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<\/p>\nChefs Sarah Grueneberg and Bailey Sullivan have been joking that their latest restaurant venture, Trattoria Lo So, \u201cis like the cool aunt that Monteverde wished that they had.\u201d<\/p>\n
She \u201cwears a kaftan and smokes a long cigarette\u201d and has heaps of confidence, Grueneberg said, comparing the new spot to her prominent West Loop Italian restaurant known for its contemporary take on fresh pastas.<\/p>\n
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Up-and-coming executive chef Sullivan is preparing to leave Monteverde and steer the Trattoria Lo So ship in Bucktown, taking over the space that once housed Jack & Ginger\u2019s at 2048 W. Armitage Ave. The Italian eatery is the second restaurant venture for Grueneberg, the head chef and co-owner of Monteverde in West Loop, and her partners Jaime Canete and Rob Mosher.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/542f42e\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/7996x4496+0+0\/resize\/840x472!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fc3%2Ffa%2F61406abb4a2b92ac29964a7ff9f5%2Fexterior-rendering.jpg\")
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A rendering of the exterior of Sarah Grueneberg\u2019s new restaurant Trattoria Lo So at 2048 W. Armitage Ave., located in the former Jack & Ginger\u2019s space.<\/p>\n
The neighborhood restaurant\u2019s name more or less translates to \u201ctrattoria I know\u201d in Italian. The opening is planned for January or February 2027.<\/p>\n
The menu at Lo So will consist of \u201cclassic, delicious, heartfelt, soulful Italian food with a little bit of a different story than what we tell at Monteverde,\u201d Grueneberg said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s going to be special is the differentiation,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201c[Dry pasta] is totally different than fresh pasta. You could never really have a true al dente with fresh pasta.\u201d<\/p>\n
The restaurant\u2019s signature dishes will include bronze-die dried pastas sourced from Mancini Pastificio Agricolo, a company based in the Marche region of central Italy. It\u2019s a bit of a departure from the fresh pasta made and served at Monteverde, but Grueneberg said it doesn\u2019t make the food any less authentic.<\/p>\n
The dried pasta is ideal for Trattoria Lo So because \u201cit has all these little microscopic teeth on the die that will allow the pasta to grab the sauce,\u201d Grueneberg said. That allows them to achieve that al dente \u201ctoothsomeness\u201d for Lo So pastas.<\/p>\n
![\"Monteverde](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/076e703\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/7434x4958+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F90%2F49%2F4b449deb4af181e05386a89597e8%2Fnewtrattoria-261007-001.jpg\")
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In addition to seafood and vegetable dishes prepared over a robata-style grill (an open-hearth grill typically used in Japanese cooking), Lo So\u2019s menu will include some Monteverde personality with fresh pastas cooked in the wood-fired oven, Grueneberg (left) and Sullivan said.<\/p>\n
Candace Dane Chambers\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you make [dishes] with dry pasta, it\u2019s like you\u2019re allowed to undercook it in the water and finish cooking in the sauce,\u201d she continued. \u201cThat\u2019s a technique that\u2019s really challenging to do with a fresh extruded pasta, because you have to cook the flour enough to not allow it to be gummy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her mentor, Tony Mantuano of the acclaimed Spaggia, where Grueneberg was promoted as executive chef in 2010, taught her that.<\/p>\n
The one-story Bucktown space allowed the restaurateurs to install two important features: a wood-burning oven and a charcoal grill.<\/p>\n
In addition to seafood and vegetable dishes prepared over a robata-style grill (an open-hearth grill typically used in Japanese cooking), Lo So\u2019s menu will include some Monteverde personality with fresh pastas cooked in the wood-fired oven, Grueneberg and Sullivan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving live fuel is a challenge and an exciting thing altogether,\u201d Grueneberg said. \u201cThat fire, that smoke, is going to tell the story of the menu there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The robata grill and wood-fired oven seem to be what they\u2019re most excited about: \u201cWe always love putting different skewers on the menu,\u201d known as \u201cspiedini\u201d in Italian, Sullivan said. \u201cWe\u2019ll have a lot of [those] coming off of that grill, or even things getting marked on the grill, finished in that wood-fired oven.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pastificio Mancini also grows the wheat it mills into flour for its pastas, which is not as common throughout Italy, Grueneberg said. \u201cIt\u2019s the full process,\u201d she said. The next phase of their restaurant includes an October trip to Marche, in part to see how the pasta is made.<\/p>\n
Food has always been an important part of Sullivan\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
Her father is Michael Sullivan, owner of Goldyburgers in Forest Park. She went on to study the culinary arts at Kendall College, then perfected her ramen and Japanese techniques at the now-closed Yusho in Logan Square before moving on to Parachute in Avondale.<\/p>\n
In 2016, she landed at Monteverde.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/c592bbb\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3000x2000+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fcc%2F28%2Fd6db9c2c4f0d96106d6fcc2237d7%2Fbolognese-09xx23-1.jpg\")
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Monteverde, 1020 W. Madison St. in the West Loop, is known for its contemporary takes on fresh pasta dishes, like its bolognese.<\/p>\n
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere\/Sun-Times file<\/p>\n
In the decade or so that Sullivan has been cooking at Monteverde, she\u2019s gained a notable amount of press and hype, including being named a finalist this year in the James Beard Awards\u2019 Emerging Chef category. At the West Town eatery, she\u2019s known for her \u201catipica\u201d (\u201catypical\u201d in Italian) style: She blends local, seasonal ingredients with culinary whimsy and Italian flair.<\/p>\n
While the details of the rotating menu are still being worked out, Sullivan is meditating on the \u201cfeeling\u201d they want to create for guests. The renowned duo said they \u201care building a restaurant that we want everyone to feel like they can eat at.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the possibilities are endless, Sullivan said: \u201cHomey dishes like casseroles, baked pastas \u2026 you can go so many directions.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Chefs](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/782406f\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/7643x5098+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F27%2F68%2F7bb589c04998ace894d80c9e368c%2Fnewtrattoria-261007-002.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Bailey Sullivan (left) and Sarah Grueneberg \u201care building a restaurant that we want everyone to feel like they can eat at,\u201d the chefs said.<\/p>\n
Candace Dane Chambers\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chefs Sarah Grueneberg and Bailey Sullivan have been joking that their latest restaurant venture, Trattoria Lo So, \u201cis like the cool aunt that Monteverde wished that they had.\u201d She \u201cwears a kaftan and smokes a long cigarette\u201d and has heaps of confidence, Grueneberg said, comparing the new spot to her prominent West Loop Italian restaurant<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[49,50],"class_list":["post-37140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-italian-restaurants","tag-italian-restaurant","tag-italian-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117400354463806649","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}