Edoardo Barbieri's love of cooking began during a time of war. As an Italian soldier in World War II, he was captured by Allied forces and imprisoned in a series of prisoner-of-war camps in the United States. The young soldier was assigned to the mess hall, and he quickly realized a knack for the culinary arts. When the war ended, he returned to northern Italy and married his fiancée, but it wasn't long before America began calling him back. Edoardo and his wife immigrated to the States, where he soon opened a number of acclaimed Italian restaurants. As his family and business both grew, his son and grandchildren eventually joined the cause, creating a restaurant chain run by three generations of the Barbieri family.

At Da Edoardo North, the flavors and aromas of northern Italian cuisine vie for attention with lakeside scenery visible through the dining room's floor-to-ceiling windows. Executive chef Eddie Barbieri, who is also Eduardo's grandson, creates pastas and sauces from scratch with the family's time-honored recipes, pairing them with morsels of shrimp, veal, or pork chops seared to a tender finish. Individually sized pizzas bear the traditional toppings of prosciutto or Italian sausage, and the ample wine list proffers a selection of more than 100 varietals, many by the bottle. Diners can even bring a gourmet meal home with the restaurant's grab 'n' go option, which makes for a more convenient Italian meal than standing beneath a Sicilian construction crew at break time.