Adesso

Saturday, after an exhausting afternoon spent shopping for a dog nest with a girlfriend of mine, I proposed that we grab a bottle of wine at Binny's on North Clark Street and head to the new B.Y.O. Italian restaurant nearby called Adesso.*

There, we shared the following items:

arugula, baby tomato, and parmesan salad in a balsamic vinaigrette

golden fried mozzarella with red onion marmalade and mild anchovy

carmelized onion and cider soup with a provolone crust

braised short ribs with creamy polenta

roasted brussel sprouts with pancetta

tiramisu (the only dessert on offer)

The verdict?

The highlight of the evening was the bottle of Dolcetto that I picked up at Binny's. No, but really, we weren't particularly impressed. With the exception of the mozzarella/anchovy toasts which were expertly fried and deliciously pungent, the preparations seemed amateur and the flavours were entirely wan. Bread, as I quicky discovered, was only served upon request, and if it wasn't Gonnella, it was something equally insipid and lifeless. I was also completely put off by the multiple appearances "fresh" tomatoes made on the menu, but that is enough carping. I won't kid you: they had an Italian-inflected burger and fries combo on the menu which sounded quite good, so I know that I will be back to give them another try, soon enough. I hope that I fare better next time. By the look of things, though, the place will likely be a success in spite of any improvement, and, in that regard, it couldn't possibly be in better company. What, with the similarly-feeble-yet-inexplicably-popular sushi bar, Wakamono, and it's pan-Asian counterpart, PingPong, both on the very same block.

Adesso
3332 N. Broadway
773.868.1516

[Chicago Reader Review]

E.M.

* I finally settled on a pistachio-coloured faux suede number and the kid is thrilled.

I was at Adesso last night with a friend and agree that it was all pretty "eh." We shared the bruschetta - arugula and prosciutto, and tomato/ricotta/onion marmalade. Both were fine. My friend had the lemon chicken with polenta and the roasted brussel sprouts. I tried some of the chicken and it was a perfectly serviceable chicken breast, but I didn't get anything terribly lemony from it. I did have the burger and fries. Erik, I'm not sure it's worth a trip back. I asked for it medium but got something closer to medium-well. Even though it was flecked with what looked like fresh herbs, I didn't really taste anything distinctive int he burger. The bun was good - a brioche bun, I think. I did enjoy the rosemary-sea salt fries and arugula pesto aioli. Though there was no evidence of rosemary on the fries, the rosemary flavor was just right - not overpowering as rosemary can sometimes be. Maybe they infused the oil with rosemary somehow?

All in all, a fine place to stop in if you are in the neighborhood, but I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to return.

We also found the food lifeless and cooked improperly. We had panini and both of them arrived burnt on the outside and ICE cold on the inside. The soup arrived warm and flavorless. Service was nice enough and we liked the decor, however we won't return.

BF and I dined at Adesso last night against lukewarm reviews here due to its proximity to my apartment and BF had a bottle of wine he wanted to drink. I will echo the sentiments of 'eh'.

We started with the aforementioned bruschetta. They were all right in terms of flavor and freshness, but really over arugula-ed. They were also completely impractical to share. Arugula flying everywhere and nearly impossible to divide. The other toppings sliding off. I finally gave up and said that BF could have one of the pieces to himself after I attempted to divide the other for what seemed like an hour.

Next, there was their version of french onion soup which BF had. It was fine - not over salty, which can happen a lot with soup. He seemed to enjoy it and it was served at the correct temperature.

And then we waited...and waited...and waited some more. It took a really long time for our entrees. We couldn't figure out why, because BF had a simple pasta dish and I had halibut. It wasn't crowded. None of it made sense. When the food finally came, BF enjoyed his pasta well enough. My halibut was a nice piece of fish, but apparently it had done something to tick off the chef, because that thing seemed like it was punished in the infernos of Hell. I like my fish on the firm side and realize that halibut should have some firmness, but not this firm. My meal was plated attractively and the grilled asparagus was flavored nicely, but man...I was sad about that nice piece of fish.

Again, the service was nice and pleasant. Quick on the refills, etc. So no complaints there. Put it this way, I would not kick up a fuss if someone wanted to go there, but at the same time, I wouldn't seek it out.

i see huge banners for brunch. how is the brunch? anyone?

I was there last night and really enjoyed it, actually. My arugula salad was tasty, and I had a "Riollo" which was kind of a lasagna, with eggplant instead of lasagna noodles. Really tasty.

My girlfriend had brussel sprouts, which were very nicely done, and a penne, which was merely "OK".

Overall, I thought it to be a nice place, certainly better than many of the other dreary options on Broadway.

What's most surprising about this consensus is the contrast with my recollection of not just good, but virtually ecstatic reviews in more than one paper. Not that mediocre places don't ever get good press. Somehow what I read was so specific in its praise of how utterly "echt" Italian and "homemade" everything was that I started to believe it.
I began to have my doubts just from walking by and scoping the crowds, but remained hopeful. Oh, well.

Has anyone been to Adesso recently and know if it's improved? Doing a quick girls dinner tonight and that location would be perfect but would rather travel a bit further than have a bleh dinner.

Thanks!

I was just there this evening....and was not impressed at all. We will probably not be going back.

I really had no expectations going in, as I had not read any of the reviews of it until afterwards. But, given the choice between the overly crowded PingPong across the street versus the nearly empty Adesso, we chose Adesso.

I'll pre-empt this to say that the service was very good, helpful and friendly. My friend and I did not suffer any long waits or empty glasses of water. Sitting outside, the volume was good for conversation (I have read a few reviews on how the inside space can get pretty loud) and even though we were seated at a two-top relatively close to a neighboring table, we never felt as though we were being eavesdropped.

However....the food: not. so. good. Overall, I think their main problem was underseasoning. Both dishes that we had were very blah. Even adding salt couldn't really improve them. It was like eating plain pasta.

My friend had the Tortellini ala Giuliana ("ricotta cheese filled tortellini tossed with a spring vegetable ragu"). What he got was a pile of soggy sauteed red and yellow peppers, covered with pile of cheese tortellini which seemed to have been tossed in a light broth--not oil, which would have helped. Only if eaten with the tomato-less ragu (since when are red & yellow peppers "spring vegetables", and since when is July 29th "spring"?), did the pasta taste like anything.

I had the Pappardelle con rago di vitello ("pappardelle pasta served with a veal ragu"). Again it was bland-city. My only kudos to the dish was the seemingly fresh pasta. Other than that, it was very similar to eating plain egg noodles with a ground meat "sauce" speckled with sloppily chopped up carrots. That's what gets me...it was described as a "ragu" which would imply tomatoes. I was expecting a rich sauce of tomato and veal. What I got was watery pasta topped with ground up, cooked-to-death, unbrowned veal and carrots. (Granted, the waiter said that this dish was not his favorite, but regardless, it should not have been this meh for $15.)

So yeah. That was my experience at Adesso. It was only one experience and only two dishes....so take it for what it's worth.

I really want to like Adesso and really wish it would improve...mostly because it's so darn convenient to me location wise. Throughout the winter, whenever I want to go out to dinner, I never feel like waiting around for a bus and I don't want to brave the cold for too long. Alas, this is why I wish nearby Adesso was good!
Everything I have ordered tastes absolutely buried in thyme flavor. I don't understand why the kitchen feels the need to throw thyme into everything they send out, perhaps to compensate for the poorly-cooked foods they are trying to mask?
The caprese salad had little flavor other then the overkill thyme. The vegetables didn't taste fresh and the mozzarella seemingly had no taste of its own, just a textural contrast of chewiness. My Melanzane alla Parmigiana, eggplant parmesan, was nice to look at...except for the sprig of thyme jutting out of the center of the plate (ugh!) The breaded, fried eggplant was obviously pre-cooked way too far ahead of time and tasted like they were haphazardly re-heated. My friend has the spaghetti arrabiata, which is supposed to be slightly spicy and studded with olives, capers, garlic, and anchovies. But guess what? Not only did it not have a spicy kick, the predominating flavor was THYME! My God!
Even though this is really the closest and most convenient thing to me, I'd rather cough up the extra cash for a cab or delivery. For Italian, I will have to walk a little further now up the street.

We ate there once. The chicken breast was airline food. The fries and aioli weren't bad. My burger had the distinct scent and subtle flavor of grill cleaning fluid (although an experienced line chef said it might have been incompletely burned cooking gas from a dirty jet.)

They comped the ¼-eaten burger and asked us to please try them again. I accepted their comp, but not their invitation back.

Alfonso

I am happy to join the universal "meh" of this thread. I've been stuck at two birthday parties here and wished both times for even a Buca di Beppo or LEYE spot over Adesso.

My wife and I went to Adesso this afternoon, having a Groupon for $40 in food that we bought for $20. As the others have stated, I wasn't impressed.

Things didn't start off well in that the staff didn't seem particularly interested. It was close to 4pm and they had just switched over from brunch to dinner. There was one other table occupied in the place. After the hostess seated us, she then went back to her laptop in the table next to ours, where she proceeded to screw around on Facebook. The only server and the busboy were also interested in what she was doing, and sat down next to her to watch what she was doing, the server having her Blackberry out and joining in on it. After I snapped this shot (the flash going off), all of a sudden they broke up and the hostess shut down her computer. Hmmm......



We started with the bruschetta. It was tasty, but seriously overpriced at $6 for these five little pieces of bread and tomatoes.



Salads were the Mista and the Mele. The Mista (top) was basically mixed greens with a creamy peppercorn dressing. Pretty average, however my wife had to chase down our server to get some additional dressing because the thing basically came with none on it. The Mele (bottom) was lettuce with some sliced apple, candied walnuts, blue cheese and a raspberry vinaigrette. I thought it was pretty tasty.





The only downside on the salads was that they came about two minutes after our brushetta came. I told the hostess (remember, the waitress wasn't around) to ask the kitchen to hold back on the entrees, because I didn't want them showing up five minutes later. Just because the kitchen doesn't have anything to do doesn't mean I want my three courses served to me in a 10 minute span.

For my entree, I had the spaghetti and meatballs. When I go to a new Italian restaurant like this, I usually order this or gnocchi as my benchmark to see if they can serve decent food. Since the waitress said the gnocchi was pretty soft, I bypassed that because I like gnocchi dense and chewy. Anyway, the spag was pretty average, with a somewhat commercial sauce. The meatballs were tasy and dense.



My wife's entree was the eggplant parmigiana, one of her go-to dishes at a new place. She liked hers a lot, and it was a pretty big portion.



Bottom line, I'm glad I got the 50% off from the Groupon. I would have hated to pay full price for this food, and the questionable service. Next time I want southern Italian at a BYOB, I'll go to Lucia Ristorante on North Avenue, where there's never a hiccup.

Wow. Talk about a "gotcha" moment.
Really nice pics, though.
I don't get the "eggplant parmigiana" as eggplant sitting on a pile of spaghetti. Is that what you expected?

mrbarolo wrote:I don't get the "eggplant parmigiana" as eggplant sitting on a pile of spaghetti. Is that what you expected?

Not really. I figured it would be on the side, on a plate instead of in a bowl. To me, the pieces seemed so uniformly round that I thought that it might be commercial instead of house made. However, my wife liked them, so I'll go with that. I'm not an eggplant guy.