It’s about to look a bit like the United Nations at 59 West Hubbard Street. Come March, the crew behind RPM will add Italian concept Il Porcellino to the River North building, which currently hosts Studio Paris Nightclub and Japanese noodle joint Ramen-san.
The rustic and sure-to-be-sceney trattoria from tireless partners R.J., Jerrod, and Molly Melman and chef-partner Doug Psaltis (RPM Italian, RPM Steak) takes over the space Paris Club Bistro and Bar occupied until its quiet exit earlier this week.
“We’ve been talking about doing this for a while,” says Psaltis, who notes that a complete remodel is already underway. “Paris Club was doing well, but we wanted to do better than that. We like great.”
Menu development is also in full swing. Highlights include trattoria standbys like housemade pasta (such as milk-braised boar with kale cavatelli, and lasagna with—per Psaltis—“tons of layers”); focaccia-style pizza (also offered for takeout); and antipasti spotlighting seasonal veggies.
An early contender for house specialty is Psaltsis’ take on porcellino—roasted piglet crusted with fennel pollen, black pepper, chili flakes, oregano, and garlic, and flanked with wild cicciari beans from Umbria.
For dessert there will be zuccaretti, the cream-filled, sugarcoated, and fried marriage of bombolini and cannoli. And yes, there will be vino, including classic Chianti by the bottle, and a selection of 50-plus half-bottles. Cheers to diversity!