HP_111518

22 | November 15, 2018 | The highland park landmark dining out
hplandmark.com
Cafe Pettopia celebrates 10 years in Highwood
Brittany Kapa, Sports Editor
Cafe Pettopia’s Italian sausage sandwich ($12.50) pairs Luigi Manfredini’s handmade
sausage with grilled green peppers. Photos by Jason Addy/22nd Century Media
Mike Pettorelli created
his own version of a culinary
utopia 10 years ago in
Highwood.
Pettorelli, owner and
head chef of Cafe Pettopia,
has spent the last 30 years
perfecting his culinary
skills and is now serving
up a mix of fan-favorite
dishes with classic family
recipes to area residents at
his Highwood restaurant.
He created a menu that
caters to both sweet and
savory palettes, and one
where customers can easily
find a dish to satisfy
any craving.
Pettorelli started his
culinary journey at Kendall
College in Chicago 30
years ago.
“When I went to culinary
school, I was taught
classical French cuisine,
and this is nothing like
that,” Pettorelli said. “This
is my take on a great breakfast
and lunch place.”
This is the second restaurant
Pettorelli has opened
in his career, and he now
focuses all of his efforts at
the cafe in Highwood.
He learned a few things
from his first restaurant,
mainly what worked and
what didn’t, and complied
that into what is now Cafe
Pettopia’s selection. And
since Pettorelli is a native
to Highwood, he knew just
what type of culinary excellence
he was up against
even before he opened
Cafe Pettopia 10 years ago
this month.
“It’s tough with the
competition, but definitely
I love having a restaurant
here,” he said. “It seems
like I get more people from
the outlying areas than
Highwood people actually,
which is really nice.”
Pettorelli begins each
day at 5 a.m. prepping almost
everything on menu,
and the time and effort is
reflected in each dish on
the menu.
A group of 22nd Century
Media editors visited
Cafe Pettopia recently and
sampled a wide array of
dishes that Pettorelli offers,
including the tortellaci
for which the pasta is
made in-house.
“I’m from an Italian
family,” he said. “The tortellaci
is a house specialty
and a family recipe. I had
the tortellaci on the menu
of my last restaurant as
well. It’s great that people
still come and they still
love them.”
The tortellacci pasta
($16.95) is hand-rolled
and stuffed with ricotta
cheese, spinach and cream
filling. It is served with a
choice of either meat, tomato
cream or marinara
sauce.
The Italian sausage
sandwich ($12.50), another
customer favorite from
his previous restaurant, is
one of the only dishes Pettorelli
gets outside help on,
but for a good reason.
“We actually get the
sausage from a butcher,
a friend of my father’s.
His name is Luigi Manfredini,
and he used to own
a butcher shop with his
brothers years ago,” Pettorelli
said. “He’s retired,
but he came out of retirement
because his sausage
is so good.
“I told him that if I was
going to open a restaurant
that he would have to come
out of retirement. Happily,
he did it for me.”
The Italian sausage
sandwich is served on Italian
bread, with the perfectly
seasoned sausage
topped with melted Swiss
cheese and green peppers.
Cafe Pettopia offers
an extensive selection
Cafe Pettopia
848 Sheridan Road,
Highwood
(847) 433-3727
7 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday-
Saturday
8 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday
of breakfast dishes, one
of which is the gourmet
French toast ($9.95) for
those looking for a sweet
way to start their morning.
The dish is made by soaking
large slices of Italian
bread in an egg mixture
and then cooking them
to perfection. The dish is
topped with bananas and
walnuts that are sauteed
in butter, brown sugar and
cinnamon.
Pettorelli also offers a
soup-of-the-day option
and a special that rotates
as he sees fit.
It’s a lot of work, but
Pettorelli’s passion for his
craft shines through in his
The cafe’s homemade tortellacci ($16.95) are filled with
spinach, ricotta, parmigiano and cream cheese and
served with tomato sauce
Diners can also get Cafe Pettopia’s tortellacci ($16.95)
topped with a meat sauce.
Finish the meal with the cafe’s gourmet French toast
($9.95) topped with bananas, toasted walnuts, brown
sugar and cinnamon.
dishes. And while Pettorelli
does most things himself,
he does get a bit of
outside help in the preparation
of all those in-house
made items.
“My parents, Linda and
Luciano, do help me too,
because why not? Keep
it in the family,” he said.
“They’re family and these
are their recipes.”