Dining

Sapori Napoletani at 8235 W. Irving Park Road in Chicago opened in July. The fledgling eatery features Italian cuisine, Neapolitan pizza and craft cocktails across two floors, two bars and a rooftop. The menu is rooted in tradition and in recipes passed down through generations to owner Antonio Vitiello, who was born and raised in Naples, Italy. Vitiello runs the restaurant with his wife, Ewelina, a native of Poland who met her husband after she moved to Italy. “His journey began at just 8 years old, working alongside his family in their pizzeria, where he learned the art of Neapolitan …

Bucktown Pizza opened in July at 1912 N. Western Ave. as a casual, counter-service spot serving thin-crust slices and pies, Block Club Chicago reported. Owner Joe Smith moved to the Chicago area, where his wife grew up, a few years ago. This is his first restaurant in the city, after previously working at and running pizzerias in the Chicago suburbs and in several locations on the East Coast, including his native Newark, New Jersey. Smith said his focus is on quality ingredients. “Everything we do is by hand, hand-roll the dough, hand-stretch the dough, homemade sauces, personalized service,” Smith told …

Two Italian wine cooperatives are the best in the world, according to an article in WineNews. They are “Cantina Terlano, a jewel of South Tyrol and among the first wineries to recognize the aging potential of great white wines, and Cavit, the Trentino giant which, with 5,250 winegrowers, manages more than 6,000 hectares of vineyards, representing 60% of the region’s total vineyard area,” according to the news site, which cited the 2026 competition organized by the German magazine Weinwirtschaft. In the global ranking among the top 20 cooperatives, the French cooperative Plaimont follows Cantina Terlano and Cavit on the podium, …

After 24 years in suburban Ingleside, Zaza’s Steakhouse & Italian Eatery closed its doors in July. In a Facebook post, the owners attributed their decision to the yearlong closure of Washington Street, which they said resulted in a 75% customer loss. The road reopened in spring 2025 after a realignment project by the Lake County Division of Transportation. “To every guest who walked through our doors, shared a meal, recommended us to a friend, left a generous tip, celebrated a milestone or simply made us part of your routine: thank you,” the post said.

Pelago Cafe, an Italian spot that recently opened at 325 Waukegan Ave. in north suburban Highwood, celebrates a family’s heritage and culinary traditions based in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. The cafe is owned by cousins Mada Ugolini-Hitchmough and Ruthie Amidei, and its name honors two neighboring towns, Sant’Anna Pelago and Pievepelago, “where generations of family, food and tradition shaped the values carried forward today,” the business’ website states. “When our families emigrated from Italy, they planted their roots in Highwood. We both live here today and love this community deeply,” Hitchmough and Amidei told Patch. “Highwood has such a rich appreciation …

Founded in 2022 by a former McDonald’s executive and his family, Lantern Pizza Co. at 1420 Ogden Ave. in Downers Grove has developed such a following that it expanded over the summer, enclosing a patio to add 65 more seats to the 38-seat eatery, the Daily Herald reported. Former McDonald’s Executive Chef and Vice President of Culinary Innovation Dan Coudreaut said he embarked on his pizza venture because he missed the immediacy of making food for people in front of him. The menu features handcrafted 12-inch pizzas made with fresh ingredients and cooked in a brick oven For more, click …

  The Italian-American restaurant Void, located at 2937 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago, was among the Chicago Tribune’s 2026 Critic’s Choice winners. Void is best known on social media for its Spaghetti Uh-O’s, which comes in a can with a custom label, and is made with imported pasta topped with house-made sauce that’s been slowly cooked for six hours, the Chicago Tribune reported. “There’s a ‘Wow’ every time somebody gets the Spaghetti Uh-O’s for the first time, and it doesn’t get old,” co-owner and chef Tyler Hudec told the newspaper. For more, click here.  

One hundred years after the bestselling cookbook “The Talisman of Happiness” was first published in Italy, the full English translation of its nearly 1,700 recipes is now available. Its author was chef, cooking instructor and magazine writer Ada Boni (1891-1973), who unified the culinary traditions of Italy’s 20 regions for the first time. In 1915, she and her husband founded the food magazine Preziosa, and a few years later Boni opened a cooking school for aristocratic Roman women. In 1925 she crowdsourced her readers and students, telling them that if 500 committed to buying her cookbook, she would create it. …

Café Pisolino, a new Italian espresso bar on the ground floor of Italian Village in downtown Chicago, opened in June. A venture of Italian Village Restaurants, Café Pisolino is part of a multilevel establishment that also houses The Village, Vivere, Sotto and Bar Sotto. “Café Pisolino is our way of reimagining how Italian Village can serve the city throughout the day,” said Jonathan Capitanini, president of Italian Village Restaurants. “As the Loop continues to evolve, we saw an opportunity to create something that feels both timeless and new, a place where people can step away, even briefly, and reconnect. It’s …

Ovvio Italian Taverna, which opened in December in Glenview, in suburban Chicago, features New York-style pizzas along with a Neapolitan-focused menu and a taste of central Italy and Italian-American-style influences, according to the Chicago Tribune. Formerly an abandoned automotive repair shop, the space has a contemporary feel with earthy wooden architectural details and warm, overhead open-light fixtures, the Tribune reports. “We draw food from different parts of Italy,” Ovvio co-owner Nick Philippas told the newspaper. “But our main focus was creating a community place where you can bring your kids, you can come in for a drink, you can do …