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When I heard, back several months ago, that Merlo Ristorante on North Lincoln Avenue was opening a second location on Maple Street, just off the hotbed merge of Rush and State Streets, I shook my head in disbelief. Why? After all, there are enough restaurants and bars in that neck of the city to appease the most jaded of diners and drinkers.
After a couple of visits to Merlo on Maple, I was shaking my head in belief. I got religion -- Bolognese-style. For one thing, this incredibly beautiful three-story brick and stone townhouse (that once housed a restaurant called the Waterfront) just might have been saved from a nasty wrecking ball.
Second, the obviously loving restoration of the interior (the polished wood floors and gracious woodwork alone are not to be missed) by owners Luisa Silvia Marani and Giampaolo Sassi, who hail from Bologna (Silvia is the chef, Giampaolo is the host) becomes a metaphor for the cultural and civilized approach to what fine dining -- Italian style -- is all about.
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