Great Pizza at Mozzaluna
Tucked inside the Old World Wisconsin-like Stonewood Village in Brookfield is a cozy Italian restaurant serving Neapolitan-style pizzas. Still the most common style of pizza in Italy, Neopolitan pies are the godfather of American pizza as we know it today. Everything from national chains to Maria's and Ian's are descendants of Neapolitan pizzas. T...
Nora: The joy of cooking in Cleveland's Little Italy
Ribbons of hand-rolled pasta nestled in a luxurious sauce of good cheese, cream and coddled egg, spiked with salty nuggets of pancetta then tossed with fried potato matchsticks for a charming unexpected crunch and slices of cured egg yolk for even more umami richness. Those with a Proustian food memory or preternatural love for the extra-opulent wi...
New Lettuce Entertain You concept il Porcellino to replace Paris Club Bistro & Bar
by Morgan Olsen Hubbard Street is parting ways with Paris Club Bistro & Bar, which opened in 2011, and making way for il Porcellino, a new Italian concept from shared parent company Lettuce Entertain You. The new spot—from R.J., Jerrod and Molly Melman and chef Doug Psaltis (RPM Steak)—is being billed as a "rustic everyday trattoria."...
Italian Hotspot Osteria Langhe Opening Fast-Casual Animale in May
When Osteria Langhe opened on W. Armitage Ave. in 2014, it was a pioneer of the now-booming new restaurant row in southern Logan Square. The team, made up of owner Aldo Zaninotto and chef Cameron Grant, hopes to now change the fast-casual game with their second Italian concept, Animale, slated to open in late May at 1904 N. Western Ave. ac...
Bacino’s serves Italian classics in warm, friendly setting in Lincoln Park
Some have called it the Magnificent Mile of Lincoln Park — the long stretch of shops and restaurants down Lincoln Avenue would delight just about anyone. It's my belief the sun shines particularly bright on the street for a reason. Perhaps it's the fact that the street not only features a Jimmy Johns and a Potbelly's, but other American classic res...
Portillo's to open new restaurant in Champaign
by Greg Trotter The fighting Illini just got a recruiting boost from an alum: Portillo's is coming to town. "It's nice to go back to a place where you have some good memories," said Keith Kinsey, Portillo's CEO and class of 1976 graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. For Portillo's, the Oak Brook-based ch...
Inaugural Italian Food and Wine Festival to Land at Eataly in Mid-October
A new food and drink festival focused exclusively on Italian cuisine will hit Eataly Oct. 14-16, schooling Chicagoans on everything from Arneis to ziti. Presented in partnership with Identitá Golose, a nearly decade-old celebration of Italian cuisine founded by food journalist Paolo Marchi, the three-day festival includes an instructive di...
Italian Wines and Fine Dining Event to Help Orchestrate Music in our Community
South Shore Orchestra will host their 9th Annual Wine Dinner on January 31, 2015 featuring Nicholis wines from Valpoicella, Italy at Bon Femme Cafe in downtown Valparaiso. You are invited to experience an evening with a 5 course gourmet meal from one of Valparaiso's finest restaurants paired with 5 distinctive wines including "Amarone", t...
Rebooting the boot
By Michael Jackman In metro Detroit's dining scene, there's perhaps no food as misunderstood as Italian. Most customers think of Italian food as "spaghetti and meatballs," or such "Italianese" derangements as "steak Gorgonzola Alfredo" dreamed up by some corporate chain. More accurately called "Italian-American," this fusion fare is relentlessly "...
Take a look around the new Bar Toma
Bar Toma, Tony Mantuano's Italian restaurant in the Gold Coast off Michigan Avenue, reopens Aug. 21 as a casual pizzeria. The restaurant had been closed since July 6 for renovations, including the addition of a pizza oven. "At Bar Toma we have realized that people want our pizza, and we've been trying to do so many different things th...
Eataly Chicago Celebrates its First Anniversary
On tuesday, December 2 in honor of Eataly Chicago's first anniversary, for the first time in the windy city, nine Chicago restaurants will be reunited under one roof for a night only, to celebrate the event "Una Serata Tra Amici," an evening with friends. Chefs from nine great Chicago restaurants will join Eataly's kitchens and cook as par...
Al’s Italian Beef serves Chicago favorites in Chino, Alhambra
So, what comes to mind when you think of Chicago cuisine? Certainly deep-dish pizza; hot dogs served with bright green relish, hot peppers, dill pickles and tomato slices; and Italian beef sandwiches, right? Well, the latter, I must confess, has always left me wondering what all the fuss was about in the Windy City. My prior experiences w...