By Emma Sarran Webster Two years after opening, Siena Tavern is still one of the hottest restaurants in Chicago, and this summer, its star chef Fabio Viviani is proving that lightning can strike twice. Bar Siena, Viviani's newest restaurant with partners Lucas Stoioff and David Rekhson, opened its West Loop doors on July 25 to an already e...
READ MOREby Marissa Conrad Pasta and prosciutto butter toast await in the West Loop. "I'm getting my second espresso right now," says Sarah Grueneberg with a laugh as she bustles around the kitchen of Monteverde, her new Italian restaurant in the West Loop. It's a busy morning: Besides the typical dough prep — most pastas on the menu...
READ MOREby Florence Nelson The piccolo used to be just a "little wooden flute" to most people. We heard it played in bands — especially in "The Stars and Stripes Forever" — and in an occasional Vivaldi concerto performance. That was about it. Composers used the piccolo to provide color in orchestral works — the way cooks spice up their sauces with garlic...
READ MOREby Lou Carlozo If you think it's a long way from the Chicago to the South Pacific, then you haven't watched Lawrence E. DiStasi making magic on stage. And magic isn't too strong a word: As a founding member of Lookingglass Theatre, DiStasi helped conjure from thin air a theater company that has become a Chicago gem. And it's with...
READ MOREItalian influence on American history can be traced back to Christopher Columbus and Americo Vespucci. The Founding Fathers, especially Jefferson and Franklin, were familiar with the Italian language and culture and with Roman history. Jefferson was a supporter of Filippo Mazzei and encouraged him in the early 1770s to bring Italian vintners to Vir...
READ MOREL'ICE - Agenzia organizza la partecipazione alla collettiva italiana alla PLMA di Chicago dal 17 al 18 novembre 2014, presso il Centro fieristico Donald E. Stephens Convention Center di Rosemont. Nel 2013, la vendita a dettaglio negli USA di prodotti alimentari store brand a marchio privato ha raggiunto 112,2 miliardi di dollari (+3,9% del 2012)....
READ MOREComing directly from Rome to Chicago we can experience a Big Night about Cinema and Taste. The Italian Cultural Institute will host a Star night with Italian tastes and smell, enriched by the stories of movie stars who will reveal the secrets of their success, on the set as well as in the kitchen, and accompanied by the pictures of celebrities take...
READ MOREItalian master glassblower Lino Tagliapietra has a thing for undulating shapes and eye-catching color. For those unfamiliar with his work, even a cursory Google image search makes this abundantly clear. In a new installation titled "Metamorphosis," however, the 80-year-old artist created a series of open and closed glass forms in soft gray...
READ MOREItalian Consul General Adriano Monti presented Josette Mentesana Weber with the Cavaliere dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana at the consulate's Festa della Repubblica celebration on June 2 at the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago. The award was bestowed by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano upon Josette in honor of her...
READ MOREThe first North American appearances of the year for the singer-songwriter/actor, these performances mark the release of Voltarelli's new studio album "Lamentarsi come ipotesi" (To Complain as Hypothesis) and follow his critically acclaimed two-night stand at last summer's Montreal Jazz Festival. The album provides a metaphoric soundtrack...
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