Salatino's A Little Italy fave returns

Making a comeback sometimes takes an assist, though if it's Keith Bogans who's open, Derrick Rose is really better off just taking it to the rack himself. For an assisted comeback Italian-style: Salatino's.

A revival of the beloved, shuttered Taylor St staple Gennaro's, Salatino's is a collab between the original owner and the ever-growing Francesca empire, expanding the original red sauce joint into a larger 100-seat space replete with plenty of dark wood and black & white photos for a nostalgic feel, also hopefully what you'll get if you bring your ex-girlfriend here. The menu's heavy with homestyle pasta faves like spinach and cream cheese-filled manicotti, handmade cavatelli, or mountains of spaghetti and meatballs slathered in either marinara, arrabbiata, vodka sauce, or red gravy, ostensibly also an appropriate topping for a (shaw)shank. Other specialties include an Italian-spiced pork chop w/ sauteed peppers, gnocchi topped with braciola (breadcrumb-and-cheese-stuffed beef rolls), and garlicky Chicken Vesuvio, though eat enough and the exploding mountain may be you.

Appropriately, the booze selection has a major emphasis on Italian wines, something the Bulls thankfully don't have to deal with anymore now that Vinny Del Negro's gone.