“We’ve got three culinarios: Michael Sheerin, Phil Rubino, and Sarah Jordan,” says Dan Rosenthal (Trattoria No. 10), owner of Cicchetti, a small-plate osteria riffing on Venetian classics (scheduled to open mid-December).

Rosenthal has a point. Exec chef Sheerin (Blackbird, Trenchermen) directs traffic and put together the balance of the menu; Rubino (L2O, Acadia), who comes from a long tradition of Sicilian bakers, takes the lead in the housemade pasta program; and Jordan (Boka, GT Fish & Oyster), recently named one of Food & Wine’s top five best new pastry chefs, has a knack with savories as well as sweets. Given this talent pool, expectations run justifiably high for items such as scrambled eggs agnolotti (pillow-shaped stuffed pasta in Parmesan broth with crispy guanciale) as well as aged hanger steak capacccio with caper-raisin emulsion.

Then there’s the “reverse” affogato, wherein crème anglaise gets poured over espresso gelato. Rosenthal says this stuff is so good that he wants to bathe in it. 661 N. St. Clair St., 312-642-1800