Pat’s Pizza and Ristorante – Go-to local pizza spot
Chicago is known for dishing out some of the best pizza pies in the country. From deep dish to thin sliced, Chicago knows no bounds in providing endless opportunities to enjoy the age-old Italian favorite. With such a buzz around pizza, the well-known restaurants serving up the slices are often crowded and standard – that’s why it’s important to fi...
Polenta Bar Brings Taste Of Northern Italy To Lake Street In West Loop
A new fast casual restaurant focused on all-things polenta has opened on Lake Street in the West Loop. Milan natives Emile Chalouhi and chef Camillo Villa opened The Polenta Bar at 1002 W. Lake St. last week. Chalouhi and Villa moved to Chicago from Italy to open the restaurant this year. While American Italian cooking often focuses on pasta dishe...
Mequon Italian restaurant celebrates 40 years
The owners of Ferrante’s Restaurant in Mequon credit their success to family recipes from Rome that have remained unchanged for 40 years. "If you would have told me I will be serving my Italian-American fare in 2017 when I opened in 1977, I may not have believed you,” said Amy Ferrante-Gollwitzer, owner of Ferrante’s Restaurant and Signature Cateri...
Family brings comfortable Italian back to Arlington Heights with Via Arenella
A second generation of Arlington Heights restaurant royalty has set up shop in an aging strip mall and is serving well-crafted, familiar Italian fare in a family-friendly atmosphere under the name Via Arenella. Franco Longobardi watched his parents, Mario and Rosa, work in the restaurant business his whole life. He watched them spend long nights on...
PASTArrific devastated by early morning fire
A fire that ravaged the Italian restaurant PASTAriffic in the early morning hours Thursday caused damages estimated at $1.25 million, according to a Kokomo Fire Department report, and the building is being considered a total loss. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is undetermined, said Fire Chief Nick Glover, adding that the KFD is i...
Jerry ‘Augie’ Morelli founded thriving suburban restaurants
Augie Morelli built a thriving restaurant business on ripe tomatoes, mortadella, capicola, salami, provolone cheese and Turano bread — delivered fresh, twice daily — and a vinegar-and-oil dressing he dubbed “Love Potion No. 9.” He paid attention to details. When he opened Augustino’s Rock and Roll Deli in West Chicago, he felt the homemade Italian...
Taurus Sparks New Home For Wood-Fired Pizza In Six Corners
The likes of Spacca Napoli and Forno Rosso have new competition in the Six Corners Shopping District, as the long-awaited Neapolitan eatery Taurus fired up its brick oven for the first time Monday. After ending a two-year legal battle with an absentee contractor, owners Rado and Silvana Vidakovic became the latest entrepreneurs to breathe life into...
Sangamon County history: Springfield’s pizza heritage extends back 70 years
Springfield got its first taste of pizza 70 years ago this month. It was the start of something big. Fred and Anna Viele, who operated The Wonder Inn tavern, 808 E. Washington St., began marketing "La Pizza" as "something new and tasty from Italy" in February 1947, according to advertisements in the Illinois State Journal. Pizza was a "delicious It...
Restaurant exec Gabriella Littleton
“I grew up in the kitchen. I didn’t walk in the front door of the restaurant, I walked in the kitchen door.” Gabriela Littleton has a little more skin in the game as director of banquets and private dining at Chicago steakhouse staple the Erie Cafe. To be exact, she has four generations worth, having spent the past two years working in concert with...
'Nduja Artisans to open West Town restaurant/deli
The Franklin Park salumeria that taught Chicago how to pronounce the spicy spreadable Calabrian sausage known as "'nduja" is opening an Italian restaurant, deli and shop in West Town. Tempesta Market, from the father-son duo behind 'Nduja Artisans, will debut in early or midsummer at 1372 W. Grand Ave. "We needed a place to showcase our products wh...
Italian-themed deli cafe to open in Downtown Detroit
A new Italian deli cafe in the heart of Downtown Detroit is set to open next month. La Pecora Nera, which translates to "The Black Sheep," is set to open its doors in mid-March. "It's been a lifelong dream of mine," said co-owner Zach Kostegian. "To have my own place, and to be in the city. I love Detroit. It's home." The deli cafe is from the bra...
Explore The Polenta Bar, A Novel Italian Fast-Casual Concept In West Loop
The Polenta Bar takes the assembly-line/fast-casual concept and spins it with a fresh Northern Italian twist. The polenta-focused restaurant opens on Thursday at 1002 W. Lake St. It’s a novel idea that looks like a unique meal option in the West Loop, which is slated to be open for lunch and dinner. Ownership touts their polenta machines that are i...