The rigatoni, clockwise from top left, lasagne, pappardelle and spaghetti at Tre Dita, 401 E. Wacker Drive in Chicago on May 17, 2024. Tre Dita has become the Chicago home away from home for celebrated chef Evan Funke, but the restaurant as a whole has yet to match the mastery of his pasta.
Funke said when he initially talked about Tre Dita with Lettuce co-founder Rich Melman, and his son and president of the restaurant group, R.J. Melman, they talked about a Tuscan steakhouse. Because Tuscany celebrates beef and so does Chicago, the chef said. Then they realized they wanted a Tuscan experience. There just so happens to be quite a bit of beef on the menu, he added, but there are far more pastas and antipasti on the menu than there is beef.
has become a must-order item, and it’s designed for sharing. The menu describes it as a Tuscan focaccia. But it’s not like any of the flatbreads you’ll find around town, or the attributed region of Italy. As you probably know, we have more than one Chicago-style deep dish. He means something similar to a pan pizza, where the crust is thick yet light. Not the deep dish pizza where the crust is high, but thin like a pie crust.
The pici at Tre Dita, 401 E. Wacker Drive on May 17, 2024. Pici is spaghetti’s thicker Tuscan cousin. It is! When I tried to twirl a single strand, it uncoiled repeatedly. I wished I’d brought chopsticks to the noodle fight. It’s best eaten strand by strand, “Lady and the Tramp” style.“But then you fold in this textural aspect and they’re all fighting for dominance,” Funke said. “And it’s just this experience in your mouth. Like what is going on? I love that it’s so rowdy.