Their eats: When Cesar Pineda describes the Italian fare at Ciao Amore, his new 100-seat BYOB in Pilsen, as “grandma’s cooking,” he’s not referring to some generic, apron-clad stereotype of an Italian grandmother. He’s talking about the real Italian women who taught him to cook.
Though Pineda’s father is Venezuelan and he grew up in Caracas, his mom was born in Rome. When he was young, she made a point of teaching him to cook just like her mother taught her to cook, joking that some day, after he’d been married long enough that his wife would decide to leave him, he’d need to feed himself.
At Ciao Amore, Pineda stays true to Mom’s home-style fare. He appreciates modern Italian cuisine, he says, but you won’t find pears atop his carpaccio or apples in his ravioli. It’s just not his style.
If you’ve been to Caro Mio (1825 W. Wilson Ave.), you already know what he means. Pineda’s cousin owns the popular Ravenswood BYOB, and for eight years, Pineda worked in the kitchen and helped run front-of-house operations there. He’s cooking similar fare at Ciao Amore, where the menu is loaded with simple, rustic dishes such as pollo porcini ($18.95), chicken in a barolo-spiked porcini cream sauce with ricotta- and parmesan-stuffed ravioli; and Sicilian-style cioppino, brimming with mahi mahi, clams, shrimp, calamari and mussels in a classic, garlicky red sauce peppered with black olives ($21.95).
Your drinks: Zip up Halsted Street to the University Village outpost of Lush Wine and Spirits (1257 S. Halsted St. 312-738-1900), where the well-versed staff will hook you up with a bottle of vino.
For tomato-based dishes, including cioppino, an Italian red is the natural choice — try the Tenuta Olim Bauda Barbera d’Asti la Villa ($18.50). If you’re thinking about ordering Ciao Amore’s popular pollo porcini, Lush manager Erin Drain recommends a bottle of 2008 Rose of Pinot Noir from tiny Sonoma County producer Zepaltas ($20). Dry enough to balance a rich cream sauce, it’s 100 percent pinot noir — a perfect pairing for earthy mushrooms.
Lush is open until 10 p.m. daily. Ciao Amore does not charge a corkage fee.
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kpratt@tribune.com
