Bar Toma

Was wondering if anyone knew when Bar Toma opens?

http://chicago.eater.com/archives/2011/ ... r-toma.php

Bar Toma
110 E. Pearson St.
Chicago, IL 60611

I don't know the answer, but in trying to figure out what a mozzarella bar might be all about, I came across this article that may be of interest to others:

Mozzarella, an Unlikely Star, Opens in Midtown

Edited post--didn't realize that the NYT article was about the same place...Obika. I'll add that i've been and enjoyed it--seemed like a novelty spot at first but the food was fresh and interesting, especially as an alternative to the usual Italian fare. I wouldn't mind seeing one open here.

Darren72 wrote:. . . in trying to figure out what a mozzarella bar might be all about . . .

There's one at Osteria Mozza in Los Angeles, or at least there was when I visited back in 2008. I seem to remember about 15 different variations/preparations being available. We didn't try them all but out of the handful we did try, a couple were sublime.

=R=

FoodSnob77 wrote:Was wondering if anyone knew when Bar Toma opens?

http://chicago.eater.com/archives/2011/ ... r-toma.php

Bar Toma
110 E. Pearson St.
Chicago, IL 60611

I work nearby and it's still under construction. No indication on the outside with an opening date.

The GP wrote:

FoodSnob77 wrote:Was wondering if anyone knew when Bar Toma opens?

http://chicago.eater.com/archives/2011/ ... r-toma.php

Bar Toma
110 E. Pearson St.
Chicago, IL 60611

I work nearby and it's still under construction. No indication on the outside with an opening date.

Per Tony Mantuano, they are expecting to open by the end of the month.

Dlongs wrote:

The GP wrote:

FoodSnob77 wrote:Was wondering if anyone knew when Bar Toma opens?

http://chicago.eater.com/archives/2011/ ... r-toma.php

Bar Toma
110 E. Pearson St.
Chicago, IL 60611

I work nearby and it's still under construction. No indication on the outside with an opening date.

Per Tony Mantuano, they are expecting to open by the end of the month.

I'm pretty sure a Green City Market fundraiser will take place there on 11/29.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:I'm pretty sure a Green City Market fundraiser will take place there on 11/29.

Well, it did and I attended. Bar Toma was also open for business to the public beginning on Tuesday morning . . .


Bar Toma - 110 E Pearson, Chicago
Those louver doors on the left open up, creating sidewalk seating...not on this chilly night, of course.



Interior Space
The biggest difference between the space as it is now and its former incarnation is the new arch in the wall (way in the background) between the 2 rooms.



Wood-Burning Dome Pizza Oven



Pizza Cooking
Just about ready to come out.



Kitchen Space



Chef Tony Mantuano chats with Verd Nolan and Jeanne Pinsof Nolan of The Organic Gardener

At this event, it seemed that nearly all of the 16 pizzas on the menu were being passed. We tried several and I grabbed shots of a few of them . . .


Margherita and Zucchini
The Zucchini is topped with pesto, mozzarella, and pecorino.



The Mantuano
Rapini, guanciale, mozzarella, chiles



Bomba!
This house specialty is described on the menu as a "pizza pillow, La Quercia prosciutto"



Mozzarella Selection
From what I understand, the mozzarella bar at Bar Toma is actually a section of the menu from which various preparations can be ordered individually or in groups. At tonight's event, several of the items were laid out buffet-style.



Mozzarella Selection
Bocconcini in the foreground



Grand Tasting Platter
Fior di latte, mozzarella di bufalo, smoked mozzarella, ciliegini, vegetables, prosciutto, olives, arugula, giardiniera



Insalata di Mare
This cooked-to-order seafood salad included shrimp, squid, conch and octopus (iirc)



Trippa Alla Neopoleatana
Orange, mint, tomato and breadcrumbs



Trippa Alla Neopoleatana



Effy's Seared Mortadella
served with house-made giardiniera



Sweetbreads
Wrapped in prosciutto and fresh sage, then battered and fried.



Rosticcino di Abruzzo
Grilled, marinated lamb skewers with rosemary and garlic. It's not on the menu but there was also a thick, truffle-flavored sauce on the skewers, as well as some sharp, shaved cheese and some arugula.

At the front of the cavernous space, there's a gelateria. Near the end of the event, several flavors were served around the room and guests were encouraged to try whatever flavors they wanted. We tried 2 that were brought to our table . . .


Chocolate Gelato



Espresso Gelato

I enjoyed most of what we ate and was impressed by the great variety and quality of the ingredients. But being that it was a fundraiser and opening night, I'm not sure how representative our experience was. There was so much of the menu we didn't try, including some interesting-looking cocktails. Still, they were open to the public on the other side of the restaurant and things seemed to be running smoothly. I was impressed and think this is a place that's going to do monster business.

=R=

Wow. I totally missed this. I think Tony Mantuano is brilliant, and I loved his older ventures, but Spiaggia was completely out of my league. I am glad to see him involved with a more accessible establishment. The interior design looks very cool also, and as usual, Ronnie's pictures make the food look great (then again, I think Ronnie could make oatmeal look intriguing).

Ron, it was nice to meet you and Alan (sp?) last night, albeit briefly. Your photos came out great!

I, too, thought just about everything I had last night was pretty yummy (although I left before the gelato showed up, dagnabbit!) and look forward to going back outside of an event to try some other things.

And I have to agree with you that Bar Toma will likely do really well (so long as people see it behind Ghirardelli's). I have to say that, while my personal preference re: their pizzas is more toward some of the less common menu choices, I think it was also very smart of them to have more traditional varieties like the Calabrese (aka "sausage pizza"), but I liked that even those had some kind of little flavor surprise (in that particular case, the chile flakes).

I'm bummed that I didn't get to try that Bomba, and I never did get a piece of yesterday's pizza of the day (with truffled egg and toma cheese). I did try the Clam, Capriole Goat Cheese, Lorenzo and Bambini and all were tasty. Pizza aside, I sampled just about everything at the mozzarella bar (the di buffala and smoked were my favorites) and also had the Rosticcino di Abruzzo and the Sweetbreads, both of which I enjoyed.

(and thanks for letting me try some of that seared mortadella...I'm a big mortadella fan and that was good!)

Lou

P.S. @d4v3 I know what you mean re: Tony's earlier restaurants (Tuttaposto, MMT) vs. Spiaggia. I've only eaten at Spiaggia and the Cafe once each. Loved both meals, but I'm just not big on dining in that formal of an environment in general. Tuttaposto, on the other hand, was fairly life-changing for me. It was the first restaurant I ate at that made me want to talk to the chef, and Tony's always been a very cool guy to chat with. I credit Tuttaposto for making me want to be more adventurous re: what I eat when I eat out (I grew up with a very limited variety of foods, although good stuff), and I still consider it one of the best restaurants I've ever had the pleasure to eat at (if not the best).

It was interesting to me that in my brief chat with Ron last night that he had a similar reaction (in some sense) to eating there (at least that's the impression I got...correct me if I'm wrong, Ronnie), and it wouldn't surprise me if many people walked out of Tuttaposto feeling the same way.

d4v3 wrote:Wow. I totally missed this.

You should sign up for Twitter, which apparently has been acquired by Bar Toma's PR firm (terms undisclosed).

d4v3 wrote:Wow. I totally missed this. I think Tony Mantuano is brilliant, and I loved his older ventures, but Spiaggia was completely out of my league. I am glad to see him involved with a more accessible establishment. The interior design looks very cool also, and as usual, Ronnie's pictures make the food look great (then again, I think Ronnie could make oatmeal look intriguing).

Thanks, for the kind comments. I too, am a huge fan of Tony Mantuano's and have been since my first meal at Tuttaposto, which was, I'm guessing, in 1995 or 1996. A few meals I had there were life-changing in more ways than one and I'll always remember them very fondly.

Bar Toma and the distinctive culinary musings of chef Mantuano are definitely accessible. All but 2 of the bar plates are under $10. Obviously, the dishes that feature seafood and fine cheese range higher. Pizzas are about $15 which, while not inexpensive, is still a good value, given the quality of ingredients used. Cocktails are $12 and at a glance, the mark-up on wines seems fairly standard.

I had a good LOL@myself this morning when I finally realized that Bar Toma likely derives its name from Tony Mantuano. D'OH! For weeks, I'd been wondering what the hell Bar Toma meant and thought maybe chef Mantuano was a fan of this 1970's TV series.

Yumbly wrote:
Ron, it was nice to meet you and Alan (sp?) last night, albeit briefly. Your photos came out great!

I, too, thought just about everything I had last night was pretty yummy (although I left before the gelato showed up, dagnabbit!) and look forward to going back outside of an event to try some other things.

And I have to agree with you that Bar Toma will likely do really well (so long as people see it behind Ghirardelli's). I have to say that, while my personal preference re: their pizzas is more toward some of the less common menu choices, I think it was also very smart of them to have more traditional varieties like the Calabrese (aka "sausage pizza"), but I liked that even those had some kind of little flavor surprise (in that particular case, the chile flakes).

I'm bummed that I didn't get to try that Bomba, and I never did get a piece of yesterday's pizza of the day (with truffled egg and toma cheese). I did try the Clam, Capriole Goat Cheese, Lorenzo and Bambini and all were tasty. Pizza aside, I sampled just about everything at the mozzarella bar (the di buffala and smoked were my favorites) and also had the Rosticcino di Abruzzo and the Sweetbreads, both of which I enjoyed.

(and thanks for letting me try some of that seared mortadella...I'm a big mortadella fan and that was good!)

Lou

P.S. @d4v3 I know what you mean re: Tony's earlier restaurants (Tuttaposto, MMT) vs. Spiaggia. I've only eaten at Spiaggia and the Cafe once each. Loved both meals, but I'm just not big on dining in that formal of an environment in general. Tuttaposto, on the other hand, was fairly life-changing for me. It was the first restaurant I ate at that made me want to talk to the chef, and Tony's always been a very cool guy to chat with. I credit Tuttaposto for making me want to be more adventurous re: what I eat when I eat out (I grew up with a very limited variety of foods, although good stuff), and I still consider it one of the best restaurants I've ever had the pleasure to eat at (if not the best).

It was interesting to me that in my brief chat with Ron last night that he had a similar reaction (in some sense) to eating there (at least that's the impression I got...correct me if I'm wrong, Ronnie), and it wouldn't surprise me if many people walked out of Tuttaposto feeling the same way.

Thanks, Lou, for the kind comments. It was nice finally meeting you, too. As I mentioned above, you are correct about my feelings for Tuttaposto. It is (was?) a seminal restaurant for me in many ways.

Fwiw, I didn't get to try the Bomba! It just happened to be passing by when someone stopped it and suggested that I take a picture. I'm pretty sure I overheard chef Mantuano saying that it's only pizza on the menu that's rolled and that the rolling is the reason it puffs up like that when it's cooked. I agree that the Calabrese was great. The sausage was excellent and the chiles were a great touch. There were just so many items that I didn't get to try. I guess I'll have to make a return trip.

=R=

Ha, finally someone else who remembers Tony Musante's short-lived TV show. I can't wait for Mantuano's next venture, Bar Mannix.

I was told that it's also kind of a pun, since toma is also an Italian cheese (related to the French tomme).

Mike G wrote:I was told that it's also kind of a pun, since toma is also an Italian cheese (related to the French tomme).

Yes, that is true, and why there's Toma on the menu here and there, even though it seems to be pretty hard to find around here (according to a supplier last night, it's generally made in smallish quantities by smallish producers and it's not the easiest thing to source / import).

My wife and I stopped at Bar Toma the other night for a couple of bites and drinks. We stopped there after the Purple Pig and many differences were easy to spot. We sat at the bar at both places. The guys behind the bar at PP were extremely knowledgeable about the wines they served. The staff at Bar Toma were friendly, but clearly just learning their products. I was surprised that Bar Toma had such as small wine list - only five red wines by the glass. The two we sampled were good, but way too warm.

We wanted to try some mozzarella, but they don't make it that easy to order it. They have a few tasting options, but frankly they were all quite expensive and didn't seem that out of the ordinary. I believe the least expensive tasting was $12 for a sample of cow, buffalo, and smoked mozzarella. It didn't excite us, especially since there is an extensive pizza menu.

We had a pizza with mozzarella, artisan salami, and smoked garlic that was very good. The crust is thicker than I expected it to be, but had a really nice flavor. We also had a roasted carrot dish that was fine.

We agreed that this is not a place to trek to from outside of the downtown area, but if we were downtown, it's among the best options around (esp for casual dining).

Stopped in last Friday night with a group of friends. Arrived at around 8:30, and with a party of 6 they told us the wait would be an hour and a half. Given that we had some out-of-towners, we hunkered down near the bar and ordered a bottle of prosecco. No sooner had we gotten that than we were seated.

The food was delicious. We had the burata, shrimp meatballs, and the chicken skewers. The burata really stood out. Creamy and salty, and spread on some bread, I was tempted to order an additional one just for me. The meatballs had a spicy tomato sauce, and had some lime inside, and I enjoyed them (and I am not much of a shrimp person).

Next we ordered three of the pizzas: the Mantuano, Pork Belly Meatball, and the Capriole Goat Cheese. All were very good. The Mantuano has whole chiles on it and is pretty spicy (delicious, but if that's not your bag, you might consider a different one). The Goat cheese and date pizza was sweet, I would definitely get that again. I wanted to try the Bomba, having heard about it, but no one else was interested. Oh well reason to go back.

The service was merely adequate. I know that it's opening week, and the place was fairly busy, but there were still some hitches. Food came out in a reasonable amount of time, but the waitress was not too quick checking on us for more orders and drinks. Minor quibbles.

Summing it up, the food is very good and it is reasonably priced (outside the mozzarella tastings, which put us off). If you're out in the area and you're thinking of going to Quartino or Osteria Via Stato, I would recommend Bar Toma over either of them.

Darren72 wrote:We wanted to try some mozzarella, but they don't make it that easy to order it. They have a few tasting options, but frankly they were all quite expensive and didn't seem that out of the ordinary. I believe the least expensive tasting was $12 for a sample of cow, buffalo, and smoked mozzarella. It didn't excite us, especially since there is an extensive pizza menu.

I felt that way too. The "mozzarella bar" seemed like something you'd eat either at a media preview party or with your $500 Grey Goose bottle service someplace in Las Vegas.

Kennyz wrote:

Darren72 wrote:We wanted to try some mozzarella, but they don't make it that easy to order it. They have a few tasting options, but frankly they were all quite expensive and didn't seem that out of the ordinary. I believe the least expensive tasting was $12 for a sample of cow, buffalo, and smoked mozzarella. It didn't excite us, especially since there is an extensive pizza menu.

I felt that way too. The "mozzarella bar" seemed like something you'd eat either at a media preview party or with your $500 Grey Goose bottle service someplace in Las Vegas.

Heh. As I posted way upthread, at Osteria Mozza in L.A., there were selections on their mozzarella bar that were downright sublime. I didn't feel that way about any of the mozzarellas I tried on opening night at Bar Toma. At Osteria Mozza, the mozzarella bar, was an actual station, where one could peruse the selections and have them placed on a plate. This is what I was expecting at Bar Toma and I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't offered similarly. Also, fwiw, there's a burrata sold at J.P. Graziano that triumphs over any of the cheeses I tasted at Bar Toma on opening night. I'm guessing it's more expensive than what Bar Toma offers but once you've had it, it's really hard to go back.

I agree with Darren that mozzarella + pizza seems a bit redundant. I feel the same way at Spacca Napoli, where a tasty mozzarella appetizer is offered. I don't usually want a big portion of cheese in advance of eating a pizza, because more often than not, the pizza also has cheese on it.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:I agree with Darren that mozzarella + pizza seems a bit redundant. I feel the same way at Spacca Napoli, where a tasty mozzarella appetizer is offered. I don't usually want a big portion of cheese in advance of eating a pizza, because more often than not, the pizza also has cheese on it.

=R=

Last time my wife and I were at Spacca Napoli, and after we had already ordered our pizza, I mildly suggested to my wife that some time we should come here and try some of the other appetizers and not order a pizza. She gave me the stare of death and, after I gulped in terror, she said "no." But I love her for many reasons; one of which is that she will never turn down the opportunity to have pizza for dinner.

We did have the burrata (and a pizza) at Spacca Napoli once and it was incredibly good.

ronnie_suburban wrote:fwiw, there's a burrata sold at J.P. Graziano that triumphs over any of the cheeses I tasted at Bar Toma on opening night. I'm guessing it's more expensive than what Bar Toma offers but once you've had it, it's really hard to go back.

The burrata that Graziano gets is indeed hard to beat. It's possible that at wholesale it's more expensive than Toma's, but I hope not. Retail, Graziano was selling the burrata for $13. At Toma, a ball is either $27 or $28.. I could not imagine paying that, though I will admit that it feels better than the $11 can of Roland sardines at Bistronomic.

Has anyone tried the Bomba? It looks interesting obviously but I don't get it. Is there any tomato sauce inside or is it just a pillow of dough with the ham overlapping on top?

Kennyz wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:fwiw, there's a burrata sold at J.P. Graziano that triumphs over any of the cheeses I tasted at Bar Toma on opening night. I'm guessing it's more expensive than what Bar Toma offers but once you've had it, it's really hard to go back.

The burrata that Graziano gets is indeed hard to beat. It's possible that at wholesale it's more expensive than Toma's, but I hope not. Retail, Graziano was selling the burrata for $13. At Toma, a ball is either $27 or $28.. I could not imagine paying that, though I will admit that it feels better than the $11 can of Roland sardines at Bistronomic.

Right. Duh. I knew that. I've purchased it many times. At $13 it's a bargain. Of course, it doesn't come with table service.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote: Of course, it doesn't come with table service.

=R=

No, but you can eat it in your underwear. Just try that at Bar Toma.

stevez wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote: No, but you can eat it in your underwear. Just try that at Bar Toma.

Shouldn't that go in the 'Events' section?

I found the answer, on the bomba.. but if anyone tries this please report back. Seems somewhat plain but looks fun nevertheless.

http://chicago.seriouseats.com/2011/11/ ... how-202031

Was there yesterday with a friend and tried 2 Vegetarian Pizzas; Bambino and Margherita.

My response was ...meh. The sauce on the margherita had no character. It also looked like they make a bunch of Margheritas even before orders come in. The order for the Margherita came to the table suspiciously fast. The crust was not as crisp as the fresh from the oven Bambino. The Bambino on the other hand, I would order again. The Mozzarella on the Pizzas were outstanding as expected. I was just ... dispappointed with the overall experience.

If I want (Really Want) Pizza I am still going to Coalfire or SpaccaNapoli. But if I am in the area, I will definitely go back to BarToma.

BTW, The Gelatos are a fantastic deal. I had the Balsamic Vinegar one and it was just the best I have had.

So I will try the mushroom and Zucchini pizzas next time. But I am thinking that I will probably do the Cheese Tasting and Appetizers and Gelato here rather than Pizzas if I go.

They definitely do not pre make pizzas. The reason it came out so quickly was because of the style of dough and the oven they use. Pizzas cook in two and a half minutes, so if your server fired it immediately and there was no delay in the kitchen, your pizza will be ready very quickly.

Also, having tried nearly all of the pizzas I can say that the vegetarian options aren't nearly as good as some of the others (Mantuano, Pork Belly Meatball, Smoke and Cure).

Moderator edit: diceman does have an affiliation with Bar Toma. This post will be removed if not appropriately edited by the poster.

Diceman wrote:They definitely do not pre make pizzas. The reason it came out so quickly was because of the style of dough and the oven they use. Pizzas cook in two and a half minutes, so if your server fired it immediately and there was no delay in the kitchen, your pizza will be ready very quickly.

Also, having tried nearly all of the pizzas I can say that the vegetarian options aren't nearly as good as some of the others (Mantuano, Pork Belly Meatball, Smoke and Cure).

I did not want to respond to this, but there is a clear whiff of condescencion in this post that makes me want to.

POINT 1: Yes I know that Pizzas cook fast when done Neapolitan style. The fact I referenced the other two places should clue you in to the fact. Moreover, I was not comparing the Pizza I had with some ethereal, ideal in my own mind; but the OTHER pizza I had ordered. One of them had a fresh from the oven feel of the crust, the other obviously did not.

POINT 2: This being your first post and by you declaring for a fact that you KNOW that they do not prebake the Pizzas; I am assuming you are related to this business in some way. It would behoove you to declare that in you post.

Our work team wanted to go out for a fun dinner to celebrate the holidays - and wanted to go someplace new so we picked Bar Toma. I have to agree with Indianbadger on the "meh" rating - a disappointing outcome since I was really prepared to love it. Given the menu and concept, I expected a lively upbeat place but somehow the tone was muted. I have the feeling some minor changes would fix this - maybe candles on the tables and different overall lighting, music ... I don't remember any, etc.

Since they're newly opened, I'd expect some service hiccups (though given the pedigree, I assume the staff is well trained and then some) but the service missed the mark in many ways - water bottles left on the table were often empty, shared plates were served without utensils and when asked we merely got some teaspoons rather than serving spoons. I ordered Lambrusco - everyone else was drinking bottles of chianti - and got a glass of white instead. Having waited a bit for that glass, I drank it ... I asked for a refill at which point the waitress - after another long wait - brought Lambrusco. Some dishes were misidentified when served, etc. I expected casual service but while everyone was very friendly it all felt haphazard. I should note that while we were a table of seven, we are pretty low maintenance diners ... definitely laid back and easy to deal with.

With seven of us we ordered a lot - though not the mozzarella bar since the prices seemed too high. Of the starters, we all loved - really loved - the beef skewers (prob. the favorite dish of the night). Several of us also enjoyed the charred carrots with goat cheese. The Roman-style Cod was a hit and the Romana salad had a nice bright citrus-y feel that balanced the richer tastes well. The lamb skewers were good but not as good as the beef, the menu lists "Blue Potato Chips with Orange Sea Salt" but they're using different potatoes (which we were told only when they were served), and the Seared Toma Cheese was tasty but maybe redundant with pizza on the way.

Of the Pizzas, we ordered the Zucchini, the Margherita, two Pork Belly Meatballs, and the Smoke & Cure. At least at my end of the table, the Smoke & Cure was definitely the biggest hit with the Pork Belly Meatball a disappointment and the Margherita was the one with several pieces leftover. Overall the pizzas were good but crusts were inconsistent and I felt the tomato sauces were muted and completely overwhelmed by the cheese - very good cheese but I personally like tomato flavor as well.

We finished with three Gelati - expresso, chocolate hazlenut, and the balsamico. The serving size is quite large for gelato and all were tasty but the Balsamico was everyone's favorite. The dessert menu is a small chalkboard listing all the pastry offerings but not the Gelati flavors (and no prices iirc?) Our waitress had a list on her order pad of Gelati but she seemed a bit overwhelmed (there are a lot of flavors but that's a feature of the place, yes?). It would be great if they had a menu for them or a full list of the day to pass around since we later noticed some flavors in the case we did not hear about and would have added to our order if we had (the basil in particular).

All in all, we had a good time and much of the food was good. I'd return for the beef skewers, carrots, salad and maybe a pizza - and more of the gelati but I'd hope the service was a bit better by then.

BTW, since there are no reservations, we were worried it might be hard to get a table but there was lots of availability at 6PM - things got busier as the evening went on but there were always many tables free.

We were at Bar Toma on Monday, and it was a mixed bag.

The Tuscan chopped chicken liver appetizer was great. It was served in a glass jar and contained layers of chopped hard boiled egg - a nice, tasty touch.

My bomba was "meh". Basically, the bomba itself was like a great big naan, and the dish simply consisted of this bread with some La Quercia prosciutto on top and some olive oil drizzled over the whole thing. They don't cut the bomba for you - the server told me to simply tear off pieces. The bread-to-meat ratio was about 3:1, which would have been fine if there were other topppings. However, once we consumed the prosciutto, all we were left with was dry bread (dipping the bomba bread in olive oil did help). In retrospect, I wish that I ordered one of Bar Toma's pizzas, which looked good.

My wife had the "Positano" pizza salad (i.e. a salad on pizza crips). This consisted or curly endive, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, tomatoes, red onions and balsamic vinegar. This was good but nothing to write home about.

The dessert was definitely the highlight of the meal - I forget the name of the dish but it was basically five balls of mint ice cream with hard chocolate shells. Very nice.


Essenza balsamico