Mama DePandi Coming to Chicago

Delve reported back in July that the Melmans were up to something with the revamp of the Ben Pao space, but we didn’t expect, in our wildest dreams, that it would involve a collaboration with two of our fave Chicagoans: Giuliana and Bill.

We knew Mama DePandi had to be behind this the second we heard the news, and it’s looking like we were right. While Chef/Partner Doug Psaltis will be running the kitchen, rumor has it that Giuliana’s beloved mom will be a regular fixture in the new Chicago-based restaurant. The combination of Psaltis (having worked in some of the world’s most lauded kitchens including Alain Ducasse at the Essex House in New York, Ducasses’s three Michelin star restaurant in Monaco, Le Louis XV and Mix in New York, and Thomas Keller’s French Laundry in Napa Valley) and the old school Italian cooking of the DePandi family, already has our mouths watering.

Jerrod Melman says the Lettuce Entertain You crew has been thinking about creating an Italian spot for awhile, and once they got to know the Rancics, the concept “just organically all came together.” With a lineup like this, how could it not?

Think they’ll discuss on tonight's episode of Giuliana & Bill? We’ll be tuned in to find out.

Until then, arrivederci.