Nico Osteria is a YES
I knew I was going to like Nico. And not just like it, love it. I have been wanting to dine here since it opened nearly two years ago, and I finally made it to Nico on Monday, for lunch, with my Dad. The L-shaped dining room is perfectly decorated, with subtle colors, mixed seating with cushioned chairs, comfy booths and tables. ...
Festa Italiana hosts Italian recipe contest
Festa Italiana invites home cooks to enter their favorite easy-to-prepare Italian recipes in the festival's inaugual Chef's Choice Recipe Contest. A committee will select the top five, and those participants will be asked to present their dish to a judging panel at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 20 in the Cucina Showcase at Festa Italiana. The panel includes...
Buongiorno Chicago - The Italians are coming!
May 2, 2015 - May 4, 2015 Saturday 10:00 AM - Monday 2:00 PMWrigleyville - Lakeview, Clark & Eddy - Chicago, Illinois Buongiorno Chicago - The Italians are coming! Just in time for the James Beard Awards, Lavazza, Italy's favorite coffee, will be perking up Chicago by touring the streets with the Lavazza mobile café, the company...
Buona Celebrates 35 Years Serving Up Italian Beef
Buona, The Original Italian Beef, celebrates 35 years of serving up its famous beef to all of Chicagoland on January 21. Joe Buonavolanto, Sr. opened the first Buona restaurant in 1981 in Berwyn, Illinois, bringing Italian beef to the suburbs. Buonavolanto was among a group of Italian immigrants who made the now-famous sandwich a stap...
Pastina Marries Farm-to-Table Cuisine with Italian-American Standbys
Coming from a restaurant like Two Urban Licks in Atlanta, Michael Serdula had plenty of ideas on how to run a commercial kitchen. That boisterous and beloved big city restaurant is praised for its progressive farm-to-table approach, and Serdula had every intention of establishing a similar program at his new gig up north as opening chef of Pastina....
Italian Cuisine Takes Chicago By Storm
Chicago is having a very Italian moment. Throughout 2013, the city has enthusiastically participated in the nationwide celebration of the Year of Italian Culture with concerts, stage performances, and, most notably, the stunning summer light installation Divina Natura at The Field Museum. But as the nation revels in Italian culture, in the Windy Ci...
Italian restaurant to open in East Dundee
Another Italian restaurant will fill the space left by Pasquale's in downtown East Dundee. Dino Mondelli, who operates Dino's Pizza and Pasta in Lake in the Hills, is leasing the site at 310 N. River St., to open LaTavola Ristorante & Pizzeria. Pasquale's Pizzeria & Delicatessen shut its doors last month after about a year in busi...
Cuisine scene with Italian American roots
Numerous eateries in our town, past and present, were the inspiration and perspiration of local Italian American families with names such as Amato, Capadona, Di Salvo and Schiro, including at least a couple of dining dynasties. Biagio Gargano, born in Sicily in 1936, gave us Gargano's Pizzeria, the Monastery and Bellini Italian Restaurant. Younger...
Tesori: A treasure indeed
I would never have expected one of the most enjoyable Italian restaurant experiences I've had in Chicago to take place inside Symphony Center. Yet there I sat in Tesori, digging into wood-grilled octopus on a bed of smoky cannellini beans with pancetta, looking around to find not the senior set you might expect, but a diverse crowd of peop...
1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza Franchise Announces Its Second Michigan Location at Independence Marketplace, Allen Park, Michigan
Allen Park, Michigan is just a few months away from authentic, hand-tossed Neapolitan Pizza, with a create your own option, fired to perfection in just 2 minutes. 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza is coming to Allen Park, Michigan. Located at Independence Marketplace, adjacent to Lowe's, 1000 Degrees is looking to open this coming July 2015. "...
Mario's Italian Lemonade opens for the summer on May 1
It's that time of the year—Mario's Italian Lemonade is opening for the summer. The tiny establishment is a Taylor Street institution, but it's only open between May and September. Mario's serves some of the best Italian ice in the entire city, and people from across town flock to the stand for a taste of the frozen goodies. The stand boast...
The audacity of Michael Sheerin's Cicchetti
In the early 60s the ailing Italian countess Amalia Mani Mocenigo was ordered by her doctor to adopt a diet we might today label Paleolithic. In short, she wasn't to eat cooked meat. So while she was visiting the legendary Harry's Bar in Venice, proprietor Giuseppe Cipriani did what any resourceful, self-respecting member of the hospitalit...