Moonshine is also really smoky, and I would say it's a bar/lounge first on weekends, rather than a restaurant first. And definitely has a "wear your baseball cap backwards" "black square toe shoe" feel to it.

aschie30 wrote:

nicinchic wrote:Matchbox and Silver Palm two of my most favorite places in the world, shrimp cocktail is the best!! Also, West Town tavern over the bridge. However, while it's an easy bus ride down Milwuakee or one blue stop from Division, I wouldn't consider it Wicker Park/Bucktown.

I was thinking of all of those places, but I didn't suggest them because they're not in Wicker Park (although they are in adjacent Ukrainian Village).

I believe that Matchbox and Silver Palm are actually in River West. Ukrainian Village starts further west. And West Town Tavern is in Noble Square. Interestingly, all three share the 60622 zip code, which is the Wicker Park post office. Ask a real estate agent and all of these neighborhoods are "hot."

They're all part of West Town, if we're talking "official". If you look at the City of Chicago's community areas, there's no such thing as River West, Ukrainian Village, Noble Park, Wicker Park, or Bucktown.

That said, I would agree that of the commonly used unofficial neighborhood terms, those places would be in River West. But these neighborhoods are all corrupted every day by a real estate agent thinking one will garner more attention than the other.

There's a map here.

gleam wrote:They're all part of West Town, if we're talking "official". If you look at the City of Chicago's community areas, there's no such thing as River West, Ukrainian Village, Noble Park, Wicker Park, or Bucktown.

That said, I would agree that of the commonly used unofficial neighborhood terms, those places would be in River West. But these neighborhoods are all corrupted every day by a real estate agent thinking one will garner more attention than the other.

There's a map here.

Using official city community names takes all of the fun out of it, though. Then we'd have no Greektown, no West Loop or South Loop, no Andersonville, no Bronzeville. What fun would that be? The city has "community names." These are all "neighborhoods." They are sub-headings within the communities.

A handy helper: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_of_Chicago

My point is that to correct someone about the boundaries of a community that doesn't officially exist is silly. I happen to agree with your definitions, but that doesn't mean someone else's definitions are inherently wrong. It's just a case of different opinions.

gleam wrote:My point is that to correct someone about the boundaries of a community that doesn't officially exist is silly. I happen to agree with your definitions, but that doesn't mean someone else's definitions are inherently wrong. It's just a case of different opinions.

I meant no harm to anyone in my correction, I wouldn't split hairs if we were talking one side of a "neighborhood border" street or the other. I just don't know of anyone that would stretch the boundaries of Ukrainian Village anywhere near as far east as Matchbox or Silver Palm, not even a real estate agent. But if someone wants to call the Ogden-Milwaukee-Chicago intersection part of Ukrainian Village, I guess they can, unofficially. As far as "official" goes, the United States Post Office at 60622 calls itself the Wicker Park Post Office. It may not be the City of Chicago, but it's official, right? So some of these neighborhoods do possess some level of "official existence."

YoYoPedro wrote:

gleam wrote:My point is that to correct someone about the boundaries of a community that doesn't officially exist is silly. I happen to agree with your definitions, but that doesn't mean someone else's definitions are inherently wrong. It's just a case of different opinions.

I meant no harm to anyone in my correction, I wouldn't split hairs if we were talking one side of a "neighborhood border" street or the other. I just don't know of anyone that would stretch the boundaries of Ukrainian Village anywhere near as far east as Matchbox or Silver Palm, not even a real estate agent. But if someone wants to call the Ogden-Milwaukee-Chicago intersection part of Ukrainian Village, I guess they can, unofficially. As far as "official" goes, the United States Post Office at 60622 calls itself the Wicker Park Post Office. It may not be the City of Chicago, but it's official, right? So some of these neighborhoods do possess some level of "official existence."

Wrong. Who says that one federal agency makes anything official? As far as West Town goes, there is possibly nowhere else in the City of Chicago where such neighborhood "borders" are so amorphous. If you tried to accurately characterize anyplace in West Town as being in a particular neighborhood, you'd probably give yourself a headache, and it isn't worth it.

60622 is the Wicker Park Post Office. Big deal. I lived near Dickens and Leavitt in Bucktown for awhile and that was part of the Logan Square Post Office. Was that "officially" in Logan Square? To this day, I don't know anyone who would have characterized that neighborhood as Logan Square.

aschie30 wrote:

YoYoPedro wrote:

gleam wrote:My point is that to correct someone about the boundaries of a community that doesn't officially exist is silly. I happen to agree with your definitions, but that doesn't mean someone else's definitions are inherently wrong. It's just a case of different opinions.

I meant no harm to anyone in my correction, I wouldn't split hairs if we were talking one side of a "neighborhood border" street or the other. I just don't know of anyone that would stretch the boundaries of Ukrainian Village anywhere near as far east as Matchbox or Silver Palm, not even a real estate agent. But if someone wants to call the Ogden-Milwaukee-Chicago intersection part of Ukrainian Village, I guess they can, unofficially. As far as "official" goes, the United States Post Office at 60622 calls itself the Wicker Park Post Office. It may not be the City of Chicago, but it's official, right? So some of these neighborhoods do possess some level of "official existence."

Wrong. Who says that one federal agency makes anything official? As far as West Town goes, there is possibly nowhere else in the City of Chicago where such neighborhood "borders" are so amorphous. If you tried to accurately characterize anyplace in West Town as being in a particular neighborhood, you'd probably give yourself a headache, and it isn't worth it.

60622 is the Wicker Park Post Office. Big deal. I lived near Dickens and Leavitt in Bucktown for awhile and that was part of the Logan Square Post Office. Was that "officially" in Logan Square? To this day, I don't know anyone who would have characterized that neighborhood as Logan Square.

So are you saying that you believe that Matchbox and Silver Palm are located in Ukrainian Village?

Of course Bucktown couldn't have "officially" been in Logan Square, because, as you just pointed out, there is no such entity as Logan Square OR Bucktown! I was just using the post office name to show that, yes, some of these "unofficial" neighborhood names are official in at least SOME ways.

Let's face it, there are no "official" neighborhood boundaries throughout Chicago, just as there is no "official" definition of how to serve a "Maxwell Street Polish" or no official definition of "barbeque." They are all entertaining things to debate or discuss or argue about, but all are based upon the users' definitions.

It's a beautiful night tonight.

Actually, Logan Square does "officially" exist, and Dickens and Leavitt is "technically" part of the Logan Square community area (bounded on the south by Armitage).

Call your neighborhood whatever you want. Hopefully your neighbors and friends will know what you mean.

gleam wrote:Call your neighborhood whatever you want. Hopefully your neighbors and friends will know what you mean.

We call it River West, but who knows what they'll call it next year or the year after. So, would you say that you believe that Matchbox and Silver Palm are located in Ukrainian Village or not?

YoYoPedro wrote:

gleam wrote:Call your neighborhood whatever you want. Hopefully your neighbors and friends will know what you mean.

We call it River West, but who knows what they'll call it next year or the year after. So, would you say that you believe that Matchbox and Silver Palm are located in Ukrainian Village or not?

YO Pedro, who made you the neighborhood police? If you read the original post, the OP is from out-of-town and thinking about signing a lease in Wicker Park. Most people from out-of-town who are at least familiar with Wicker Park are more likely to be also familiar with (or at least heard of) Ukrainian Village, not River West, or SoGo, or Noble Square (hell, I hadn't even heard of Noble Square until a few years ago, and apparently, I had lived there at one time). So, in an effort to be understood by someone from out-of-town, the Silver Palm and the Matchbox were classified as being in an adjacent neighborhood instead of River West, which is not a really well-known moniker anyway. Big deal. Yawn.

I'd much rather talk about the Matchbox's drinks.

YoYoPedro wrote:

gleam wrote:Call your neighborhood whatever you want. Hopefully your neighbors and friends will know what you mean.

We call it River West, but who knows what they'll call it next year or the year after. So, would you say that you believe that Matchbox and Silver Palm are located in Ukrainian Village or not?

That's the unfortunate thing when threads go in this direction... people forget what they've already read.

Please don't take this as sanctimonious -- I've done it myself more than once...

germuska wrote:

YoYoPedro wrote:

gleam wrote:Call your neighborhood whatever you want. Hopefully your neighbors and friends will know what you mean.

We call it River West, but who knows what they'll call it next year or the year after. So, would you say that you believe that Matchbox and Silver Palm are located in Ukrainian Village or not?

That's the unfortunate thing when threads go in this direction... people forget what they've already read.

Please don't take this as sanctimonious -- I've done it myself more than once...

No problem. It can happen when a discussion goes on over a day or week or two, while attempting to live our lives in between ever more tangential posts.

aschie30 wrote:YO Pedro, who made you the neighborhood police? If you read the original post, the OP is from out-of-town and thinking about signing a lease in Wicker Park. Most people from out-of-town who are at least familiar with Wicker Park are more likely to be also familiar with (or at least heard of) Ukrainian Village, not River West, or SoGo, or Noble Square (hell, I hadn't even heard of Noble Square until a few years ago, and apparently, I had lived there at one time). So, in an effort to be understood by someone from out-of-town, the Silver Palm and the Matchbox were classified as being in an adjacent neighborhood instead of River West, which is not a really well-known moniker anyway. Big deal. Yawn.

I'd much rather talk about the Matchbox's drinks.

Exactly! Since the OP is from out of town, I felt it was especially important to give them accurate information. My thought was that it makes no sense to have them cruising around Ukrainian Village looking for something that's not there. I guess it's my bad for trying to help their Chicago geographical education somewhat. What's SoGo, BTW? That's a new one for me. Cheers!

YoYoPedro wrote:
We call it River West, but who knows what they'll call it next year or the year after. So, would you say that you believe that Matchbox and Silver Palm are located in Ukrainian Village or not?

I've already said once that I agree with you that it's River West. I've also said it doesn't matter, and arguing about this thing is idiotic. So why are you still arguing about it?

In the midst of all this arguing, I actually went to both the Matchbox and the Silver Palm this weekend. Had a shrimp cocktail, gruyere cheeseburger and an ice cold beer. Perfect day for sitting outside.

Perfect day for sitting outside.

But outside where?

Matchbox. You can eat down there too.

On the OPs original topic: Enoteca Roma. I quite like the bruschetta sampler and a splitting a bottle of wine after work. Clean simple flavors, nothing fancy.

Not my first choice for out of town guests for sure (Avec anyone?), but not bad for a snack some evening if you're in the neighborhood (however you define the neighborhood).

I am going to have to change my tune about Enoteca Roma...

The fiance and I went there a couple weeks back for some wine and apps. The bruchetta's are half the size they used to be for the same cost. I was quite disappointed that since their popularity, they appeared to have cut down flavor and value. You used to be able to choose from about 2 dozen bruchetta's for a serving of 4, now you have a choice of about 10, which are bite sized.

Wine selection is good, servers not as knowledgable as they used to be.

It's been a while since anyone posted to this thread. What's more disappointing is that about three-fourths of the posts are devoted to a virtually pointless discussion about neighborhood nomenclature (pointless, that is, since the vast majority of posts say nothing whatsoever about the restaurant). Since I have the address, I don't care what we call the 'hood. What I'd really like to know is, is the food any good? Should we go? Has anyone been lately?

Yes! Enoteca Roma has become one of our favorites that my husband and I go to regularly now. Everything is excellent from the pastas, polentas, salads, pizza, salumi, cheese....and a great wine list too!

A group of five of us went last weekend for my brother's birthday and they let us do the 'Mangia, Mangia' (which on their menu states is for parties of six or more), there was so much food that we are still talking about it today! We're all big eaters and we couldn't even finish everything. One person in our party detests cheese, weird, I know, and they were extremely accommodating throughout the entire meal. Each course was great because they surprise you with what they bring out. You don't have a choice, but can hint in the direction of what you like/what your diet restrictions are and they fulfill your wishes!

They started us with their bruschettas, which are really good, but small bites, so don't expect to get full if you order this as an entree as I've seen some people do. I like that they cut each piece in half for sharing, which also eliminates too much topping falling off as you bite into it. The one that surprisingly stood out for me was the Debby (eggplant, goat cheese, hazelnut). I don't really like eggplant, but it turned out to be my favorite! The other surprising favorite was the Enzo (strawberry, mascarpone, balsamic reduction). Vinnie (caramelized onion and gorgonzola), and Calabria (goat cheese, roasted red peppers) are also excellent.

Next came two salads, the arugula, my favorite salad at Enoteca Roma, made simple with fresh lemon juice, olive oil, tomato and shaved parm; we also got the Colosseo (granny smith apples, red onions, goat cheese, dried cranberries, greens). Both were great with no complaints.

I can't remember the order the rest came out in because there really was SO MUCH food, but here it goes:

*Caprese Salad (roasted roma tomatoes, buffalo mozz, fresh basil, olive oil): the roasted tomatoes made this salad, I've never had a better caprese that I can remember.

*Mussels (with cherry tomato, white wine): tastes just as is sounds but better, the broth was amazing!

*Cheese (w/condiments): can't remember which ones they gave us, but all three were great, especially with the homemade peppery raspberry chutney.

*Salumi: large plate of prosciutto, capicolla and sopressata (came out with the cheeses); the prosciutto was especially insanely good with the raspberry chutney.

*House Garlic sausage cooked with fresh grapes: both sweet and savory which everyone loved. Never tasted a sausage dish like this before. The sausage itself isn't as garlicy as you may expect it to be IMO, which I think makes it even better because its not overkill.

*Polentas: Besides the house special pizza, this is what we come here for. The polenta is creamy, made with vegetable stock and a little bit of cheese (can't remember which, but ours was made without the cheese mixed into the polenta and I thought it was even better without it), served spread over a marble slab, then topped with your choice of topping. We had these:
-Crimini mushrooms & sausage
-Roasted tomato, caramelized onion, wild mushroom, gorgonzola
Both were great! I've only ever had the venison bolognese and their usual special which has cannelini beans and prosciutto, but I wouldn't hesitate to order either of these next time depending on what I have a taste for. If I had to choose one over the other though, it would have to be the roasted tomato creation. After the sausage earlier in the meal I could have done without more sausage and would have rather have had another topping, but it was a safe choice for our non-cheese-eating friend. My brother rarely eats mushrooms and he had no problems with any of those two dishes.

*Pasta: Finally the end of our dishes! Ending on the pasta was a little tough because we were pretty full already. The good thing is pasta is easy to take home and reheat
-Pear ravioli, walnut-cream sauce, gorgonzola (absolutely love this dish here)
-Orecchiette pasta, broccolini, roasted garlic, chili pepper flake (nice and light to end on for a pasta)
-Campanelle pasta & venison bolognese (great meat and tomato sauce)

Dessert? Hell no! Who has room after all of that?

The price for all of this food? A mere $28 per person (without tax/tip/drinks). Now you can't beat that. This is a great place to go to with a group and I would highly recommend doing the Mangia menu, it was really fun. If you don't have a group large enough for the Mangia, my husband and I are usually satisfied with bruschetta or a salad to start, a polenta, and a half order of pasta (sometimes we get the full order depending on how hungry we are); or a salad and the house special pizza. Service was never rushed any of the many times we've been there and the waitstaff is always super nice and knowledgeable about their wines. Monday nights they have $20 bottle of wine night which is nice too. Not all bottles are $20, but they have some good ones at $20 that you'll enjoy.

For five people, with three bottles of wine and double espressos all around the cost per person with tip was $67. It was definitely well worth it for a fun night out. On nice nights, sit on the back patio, its one of my favorites in the city!

Just in case anyone wondered...

Enoteca Roma Winebar & Bruschetteria
Neighborhood: East Village / Ukrainian Village
2144 W. Division St.
Chicago, IL 60622
1-773-342-1011

technically Division is the divider line between wicker park and east village/ukranian village (which is divided by damen)... so restaurants on the north side are WP and south are UKV or East village (which is short for east ukranian village)...most people just call both sides wicker park, which in my book is fair since who wants things to be that complicated and it seems like a good chunk of people in chicago have never even heard of ukranian or east village anyway.... (and i'd definately not call matchbox wicker park or UKV... i'd call it river west myself as well)

now, the food.

i've only been once and that was enough.

the polenta was served in the apparently-authentic method of pouring it on a marble slab and letting it set. that was good, and memorable even.

the service though... it was almost annoying from what i recall. we had a bus boy crouched over our table the entire dinner and he kept eying our table like he wanted to take away the next thing as soon as he could. it was really over the top annoying, enough so that it ruined our experience.

as from a wine bar aspect, it was OK. i like unique feeling wines that have some depth at wine bars, and i didn't have any here.. they might have them, but not any that i had in the more inexpensive side of the price point

dddane wrote:
now, the food.

i've only been once and that was enough.

the polenta was served in the apparently-authentic method of pouring it on a marble slab and letting it set. that was good, and memorable even.

Thanks for getting the thread back to a discussion of the restaurant/ bar. I'm thinking about going while the weather is good, so I'd appreciate clarification. You described only one food item in your post, and you used the word "memorable". Were there other food items that you didn't like, or are you saying that you like the food here a lot, but the service sucks so much that you won't return?

This was my favorite restaurant up until recently. I think you may still get occasionally ok service if there are no big parties but forget about going there if there is any large parties. They could care less about our party of 4. The service was never great but it has deteriorated to the point that we won't ever return. The food is great, the outside areas front and especially back are really nice but if you can't get what you ordered (or even order) in a timely manner, it isn't worth going to for us. Last Saturday night, we were seated at 7:30. It took them 20 minutes to even come ask us about drinks. We did not get our drinks until after 8:15. Our salads came shortly after the drinks but our food did not arrive until 9:05 (yep -we were all watching by this point). When our food arrived, the waitress had forgotten to put one of the pasta orders in at all. She apologized but there was no comping or managerial apologizing. Since this is the third bad incident in a row, we're done. I kept giving them another chance since I loved it so, the back garden is so pretty, the food is good, and it's right around the corner from our house. These things just aren't enough to balance the really terrible service.

Sometimes when you're dining with a large group on late notice, your choices of where to dine are limited. Add in a couple of vegetarians, food preferences . . . you get it.

But having now visited, I can say that this is a pretty respectable choice if you're in the area, particularly if the weather is nice and the large back patio is open.

In terms of what I liked, the Roman-style pizza with mozzarella, pesto and tomato. The toppings were very well proportioned, the crust crunchy in a Pizza Rustica kind of way (thought not delivering that same level of flavor) and delicious.

I understood the tableside poured polenta is a big thing here and it was indeed very good. We had the one with mushrooms, gorgonzola, caramelized onions and roasted tomato and it was very enjoyable, though certainly not life altering.

The lasagna appeared to have been baked in a single serving casserole-type dish and was the kind I love, i.e., no ricotta. Instead, a rich venison bolognese, bechamel, mozzarella and parmesan. I'll complain that the noodles were overcooked but the flavors were excellent. The flavors of the bolognese suggested to me that not only venison was used, but probably livers (maybe pancetta) too. They serve the poured polenta with the bolognese, so if you fear the overcooked pasta, that might be a great path to choose if you want to try the bolognese.

Overcooking pastas seemed to be an issue though. For instance, while I enjoyed the flavors of the orecchiette alle Vongole (though slightly undersalted), the orecchiette was overcooked by a good couple of minutes.

The arugula and cherry tomato salad featured fresh, peppery arugula, vibrant cherry tomatoes, an abundance of shaved parmesan, and it was lightly dressed with lemon and olive oil. This is the simple but well done salad I always crave.

Arancini was very flavorful but slightly too dense and slightly too breaded.

Though dessert choices seemed standard, I noticed a pastry case with biscotti and some other Italian cookies that seemed more appealing, at least to me. I might inquire further if I was to return.

Some interesting Italian wines on the wine list too (though very different than the list online). I can see where Enoteca Roma won't be on anyone's must visit list for Italian in Chicago. But if you're in the area, I think there are a number of items that would make a solid meal, and even better if the back patio is open.