Former ‘Top Chef’ star to open Lake Zurich restaurant in January

A restaurant by celebrity chef Fabio Viviani is set to open in early January at The Sanctuary of Lake Zurich luxury townhouse complex on the southeast corner of Rand and Old Rand roads.

Viviani, who rose to fame after appearing on reality TV competition show “Top Chef” in 2008, has been creating the menu for Lago for around a year now, said Romeo Kapudija, co-founder of developer Miller Street Partners.

“It will be similar to a Gibsons-style restaurant but with modern flair,” said Kapudija, referring to the famous Chicago steakhouse.

Kapudija said the restaurant will feature high-end craft cocktails and there will be a live DJ on the weekends.

“The music won’t be so loud so people can still talk but it’ll add to the atmosphere,” Kapudija said. “We’re telling everyone it’s the city meets the suburbs, finally.”

Kapudija said he started talking to Viviani, who lives in Barrington Hills, about collaborating on the development in 2021. Viviani is married to Kapudija’s ex-wife Ashley Jung-Viviani so it’s been like a family project, he said.

The name of the restaurant is the Italian word for lake. Kapudija said in a funny coincidence his wife Caroline Cerbus-Kapudija and Viviani had the idea to call the restaurant Lago and each separately texted him the name about 15 minutes apart.

Kapudija said the team is planning a series of grand opening events in January just for members of the Fabio Viviani Insider’s Club, of which there already are more than 500.

“The capacity for the restaurant is 220 so we obviously can’t seat all 500 people,” Kapudija said. “We would love to get a whole week of grand opening parties.”

Information about the insider club can be found at his website.

When the restaurant launches it will mark the completion of Sanctuary Lake Zurich, which Kapudija had the idea to build years ago when commuting past the then-vacant property en route to his North Barrington home. The project was approved by Lake Zurich leaders in 2021.

Kapudija said all 23 townhouses have been built and just a few units are still available for purchase and are going for between $750,000 and $800,000.

Kapudija said the Sanctuary has come together better than he dreamed.

“It’s more beautiful now that it is built than when I envisioned it,” said Kapudija, who is purchasing the Sanctuary’s model unit. “I’ve built over 60 buildings in the city of Chicago and this is my favorite by far.”