We at Dish are always on the lookout for dining trends, and an odd one just materialized: restaurateurs with Tizi Melloul on their resumés. After Pork Shoppe and The Portage, the newest restaurant from a Tizi vet is Mia Figlia (5304 W. Devon Ave.; 773-792-8300), which opened July 2nd near the Edgebrook Metra stop.

“It’s straightforward Italian food,” says John Boudouvas, a chef/partner at Mia Figlia, who was the opening chef at Tizi but always had a passion for Italian. “But we didn’t bust out the Bible to have every single dish out there.” The menu includes some classics such as lasagne and eggplant Parmesan, but also some atypical Italian dishes. Boudouvas recommends the handmade whole-wheat trofiette with broccoli, chicken, and tomato-basil sauce. He estimates a customer would spend $25 on an appetizer and an entrée.

Boudouvas and the other partner in Mia Figlia, Armando Lopez, named the restaurant after their daughters—Boudouvas has two and Lopez has one. (Mia Figlia means “my daughter” in Italian.) They were lamenting missing father-daughter dances because of working Friday nights—even though they liked the restaurant business. “This love is taking away from our daughters,” Boudouvas recalls saying. “Let’s name this restaurant after our daughters.” So they did—collectively. “This labor of love is for the loves of our lives,” Boudouvas says.