Dan, Try some of the places on Taylor street, near UIC. Start at the intersection of Taylor and Morgan, and go west. There's Tuscany, Trattoria Roma Terza, Rosebud...Tuscany is pricy but the food is tremendous. Reservations are definitely needed if you want to avoid a long wait. It's much easier to get into some of the smaller places at dinnertime; that strip does a lot of lunch business from UIC and even offices in the Loop. A memorable dish last winter at Tuscany was tortellini stuffed with wild mushrooms...<ecstatic sigh> Have fun! --Debbie
Chicago, IL
Italian food in Chicago
My favorite Itailian place in Chicago would have to be Anna Maria's Pasteria. It's at 3953 N Broadway. It's a very small place but I think they take reservations. Entrees' are around $10, they don't sell alcohol so bring your own. They are extremely flexible, so if you don't see what you want on the menu they will probably be able to make it anyway.
From your sig, it looks like you're in Evanston; Surely you've tried Dave's Italian Kitchen? Inexpensive, large portions, very sociable wait staff. The quality has dropped slightly since the 'good old days' but it's still not much money well spent, IMHO t-bone
Daniel K. wrote: > > I'm looking for a good Italian restaurant in Chicago, with entrees/pasta > around $10. Does a place like this exist? I've been to a couple of > Lettuce Entertain You places, Leonnas, La Novita, the Black Cat, and > a few others, to no avail. I would like to find a place that doesn't think > carbonara means add bacon to the alfredo sauce. > > Has anyone been to Rose Angeli's? I tried to get in there on Saturday at 9:30, > but the wait was 1 1/2 hours. This could mean something, But Leonna's also > has long waits, and they doesn't know how to make pasta, so I'm not sure if > this means anything good. > > any suggestions would be appreciated... > > Dan > -- > Dan Katz [email removed] > Dept. of Electrical Engineering 1(708)491-8887 > Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208 E pur si muove > > If in Barrington give a try to Pasta Impromptu(Lake Cook Rd just east of Barrington Rd). Good pasta at a good price. Only has 10 - 15 tables and many of these are tables for 2.
No one has mentioned the four or five restaurants on Oakley Street just North of Blue Island. It's about 2400 S. Oakley. Tuscano's and Bachanalia are there along with a few others. We used to go there a lot. All the restaurants are moderately priced. My boyfriend grew up in Italy and at one time they were our favorite restaurants to go to. Of course, we're both students and were stretching our finances just to go there. Once we discovered Trattoria Gianni (1711 N. Halstead) we stopped going to Italian restaurants (except in Italy). Trattoria Gianni was great, but it always wound up costing about $30./each which is too much for us most of the time. Now when we have transportation we go to Shiroi Hana for inexpensive sushi. Two Italian restaurants I recommend everyone avoid are Tutto Posta and Trattoria Dinotta. The waiter at Tutto Posta recommended the scallops, which were excellent - all two of them! I cannot forgive a $9 main course which can be entirely consumed in four moderate bits. The scallops were accompanied by a single peeled tomato. The meal was definitely too expensive, but as comedy we got our money's worth! To be fair some other members of our party fared substantially better. The food was barely ok at Trattoria Dinotta and the atmosphere was worse. The owners apparently invested in only one Frank Sinatra tape which they played over and over while we were there. They must have played only one side as we did not linger. I recommend Trattoria Gianni for those who can afford it, although I have not been in a while. Try the crustini. Andrea Morris [email removed]
Someone wrote: >Dan, >Try some of the places on Taylor street, near UIC. Start at the intersection >of Taylor and Morgan, and go west. There's Tuscany, Trattoria Roma Terza, >Rosebud...Tuscany is pricy but the food is tremendous. Reservations are >definitely needed if you want to avoid a long wait. It's much easier to >get into some of the smaller places at dinnertime; that strip does a lot >of lunch business from UIC and even offices in the Loop. > yeah, definitely Tuscany. I don't eat out very often, so when I went there I had a true 'dining experience'. I went during the summer, early in the afternoon, they open all the front doors, and the light comes very majesticly, and the food was great. I felt like I was in Italy (not like I've been there before). next time I'll have to take a date, rather than go with my parents. Jerry Morrow [email removed]