The middle of three children, Steven Decker was born in Chicago to Roy and Kathryn Tomasello Decker, who were living near North Avenue and Larrabee. When Decker was 3 years old, they moved to Logan Square, where he grew up living close to his Sicilian-born grandparents and his mother’s five siblings and their families.

On Sunday mornings, Decker awoke to the smell of sauce cooking in the kitchen. “My mother was a really great cook,” he says. “Pretty much everything she made or baked was always delicious.”