Sophia’s Italian supper club is focusing on more seasonal dishes and a new bar menu with the help of its recently hired chef de cuisine – Caleb Higginson, a former sous chef at Central Standard. The Chicago-based BDG Hospitality brought Higginson on in May to support executive chef Mark Sparacino. While Sparacino is back and forth between Sophia's and Prosecco Ristorante, his restaurant in Chicago, Higginson is managing the supper club's kitchen. Since joining the team, he has started working with his sous chefs to create dishes that evoke curiosity and feature more locally sourced ingredients.

“We are pulling from different areas in the Italian cuisine and building them up so that we have a classic dish, but we've changed its format and elevated it. When someone comes in they recognize it on the menu, but then when they see the dish they realize it is a bit different and that is what we are going for,” Higginson said.