Pelago

Pelago

Had an early dinner at Pelago tonight (and have an early meeting so I’m going to focus on one knockout dish of many).

A hotel restaurant, Pelago serves three meals a day; the breakfast menu seems pedestrian (no surprise), but the lunch and dinner menus are rich with imaginative takes on Italianate dishes.

I'd like to post more later, but I’ll focus on one of our first dishes, a trio of pastas that we both thought superb.



In the upper left corner of the pic are trofie, hand-made and gently twisted, paired with green beans in a pesto, lovely.

In the center was our favorite: cappelletti in a marjoram sauce. The chef here, Mauro Mafrici, uses herbs to advantage in many dishes, and this housemade pasta, stuffed with ricotta, had very good tooth, which I have not found common with fresh made pastas. Excellent, and so rich that just a few of these made a perfect single-person serving: any more would have been too much.

There was also a mound of nubbly pasta with pork, which we also liked a lot, and it was the only dish we had at Pelago that featured a red sauce.

Guests at the Raffaello Hotel are lucky to have this place in-house.

Pelago
201 E. Delaware
312.280.0700

Cant believe there hasnt been more written about this truly excellent restaurant. I, for one, had never heard about it until yesterday when I had the pleasure of being taken to Pelago for lunch.

I started with the Insalata Nerone which consists of Red Romaine lettuce with Chicken, Poached Egg and Roman Dressing. The salad was light fresh and terrific. For my entree I had the Grilled Sea Bream which was grilled perfectly and was wonderful. This is a beautiful room with outstanding food and service. It deserves a lot more recognition. I cant wait to return for dinner.

I'd like to echo the strong positive comments. I've been there twice and have had excellent meals each time. Friends of ours live across the street, and they raved about it, so we all went. A great feel to the room, friendly staff, and superb food. One of my favs in Chicago.

We went there this weekend for lunch (it was for about 20 people to celebrate my brother and new sister-n-law's marriage), and it was pretty amazing, actually. We had a choice of 3 things for both apps and the main course, although my wife and I split both to try more things. The homemade pasta primi was just spectacular, and the shrimp, oranges and arugula salad was also very well done. My risotto secundi was equally amazing, and the pedestrian sounding roasted chicken with cabbage and mushrooms was really nicely flavored. All in all one of the best italian meals I have had here in Chicago. This place is definitely under the radar, at least from what I have heard (or not heard) prior to now.

I, too, will give this place a huge thumbs up. Went there once, a few years ago, and was blown away. Everything was fresh, delicious, and the opposite of pedestrian.

I've been there a number of times; sometimes it is on fire and wonderful and other times, it seems lackluster and pedestrian. I've concluded that it largely depends (not surprisingly) on the number of covers. In the Winter and late Fall/Spring, when the patio is not open, the food is spectacular. In the summer, when the outdoor patio is in full swing, I've found the kitchen to struggle and put forth mediocre food. But when they're on, they're ON. But I'd prefer the busiest days as the quality IMHO goes way down.