L’incontro Brings Italian Cuisine to East Side
New restaurant replaces Tavolino near the corner of N. Murray and E. North avenues.
Site of L’incontro, 2315 N. Murray Ave. Photo taken April 18, 2024
April has been a fruitful month for restaurant openings in Milwaukee, with at least eight new establishments bursting onto the scene in recent weeks.
L’incontro added one more to that total when it opened Wednesday, but it hopes to stand out from the crowd. The new restaurant, 2315 N. Murray Ave., features a menu of Italian dishes with hints of global inspiration. It fills a space most recently occupied by Tavolino.
The early spring debut also coincides perfectly with the window of availability for buzzy ingredients such as ramps, fiddlehead ferns and pea tendrils — all of which were on the table for opening day.
Featured dishes include sisig pizza, a riff on the Filipino dish with longganisa sausage, jalapenos, cherry tomatoes, white sauce and salsa verde — all piled onto a crisp-chewy crust. More traditional pizza varieties, including pepperoni, Margherita, marinara and funghi, are also available.
The restaurant’s pasta dishes lean into comfort, with options such as cacio e pepe and sweet potato ricotta gnocchi tossed with sage, butter, pistachios and fiddlehead ferns. There’s also spinach girella, a stuffed pasta coiled into a crown shape and topped with tomato butter sauce.
Standout offerings like fall-off-the-bone lamb shank, agrodolce (sweet and sour) fried chicken and whole fish cakes with calamari, shrimp, branzino, jicama, ramps, greens and salsa verde make up the entree selection, while vegetable-heavy sides such as purple potatoes with sunchokes, lemon basil rice and roasted carrots make it a meal.
To drink, L’incontro offers a lineup of classic cocktails including Manhattans, negronis, old fashioneds, espresso martinis, daiquiris and Aperol spritzes, plus a handful of beers and more than a dozen varieties of wine.
Non-alcoholic offerings include soda, lemonade and a non-alcoholic Amalfi spritz.
L’incontro, Italian for ‘the meeting,’ is a project of Paul Piotrowski and Juneil Cabreza. Both partners bring extensive industry experience to the new venture, having worked at numerous restaurants across the city. But neither had to travel far for the project.
Piotrowski is bar manager of the neighboring Izzy Hops, while Cabreza is the former head chef for Tavolino, which operated in what is now the L’incontro space until last October.
The pair worked with building owner Mike Vitucci to bring the concept to fruition.
The new restaurant brings a unique look and feel to the space, which was rebuilt for Tavolino following a destructive fire last summer.
The previous restaurant’s minimalistic interior has been revamped with floral wallpaper, new art and a pillow-lined banquette. One wall features a large mural of the restaurant’s name, while mirrors and plants add color and depth to the dining area.
L’incontro will be open Sunday through Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m. Those hours are likely to expand as the restaurant gains its footing in the neighborhood.
Outdoor patio dining is also expected as the weather continues to warm.
Existing members must be signed in to see the interactive map. Sign in.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
