As part of the W Chicago Lakeshore hotel’s many-millions-of-dollars renovation, the hotel restaurant will get a jolt by transforming into Current (644 N. Lake Shore Dr., Streeterville, 312-255-4460), a seasonal-Italian replacement for Wave. Chef Gregory Elliott will arc across from the old restaurant to the new, planning to open in mid-May.

“It’s a simple, Italian-inspired menu, ingredient-driven,” Elliott says. “I wrote the whole menu.” He highlights a few dishes:

• A porchetta sandwich on the baguette-like bread filone, with cabbage, kohlrabi, and chile aïoli
• Deck-oven thin-crust pizzas
• The skewer dish called spiedini, in lamb-mint-balsamic and chicken-lardo-pancetta-sage versions
• Paccheri (a large tubular pasta) with lamb Bolognese, peperonata peppers, and the smoked pecorino cheese fiore sardo
• Semifreddo of the Italian nougat torrone, with bittersweet chocolate sauce and candied oranges

Elliott says the multivalence of the name of the restaurant is intentional, denoting not just electricity, but also the movement of water and the adjective meaning “timely.” It’ll be particularly timely during currant season.