When you walk by Wicker Park’s Tortello, you’ll see pasta makers mixing, kneading and shaping dough, helping transform flour, water and eggs into an exquisite homemade meal. Sure to entertain anyone exposed to the shop’s floor-to-ceiling front window, “it’s a gorgeous way to show people where pasta comes from, which doesn’t come from a plastic bag, which doesn’t come from a shelf,” owner Dario Monni said.

Head sfoglina, or pasta maker, Alex Mulgrove added, “People do a double take. ... Everyone’s walking past giving a thumbs-up from young to old pressed against the window. You won’t imagine how excited people get just watching you crack an egg.”