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Shut Up and Mangia!, Issue #004 -- Italian Wine
July 15, 2007
"Wine is the most civilized thing in the world." - Ernest Hemingway
Benvenuto

This issue of "Shut Up and Mangia!" will celebrate our or my love of Italian wine. Wine with dinner, wine with dessert and wine with wine.

Earlier this week the wife and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary at RoSals on Taylor street. This restaurant has ten tables and features home cooked Sicilian meals. We drank a bottle of Righetti Valpolicella 2004 to celebrate the evening.

Site News

  • If you haven’t seen it yet, part of the wine section is finally up and pack full of useful information. I’m still working on a few pages that will be up by the end of this week. We are currently matching wines to all our recipes so it’s taking a little more time than expected. Many thanks to my “Wine Guys” who helped and continue to help me through this section. You can check out the new wine section here

  • As always, send me your favorite Italian family recipe and I’ll be happy to post them. Also any stories for my new "Italian American Heritage Preservation" section would be much appreciated.

  • I would like to welcome Cooking.com to my site. Cooking.com supplies all your kitchen needs from small home gadgets to restaurant supplies. Whatever you need, Cooking .com can supply.

  • Great Chicago Italian Recipes is currently building an archive of great home cooked recipes and will continue to add new recipes on a regular basis.

    Just visit the Italian Recipes blog for the newest recipes that have been added to the site or better yet subscribe to are RSS feed to get recipes as they are published.

    New Restaurants

  • Rosebud Prime is opening on July 21st at 1 South Dearborn Street. This new restaurant from restaurateur Alex Dana will be the eleventh Rosebud Restaurant in and around Chicago. Rosebud is famous for their Italian cuisine and super large portions.

  • Pasticceria Natalina has been open since February and brings you some excellent Sicilian desserts. Nick and Natalie Zarzour serve up some authentic pastries that besides cannolis include zeppole, fazolette, spiced fig cookies called cuccidatti and some delicious egg shaped ricotta filled sfogliatelle. Pasticceria Natalina is located at 5406 North Clark or phone in your order at 773-989-0662.

  • Tavern at the Park is Keefer’s Chef John Hogan’s newest venture. Scheduled to be open in early August, this restaurant will be featuring fresh fish, rotisserie chicken and pastas. Tavern at the Park is located at 130 East Randolph Street overlooking Millennium Park. Phone 312-552-0070 for reservations when they open.

    Events

    The 50th Annual Venetian Night is on Saturday July 28th at 8:30 p.m.. Approximately 30 lighted boats participate in a parade on the lakefront, followed by a fireworks display synchronized to music. The boats begin there procession at Monroe Harbor and pass along down to Roosevelt road.

    Coming up on August 18th and 19th is the Chicago Air and Water Show. Located along the lakefront between Fullerton Ave. to Oak Street. Starting at 9:00 a.m. more than two million people are expected to view this annual event.

    One of the best tools that I found while compiling the wine section was from localwineevents.com. For a list of wine events for the Chicago area just go to Great Chicago Italian Recipes new Italian Wine section for a weekly list of events in and around the Chicago area.

    Hey Pasian, Pass the Wine

    Since my site is not a wine site here are a few great wine sites I came across on the web. Hopefully it will give you a better insight on Italian wines. One of the best was Wine Country.it which also has a cool site called Italian Wine Labels.com that features all sorts of Italian wine labels. Also, The Wine Doctor.com is a great site to learn about wine in general, not just Italian wines.

    Italian Wine Celebration

    In keeping up with our Italian Wine Celebration I’ve included a menu of dishes made with Italian wine. Just click on Italian Food Made with Wine for your free recipes.

    Final Thoughts

    Feel free to email this newsletter to a friend so they can Subscribe to "Shut Up and Mangia!" and begin to enjoy the many Italian recipes we have to offer.

    Thanks again for making Great Chicago Italian Recipes a great success and please continue to send your stories and recipes.

    If you have any question on any recipe or any site suggestions just contact me any time or join our Great Chicago Italian Recipes Forum.

    Thanks Again,

    Phillip J. Speciale

    That's a discovery! That's Italian! That's
    Great Chicago Italian Recipes.com


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