Coming Soon: Risotto

I never got the story on what happened to Aronas Mediterranean Bistro at 610 W. Lake Street (just east of Lyndale on the north side of the street). So far as I could tell, the place was about to open when things were put on hold due to Lake Street construction, and by the time the street was ready, the project lost momentum and died. If it was over before it even started, can we add that one to our list of restaurants the Lyn-Lake construction killed?

In any case, turns out the space was taken over by Gabriele Lo Pinto, who spent the past 8 years as Executive Chef of Arezzo Ristorante in Edina. His new place will be Italian as well--he's calling it Risotto--and he plans to have it open May 4th. I haven't seen the menu yet (sounds like it will be a short list of risottos and a few monthly changing entrees--perhaps a little more casual than Arezzo) but based on what Lo Pinto was doing at Arezzo, I'll be very much looking forward to checking it out. With the shortage of Italian restaurants in Uptown, I think there's certainly room for more places in the same vein as, say Rinata.