RPM Italian in Chicago’s River North neighborhood was ranked the best Italian restaurant in Illinois by the finance website 24/7 Wall St. The restaurant at 54 W. Illinois St. describes itself as “modern in approach and Italian in spirit, featuring a contemporary menu with dishes meant to be shared.” The website rates the best Italian restaurant in every state based on data from food rankings in Eater, Yelp, The Daily Meal, Fodors and Gayot and other sources, as reported by NBC5 Chicago For more, click here.    

Thirty-One Days of Italians has released its 2023 List, honoring extraordinary people of Italian heritage who significantly influenced the history and development of America. The project was launched in 2006, with a list being provided annually for the month of October. The first day in October honors the Italian immigrant and the last day is set aside to honor someone not on the list. Honorary members are on the List every year and include Fr. Pietro Bandini, Constantino Brumidi, Mother Francis Cabrini, Enrico Caruso, Christopher Columbus, Enrico Fermi, Amadeo Pietro Giannini, Guglielmo Marconi, Filippo Mazzei, Antonio Meucci, Maria Montessori, Andrea …

An iconic Italian restaurant that attracted a faithful following over nearly four decades is no more. Ristorante Agostino owners Agostino Fiasche and his wife, Anna Longobardi Fiasche, announced the “bittersweet ending” of their “second home away from home” with a Facebook post on Aug. 1, marking the closure of their restaurant at 2817 N. Harlem Ave. in Chicago. “When we migrated from Italy to start a new life in America, little did we know we would own a successful restaurant together with our family, cook for thousands of people, and meet so many wonderful clientele and staff we would call …

Two veteran chefs have opened Tutore, an Italian cooking school at 2755 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago, in the space that used to hold the Italian restaurant Pisolino. Pisolino Chef James De Marte partnered with his mentor, Dean Zanella, former executive chef at Chicago Cut Steakhouse, for the joint venture. Zanella met De Marte in the early ’90s when he hired him as his sous chef at Grappa, a now-closed Italian restaurant in Streeterville, Eater Chicago reported. The two bonded over their Italian heritage, passion for cooking big meals and how they tweaked their grandmothers’ recipes to make the dishes …

Executive Chef Marco Di Benedetto owned Joe and Joe’s pizzeria on the Northwest Side and then spent 23 years at Gibsons Restaurant Group before his latest gig at The Bellevue, a restaurant and lounge that opened in May at 1031 N. Rush St. in Chicago. Di Benedetto told WGN Radio 720 that for him The Bellevue is “a way to spread your wings and look at ingredients and how you can bring great things to make exciting foods.” When he goes to Italy, Di Benedetto said he travels with a suitcase inside of another suitcase, which he fills with cheese …

After growing up eating Italian beef sandwiches in McHenry, James Beard Award-winning Chef Jonathon Sawyer gave the Chicago staple “a massive upgrade” at Kindling at 202 S. Franklin St. in downtown Chicago. Sawyer told NBC 5 Chicago that he uses 8 ounces of Wagyu beef lightly poached in broth. He coats the bun with raclette cheese and adds local giardiniera from J.P. Graziani. “Spicy, beefy, cheesy … all the things we’re looking for,” the chef decanted. “To traditions, living on in a different form.” The Italian beef sandwich was born in the early 1900s in the Italian immigrant community in …

Portillo’s restaurant chain, headquartered in suburban Oak Brook, and Quartino restaurant, in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, have opened locations in The Colony in suburban Dallas. Portillo’s “was the biggest restaurant opening in early 2023 in North Texas,” with hourlong wait times initially, The Dallas Morning News reported. That was followed by Quartino’s July opening in a 15,000-square-foot, two-floor restaurant with dining rooms, bars and kitchens. Quartino Founder and Executive Chef John Coletta, a native of New York City, designed a menu that includes a salumeria case, homemade pasta, Neapolitan-style pizza and wines from all over Italy. The original Quartino opened …

A pair of business titans will be honored at the Italian American Chamber of Commerce gala on Oct. 21 at CineCity Studios in Chicago. Joe Perillo, owner of Perillo Auto Group, and Bill Terlato, president and CEO of Terlato Wines International, will receive excellence awards at the event. After serving in the U.S. Army for three years, Perillo pursued his passion for selling automobiles, becoming the No. 1 Cadillac salesman in the country. He bought a failing Pontiac dealership in Chicago in 1975, turned it around in three years and opened the city’s first BMW dealership in 1981. Perillo Auto …

Retired law enforcement officer Kenneth Lavorata will top the list of honorees at the Italian American Police Association dinner dance on Nov. 3 at the Chateau Ritz. Lavorata served in the Marine Corps from 1964-67, including a tour of duty as a battalion scout in Vietnam from 1965-66. He entered the Police Academy in November 1967, and served as an officer for the Chicago Police Department for 35 years. His assignments included the 12th, 25th and 20th districts; Area 4 and 5 Traffic; the Radar and Mass Transit units; and the Office of Special Events, coordinating police presence for major …

The Italian American Labor Council honored Lawrence Picardi Sr. as Man of the Year at its dinner dance on Oct. 14 at the Drury Lane Oak Brook in Oakbrook Terrace. Picardi is the financial secretary treasurer of Cement Masons Union Local 502. His father brought him into the union as an apprentice in 1980, and he worked for years for various Chicago-area contractors as a foreman and union steward. Picardi was elected as a trustee of the local’s Welfare Fund in 1988, a member of its executive board in 1997 and its business agent in 2006. In 2012, he was …