Coco Pazzo | Coco Pazzo Café | Italian Restaurant | Chicago, IL


			Press Releases Landmark Chicago Restaurant Coco Pazzo to Celebrate 20th Anniversary in January 2012 Founded With Visionary Concepts and Still Packs Them in Today (Chicago, IL) In 1992, Coco Pazzo Restaurant was the first restaurant in Chicago to specialize in the earthy, seasonal cuisine of Tuscany, Italy. Early on, critics described the food as “lusty”, “full-flavored”, “invigorating”, and “hearty”. The menu, which was unusual for fine dining, was referred to as “Coco Pazzo Style” and was designed around the Italian tradition of sharing plates of food. How very 2012! President and owner Jack Weiss, who was the Vice President when Coco Pazzo opened, had a few other imaginative ideas when building out the space in the River North area of Chicago. Together, he and the management team located a 100-year-old building that was originally a factory on W. Hubbard St. “We were enraptured by the high ceilings and wood beams. And, we felt the loft-like space captured the feeling of walking into a dining room in Florence,” he reminisces. They purposely sloped the dining room floor up, to lead to a theatrical open display kitchen. At the heart of the kitchen, they built a Spanish tile-fronted, wood burning-oven, where much of the menu was cooked. It was the first time such an oven was used in a Chicago restaurant. This sounds as current today as it did 20 years ago. Since the beginning a few chefs have come and gone, but the philosophy of the Tuscan-inspired menu has not changed. While today the menu is ala carte, it is still based on meat, seafood, hand made pasta and bread, with a focus on the purity of ingredients and flavor. Running the kitchen for the last two and a half years is Chef Partner Chris Macchia (31, CIA graduate) and while he has remained true to the Tuscan tenets, he has put his own contemporary spin on many of the dishes. He’s also taken it upon himself to make his own sausage, duck prosciutto, smoked salmon and does much of his butchering and bread baking in-house. Macchia experiments with making traditional rich sauces lighter with infused vegetable purées and olive oils. However his biggest self-assigned challenge has been to create some of the best pizza in Chicago. Wine Director Tamra Presley Weiss travels to Italy each year to visit wineries, taste new vintages and keep abreast with what is going on in the world of Italian wines and food pairing. Her all Italian wine list includes carefully selected high quality wines that represent excellent values. And, small producers of sought after wines of renown are also part of her wine selection. Her impressive wine list consistently earns industry awards and offers something for everyone. Coco Pazzo loosely translates in Italian to “the crazy chef”. The concept was born out of a Manhattan NY restaurant of the same name owned by chef author Pino Luongo. Weiss left Coco Pazzo New York and moved to Chicago to oversee the building of the new restaurant in 1991. He and his investors then purchased Coco Pazzo and Coco Pazzo Café in 2004. Coco Pazzo is planning multiple 20th anniversary celebrations throughout the months of January and February, 2012: • Parties of six or more can enjoy a retro 1992, $20 per person communal dining experience including an antipasti, pasta, entrée and dessert. • Special wine pairing dining occasions are also in the works including a January brunch and February dinner. • A grand benefit including Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center is scheduled for Thursday, January 26, 2012. A portion of the benefit proceeds will support the Ryan Opera Center, a not-for-profit professional artist–development program for Lyric Opera of Chicago. Throughout the evening, students from the center will perform selected arias from famous Italian operas and everyone will feast on the famous Tuscan inspired dishes that Coco Pazzo has been serving Chicago diners for 20 years. • And…Coco Pazzo will be launching their own line of custom produced extra virgin olive oil from Tuscany and balsamic vinegar from the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. The olive oil is a blend of moraiolio, leccino and frantoio olives. The balsamic is made from a blend of trebbiano and lambrusco grapes, and is aged about 6 years. Requests for more detailed information, backgrounders, photos, recipes and interviews are welcomed by the principals of Coco Pazzo. View their photos and bios here: http://www.cocopazzochicago.com/our-staff.html For more instant information visit their website: http://www.cocopazzochicago.com/ Or contact: Judith Mara of MBF Creative Partnership at marabeach@sbcglobal.net or call 312.655.0737 Lynn Flannery of MBF Creative Partnership at lynnflannery@sbcglobal.net or call 312.218.1828 Thank you!
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			COCO PAZZO CAFE636 N ST. CLAIR STCHICAGO IL 60611RESERVATIONS: 312.664.2777

			COCO PAZZO300 W HUBBARDCHICAGO IL 60654RESERVATIONS: 312.836.0900