Chicago's Tortello Brings Handmade Pasta Craft to Wicker Park in 2026

Stand outside 1746 W Division St on a Tuesday and you will likely stop before you mean to. Through a floor-to-ceiling front window, a sfoglina is already at the bench, sheeting dough, working through what will become the day's plates. Dario Monni, the chef and co-owner who engineered that view deliberately, has described the window as "a gorgeous way to show people where pasta comes from, which doesn't come from a plastic bag, which doesn't come from a shelf." Seven years into running Tortello, the window on Division Street still pulls pedestrians in before they have read a single word of the menu.

Monni opened Tortello in 2019 alongside his wife Jill Gray, and what began as a compact pastificio and counter-serve restaurant in Wicker Park has since earned Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition three consecutive years, 2022, 2023, and 2024, and earned cameos across seasons two and three of "The Bear." Monni grew up in Venice, where his nonna taught him to make pasta, and spent summers in rural Sardinia with relatives who worked as shepherds, cheesemongers and butchers. He later trained at the Gritti Palace in Venice and Michelin-starred L'Anima in London before landing on Division Street with a precise idea of what he wanted to build.

That biography shows up on the plate. Tortello runs a short, rotating menu built around regional Italian technique and premium sourcing: imported Italian staples alongside locally grown produce. For a first visit, the Tortelli di Burrata and the Tagliatelle Tina, a bolognese named for Nonna Tina, are the natural starting points. Together they cover the full range of what Monni is doing: filled pasta against long-cut, both calibrated to let the hand-rolled dough announce itself before any sauce takes over.

That distinction is exactly how to taste fresh pasta critically. When dough is properly rested and sheeted by hand, it carries a texture and weight that dried pasta simply does not have. Tortello's plates are built around that principle rather than burying it. If you leave wanting more to cook at home, fresh pasta is sold by the pound daily and the kitchen accepts custom orders placed at least 48 hours in advance.

Getting there without friction means using the CTA Blue Line rather than hunting for parking; the blocks around Division are competitive enough to make transit the obvious call. Tortello is walk-in only, no reservations taken. Mondays and Tuesdays the kitchen opens at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday through Friday at 11:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday service starts at 9 a.m., which is the most practical entry point for a first visit: the counter is accessible, and Monni is typically on the floor, talking through the filling in a particular shape or the regional logic behind a given sauce, the same way he has been since the place opened.

One restaurant, no expansion plans, and a window that keeps the work in plain view of anyone passing on Division Street.