Chicago

Piccolo Sogno

Longtime right-hand men chomp at the bit to step up and unleash their own unique creativity -- Snoop's last words to Dre were "One day I will use Peter Frampton's voice-box to record an R&B song". Catch a right-hand chef busting out, at Piccolo Sogno.

Piccolo's from Tony Priolo, an 11-year Cocco Pazzo vet solo debuting in space featuring one of Chi's bigger al fresco patios and a white-marble/Murano-style-chandeliered dining room curiously overflowing with rattan wicker furniture (like a Pier 1 exploded inside Donald Trump's penthouse). Whereas Cocco's ultra-Tuscan, Piccolo's menu's ambitiously pan-Italian, whisking your ambitious gut from Naples (creamy buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil studded Margherita pizza) to Sicily (wood-fired whole fish w/ sea salt and braised fennel) to Rome (slow-roasted pork in garlic, olive oil, and fennel). The 100+ bottle wine list also spans the Boot, with Chianti, Brunello, Barbaresco, and more from Umbria, Piedmont, Veneto, and loads of other regions you know intimately as "In Italy, right?".

Priolo's also spreading his hard-liquor wings, with 12 signature cocktails including the bourbon, sweet vermouth, angostura, lemon peel, and Campari-fueled "Italian Stallion", and the "Blood Orange Mimosa" -- for the man who's idea of creativity lies in stretching the acceptable times to drink down breakfast.

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