Coming from a restaurant like Two Urban Licks in Atlanta, Michael Serdula had plenty of ideas on how to run a commercial kitchen. That boisterous and beloved big city restaurant is praised for its progressive farm-to-table approach, and Serdula had every intention of establishing a similar program at his new gig up north as opening chef of Pastina.

But his bosses had some of ideas of their own. Since 1969, the Longos have been supplying the entirety of Lake County with its pizza, pasta and chicken parm fix. Restaurants like Longo's Pizza and Joey's Italian Grille are not only enduring fixtures in the communities in which they reside, they are standard bearers for Italian-American cuisine. Last year, that dining dynasty added the upscale Pastina to its portfolio of eateries.

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Source: http://www.clevescene.com