BAR SALOTTO: A PIZZA BAR BUILT FOR THE COMMUNITY
BAR SALOTTO: A PIZZA BAR BUILT FOR THE COMMUNITY
Location:
Prospect Heights, IL
Growing up in Prospect Heights, Ill., Jay Brizzolara spent plenty of time hanging out with friends at a popular restaurant on Rand Road. As many restaurants do, Nikko’s eventually closed and for years the building was vacant. Until Brizzolara and his business partner, Thomas Ragauskis, made the decision to bring that building back to life.
Jay envisioned a place that could help create those same good memories for a new generation. A restaurant with a family friendly atmosphere and great food. Not being familiar with the foodservice industry, Brizzolara partnered with Robin Rada, project manager at Boelter, and together they worked to bring his vision to life.
Robin’s experience working with kitchen design and equipment sourcing, as well as Boelter’s longstanding relationships within the equipment and supply sector, proved to be the perfect partnership in transforming an empty building into a vibrant, inviting restaurant serving artisanal pizzas and traditional pastas.
Great Food Comes from a Great Kitchen
The centerpiece of Bar Salotto’s kitchen are two double deck Marsal pizza ovens, which in addition to producing great tasting pizzas, also provide a visual statement for the restaurant. A large picture window between the bar and the kitchen allows guests to see those pizza ovens and the chef at work, helping promote the feeling of a community gathering to enjoy a meal together. The pizzas are all made with dough made on-premises, and a water tempering unit was installed beside the large Hobart mixer to ensure precise measurements of both temperature and volume for each batch.
The pizza ovens are supported by an ala carte cookline including an Imperial pasta cooker, Southbend convection oven, along with a Vulcan fryer and hot plate. The engineering support at Accurex provided critical information for the HVAC system. Boelter provided the hoods and the mechanical fan systems for the project. “Our choice of equipment helped Bar Salotto put out a lot of food in what is a relatively small kitchen,” Rada says. Part of what made it possible to get all the necessary equipment in the kitchen was some creative design work on Rada’s part. She worked with Bear Construction to install The Thermo-Kool walk-in cooler/freezer along with Cooltec refrigeration, providing durable and reliable equipment to manage food safety outside the building, with the door meeting the building at the back of the kitchen. “Taking that large equipment outside freed up space inside for production and dishwashing,” Rada says.
Another critical space saver was the installation of a ventless Hobart dishmachine. This allowed them to take advantage of the labor savings and energy efficiency of a dish machine without adding another hood to the limited ceiling space available.
Creating a Vibe
The owners of Bar Salotto envisioned their restaurant as an experience for their community, and that meant focusing not just on producing quality food but also creating an inviting atmosphere. Boelter’s ability to service restaurants from concept to completion helped make their vision come to life. Brizzolara and his team worked with Monica McCabe, Boelter’s Supply business development manager, to source all the right products for this project, from plates and silverware to bar tools and glasses.
Taking advantage of Boelter’s Milwaukee showroom turned out to be a plus for Bar Salotto. There they could find the tableware to match their vision for the restaurant, which was trendy and sleek yet durable. "Knowing what they were expecting as far as daily traffic along with understanding the workflow of their kitchen and dish room, all helped in choosing the right type of tableware; to get the look they wanted with the function that was needed,” McCabe says.
One of the unique aspects of this concept was the bar. Beer service is all bottles and cans, with no keg cooler. They chose that route to be as nimble with their offerings as possible, serving craft beer and adding new options as new breweries develop. Bar Salotto also offers a wide variety of craft cocktails, and they consulted with a high-profile Chicago mixologist to create some signature cocktails. The Boelter-designed Perlick under bar and back bar equipment was enhanced with McCabe’s experience with specialty cocktail implements needed to support that service, including juicers and tools for making garnishes.
Set Up for Flexibility
Bar Salotto held its grand opening in the fall of 2023 and has since enjoyed an ongoing relationship with Boelter to help keep things running smoothly. From working with manufacturers to keeping equipment functioning properly to bringing in new supplies, the day-to-day challenges of a restaurant are easier to deal with when you have an experienced partner working with you. McCabe recently helped pick out a line of cups to service a new espresso machine.
“When the restaurant first opened, they weren’t going to go with a full coffee service and had decided to only offer French press coffee,” McCabe says. “After opening they wanted to expand their offerings, and of course that meant adding new cups.” Working with McCabe meant the new cups would be consistent with the rest of the table’s presentation, ensuring the customer experienced consistent quality throughout the meal.
“Staying true to their initial concept has helped Bar Salotto find success,” McCabe says. “I believe it’s what will give them staying power in this community.”
