Opening: Pelago

Italian wanderlust in a boutique hotel

Kimberly Anguil Mafrici and Mauro Mafrici of Pelago

Mauro Mafrici, the celebrated chef at Pelago Ristorante, has the perfect mix of influences and experiences to celebrate Italy’s diverse bounty. His mother hails from the north, his father from the south, and he’s from all over. So he can fill homemade ravioli with Dover sole and caviar and get away with it. “Mauro is taking advantage of all that Italy has to offer,” says Kimberly Anguil Mafrici, his partner and wife (and the space’s designer). Apparently, so is she. The 60-seat restaurant recently opened in a Streeterville boutique hotel and boasts Italian porcelain chandeliers, Italian aqua blue damask banquettes, and a nine-foot painting by David De Biasio, a native of Treviso. Raffaello Hotel, 201 E. Delaware Pl.; 312-280-0700.

Photograph: Anna Knott

This article appears in the October 2009 issue of Chicago Magazine.

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