A restaurant idea that chef Pat Pascarella came up with more than five years ago has debuted in Midtown. Alici opened last month in the Midtown Promenade at 931 Monroe Drive. The restaurant took over the space left vacant when FROGS Cantina closed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Pascarella said he’s been wanting to open a seafood and pasta restaurant with Amalfi Coast influences since visiting the region in 2015 with his wife. “I grew up fishing my entire life,” he said, recounting his childhood in Connecticut. “My biggest two passions in life other than my family are seafood and Italian food, so I wanted a way to combine them together.”