Food

Buona Companies brought its “dual concept” dining experience to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, this summer with the side-by-side opening of Buona and The Original Rainbow Cone. Owned by the Buonavolanto family, which opened the first Buona Beef location in Berwyn in 1981, Buona Companies now also include Beyond Catering and Authentic Brands of Chicago in addition to Buona and Original Rainbow Cone. It all started when Joe and Peggy Buonavolanto took out a $10,000 second mortgage on their house to start the business. “Their dream was to have their kids work side by side to create a business that could someday …

Chicago’s La Gondola restaurant closed after 40 years, but its staple dishes live on. Chef Jose Rivera, who worked at La Gondola for 10 years, incorporated much of the Italian restaurant’s menu at his own restaurant, Mirella’s Tavern, 2056 W. Division St. “I am very good friends with the La Gondola owner, and he asked me if I wanted to take over the brand,” Rivera said. “I said, ‘Why not?’ I know the food very well. I created part of the menu.” La Gondola’s owner’s plan to reopen the restaurant in suburban Tinley Park never came to fruition, Rivera said.

Roberto Linguanotto, the pastry chef credited by many for inventing the Italian dessert tiramisù, died at age 81 in June. Linguanotto is said to have created the dish in the 1970s in the kitchen of the restaurant Le Beccherie in Treviso, in the Veneto region, in collaboration with Alba Campeol, the restaurant owner’s wife, The Washington Post reported. Linguanotto claimed he “accidentally dropped mascarpone in a bowl of eggs and sugar, liked the taste, and the pair worked from there, adding coffee and ladyfingers.” Tiramisù was added to the restaurant’s menu in 1972, eventually spreading across Italy and the world. …

The family-style Italian restaurant chain Buca di Beppo filed for bankruptcy in August after having closed 30 restaurants nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic. The chain’s local outlet in Orland Park was among 13 locations that closed in late July, leaving the company with 44 locations, including only one Chicago-area restaurant, in suburban Lombard. The company was founded in Minneapolis in 1993 and is now headquartered in Orlando, Florida. It attributed its problems to rising labor and food costs and lower demand from consumers, but had experienced declining sales and unit count since 2014, according to Restaurant Business.

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. …