Food

Pompei Restaurant, a mainstay on Chicago’s Taylor Street, now offers its very own Italian-style Pilsner beer: the Pompei Pizza Pilsner. The restaurant collaborated with Marz Community Brewing Co. in Chicago to come up with the beer, available on draft and in cans, including four-packs. “This dry-hopped Italian Pilsner is balanced in its subtle complexity, crisp and delicious,” the restaurant posted on its Facebook page. “This Pils will pair well with more than just pizza! Our goal was to create a beer that complements our entire menu.” Pompei was established in 1909 by Luigi Davino, who gave the restaurant its name …

A trio of influential Italian pizza critics ranked Jimmy’s Pizza Cafe in Chicago as one of the top 10 places for a slice in the nation, Block Club Chicago reported. Barbara Guerra, Luciano Pignataro and Albert Sapere compile the prestigious “50 Top Pizza Slices in the USA” rankings, and also put out a yearly list of the best pizzerias in Italy and other countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia. The restaurant at 2434 W. Montrose Ave. in Chicago, known for its New York-style pizza, ranked at No. 9. “It was a huge honor. The awards ceremony was all the …

Mano a Mano, an Italian trattoria from husband-and-wife chefs Doug Psaltis and Hsing Chen, opened this summer in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. The menu for the restaurant at 2534 N. Milwaukee Ave. includes appetizers such as salumi misti and tiny fried calamari; vegetables such as zucchini flowers and eggplant cutlets; and handmade pastas such as pappardelle with braised rabbit and Taggiasca olives, and agnolotti with sweet peas, spicy butter and smoked caciocavallo. Psaltis and Chen also operate Andros Taverna and Asador Bastian in Chicago, both under the umbrella of Eat Well Hospitality.  For more, click here.

Now on menus across the country, Caesar’s salad is said to have been invented a century ago by an Italian chef in Mexico. According to legend, Caesar Cardini came up with the dish on July 4, 1924, at his restaurant, Caesar’s Place, in Tijuana, Mexico, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Cardini was struggling to feed an influx of Californians who had crossed the border to escape Prohibition, so he threw together the ingredients at hand: whole Romaine leaves with garlic-flavored oil, Worcestershire sauce, lemons, eggs and Parmesan. Tijuana commemorated the anniversary in July with a three-day food and wine festival, and …

SLYCE Coal Fired Pizza Company now has a fourth location at 5500 N. River Road, inside the Embassy Suites hotel in Rosemont. SLYCE specializes in coal-fired pizzas, whose dough is mixed and fermented daily, and stretched by hand. Each pizza is cooked at more than 800 degrees, “just long enough to produce that classically crisp, leopard-spotted crust with a soft and chewy interior,” the company says. The menu features pizza, including build-your-own, plus salads, soups, chicken wings, sandwiches and desserts such as tiramisu and affogato. A late-night bar offers wine, beer and a variety of liquor. The mother-and-daughter team of …

Supermarkets in Italy are now stocking a new Nutella ice cream, launched in June by the confectionary superpower Ferrero. The ice cream version of the popular hazelnut-chocolate spread follows the 60th anniversary of the introduction of Nutella, which first went on sale in Italy on April 20, 1964. Nowadays, half a million tons of Nutella are sold around the world each year. “At Ferrero, we are always exploring new ways to surprise and delight our consumers, such as offering them the possibility to enjoy the unique taste of our beloved brands in the ice cream format,” a Ferrero spokesperson said. …

Pizza manufacturer Palermo’s is expanding its production capacity by building a nearly 200,000-square-foot production facility in West Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The new facility is located just 3 miles from the company’s headquarters. Groundbreaking is slated this month, with expected completion in June 2025. Palermo’s was founded in 1954 by Gaspare “Jack” Fallucca and his wife, Zina, who immigrated from Italy and opened an Italian bakery on Milwaukee’s East Side. The couple then opened a pizzeria and restaurant in 1969 and went into the frozen-food business in 1979.

Actress-turned-food expert Valerie Bertinelli has published her third cookbook, based on her resolution to end the battle with the scale. “Indulge: Delicious and Decadent Dishes to Enjoy and Share” is written in a “warmhearted and intimate style” with heartfelt essays about how to savor moments big and small, according to publisher HarperCollins. “Indulge” contains recipes Bertinelli cooks for her friends and family, including Garlic Confit BLT, Oven “Fried” Okra, Spaghetti al Limone, Salmon Burgers with Quick-Pickled Vegetables, Filet Mignon with Béarnaise Sauce, and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Dates. Bertinelli rose to fame as a teenager in the sitcom “One Day at a …

  “The Tuscans celebrate beef as much as people do in Chicago.” That’s what two-time James Beard-nominated chef Evan Funke told David Manilow, host of “The Dining Table” podcast, during a conversation about his new restaurant, Tre Dita, which he opened in the spring in Chicago in partnership with Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises. “Tre dita” means “three fingers” in Italian, a reference to the thickness of a properly cut Bistecca alla Fiorentina, the upscale restaurant’s signature dish featuring 60-day dry-aged, 42-ounce prime porterhouse at $290 a pop. The restaurant, on the second floor of The St. Regis Chicago, 401 E. …

After the closure of its flagship restaurant in Chicago’s Little Italy, Rosebud now boasts its first location outside of Illinois. Rosebud on Taylor closed Dec. 31 but is still open for private events. Originally founded in 1976 as Bocciola della Rose (“bud of the rose” in Italian), the restaurant attracted famous patrons such as Oprah Winfrey, Frank Sinatra, Robert De Niro and Gene Hackman, Eater Chicago reported. However, the area changed over the last 50 years, founder Alex Dana told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Industrial companies moved away, which once provided us with huge lunchtime crowds. Little Italy got smaller, and …