Most chefs will tell you that trying to open a restaurant in the middle of an unpredictable pandemic—one that constantly upends construction schedules, hiring processes, supply chains, and countless other details—is like trying to cross a highway while dodging 18-wheelers. For chef Will Gilson, this metaphor is perhaps a bit on the nose.

“I was walking down the street in Chicago, and I almost got hit by a truck,” says Gilson, whose Cambridge restaurant Puritan & Co. has been a perennial favorite for modern New England cuisine since 2012. During his time in the Windy City, Gilson happened to be stewing on names for one of his next projects back here at home, an Italian restaurant.