Ciabatta Restaurant, Reading

The chefs at Ciabatta stay up through the night, hand shaping and scoring dozens of loaves of airy bread until each perfectly resembles its namesake, which means slipper in Italian. Inside the flaky crust, the restaurant's sandwich smiths bury caches of oven-roasted turkey or parmesan pesto ham. They also toss the flavors of their Italian heritage into fresh salads and personal-sized pizzas. To complement their Italian eats, the staff at Ciabatta invites their guests to bring along their favorite wine, beer, or fizzy lifting drink at no corkage fee.