Trattoria 225

An Italian restaurant run by an Irish guy? Trattoria 225 owner and chef Craig Charlton rates snaps nonetheless. In 2007, the year he turned old office space at 225 Harrison St. into a place called trat-to-RI-a two twenty-five, his BLT pizza made Chicago magazine’s 124 Great Dishes in Chicago. In 2008, Trattoria 225’s Caesar salad made the Chicago Sun-Times best list.

In town, it’s Charlton’s community spirit that folks know better. He’s become a cheerleader for indie businesses in the Oak Park Arts District, showcasing works from Harrison Street galleries on Trattoria 225’s walls and, more recently, finding a way to use one neighboring shop’s goods as serving pieces. Among locavore chefs, he’s a regular at the Oak Park Farmers’ Market, giving talks and stirring up stone soup.

At the first restaurant Charlton is running that’s his own, essences from his every stint in the food industry are all around: hand-crafted pizzas from a wood-burning oven, applause for a pastry chef who put scotch in butterscotch pudding, and house-made limoncello behind a hand-troweled concrete bar top. Charlton has worked for Buca di Beppo, Lettuce Entertain You and — being a native of Westport, Conn. — Martha Stewart. He tended bar for Martha Stewart in the mid-’80s, when she was a local caterer and not yet a national name. Before he left Westport, he became her competitor, starting a clambake catering business he called Mr. Picnic.

Yes, Trattoria 225 has a clam pizza.

On your birthday:

The candleholder is chocolate-anchored tiramisu, a variation on the classic by pastry chef Kim Clifton, who hails from The Pump Room.