looking for good Italian

Tad S. wrote:
>Can anyone recommend a decent, home-made pasta type of Italian
>restaurant in Chicago?  Something a little lighter, reminiscent of
>real Italian food, and not so heavy on the red sauce like most of the
>places I've been here.
>
>Keeping it inexpensive always helps, too.

Dave's Italian Kitchen, if Evanston's not too far away for you.  (Moved not too long ago to Chicago Avenue, just south of Church St.)

I've never had a bad dish there... (and I've eaten there for 20 years!)

NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 16:13:18 PDT
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  Don't get this transplanted New Yorker started on Chicago vs. New
York pizza.  South, North, West sides, even in the Loop - pretty much all of the pizza by the slice I've tried in the 7 months I've been living here has been, well, horrific.  Soggy matzoh with tomato paste and some kind of blended cheese product which sure as hell ain't mozzarella seems to be the standard.  If anyone can recommend a decent pizza by the slice place, I'd seek it out, enthusiastically.  I have had a couple of positive whole pie experiences (at the sports bar cum loft cum hipster bullshit hangout, Piece, for example)  but for the most part, Chicago pizza is slum food of the highest (or lowest) order.  Don't take this as some sort of indictment against Chicago - I like living here, and think in a lot of ways it's a better, more social, and more accessible city than NYC.  But the pizza, unfortunately, sucks.
  Now, as for Italian food, I have been to Gioco on S. Wabash a couple
of times and found it to be quite good.  Homemade pasta all around, diverse meat selection, and last time I had a very good langustino appetizer and delicious arugula salad with a nice hunk of ricotta salata.  The layout is kinda cool, what with the weathered brick and high ceilings, and the wine list is decent.  Good, unintrusive service too.  Certainly a bit pricier than average, but a nice, unrushed night out (especially if you can get a table in one of the back rooms) with very good food.

Johnny

Geoff G. wrote:
>Someone wrote:
>> There's a real JOINT in the 4600/4700 block of Broadway called
>> Gigio's.  You DON'T wanna eat in.  They call their pizza "New York
>> Style", and only have sausage or cheese by the slice.
>
>Why on earth would you not want to eat in?  There is some fabulous people
>watching at that place.
>
>Gigio's also has a location in Evanston at Davis and Maple.  I go there when
>I need a dose of grease straight up.

Yep--the aroma wafting out the door has yanked me in for a slice in the middle of the day on more than one occasion!  (P.S.--they also do mushroom slices!)

Since I haven't seen it mentioned here, what the hell happened to Carmen's of Evanston?  I used to love that stuff, but the spice mix or something has turned it into something so bland and ordinary that I genuinely dread going there if visiting former residents beg to be taken there!  What gives?

NNTP-Posting-Date: 3 May 2002 19:20:50 GMT
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 (Tad S. wrote in message news:...
> Can anyone recommend a decent, home-made pasta type of Italian
> restaurant in Chicago?  Something a little lighter, reminiscent of
> real Italian food, and not so heavy on the red sauce like most of the
> places I've been here.
>
> Keeping it inexpensive always helps, too.
>
I like Francesca's (There are several--Mia Francesca, Francesca on Taylor and mayb e one or two others).  Maybe not all that cheap though. Rosal's on Taylor is pretty good as is Tufano's also in little Italy. Pompeii has fairly decent pasta as well(and good salads too).