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In Chef's Choice, the Naperville Sun asks local chefs to share their culinary background and experiences and talk about a featured dish found on their menu. This week, we speak with Alberto Torres, 39, assistant chef at Braconi’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria in Naperville. He first started cooking 20 years ago as a teenager in Naperville at La S...

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Ashley, Paulina and Jon Swan remember their grandfather, Vern Swan, as a guy who liked to sit in his recliner, stirring his Scotch with his pinky, and listen to jazz. Lee, his wife, was a great cook, especially known for her Swedish meatballs. They had a little garden in the back yard, where they'd grow the tomatoes that would find their way into h...

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Happy February and welcome back to “Boomtown Eats!” We hope you enjoyed last month’s feature of El Dorado’s own E&R – we are still remembering those potato wedges – and we hope that everyone has had a chance to check out E&R for themselves. This month we are turning to another downtown El Dorado establishment – directly across from Sports Alley and...

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Villa Fortunata’s closed on New Year’s Eve 2005, its owners determining there wasn’t enough business to generate necessary income. Lewiston is only so big – there’s only so many people – and with so many other places to eat, it just wasn’t a viable operation. And yet, just three months later, another Italian restaurant opened … at the same location...

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Having studied pizza making from Italy to San Francisco, and upon consulting on his first pizzeria in Detroit called "Mootz" this past January, 6-Time World Pizza Champion and Restaurateur Bruno DiFabio has opened Lord of the Pies, an exciting new concept in Greenwich, CT. The name is a nod to Bruno's reputation within the pizza world and his knowl...

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Westchester food fans who follow chef Mogan Anthony of the Village Social Restaurant Group (comprised of Village Social in Mount Kisco and Rye, Pub Street in Pleasantville and Locali Pizza Bar and Kitchen in New Canaan, Connecticut.) will be happy to know there's a new sibling in the family. Locali Pizza Bar and Kitchen, run by Anthony's colleagues...

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If you’ve been to Italy – or to an Italian restaurant, I guess – you’re definitely familiar with aperitivo, an Italian tradition known around the world. And even if you’ve never experienced it firsthand, chances are you’ve at least read about it: we, too, have a pretty good article on Italian aperitivo, go take a look. Aperitivo is joyous and mood-...

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It’s a question that seems simple enough, but ask any Italian American and you’ll absolutely get an earful. No one really knows who coined the term gravy, or when the sauce-gravy controversy started; however, every Italian-American knows what side they’re on. Lorraine Ranalli, author of the book Gravy Wars, told Slate, “In my research I found that...

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Just ask Taylor Swift, Edgardo Alfonzo or Burt Young, a few of the big names who have dined there. Trattoria 35 does Italian cuisine right. In the 14 years since it opened, the Bayside restaurant has built up a strong base of regulars. Driving it is a business philosophy that puts the customers above everything. “It’s all about family with us,” own...

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Nutella, the leader in chocolate spread was challenged two years ago when Barilla’s similar chocolate spread, called Pan di Stelle and made from the original chocolate cookie snack, joined what was pinned as the “jar war”: a competition in Italy of leading companies producing particular sweet spreads. But who would think of competing against Nutell...

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