New fine dining Italian restaurant opens!

By Sarah Owen - photo by Alex Paschal, Sauk Valley Newspapers

DIXON - The opening of Basil Tree Italian Restaurant has been a year in the making.  Co-owners Mili Dalipi, 26, and Sal Azemi, 37, work and live in Chicago; the two men have been making the commute to Dixon to renovate the building at 123 E. First St.

They had a soft opening Wednesday; doors opened officially this morning.  Although it's taken longer than anticipated (they had hoped to open in August), things haven't gone exactly as planned (they lowered their menu prices when the economy took a tumble) and there have been some unforeseen hurdles to overcome (getting their liquor license was tricky), the partners said they're just glad to finally be operational.

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