The chrome Harley-Davidson parked outside Lilette on Magazine Street most nights belongs to a restaurateur who escaped Chicago. Five years ago, Anthony Potenzo owned two of the hippest joints in my hometown, Three Aces and Charlatan. When rising rents threatened profits, Potenzo called it quits. That was the culmination of a hospitality career for an Italian kid who grew up on Taylor Street.
 
When Potenzo was a young rocker in a Valentino suit, no socks and a huge personality, he took over for legendary maitre'd, Aurturo Petterino at the Pump Room. Frank Sinatra once tipped him $500. He welcomed guests at Rosebud and Jilly's Piano Bar on Rush Street, once a Rat Pack hangout in a corner of the Gold Coast called the "Viagra Triangle."