You have to hand it to Ron Onesti, the unabashedly proud Italian-American concert producer who operates the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. The man’s got courage—and likely a steady stream of marinara running through his veins. At a time when eating carbs, in some circles, can be as perilous as a plate of blowfish, some might have fretted about anchoring a pricey new downtown Evanston concert venue with a restaurant devoted to Italy’s favorite pillow-shaped starch bomb: the humble but versatile raviolo.

Not Ron. Should the name of his new old-school trattoria—Rock ‘N Ravioli—fail to tip you off that he believes the days of South Beach Diet are numbered, note the restaurant’s portrait gallery, which depicts various rock stars—Dean Martin, Kiss, Frank Sinatra—gorging on one ragu or another.