By Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer Published Oct 26, 2009 at 3:43 PM

October is the third annual Dining Month on OnMilwaukee.com. All month, we're stuffed with restaurant reviews, delicious features, chef profiles, unique articles on everything food, as well as the winners of our "Best of Dining 2009."

Tosa takes the cake. Well, at least the torta. Two Italian restaurants in Wauwatosa are the only Wisconsin eateries on Open Table's 2009 list of Best Italian Restaurant Award winners.

During OnMilwaukee.com's Dining Month, I've written Rapid Reviews of three restaurants. Two of them have now been named among the 2009 Open Table Best Italian Restaurants in the country.

"Italian restaurants are among the favorite 'go-to' choices of many of today’s diners," said Caroline Potter, Chief Dining Officer at OpenTable. "Whether it’s risotto, osso bucco, brick-oven pizzas, or house-made pastas, Italian meals have clearly surpassed the quintessential apple pie as part of American diners' favorite dishes."

The winners were selected from more than three million reviews submitted by OpenTable diners for nearly 10,000 restaurants in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Open Table is a free, online reservations service.

For more information about this list, please visit opentable.com/italian.

Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.

He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.

With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.

He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.

In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.

He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.