Big Bowl revived (+ LEYE history)

This post is not for you if you....

- Automatically disdain chain restaurants
- Are convinced nothing good can come from an ethnic restaurant if the ownership/management/chef is not of the relevant ethnic heritage
- Believe "authentic" is always better than "innovative"
- Loathe Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises

If any of those conditions apply, stop reading now.

* * *

Let me say that I've always been something of a fan of Lettuce. Their restaurants don't always reach the heights, but I've rarely had a bad meal in one. Service is usually efficient and some of their concepts over the years have been delightful. Lettuce launched well before I moved to Chicago, but I can recall visiting here and having friends insist on taking me to places like Fritz That's It! and Jonathon Livingston Seafood, the like of which I'd never experienced. I still miss Bones, the place Himself and I judged the best spot at which to introduce our parents to each other after we decided to get married.

No restaurant in Chicago had a salad bar before Lettuce introduced them here. (Let me tell you, sonny boy, in the '70s, a salad bar was something special.) I first tried tapas and ate risotto in Lettuce restaurants. As far as I can tell, Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba! (1985) and Scoozi (1986), respectively, were the first Chicago restaurants to serve them. (Scoozi used to serve risotto every half hour, ringing a bell to signal its readiness.)

I adored the punning restaurant names and the clever promotions. When we were first married, we got a Lettuce "passport," and made a point of eating at seven different LEYE restaurants over the course of several months to get it stamped -- in order to earn a free dinner at the Pump Room, something we'd never have afforded then otherwise. In another promo, we collected "stock certificates," phoning a number to get the day's "stock report" on which restaurant was giving the best discount in exchange. They were fun.

* * *

Anyway, to the point of this post: If you haven't been to Big Bowl in a while, it might be time to go back. Big Bowl opened in the front of The Eccentric about 10 years ago. Sometime after that it morphed into an Asian restaurant and expanded to new locations. I used to like the Big Bowl restaurants a lot. They were fun and cheap and the food was fresh, tasty and sometimes quite special. Six years ago I arranged a dinner there for out-of-town friends that they're still talking about. But then Lettuce sold them to Texas-based Brinker International (owners of Chili's, et al) and shortly thereafter they became not worth bothering with.

Last year, though, Lettuce bought Big Bowl back. A couple months ago, I happened to talk to Bruce Cost, the culinary partner, and he mentioned he'd spent the past eight months working on bringing Big Bowl back up to par.

I finally had a chance to go in there recently. What a difference! What bright. lively flavors. The potstickers have new fillings and exceptionally delicate wrappers. There are cute mini-bao, like baby Wow Baos (which Cost also helped to develop). The peanut noodles start with house-roasted peanuts. The hot-and-sour soup ranks among the best I've had; it starts with pork broth and they say it's made to order.

The spicy dishes seriously zing -- loads of fresh chilies. For the Thai-style curries, they're making all the sauces from scratch -- no canned curry pastes. We had an astonishing scallop and shrimp citrus curry, loaded with fresh water chestnuts. I have no idea how authentic it is and I don't care. The flavors just explode.

There's even a wine list, developed by ex-Charlie Trotter's sommelier Belinda Chang. They also have two new flavors of the fresh ginger ale. I liked them, especially the pomegranate, but not as much as the awesome original.

If you like Wow Bao, you may enjoy its new, improved big brother. The prices are reasonable (entrees start at $8.95 and top out under $20), the surroundings are pleasant and they're in neighborhoods where good-food options in this price range are slight.

Big Bowl
312/640-8888, 6 E. Cedar St., Chicago
312/951-1888, 60 E. Ohio St., Chicago
847/517-8881, Streets of Woodfield, 1950 E. Higgins Road, Schaumburg
847/808-8880, CityPark, 315 Parkway Drive (Milwaukee & Aptakisic), Lincolnshire
www.bigbowl.com

I love it too! How did you meet Bruce Cost?

LAZ wrote:Anyway, to the point of this post: If you haven't been to Big Bowl in a while, it might be time to go back. Big Bowl opened in the front of The Eccentric about 10 years ago. Sometime after that it morphed into an Asian restaurant and expanded to new locations. I used to like the Big Bowl restaurants a lot. They were fun and cheap and the food was fresh, tasty and sometimes quite special. Six years ago I arranged a dinner there for out-of-town friends that they're still talking about. But then Lettuce sold them to Texas-based Brinker International (owners of Chili's, et al) and shortly thereafter they became not worth bothering with.

Last year, though, Lettuce bought Big Bowl back. A couple months ago, I happened to talk to Bruce Cost, the culinary partner, and he mentioned he'd spent the past eight months working on bringing Big Bowl back up to par.

I finally had a chance to go in there recently. What a difference! What bright. lively flavors. The potstickers have new fillings and exceptionally delicate wrappers. There are cute mini-bao, like baby Wow Baos (which Cost also helped to develop). The peanut noodles start with house-roasted peanuts. The hot-and-sour soup ranks among the best I've had; it starts with pork broth and they say it's made to order.

The spicy dishes seriously zing -- loads of fresh chilies. For the Thai-style curries, they're making all the sauces from scratch -- no canned curry pastes. We had an astonishing scallop and shrimp citrus curry, loaded with fresh water chestnuts. I have no idea how authentic it is and I don't care. The flavors just explode.

There's even a wine list, developed by ex-Charlie Trotter's sommelier Belinda Chang. They also have two new flavors of the fresh ginger ale. I liked them, especially the pomegranate, but not as much as the awesome original.

If you like Wow Bao, you may enjoy its new, improved big brother. The prices are reasonable (entrees start at $8.95 and top out under $20), the surroundings are pleasant and they're in neighborhoods where good-food options in this price range are slight.

Big Bowl
312/640-8888, 6 E. Cedar St., Chicago
312/951-1888, 60 E. Ohio St., Chicago
847/517-8881, Streets of Woodfield, 1950 E. Higgins Road, Schaumburg
847/808-8880, CityPark, 315 Parkway Drive (Milwaukee & Aptakisic), Lincolnshire
www.bigbowl.com

Oooh, I've been kinda looking at the Big Bowl near us and pondering trying it someday. I guess I'll definitely do so soon. Thanks for the recommendation. Being filipino, I love all types of asian food.

I've often wondered how much of a developing hand Cost had in Big Bowl; rather, if they maintain his presumably high standards. His Asian Ingrediants has pride of place among my Asian cuisines cookbooks. You've definitely peeked my interest. Now I'm glad I've always held off going since, as you report, Big Bowl spent a period in Texas corporate chain hell.

LAZ wrote:This post is not for you if you....

- Automatically disdain chain restaurants
- Are convinced nothing good can come from an ethnic restaurant if the ownership/management/chef is not of the relevant ethnic heritage
- Believe "authentic" is always better than "innovative"
- Loathe Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises
If any of those conditions apply, stop reading now.

You saved some people a lot of unnecessary grief with your warning. What a nice touch.

Regards,

I have visited the Cedar location since the reaquisition, and while I am not particularly anxious to go back anytime soon, I will say that it was a vast improvement over the enterprise under its previous direction.

A number of the items that I tried were truly flavourful and balanced compositions, and the freshness (and quality) of the ingredients was readily apparent.

And, I was pleasanty surprised by the new beverage program. On my one visit, I was able to sample a couple of the new signature cocktails on offer, in addition to a few of the wine offerings by the glass. It was truly tasty stuff, and I thought that the lists were very well-composed for an establishment of this sort.

E.M.

Is it possible that no establishment in Chicago ever served risotto before Scoozi?

I'm not saying it's not, but it is an interesting question.

The first time I ever ate risotto in Chicago was at Sabatinos. It was about 25 years ago. I believe it was a special, not on the regular menu. How old is Scoozi?

My cousin is a former manager of Big Bowl on Ontario. She worked for Lettuce (at Shaw's) and used to take us to Big Bowl all the time. She started working for Big Bowl after it was sold to Brinker. When she left, she told me that Brinker was making a lot of menu changes, not necessarily (in her mind) for the better and she was very disappointed in the food. The last time we ate at Big Bowl we were at the Schaumburg location, and ordered from the "new" menu. We were disappointed that some of our favorite dishes were no longer on the menu and stopped going.

I always loved their fresh ginger ale. Icy cold and refreshing, and very ginger-y.

Suzy

I concur with LAZ's assessment that Big Bowl has been restored to its former quality. One point of disagreement, however, I was disappointed with the mini bow. There was very little filling in the buns.

When I was at the Lincolnshire location last year after LEYE's reacquisition, I spoke with the waiter who had been there at the time of the Brinker purchase thru to the LEYE repurchase. He said Brinker had tried to cut costs by simplifying the menu and using fewer fresh ingredients and less made to order.

What I have wondered is how the repurchase price Melman paid compares with his original sale price. I'm guessing he bought it back for about half of what he sold it for.

Actually he bought it back for more - I heard he lost money on that transaction!

Is it possible that no establishment in Chicago ever served risotto before Scoozi?

I'm pretty sure Avanzare (which, unless my memory fails me was the first of the LEYE high-end Italian restaurants in Chicago and closed long before Scoozi opened) considered risotto one of their specialties, if not their signature dish.

It was also a feature, I believe, at Bice, when it opened in Chicago in 1989.

jbw wrote:

Is it possible that no establishment in Chicago ever served risotto before Scoozi?

I'm pretty sure Avanzare (which, unless my memory fails me was the first of the LEYE high-end Italian restaurants in Chicago and closed long before Scoozi opened) considered risotto one of their specialties, if not their signature dish.

It was also a feature, I believe, at Bice, when it opened in Chicago in 1989.

Just FYI. Scoozi opened in 1986, Avanzare closed in 1999 or thereabouts.

Snark wrote:How did you meet Bruce Cost?

I met him years ago at Big Bowl.

Christopher Gordon wrote:I've often wondered how much of a developing hand Cost had in Big Bowl; rather, if they maintain his presumably high standards. His Asian Ingrediants has pride of place among my Asian cuisines cookbooks.

I think Cost was Lettuce's original Asian-food consultant for Big Bowl; he was a partner before they sold it. He went to work for Brinker briefly, but came back soon after. He's certainly trying to bring Big Bowl up to his standards.

Jesper wrote:One point of disagreement, however, I was disappointed with the mini bow. There was very little filling in the buns.

They just changed the bao a few weeks ago to make them a little larger with more filling. I certainly enjoyed the ones I had, which were, maybe, half to a third the size of Wow Bao's.

JeffB wrote:Is it possible that no establishment in Chicago ever served risotto before Scoozi?

It certainly possible, even likely, that some Italian restaurant in Chicago served risotto from time to time before Scoozi opened in 1986. It's probable that places serving osso buco may have paired it with risotto alla Milanese. But I cannot recall risotto as a regular menu feature anywhere locally before Scoozi.

Before the 1980s, the vast majority of Chicago's Italian restaurants stuck pretty closely to the specialties of southern Italy and Italian-American standards. Anyone wanting to serve risotto here before the mid-1980s would probably have had to go to some lengths to get suitable rice.

jbw wrote:I'm pretty sure Avanzare (which, unless my memory fails me was the first of the LEYE high-end Italian restaurants in Chicago and closed long before Scoozi opened) considered risotto one of their specialties, if not their signature dish.

Avanzare opened in 1982. They certainly served risotto there after Scoozi opened. I don't remember that they offered it beforehand, although they may have. But I remember the hoopla with which Lettuce introduced the risotto, and I think it unlikely they'd have marketed it quite that way if they were already serving it regularly at another of their restaurants. (It also could be that I've mixed up the two, and it was Avanzare, not Scoozi, that did risotto on the half hour, but I don't think so.)

LAZ wrote:(It also could be that I've mixed up the two, and it was Avanzare, not Scoozi, that did risotto on the half hour, but I don't think so.)

LAZ,

It was Scoozi who had the half-hour risotto shtick going, not Avanzare. I remember going to Scoozi back in the late 80's and always having a good time.

No strong opinion of the first restaurant in Chicago to serve risotto, though it seems unlikely risotto was not served regularly in a few places prior to Scoozi's 1986 opening.

Enjoy,
Gary

Funny, I was going to give my one-word answer to all Italian questions, Sabatino's, but I was hoping an old-timer like bryan would step in.

La Locanda, Marco Conti's old place that now exists and does very well in a Scottsdale stripmall, and its sister establishment, La Risotteria Nord, both featured risotto (particularly the risotteria ), though I have no idea when they opened.

LAZ wrote:This post is not for you if you....

- Automatically disdain chain restaurants
- Are convinced nothing good can come from an ethnic restaurant if the ownership/management/chef is not of the relevant ethnic heritage
- Believe "authentic" is always better than "innovative"
- Loathe Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises

If any of those conditions apply, stop reading now.

* * *

Let me say that I've always been something of a fan of Lettuce. Their restaurants don't always reach the heights, but I've rarely had a bad meal in one. Service is usually efficient and some of their concepts over the years have been delightful. Lettuce launched well before I moved to Chicago, but I can recall visiting here and having friends insist on taking me to places like Fritz That's It! and Jonathon Livingston Seafood, the like of which I'd never experienced. I still miss Bones, the place Himself and I judged the best spot at which to introduce our parents to each other after we decided to get married.

No restaurant in Chicago had a salad bar before Lettuce introduced them here. (Let me tell you, sonny boy, in the '70s, a salad bar was something special.) I first tried tapas and ate risotto in Lettuce restaurants. As far as I can tell, Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba! (1985) and Scoozi (1986), respectively, were the first Chicago restaurants to serve them. (Scoozi used to serve risotto every half hour, ringing a bell to signal its readiness.)

I adored the punning restaurant names and the clever promotions. When we were first married, we got a Lettuce "passport," and made a point of eating at seven different LEYE restaurants over the course of several months to get it stamped -- in order to earn a free dinner at the Pump Room, something we'd never have afforded then otherwise. In another promo, we collected "stock certificates," phoning a number to get the day's "stock report" on which restaurant was giving the best discount in exchange. They were fun.

* * *

Anyway, to the point of this post: If you haven't been to Big Bowl in a while, it might be time to go back. Big Bowl opened in the front of The Eccentric about 10 years ago. Sometime after that it morphed into an Asian restaurant and expanded to new locations. I used to like the Big Bowl restaurants a lot. They were fun and cheap and the food was fresh, tasty and sometimes quite special. Six years ago I arranged a dinner there for out-of-town friends that they're still talking about. But then Lettuce sold them to Texas-based Brinker International (owners of Chili's, et al) and shortly thereafter they became not worth bothering with.

Last year, though, Lettuce bought Big Bowl back. A couple months ago, I happened to talk to Bruce Cost, the culinary partner, and he mentioned he'd spent the past eight months working on bringing Big Bowl back up to par.

I finally had a chance to go in there recently. What a difference! What bright. lively flavors. The potstickers have new fillings and exceptionally delicate wrappers. There are cute mini-bao, like baby Wow Baos (which Cost also helped to develop). The peanut noodles start with house-roasted peanuts. The hot-and-sour soup ranks among the best I've had; it starts with pork broth and they say it's made to order.

The spicy dishes seriously zing -- loads of fresh chilies. For the Thai-style curries, they're making all the sauces from scratch -- no canned curry pastes. We had an astonishing scallop and shrimp citrus curry, loaded with fresh water chestnuts. I have no idea how authentic it is and I don't care. The flavors just explode.

There's even a wine list, developed by ex-Charlie Trotter's sommelier Belinda Chang. They also have two new flavors of the fresh ginger ale. I liked them, especially the pomegranate, but not as much as the awesome original.

If you like Wow Bao, you may enjoy its new, improved big brother. The prices are reasonable (entrees start at $8.95 and top out under $20), the surroundings are pleasant and they're in neighborhoods where good-food options in this price range are slight.

Big Bowl
312/640-8888, 6 E. Cedar St., Chicago
312/951-1888, 60 E. Ohio St., Chicago
847/517-8881, Streets of Woodfield, 1950 E. Higgins Road, Schaumburg
847/808-8880, CityPark, 315 Parkway Drive (Milwaukee & Aptakisic), Lincolnshire
www.bigbowl.com

I didnt mind the early incarnation of Big Bowl but it seems that now the volume of salt per dish has gone up in celebration of the new menu
I personally think the food has taken a turn for the worse

Oh man, now you jump started a craving. Completely inauthentic, but I always loved the kung pao with spinach, tofu and noodles. That was a fairly regular order for me when I was working at the office late. Now I'm wishing one was closer.

My husband and I often walk up Michigan after work and catch our bus home at its northern end, and when we know our refrigerator is bereft of good things to eat (as is often the case), and we’re feeling hungry (nearly always), we frequently land at Big Bowl (E Ohio location). As LAZ points out, this is a neighborhood where decent dining options in the lower price ranges are limited, and we have never been disappointed in a Big Bowl meal. Always fresh ingredients and nicely balanced flavors. The beef dishes are particularly good, I think, with very tender meat.

The only reluctance we have about returning is that we eat too much—we tell ourselves that if we over-order (being of the species whose eyes are typically larger than their stomachs), we can always take some home, but we have never ended up with leftovers; we just end up overfull.

This "old-timer" is going back to the risotto question. My sister worked w/ Dennis Terzak, who is no longer on lifes menu, at the Ambassador East Hotel. She recalled that both he and Richie Melman toured Italy together in order to create Avanzare. Risotto was on the menu, you had to wait 25-35 minutes to get it. But it was a huge hit. Scoozie did not come on to the scene until about six or seven years later. And yet... I still say Angelo and Enzo (Sabatinos) had it on their menu first. Will research, and post back.

edited to add to Jeff B: next time you call me an old-timer you better get off my lawn you little whipple-snapper!!! I know your mom, and I'm tellin.

I've gotten a fairly definitive answer on the risotto question, at least as it pertains to LEYE. I spoke to the Lettuce publicist, who asked Rich Melman. According to her, he said Scoozi had risotto first.

This, of course, doesn't speak to whether Sabatino's or another restaurant in Chicago served risotto earlier than 1986. (Sabatino's doesn't have risotto on the menu now.)

In any case, I would still give Scoozi credit for popularizing the dish here.

I will bet that Stefani's original place on Fullerton offered risotto. I think Pronto, in the Seneca Hotel on Chestnut also served risotto, though I am not as certain about that, or whether it predates Scoozi.

Stefani's is just the first place I can think of that dates back to before '86 that I know was absolutely Northern Italian. But it was not that exotic, in my world anyway. Southern Italian food may have been more common, but Northern Italian was not uncommon, particularly among the more upscale places.

I am sure there were a couple of Northern Italian places on Taylor Street, one on Oakley, and a couple around Michigan Avenue at the time, though I will need to do some research to find names and exact locations. Corona Cafe on Rush was Northern Italian, but did not offer risotto as a regular menu item.

Nice post, LAZ, and Melman has done many good things including popularizing tapas in Chicago (I think Emilio was his original chef at BaBa ReBa, wasn't he?). But his role in the history of Italian food in Chicago has been, how to say, not so much.

On a related note - was the popularization of the salad bar a step forward, or backward?

dicksond wrote:Melman has done many good things including popularizing tapas in Chicago (I think Emilio was his original chef at BaBa ReBa, wasn't he?). But his role in the history of Italian food in Chicago has been, how to say, not so much.

On a related note - was the popularization of the salad bar a step forward, or backward?

Yes, Emilio came to Chicago to open Ba-Ba-Reeba.

Beyond popularizing this one dish, I would certainly not ascribe to Lettuce any strong role in Chicago's Italian food history, although I've always liked what I've eaten at Avanzare, Scoozi and the Tuccis. Beyond, say, Spiaggia, which pushed Italian up into the higher levels of fine dining, I'm not sure you could give credit to any one Italian restaurant here -- there have always been so many.

As for the salad bar, in the 1970s, it was a definite advance. Don't you remember when many restaurants would serve you a wedge of iceberg, dump sickly sweet french dressing on it, and call that a salad?

LAZ wrote:

JeffB wrote:Is it possible that no establishment in Chicago ever served risotto before Scoozi?

It certainly possible, even likely, that some Italian restaurant in Chicago served risotto from time to time before Scoozi opened in 1986. It's probable that places serving osso buco may have paired it with risotto alla Milanese. But I cannot recall risotto as a regular menu feature anywhere locally before Scoozi.

Risotto was on Chicago menus long before Lettuce Entertain You and Scoozi. Here's a menu from Riccardo's, probably from the late 1950s*. I believe it's their full regular menu, not a list of daily specials (incidentally osso buco is nowhere to be found).



* I'm unable to date the menu precisely but the prices are similar (slightly higher) to those on Riccardo's 1953 menu. For example, Green Noodles al Forno are up to $1.35 from $1.25 and Chicken alla Vesuvio went from $2.75 to $2.85. Red stars indicate a specialty of the house.

Great post! I love Big Bowl and a lot of Lettuce Entertain You restaurants too. I just found out Maggiano's is no longer part of LEY and was sold to the Chili's company?!

Back to Big Bowl, it's one of my favorite restaurants! My ideal meal is:

-chicken satay
-hibiscus iced tea or a glass of their sangiovese
-lemon chicken (love the stuff!)

I could go there over and over again and the best thing that ever happened to me was when the Lincolnshire location opened (right near my house!) Haven't had it in awhile, I will have to go back soon.

The following exchange took place over in Something to Drink. It seemed appropriate to move the food-focused reply to this thread.

David Hammond wrote:

Rene G wrote:I wish I could work up similar enthusiasm for Big Bowl's food.

I drink soda maybe once a month (sometimes less), so I'm no authority on this or any pop, but Friday night we enjoyed an "original flavor" Fresh Ginger/Ginger Ale by Bruce Cost. It has a clean, strong (but not as strong as, say, Blenheim) ginger bite, very refreshing.

To Peter's point, we had a bowl of crab corn soup at Big Bowl that was a real standout; we gave it two very enthusiastic gruntgruntgoods. In this weather, soup is the last thing I want to eat, but The Wife ordered it and it was very fine. Authentic? No idea, but what impressed me was that the flavors of crab, corn, coconut milk, lemon grass were all brought out with just a little heat in a very balanced bowl of tastiness. I had seconds from our little tureen and I could have eaten more. Other dishes lacked some of the funk and heat and overall dimension I've come to expect from Thai food, but I understand that LEYE is shooting for the middle of customer tastes; this soup seemed an exception.

I really liked that soup too. It was the only dish I tried that had vibrant flavors. I'd certainly order it again (but wonder if I'll ever return).



The rest of my meal was lackluster. I tried seven dishes (not counting dessert). Three were grossly oversweetened, one (the soup) was sweet but balanced, and the other three were served with very sweet sauces on the side. The kitchen is working in an exceedingly narrow window in the hot/sour/salty/sweet spectra. Everything seems to have plenty of sugar and salt but hot and sour flavors are almost absent. Nothing pops or pulses. It's a shame they're so timid with seasonings because their ingredients seem of good quality and many of the presentations are clever. As you say, they're shooting for the middle (or maybe a little lower).

Love LEYE restarants too back in the day. The salad bar and RJ Grunts was a real innovation at the time. I was a customer from their first year. It was a very trendy place back then. The salad bar was an unheard of thing. Plus the menu with all the cleverisms. I recall back then on New Year's eve they gave everyone a free meal. That was way back in the early days. I've eaten at several of them over the years but somehow seemed to grow away from these restaurants in the mid nineteen eighties.

Big changes are in the works for Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc.'s Big Bowl when Patricia Yeo arrives in mid-January as creative director. The "Top Chef" cook will work with executive chef Marc Bernard to beef up Big Bowl's casual Chinese and Thai menu and develop a new restaurant concept, as well as to help the Big Bowl team expand into airports and other nontraditional venues.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... a-makeover

Dave148 wrote:

Big changes are in the works for Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc.'s Big Bowl when Patricia Yeo arrives in mid-January as creative director. The "Top Chef" cook will work with executive chef Marc Bernard to beef up Big Bowl's casual Chinese and Thai menu and develop a new restaurant concept, as well as to help the Big Bowl team expand into airports and other nontraditional venues.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... a-makeover

You know, that link a little interesting, but mostly I'm grateful for the thread necromancy. The whole risotto discussion was utterly engrossing, and I'd have missed it otherwise. I love you guys - I really do.

Independent George wrote:The whole risotto discussion was utterly engrossing . . .

Not to keep beating a dead horse but risotto, while not particularly common, was not unknown on Chicago menus long before Scoozi (or Riccardo's for that matter). To move the "risotto on Chicago menus" discussion back many decades, an ad for Victor House from 1911 touts their "Specialty: Spaghetti, Gnocchi, Risotto, Cannelloni Ripieni, Ravioli, Etc." The restaurant, serving "strictly Italian cuisine," was at State & Grand (Indiana Street back in the day). It opened at the end of the 19th century and lasted over 30 years.