Fourteen years ago, Salvatore and Briana Cardone were living paycheck to paycheck when they won $40,000 on a scratch-off lottery ticket.
That could only mean one thing to the self-taught culinary couple. They could finally open the restaurant they’d been dreaming about since the day they met six years earlier.
“One of the first questions Sal asked me was ‘What are you doing for the rest of your life?’ I told him I wanted to own my own restaurant, sit back with a glass of wine and watch my kids run around,” Cardone said. “And then he asked, ‘Oh, you want to get married?'”
Thus, Mambo Italiano in Mundelein was born. And yes, the place is named after the Rosemary Clooney song.
“It was one of those things,” Cardone said. “We both speak Italian and we came up with all these beautiful names, but then we realized the average person might not remember how to spell it or remember the name.” She was doing choreography for that song for a beauty pageant when suddenly, she had a revelation. “‘Mambo Italiano,’ like it was lit up in Vegas show lights. It’s old school but sounds fun.” That evening the couple sat in the car listening to “Mambo Italiano” over and over.
The menu has not changed since Mambo Italiano opened but the specials change every week. Popular dishes include seafood risotto, all five veal dishes, scallops and asparagus, branzino, Chilean sea bass, macadamia nut crusted halibut and braciole, “everyone just goes crazy for it,” Cardone said.
“We like to make people happy,” she said. “We do things seasonally, try to do dishes with acorn squash at the end of summer, then fall items, fish for Lent. In winter we have heavier meats and in summer we play with citrus.”
About the owners: The Cardones own Mambo Italiano in Mundelein and The Wild Buffalo in Buffalo Grove. “When I was 9, I had my first stitches. I cut myself with a knife when I was cooking,” she said. “We grew everything in the garden and jarred our own tomatoes. We never ever had fast food. The way we were raised, we made pasta every Christmas Eve, Easter was a leg of lamb and we were very into handmade and homemade.”
Philosophy: “Our slogan is ‘first we eat, then we do everything else,'” Cardone said. “It represents family, culture and heritage. It’s in our DNA. We pride ourselves on being family operated. It’s all homemade, in house. Everything is really fresh.”
Decor: “When we first opened, we decorated in Tuscan/Roman style with browns and golds,” Cardone said. “What Americans think Italy looks like. In 2016 we visited family there and saw how you mix stone, crystal and steel, old with new. Italian design in Italy is really transitional. They mix Old World with super modern. I wanted us to feel like a super-classy place in Rome. Very sexy, very Italian. That’s Italy.”
Prices: Lunch: Appetizers from $4-$12.50. Soups and salads from $4-$11.50. Sandwiches are $8.95-$9.95. Specialty pizza from $8.95-$18. Entrees from $11.50-$27.95. Dinner: Appetizers from $4-$15.95. Soups and salads from $4.50-$13.50. Entrees from $13.50-$31.95. Side dishes from $2.50-$4. Desserts from $6-$8.
Logistics: Mambo Italiano is at 748 S. Butterfield Road, Mundelein. Hours are 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 4-9 p.m. Sunday. Call 847-281-9100 or go to
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www.themamboitaliano.com.Shonda Talerico Dudlicek is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.