Tag Archives: Tocco

Fra Noi advertiser Spacca Napoli ranks among the top Italian restaurants in Chicago, according to Gambero Rosso. “(Owner) Jonathan Goldsmith trained under Enzo Coccia and other great pizza masters,” the Italian food and wine magazine notes. “In this way he managed to raise the palate of the Windy City to a higher level.” The magazine credits the restaurant with the best pizza margherita in the city. Also hailed are Pelago Ristorante, Osteria Langhe, Forno Rosso, Cocco Pazzo, Due Lire Vino & Cucina, Riccardo Trattoria and Tocco.

When the ultra-picky Michelin Guide passed judgment on Tocco in funky Wicker Park, they began with a flattering question: “Are we in Milan or Wicker Park?” And just a year prior, Tocco won an OpenTable Diners’ Choice Award in 2013. But for all the bragging he could do about his restaurant, owner/chef Bruno Abate has something else he wants to discuss. Just before the dinner rush — in a mod dining room with white, ski-slope chairs — Abate projects a video on the wall that shows him talking to nearly 40 inmates at Cook County Jail. Rather than prison blues …