sapori trattoria

has anyone eaten here? their pumpkin ravioli (i think it was) got raves in chicago magazine's top 124 best dishes issue. i've never heard of the place and an LTH search pulls up nothing. their website describes themself as affordable and lists menu items but no prices, which is kind of weird. any thoughts? thanks, justjoan

I'm a huge fan of Sapori and have been going there since I moved into the neighborhood 6+ years ago. The pumpkin ravioli is definitely an outstanding dish (as is the lobster ravioli, Sapori's version is probably the best I've had). I'm 99% sure that all or most of their pasta is made in-house. I'm going to a wine dinner there tonight actually so I'll try to verify that.

Also, it is very reasonably priced. I can't remember how much we usually spend, but I don't think it's any more than $30-$40 per person (not including wine). They're also always sending out coupons, so you can get like $10 or $12 off.

Sapori Trattoria
2701 N Halsted St
773-832-9999

justjoan-- I'm not sure what to say about this place. I visited about a year ago, so others who have been there recently may have more upbeat reports. I liked it OK, and my non-foodie friends thought it was great. (This was a group of ladies who tend to love anything that they don't have to cook themselves. I have been known to sulk a bit after bad dinners with this crowd.) In this case, the meal was acceptable and a very good value for the location. The portions were huge. (No code intended.)

The downside was that the pastas were oversauced and not as simple as the pasta dishes I tend to prefer--at Merlo, for instance. I did not have the pumpkin ravioli. None of the pastas I tried was bad, but all were middle-brow. My impression was that this is a good place to take friends who think that they like Italian food, but who really don't like to be challenged too much-- they just want something that they wouldn't know how to make at home. (How's that for nerdfury and arrogance?)

As I recall, the place was rather noisy, but then, I am a bit cranky about that. If I were in the area, I might choose this place, but I wouldn't make a journey to eat there. They do offer some coupons in the local mailer, but I've never been motivated to return to cash them in.

I'll be interested to read what others on the board say about Sapori. Maybe my reaction to the place has more to do with the company I went with than with the food. I've been spoiled into curmudgeonhood by the company of LTHers!

thanks for the reports. i actually tried to sign up for sapori's coupons program but the url doesnt seem to exist anymore. i love pumpkin ravioli and affordable italian, so i was intrigued.

justjoan wrote: i love pumpkin ravioli and affordable italian, so i was intrigued.

Me, too. Please post if you find excellent pumpkin ravioli somewhere.

I would still recommend the pumpkin ravioli at Sapori.

See, here's the thing with Sapori. It's definitely not traditional, authentic Italian. I would characterize it as a "red sauce" place either, but it's somewhere in between. Some of the pastas are pretty heavily sauced, but there are also a bunch of other pastas that are not (the pumpkin ravioli being in that camp).

All of that being said, I do agree with Josephine that this is not destination dining by any means. It's a 5 minute walk from where I live, the food is very good (especially compared to other options in the immediate neighborhood), the people there are friendly, and the prices are reasonable. Would I schlep in from the 'burbs just to go there? No. Would I go if I knew I was going to be in the area anyway? Absolutely.

It's funny, I was there four years ago and had the pumpkin ravioli, thought it was absolutely delicious, and somehow....just have not made it back. Every time I drive past it, I Think, dang, I really wanna go back there for that pumpkin ravioli.

So, I guess it's sort of faint praise? I haven't been back in four years...but at the same time, four years later, I still remember the dish vividly.

I ate here a while back (about 2 years, in fact), on a coupon. Cute atomsphere, decent service. I found my pasta to be overwhelmingly oily -- I can't recall what I had -- it was decent, but it was floating in oil. My sister did have the pumpkin ravioli. Again, quite oily. For my tastes, way, way, way too sweet. She seemed to like it.

Was I irritated that we went there? No. Did I feel desire to go back? No. Did I feel the need to pour the ring of oil surrounding the pasta off of my plate (seriously, it was that oily)? Yes. Made for bad leftovers, and as others have mentioned, the portions are huge, so you will have some.

I will also note that they have a very reasonably priced wine list, although not necessarily filled with "finds", just inexpensive, drinkable wine.

I ate there a number of times a few years ago at the suggestion of my downstair neighbor's boyfriend who was a line cook at Ambria. Initially, I found the pastas to be extremely well cooked and conservatively sauced with sauces that just kicked you in the teeth with great flavor.

The quality of the food began top slip dramatically about two years ago prompting me to write it off . Like Josephine, I experienced extremely oily nad tasteless sauces on overcooked pasta in those visits.

It could well be back on the upswing now.

Most posters have summarized Sapori well - it won't challenge you with innovative combinations and bold flavors, but its a simple, reasonably priced neighborhood option.

That said, I really like the place. Nice atmosphere, not too loud, a little cramped but i like that vitality. Had good mushroom risotto and terrific lobster ravioli.

Sure, you certainly can find Italian restaurants in the city that are better or more authentic (and certainly more expensive!), but for those of you seeking some "comfort" Italian food made with care, rather than trends, I'd recommend Sapori.

We had a great time at a wine dinner at Sapori last night. I drank far to much to give a blow-by-blow account but here's what we had:

Chilled melon soup with balsamic and mascarpone cheese
Plate of prosciutto di parma with two types of pecorino cheese
Seafood soup with clams, mussels, shrimp, scallop
Pumpkin ravioli
Rigatoni with a brandy/chestnut sauce
Braised short ribs
Turducken (yeah, that's right, turducken stuffed with veggies...so good)
Mixed berries, hunks of chocolate, chocolate covered espresso beans

There were five wines that were paired with all of the food (4/5 from Minionetto), with the standout being a Barolo served with the short ribs and the turducken.

And how much did all of this cost? Would you believe, $65 per person? Quite a bargain given the quality of the food and the free-flowing wine.

Jesteinf, a friend of mine was part of a wine dinner last night and was raving about it. Are there numerous dinners going on at the same time, or were you part of the same one?

Her name is Melissa, BTW. I can't remember her fiance's name right off the top of my head...

I enjoy Sapori quite a bit. While I wouldn't place it in the upper-echelons of Chicago Italian cuisine, it's an enjoyable neighborhood spot and shines above most other offerings in the culinary wasteland that is that neighborhood.

Katherine_84f wrote:Jesteinf, a friend of mine was part of a wine dinner last night and was raving about it. Are there numerous dinners going on at the same time, or were you part of the same one?

Her name is Melissa, BTW. I can't remember her fiance's name right off the top of my head...

The whole restaurant was basically booked for the wine dinner from 7pm on last night. Most people were at long tables with everything served family style. My wife and I lucked out and were seated at one of the high-tops next to the bar so it was just the two of us. It was nice to out of the crowd, but we missed out on meeting some of the other diners.

i didnt expect so many responses on a trattoria i'd never heard of(tho i should know better, since this is LTH!) i feel i've got a good sense of the place. and while it isnt my neighborhood, and there's a possibility i'll end up with overly sauced, oily pasta- i'm persuaded to give it a try.

i keep a pretty close eye on chicago dining and i dont think there are nearly enough affordable, neighborhood italian restaurants. in my fantasy chicago there is a jewish deli kittycorner from a ristorante on every major intersection in chicago. on the 2 opposite corners there would be a mexican place and a thai restaurant, with a chinese one on the second floor!

We have been fans of Sapori since 2004. We were in the midst of wedding planning and kept going back and forth on where to do the rehearsal dinner. Wanting to have interesting and delicious food, staying within some kind of a reasonable budget, and still trying to please two culturally different families, not to mention our own standards for what we consider good food had us going from Greektown to Chinatown to steakhouses - we finally decided on Wildfire, only to find it completely booked. At some point, I'm not even sure how I found Sapori, I called Anthony, chef and owner of Sapori. He asked if we'd eaten at the restaurant before. When we said no, he said that we should come in and have dinner on him and then decide. He prepared several dishes for us to try, including appetizers, entrees, and dessert. He offered items that would appeal to a broad group - like chicken - but prepared them thoughtfully and creatively. On dessert, while we had been thinking of tiramisu, he suggested trying his budino di pane - a warm baked bread pudding that was a hit at the dinner. They were able to accommodate the entire party in the back room of the restaurant which made it private and they provided very attentive service.

Since then, we have often returned to Sapori for dinner. As others have commented, it is a great neighborhood spot that provides exactly what we want when in the mood for good handmade pasta, friendly service, and very reasonable prices (the coupons and gift certificates we receive from being on the restaurant’s mailing list make it even more affordable, esp. for a casual weeknight dinner - a signup form is usually included with the check). Anthony always remember us and make us feel like we are coming into his home for dinner. That atmosphere is what keeps us coming back. This is definitely one of those places that is constantly full because there are a lot of regulars from the neighborhood that frequent it.

The lobster ravioli and mushroom risotto are definitely in our regular rotation of items ordered. We have also enjoyed the individual meat lasagna, zuppa di pesce (a huge assortment of mussels, clams, shrimp, scallops, squid, and fish over linguini with a spicy red sauce, but a rather light one - this is one of those that at least two people can share and probably still have some leftover) and the gnocchi. Over the summer, we had an excellent first course of simply prepared asparagus and tomatoes, with the lemon adding a nice acidic contrast to the creamy goat cheese. On a visit last month, one of us ordered the gamberoni e broccoli - homemade linguini with shrimp sautéed in a white wine garlic sauce with a roasted tomato and broccoli sauce. I thought the broccoli sauce was delicious and innovative.

We have also attended a couple of the dinners that the restaurant has hosted - there was the Peasant Dinner where Anthony’s mother was in the kitchen, preparing a number of dishes she learned from her grandmother in Bari (including a timballo - think of the timpano dish from Big Night) and a wine dinner that had several very memorable dishes (the duck arancini and octopus carpaccio stand out). The dinners are always sellouts within a day or so of the announcement. By the time we called for the most recent one, we were much too late.

If you are in the neighborhood, I would definitely recommend stopping by. FYI - they also provide parking in a lot up the street from the restaurant. Just ask at the hostess desk for a card before parking.

shyne

shyne wrote:As others have commented, it is a great neighborhood spot that provides exactly what we want when in the mood for good handmade pasta, friendly service...

Has anyone been to both Sapori and Terragusto? Since both are neighborhood places specializing in handmade pasta, I wonder if they're comparable. It would be interesting if they were, and one place were friendly and the other (from reports) not so much.

riddlemay wrote:

shyne wrote:As others have commented, it is a great neighborhood spot that provides exactly what we want when in the mood for good handmade pasta, friendly service...

Has anyone been to both Sapori and Terragusto? Since both are neighborhood places specializing in handmade pasta, I wonder if they're comparable. It would be interesting if they were, and one place were friendly and the other (from reports) not so much.

I've been to both (although I've only been to Terragusto once and I've been to Sapori probably in the neighborhood of 20-30 times).

I think they're very different experiences and hard to compare. I would say that the food at Terragusto is better, but the service at Sapori is much warmer. Given how Terragusto's menu is priced, it's also difficult to compare costs on an apples-to-apples basis.

I was jonesing for just solid, B+ Italian food, nothing life-altering, as a modest birthday dinner (my more elaborate such meal having already taken place) and so I dredged up Sapori's name via the Reader's search engine.

It's a nice neighborhood place, service was very friendly and accommodating of the kids (well, they did try to seat us under the stairs next to the clothes dryer first, but were perfectly fine when I steered us back into the dining room). But, it's not my neighborhood, so it's hard to see burning to return. The best thing was a plate of lamb chops, maybe a little too lemony-peppery, but very tasty and well-prepared all the same. An appetizer of grilled calamari was okay, would have been better if still hot, and swimming in a bit too much balsamic. I saw the lasagna on somebody else's table, it looked beautiful, the housemade pasta was really nice and light but overall it was kind of on the bland side. All in all, it struck me as the kind of place you take your spouse/sig. other's parents from McCook, NE when they visit; everyone's going to feel all urbane and cosmopolitan, nobody's going to get hurt.

At least not in the restaurant. We came out to find that some underprivileged victims of the economic downturn had smashed in a window and stolen my iPod, uncharacteristically left visible and not popped into the glove compartment as usual. Bitter irony that in the last few weeks, working on various pieces for various publications as well as my own amusement, I've parked the car on south Pulaski, at Division and Cicero, at 2600 S. Archer, at 87th and Harlem, in Whiting, Indiana, and various other ooooh, scary parts of town, and it was only in yuppie Lincoln Park that I encountered crime.

Please feel free to link to this post the next time someone asks if this or that place recommended here is safe to visit.

I'm in the minority with not liking this place that much. I used to live by there and ate there numerous times. Never thought it was anything special. The portions are quite big though, so there's always leftovers. I never did try the pumpkin ravioli though, so maybe that was the problem.

it struck me as the kind of place you take your spouse/sig. other's parents from McCook, NE when they visit; everyone's going to feel all urbane and cosmopolitan, nobody's going to get hurt.

Please feel free to link to this post the next time someone asks if this or that place recommended here is safe to visit.

It's probably safe to assume that --at least for some people-- NE is no longer safe to visit.

Three of us were in the mood for pasta after a movie last night at Century Cinema, so we headed over to Sapori Trattoria. Jesteinf, who we happened to run into last night, described the place well when he wrote some time ago:

See, here's the thing with Sapori. It's definitely not traditional, authentic Italian. I would characterize it as a "red sauce" place either, but it's somewhere in between. Some of the pastas are pretty heavily sauced, but there are also a bunch of other pastas that are not (the pumpkin ravioli being in that camp).

I'm a bit of an Italian-food traditionalist, so I meet all places like this with a fair amount of skepticism. That said, I came away thinking that Sapori must be near the top of the genre. We had three pastas: one great, one good, one lousy.

Great: the much discussed pumpkin cappellacci. Homemade pasta with nice chew to it, pillowy pumpkin stuffing with some winter spices that didn't overwhelm it. Tasty roasted pumpkin chunks, only a few of which were burnt beyond edibility, adorning the plate. Scant and flavorful brown butter and crispy fried sage leaves. A perfectly balanced dish.

Good: linguine alle vongole. More nicely made homemade pasta. Meaty, tasting-fresh clams in the shell. A veritable heap of toasted garlic slivers topping the pasta and providing fabulous aroma as the server set the dish in front of me. Too much watery, bland wine sauce, however, detracting from rather than adding to the deliciousness of the dish.

Lousy. I mean really lousy: Rigatoni Bolognese. Like a jar of sugary tomato sauce with some chunks of ground beef thrown in. Buca di Beppo does this just as well. This is the dish that makes me dislike this genre of food so much.

Sapori Trattoria is a cozy little space with exposed brick and a packed-tight-as-could-be dining room. Somehow the friendly staff maneuver with grace through the tiny spaces between tables, and the dining experience becomes a comfortable and satisfying one. I won't go out of my way for a return visit, but I'll happily come along if someone else suggests Sapori Trattoria.

Glad to hear you got out of Lincoln Park alive, at least.

Still bitter, and still cleaning bits of glass out of the car,
Mike

I also had the linguine alle vongole last night and I have to agree that the sauce was way too bland. It's usually a lot better than that. The clams were fantastic though.

$2 gets $16 off - http://www.twobuckduck.com/Wednesday.html

$2 gets $16 off - http://www.twobuckduck.com/Tuesday.html

Ditto - http://www.twobuckduck.com/mar11.html

Again - http://www.twobuckduck.com/apr12.html

I get bi-weekly postcards from this place advertising some discount or another. I'm pretty sure if you just mention when you book a reservation that you'd like 10, 20, or 30 bucks off your bill, they'd say yes. No reason to buy the 2 buck duck thingy.

Kennyz wrote:I get bi-weekly postcards from this place advertising some discount or another. I'm pretty sure if you just mention when you book a reservation that you'd like 10, 20, or 30 bucks off your bill, they'd say yes. No reason to buy the 2 buck duck thingy.

I seem to get a bunch too . . . a little like the Bed, Bath & Beyond of restaurants.