RIVER NORTH — Zarella, a pizzeria from Boka Restaurant Group, opens Friday in River North and might be serving up tavern-style and artisan pizza, plus an array of Italian classics.
Situated at 531 N. Wells St., Zarella joins a roster of greater than 15 Boka Restaurant Group spots in Chicago. The brand new restaurant replaces Boka’s GT Fish & Oyster, which closed in late 2022 after 12 years of service.
Cooks Chris Pandel and Lee Wolen, two Boka Group veterans, crafted the menu at Zarella, which options salads, pasta and entrees like hen Parmesan and hen piccata alongside Zarella’s signature pizzas.
Visitors can customise a 14-inch artisan or tavern-style pizza beginning at $20, or $16 for a 10-inch gluten-free pie. Specialty pizzas vary from $21-$28 and embrace choices like spicy vodka, mushroom and truffle, and carbonara.
All pizzas could be made with vegan cheese by request, in accordance with a press launch.
“Pizza and I am going approach again. Ever since Balena closed after the hearth, I’ve wished to open one other spot that focuses on making nice pizza,” Pandel stated in a press release. “Rising up in Chicagoland, Friday nights meant pizza with my household — at all times tavern-style, skinny, crispy, and reduce into squares. Now, I’m excited to create a spot the place individuals could make their very own reminiscences over nice pizza, similar to I did.”
Appetizers are plentiful on the menu and embrace fried calamari, mozzarella sticks and fried zucchini.
The restaurant can even supply three desserts: coconut delicate serve, brown butter cake and a “lazy” tiramisu.
Beers on faucet will embrace PBR and native brews Off Coloration Beer for Pizza and Revolution Hazy Hero. Cocktails vary from $13-$18 and are listed on the menu from least to most boozy, from the Zarella Handshake, made with Cynar liqueur, lemon and PBR, to the Jet Setter, a mezcal-based cocktail.
The restaurant options two ranges with tufted leather-based cubicles, fabric-clad partitions and vintage-style holophane glass lighting, in accordance with a press launch. A hidden, lower-level taverna can host company for cocktails or non-public occasions.
Zarella might be open 4-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 4-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 4-9 p.m. Sundays. To order a desk, click on right here.
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