Missing Catania - what to do?

Originally I am Norwegian, but... Anyway, I am spending these weeks in Chicago.

But I miss Catania. What should i do? I haven`t heard an Italian word yeat, not even in "Little Italy" (Taylor). And all the restaurants I`ve found are either "American" (Who`s heard of pasta Alfedo?), or Toscana/Piemonte with lots of suits.

I need some help here!

I am grotesquely greatful for all tips and ideas!

H.

Hi,

You're Norweigan, though living somewhere else today, whose visiting Chicago for a few weeks. What you are missing most is an Italian restaurant who specializes in the Catania regional cuisine, right?

I didn't know what Catania was until I did a bit of research, to learn it is in Siciliy. I don't know if Catania are represented in Chicago specifically, though Sicilian certainly is. I just wonder if there are specific dishes you're seeking, which someone here might recognize and point you in the right direction.

I'm still puzzling over your comment, "... All the restaurants I`ve found are either "American" (Who`s heard of pasta Alfedo?)"

Give us more details on your expectations and very likely we can help you better.

Regards,

The large gap between real Italian food (in all its regional variety) and what one finds in the Italian restaurants of Chicago has been discussed here in many threads. Here is one:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2635

Hamha, you might enjoy the Neapolitan style pizzas at Spacca Napoli.

Otherwise I'd suggest exploring a different sort of cuisine while you are here in Chicago -- perhaps Mexican? Thai? Vietnamese?

Spacca Napoli
1769 W. Sunnyside Ave.
773-878-2420

A pit too polemic and unclear in my first post., sorry.

I`ll try to clearify; I am looking for a distinctive South-italian (sicilian?) place. Untill know, I have only found places that do not seem especially Italian to meg, whatever that means, or the kind of stiff, expensive "I love Tuscany and Piemonte!" kind of places.

"Not especially Italian", I am thinking most about the whole lots-of-meat-not-too-much-weird-vegetables-feeling. I know it is a feeling, and may be irrepresentative, but I have had that feeling a few nights.

Anyway. Beside the point. The point really: Where should I go if I miss southern Italy,

Thanks very much for all kindness and all tips,

Honestly, if you miss things Italian, you should spend some time on Harlem on the western edge of the city. You'll have no problem finding recently-arrived southern Italians with whom to converse. As I understand it, many are from Bari. Not very many restaurants, but plenty of caffes and bars. You can search for the Riviera and Caputo's, the former a small store where they make their own very good sopressata among other stuff, the latter a large grocery store with a very Italian focus.

Here's a link to info on a good caffe where you might grab and espresso and get some more leads.

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2564

Where should I go if I miss southern Italy,

you should go to southern italy. there's really no place like it. i miss it at times as well. don't seek restaurants out to re-create your experience there, you will almost certainly always be disappointed.

instead, why not try and cultivate an appreciation for all things chicago?

hamha wrote:Originally I am Norwegian, but... Anyway, I am spending these weeks in Chicago.

But I miss Catania. What should i do? I haven`t heard an Italian word yeat, not even in "Little Italy" (Taylor). And all the restaurants I`ve found are either "American" (Who`s heard of pasta Alfedo?), or Toscana/Piemonte with lots of suits.

I need some help here!

I am grotesquely greatful for all tips and ideas!

H.,

People who live in the Taylor Street neighbourhood -- unless they're involved with a business association or something -- do not call the area "Little Italy" and have never done so, though not so long ago it was indeed a large and predominantly Italian neighbourhood; a much reduced but still significant part of the population here is still Italian. Not surprisingly, it is the case that there is little Italian spoken around Taylor Street in public anymore, though if you're in the right place at the right time, you will hear it. With somewhat greater frequency you will hear it in the same sort of contexts -- that is, in bakery shops and salumerie, between friends over coffee or a meal -- in the Harlem Avenue area or out in Addison, etc.* But since even relatively recent immigrants from Italy here also generally speak English fluently and there is no area that is very densely populated with Italian-speakers, there is little or no inclination to try to conduct public business in Italian.

I know of no restaurants in Chicago that in any meaningful way can be said to specialise in Sicilian cuisine, so if it's specifically that that your nostalgia for Catania involves, I suspect you're out of luck.

Italian restaurants in Chicago abound and there a few that are both very good and reasonably authentic, I believe, though as an Italian I eat my Italian food, with a particular focus on 'weird' vegetables, at home and, as Amata suggests above, do other things with my dining-out dollars.

The focus on meat and other 'luxury' items and the general absence of many aspects of traditional Southern Italian cooking in restaurants here in Chicago has complex reasons. Rather than feeling too acutely nostalgic for Catania, I hope you try to enjoy Chicago -- Polish Chicago, Mexican Chicago, Thai Chicago, Salvadoran Chicago, etc. etc. etc. and, to the degree and in the form that it survives, Italian Chicago. There is no shortage of interesting and delicious things to be found here and the particular mix of immigrant offerings and local twists on them that form the Chicago culinary landscape are not to be found in Catania, Norway or elsewhere, for that matter.

Antonius


*The area JeffB refers to above: In the far west of the city, along and around Harlem Ave from roughly the cross-streets Grand northward to Belmont and a bit beyond, there are quite a few Italian stores and cafés and restaurants. Addison and some of the other western suburbs have relatively large Italian populations.

Edited voluntarily in the interest of peace by the author; meine Zeit ist zu wert.

If you're interested in hearing (and speaking, but not eating) Italian, here's a place to do it. Spring classes start this week:

http://www.sentieri.com/casa.htm

Antonius wrote:*The area JeffB refers to above: In the far west of the city, along and around Harlem Ave from roughly the cross-streets Grand northward to Belmont and a bit beyond, there are quite a few Italian stores and cafés and restaurants.

One Sunday morning a few years ago, I went walking on one of the side-streets parallel to Harlem in this area. There were many families outside, coming home from church, etc., and I heard nothing but Italian spoken for several blocks. I have also found that people in some of the smaller stores (e.g., Riviera) seem willing to speak Italian with even linguistic bumblers such as myself.

David Hammond wrote:

Antonius wrote:*The area JeffB refers to above: In the far west of the city, along and around Harlem Ave from roughly the cross-streets Grand northward to Belmont and a bit beyond, there are quite a few Italian stores and cafés and restaurants.

One Sunday morning a few years ago, I went walking on one of the side-streets parallel to Harlem in this area. There were many families outside, coming home from church, etc., and I heard nothing but Italian spoken for several blocks. I have also found that people in some of the smaller stores (e.g., Riviera) seem willing to speak Italian with even linguistic bumblers such as myself.

Yesterday in Addison I twice saw people meeting by accident in Caputo's and speaking to one another in Italian. At Caputo's on Harlem one also hears a fair amount of Italian spoken amongst families shopping and at Riviera, I often hear customers do their ordering in Italian, and I do so as well sometimes; I also like chatting with the proprietor's wife and daughter at the check out counter in Italian. There definitely are a lot of Italian speakers around, including a number still here on Taylor Street, but use of Italian is always by choice and most typically a decidedly in-group event, a situation very different from what prevails in other ethnic settings where there has been very recent immigration in substantial numbers.

At the bakery here in Tri-Taylor, particularly on Sundays, when local old-timers gather, one hears Italian and Neapolitan dialect.

By the way, which church was that?

Antonius

Antonius wrote:By the way, which church was that?

St. Ferdinand's? Couldn't say for sure -- I was basing my "coming home from church" description upon the attire of certain families (dresses, ties, etc.) and the fact that I was coming through the neighborhood during the late morning when I figured churches were just letting out.

What about this thread, Any real Sicilian places around?