her trip: flavor aroma fresh.
She soon began inviting friends over to sample the results of her tests. Her friends clearly enjoyed what she whipped up, as they were soon asking to come to dinner in numbers that threatened to overwhelm her. Wanting to accommodate the hunger she had fed, though, Jan put her head to figuring out how to make her pizza more widely available. In 1974, she opened the first Big J's Deep Dish Pizza restaurant on St. Joseph St., and local residents and visitors alike have continued to join the ranks of her fans ever since.