Bistecca alla fiorentina, tagliatelle al ragù bianco and schiacciata are just some of the signature dishes at Tre Dita in Chicago.
The highly anticipated restaurant opened at the luxury St. Regis Chicago hotel in the Lakeshore East neighborhood on March 16.
It’s the Italian-inspired sibling on the second floor to the Japanese-inspired Miru on the 11th floor.
“Tre Dita means three fingers and it refers to the measurement of the bistecca fiorentina,” said chef Evan Funke. “Anything under three fingers thick is considered carpaccio in the Tuscan mindset.”
Funke, best known for his critically acclaimed restaurants in the Los Angeles area, is also a partner in the new establishment with Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants.
“Bistecca fiorentina is kind of like the quintessential Tuscan steak,” the chef said.
It’s a huge cut, a porterhouse T-bone with a filet mignon on one side and a New York Strip on the other.
“And the word bistecca is actually a mashup of English and Italian,” he added. The story goes that a group of English gentlemen were dining in Tuscany a couple hundred years ago. “They were so astonished by the quality of the beef that they started chanting ‘Beefsteak! Beefsteak! Beefsteak!’ So that’s where the word bistecca apparently comes from.”
It may just be a great story, he said.
“Italians are exceptional storytellers,” the chef said. And if a story doesn’t exist for something, “they will make one up.”
So would it be correct to call Tre Dita an Italian steakhouse?
“This is purely cucina Toscana,” Funke said. “And it just so happens that the Tuscans celebrate beef as much as Chicagoans do.”
It’s more of a Tuscan restaurant than a steakhouse, he added. But yes, there are steaks, large and small.
“We have wood fire, which is absolutely essential in all the cooking that I do, but especially in the cooking of cucina Toscana,” the chef said. “So I don’t know if you would call this a steakhouse in the American perspective, but it has steakhouse elements.”
All steaks are served sliced for sharing, and that bistecca alla fiorentina weighs in at 42 ounces, after 60 days of dry aging, and is $290.
But a pasta laboratorio is at the heart of the restaurant.
“We have a pasta lab at Tre Dita,” said Funke. “That’s why I hesitate to call it a steakhouse, because most steakhouses don’t make handmade pasta.”
It’s his third laboratorio, “where the connection between pasta maker and diner can be met.”
Two pasta dishes emerged as early favorites at Bar Tre Dita, which opened before the main restaurant on Feb. 15.
“The tagliatelle with ragù bianco — ragù toscana — which is a pork ragù,” said Funke. “Also the spaghetti al limone, the lemon spaghetti.”
The pork ragù is a white sauce, which means there’s no tomato.
“In the United States, if a ragù is not red, people don’t think it’s ragù,” said the chef. “But ragù really refers to a meat sauce.”
Pastry chef Juan Gutierrez, also at Miru, is taking traditional Italian desserts, including tiramisu and torta della nonna, and lightening them with a very delicate hand, Funke said.
“These amazing lemon cookies that he made, they’re called baci di limone, lemon kisses, are probably one of my favorite cookies that I’ve ever had,” he added.
Funke also brought his focaccia, one of the dishes he’s famous for in the Los Angeles area.
He first started tinkering with the recipe in 2009 and it took five years to get the formula absolutely correct.
“So this is one of my love children,” the chef said. “I wanted a focaccia that had the texture of a freshly fried doughnut, but had the depth and richness of focaccia.”
It’s on the menu as a schiacciata bianca and a schiacciata rossa.
“We do a white one with fried rosemary, sea salt and olive oil,” he added. “And then we also do a red one with kind of an onion sauce on top with pecorino toscano and wild oregano.”
Given his reputation for a hands-on dedication to craft, how often will Funke be at Tre Dita?
“I don’t take on restaurants that I can’t spend significant time in,” said the chef. “So I’ll be around quite a bit.”
He began working with Lettuce as a pasta consultant primarily at RPM Italian in 2015, and counts the restaurant group’s co-founder Rich Melman as a mentor.
“I want people to fall in love with this Tuscan experience as soon as they walk in,” Funke said. When you tuck into a dish of pappardelle with duck ragù, he added, and you’ve possibly had that same dish in Florence, Siena or Lucca, you’re taken back to that moment. “That’s really what we’re after at Tre Dita.”
Tre Dita; 401 E. Wacker Drive (in The St. Regis Chicago hotel), 2nd floor; 312-725-1724; treditarestaurant.com
More new and notable restaurant openings, in alphabetical order:
Casa Madai
Chef Ismael Lucero Lopez (TenGoku Aburiya, Japonais By Morimoto, Mirai Sushi) has created a Japanese- and Mexican-inspired omakase sushi restaurant reflecting 25 years of working in sushi and his national heritage. Casa Madai opened in the Pilsen neighborhood on March 5. The grand opening tasting indeed includes madai nigiri, as well as a La Baja specialty roll with panko fried ebi and jalapeño, plus black sesame ice cream for dessert on the BYOB menu.
2023 S. Racine Ave., 872-342-2105, casamadai.com
EvaDean’s Bakery & Cafe
The Bennison’s Bakery extended family has expanded on the North Shore. EvaDean’s Bakery & Cafe began baking in Wilmette on Feb. 29. Get a warm and gooey cinnamon cake, a croque madame and a loaded bloody mary topped with a tiny cheddar scallion biscuit.
1115 Central Ave., Wilmette; 224-408-2695; evadeans.com
Karavan
The owners of Jibek Jolu restaurant have hit the Silk Road again. Karavan cut the ribbon in Des Plaines on March 6. Look for plov, aka pilaf, the national rice dish of Uzbekistan cooked in a traditional cast iron kazan, nomad skewers and a seven-layer honey cake filled with whipped cream.
851 W. Oakton St., Des Plaines; 224-519-0323; thekaravan.us
Lago by Fabio Viviani
Jetsetting celebrity chef Fabio Viviani wanted to open an Italian steakhouse in his own backyard. Lago by Fabio Viviani set sail in Lake Zurich on March 4. It’s not quite in his literal backyard, but you’ll find a “Fabio’s Wagyu Meatball” appetizer with grilled bread, a 32-ounce dry-aged bistecca alla fiorentina and a “Fabio’s Tiramisu” with roasted white chocolate.
350 N. Rand Road, Lake Zurich; 224-833-0939; lagolakezurich.com
Steingold’s Bakehouse
Aaron Steingold and his wife Elizabeth Abowd led the local movement of the modern Jewish-inspired deli when they founded their family-owned business just seven years ago. Steingold’s Bakehouse started schmearing in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on March 8. It’s a grab-and-go takeout-only location, with limited days and hours for now, that offers challah breakfast buns, house-made bagels and a hot giardiniera schmear.
2939 W. Grand Ave., 312-772-4217, steingoldsdeli.com
Reopening:
My Place, the Chinese restaurant that should be better known for its fantastic afternoon tea specials including baked Portuguese chicken and milk tea, reopened in a new space in the South Loop on March 4. 1906 S. State St., 312-763-6935, myplacesouthloop.com
Closings:
Bongo Room Andersonville, the Clark Street location of the popular brunch restaurant, whose co-owner John Latino died at 58 in January, closed after 12 years on March 10.
Parachute, the critically acclaimed Korean American restaurant by James Beard award-winning chefs and spouses Johnny Clark and Beverly Kim, closed March 23 after marking a decade this year as a global culinary destination in the Avondale neighborhood.
Know of a Chicago-area restaurant or bar that’s new and notable? Email food critic Louisa Chu at lchu@chicagotribune.com.
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