A Cello You Should Know

When life gives you lemons, make an elaborate limoncello business. That's the mantra for Chris Chickenero, owner of CelloVia, an artisanal limoncello company based in Chicago. Years ago, while vacationing around the Mediterranean with his family, Chickenero stumbled upon a small restaurant in Monte Carlo. The owners were from Capri, and presented a frozen bottle of housemade limoncello to the table after dinner. The drink left a lasting impression. Fast forward several years, Chickenero was cutting his teeth as a bartender in Chicago. He began creating his own limoncello, incorporating different fruits and other flavors to create cellos that people have never seen or sipped.

While bartending and serving at David Burke's Primehouse, Chickenero developed more than 30 cellos. The impressive catalogue includes grapefruit-kaffir lime leaf, chocolate-cayenne, lemon-peach, blueberry-lavender, cranberry-orange-anise, orange-banana-ginger, and lots more. Chickenero is like a kid running a lemonade stand, only the lemonade is intoxicating and far more sophisticated. His approach to flavor combinations is very chef-y, which dovetails perfectly with the menus at David Burke's Primehouse, where it all originated. Ingredients are often seasonal, and always high quality. Flavors are unique, bold, and vibrant, updating an old world libation with invigorating ingredients.
 

                                                                                                                                       


The quality of the product and the positive feedback from customers is what prompted Chickenero to make a business of it. CelloVia is the only line of all natural, completely hand-crafted limoncellos. The versatility of the product is also quite endearing, as they can be sipped as a digestif, mixed into cocktails, or even used as an ingredient in the kitchen. The fact that Chickenero's wife is a trained chef helps him get into that culinary mentality and create clever, harmonious flavor combinations. CelloVia can be found at all Chicagoland Binny's locations, along with several specialty liquor stores in the city. They're also stocked in restaurant such as The Pump Room, Vivo, Carnivale, Sunda, Socca, Two, and of course, David Burke's Primehouse.


Chickenero calls CelloVia a dream come true. It's an opportunity for him to achieve self fulfillment and endow his family with a reputable business for years to come.