OperaBufa wrote: > > >Does anyone know a good Italian restaurant in the Downtown area? > > Trattoria No. 10 and La Rosetta. Has anyone had any really positive experiences with La Rosetta? I've eaten there a couple of times, and we had our Christmas party there last year. The experience each time has been, well, nondescript. Nothing particularly outstanding or even really good. Just sort of a slightly overpriced average-average restaurant. trent
Chicago, IL
Italian Restaurants
NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 02:10:51 PDT Xref: pale-rider.INS.CWRU.Edu chi.eats:4513 One of the best (if not the best) Italian restaurants in Chicago is a newly opened restaurant called Villa Sandi located at 2835 N. Broadway (half block north of Diversey). Great Food and Great location.
NNTP-Posting-Date: 2 Sep 2001 13:42:33 GMT User-Agent: MT-NewsWatcher/3.1 (PPC) Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu chi.eats:11135 Erich K. wrote: > Can anyone recommend a good Italian restaurant? I am bringing my girlfriend > along so something dark, quiet and a little romantic would be a plus. You should get alot of responses to this. Right near Wrigley Field on Clark, alot of real Italians rave about Mia Francesca. Sounds like ambiance should be more of a factor than excellent food quality?
NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 02 Sep 2001 13:46:18 PDT Organization: Excite@Home - The Leader in Broadband http://home.com/faster Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu chi.eats:11137 Stefanis on Fullerton, west of Sheffield. On Sun, 2 Sep 2001 14:48:11 -0500, "Karl Huf" Someone wrote: >"Dark" & "Quiet" don't exactly pair up frequently at restaurants in the area >around Wrigley Field, especially the quiet part. You don't say if you will >be dining during a Cubs homestand which kicks it up quite a few notches - >and if the Cubs are still in the playoff hunt then it could be even worse. >I can suggest a couple of good Italian restaurants, though I would hesitate >to describe them as romantic: > >Tuscany on Clark - literally right across the street from Wrigley Field. >Excellent food, not cheap. >Anna Maria's - on Halsted St. a few blocks from Wrigley; Very good food (and >there really is an Anna Maria) in a small setting. >The Red Tomato - on Southport, right under the "L" stop of the same name on >the Ravenswood, err, I mean "Brown" line. Easy walking distance from the >park. Great food. > >If you really want Italian AND romantic you would probably have more options >if you are willing to go downtown. > >Erich K. wrote: >> I am coming to Chicago for a day trip at the end of September and will be >> downtown by Wrigley Field. >> >> Can anyone recommend a good Italian restaurant? I am bringing my >girlfriend >> along so something dark, quiet and a little romantic would be a plus. >> >> Thanks in Advance. >> >> Erich >> >> > >
Not in wrigley field but a short drive: Spiaggia, considered by many one of the best Italian restaurants in town. Its horribly expensive though. If you choose here be prepared to drop at least $60 a head. Not dark and quite bustling, but excellent food. I strongly recommend the bruschetta - its Brusc-ketta not bru-che-tta btw. I would also not miss out on their tiramisu.Reservations very very very recommended - well in advance. La Strada, on s. michigan ave near randolph, not very well known. Very very quiet. Very old fashioned - everyone there is 50+ years old and has been in the business for years, hence service is top notch and quite simply cannot be compared. Nothing is spared here. If you are undecided the chef will make you something custom for your tastes. Quite reasonably priced - $30 a head. Very nice and quiet atmosphe. Their pastas are excellent here. Don't worry about reservations. Cocco Pazzo - on Grand I think, double check it with metromix. Pretty good place, and if you get in with the owners you get all sorts of perks ;) Authentic Italian unquestionably, can be expensive $40/head, but not off the wall. Not very quiet nor dark but the food is excellent. Reservations a week in advance, I would say. A general rule of thumb is: If the menu has anything with the world "meatballs" on it, I would stray away. Particularly if they have spagetti and meatballs - a completely american dish and in no way shape or form linked to Italian food. For all of these see www.metromix.com Search for the names and you'll find reviews and such.
NNTP-Posting-Date: 3 Sep 2001 00:04:05 GMT X-Newsreader: trn 4.0-test74 (May 26, 2000) Originator: [email removed] (Jamie_Eimermann) Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu chi.eats:11138 Erich K. wrote: >I am coming to Chicago for a day trip at the end of September and will be >downtown by Wrigley Field. > >Can anyone recommend a good Italian restaurant? I am bringing my girlfriend >along so something dark, quiet and a little romantic would be a plus. > >Thanks in Advance. I haven't been there but I've seen Angelina Ristorante on a list of romantic restaurants. It's Italian and at 3561 N. Broadway. Most of the comments on Metromix are positive. Jamie
NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2001 06:30:11 GMT Organization: Verio Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu chi.eats:11140 Someone wrote: > I haven't been there but I've seen Angelina Ristorante on a list > of romantic restaurants. It's Italian and at 3561 N. Broadway. > Most of the comments on Metromix are positive. I second these comments. Angelina is indeed a dark and romantic Italian spot, a few creative splashes in the specials, and it's reasonably priced to boot. Decent wine list at a fair price, cordial service if a little teeny bit slow. It's about a five minute walk from Wrigley. My wife and I enjoyed it plenty.
Someone wrote: > >In some way, i believe the ranter has a point. Italian food in >chicago DOES leave a lot to be desired. Every place does serve the >same variations of pastas, roast chicken, thin pizzas and such. While >the preparation is often fine, it is rather like Iron Chef Italian. >Some vague sense of the cusine and a whole lot of effort to create >gourmet cusine. > >I have both traveled through Italy and read a great deal on Italian >food. The food I ate and continue to read about fails to appear on >the Chicago menu. How about a bolito misto? Pasta with sardines, >classic bolaganese. How about a pasta NOT drenched in its sauce? Are >there more regions in Northern Italy than Tuscany; likewise is all >southern Italian food neapolitan, especially neopolitan filtered >through 100 years of yankee know-how? Here's a question for you, in-the-know person: have you sampled the major Italian places in Evanston, and what's your take on them? I've tried Va Pensiero (which purports to be "northern" Italian, for far more than I'm typically prepared to spend) and Dave's Italian Kitchen (much more affordable, and quite tasty, while not being *too* predictable). I can say nothing bad about either place, but would be interested for you to share your impression of them, if you have one. I'm not about to turn against Dave's, though--I'm too big a fan of their spaghetti carbonara!
NNTP-Posting-Date: 4 Sep 2001 14:54:17 GMT Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu chi.eats:11154 Kenji wrote in message news:... > Vitalinfo wrote: > > > How about a bolito misto? Pasta with sardines, > > classic bolaganese. How about a pasta NOT drenched in its sauce? > > Have you ever been to The Heart of Italy on 24th Street? Ever eaten on > Harlem Ave. in Galewood? Considering I live in northern oak park, yes i have been up and down harlem. in fact the best espresso in chicago, by far, can be found at caffe italia on harlem just north of grand. as to the heart of italy, i assume you mean the places on oakly, yes i've been there too. (to the person who asked about evanston places...no i have not been there) i never said that i have not had good food in italian resturants in chicago. i enjoy the wood fire pizza's at capones, the oily, garlicky chicken-sausage-potato combo at salernos. i love the mobster vibe, ricotta cheesecake and the rest of the menu at giannottis. anything with rapini served at bertucci's tastes great. i have about 1,000 great fried calamaris around time. it is not good food per se that i bemoan. it is lack of true italian cooking as one would find in italy. it is the overwhelming sameness of menu and the lack of regional foodstuffs that i hate. it is not the food in italian resturants in chicago i hate, it is the italian in the italian resturants i hate. VI
NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 23:59:46 +0000 (UTC) X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.75 [en] (Windows NT 5.0; U) X-Accept-Language: en Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu chi.eats:11165 Erich: There's a new restaurant that is intimate, both in setting and ambiance with good food, IMHO. I didn't photograph the menu, but there are a wide variety of specials. The wine list is a little on the small side. Pane Pomodoro 2703 N. Halsted Chicago, IL 773.348.5050 There is outdoor seating as well well as non-neon, nice interior. Prices are reasonable, it's not Morton's nor is it McDonalds. One problem about Italian in this neighborhood is that there are almost an infinite number of different Italian styles and everyone has their own opinion. Good luck finding somewhere. If you're into French, there's a nice little neighborhood restaurant called Le Loup on Sheffield just south of Roscoe, that's a BYO, though so you may want to stop and pick up a bottle (there's a liquor store across the street (Clark). Erich K. wrote: > > I am coming to Chicago for a day trip at the end of September and will be > downtown by Wrigley Field. > > Can anyone recommend a good Italian restaurant? I am bringing my girlfriend > along so something dark, quiet and a little romantic would be a plus. > > Thanks in Advance. > > Erich
NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 02 Sep 2001 12:48:22 PDT Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2001 14:48:11 -0500 Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu chi.eats:11136 "Dark" & "Quiet" don't exactly pair up frequently at restaurants in the area around Wrigley Field, especially the quiet part. You don't say if you will be dining during a Cubs homestand which kicks it up quite a few notches - and if the Cubs are still in the playoff hunt then it could be even worse. I can suggest a couple of good Italian restaurants, though I would hesitate to describe them as romantic: Tuscany on Clark - literally right across the street from Wrigley Field. Excellent food, not cheap. Anna Maria's - on Halsted St. a few blocks from Wrigley; Very good food (and there really is an Anna Maria) in a small setting. The Red Tomato - on Southport, right under the "L" stop of the same name on the Ravenswood, err, I mean "Brown" line. Easy walking distance from the park. Great food. If you really want Italian AND romantic you would probably have more options if you are willing to go downtown. Erich K. wrote: > I am coming to Chicago for a day trip at the end of September and will be > downtown by Wrigley Field. > > Can anyone recommend a good Italian restaurant? I am bringing my girlfriend > along so something dark, quiet and a little romantic would be a plus. > > Thanks in Advance. > > Erich > >