Merlo & Bobtail

We had dinner at Merlo last night, which we enjoyed. It is owned and operated by a family from Bologna, and the food skews that way as well. The son runs the front, mom's the chef in the back, and dad's the chef at their new location on Maple downtown. Though it was very busy on this Saturday night (around 8 pm), you can tell our waiter took the time to be friendly and answer our questions!

There are two rooms. The front room and bar were quiet and sparsely populated. The back room was full, a little noisy but full of buzz, the walls a nice warm glowing gold, with the space divided nicely into three parts.

Two apps: buffalo mozzarella wrapped in speck with cherry tomatoes and asparagus, recommended by this board (Gwiv? Couldn't find the post) was very nice. Cheese was moist and fresh, the speck a little more smoked than I've had it before, but a nice summer treat. Artichoke tart was tasty as well, with a superb butery crust. I hate bad pastry, and this boded well.

The bread basket was a nice change: 2 flatbreads (one just the typical fried, salted pasta dough, the other an herb flatbread) and focaccia. First two were gone in minutes, the latter was just fine, the bread itself needing a longer ferment for flavor, IMO.

Two pastas: a superb tagliatelle with mushrooms, veal ragu and truffle oil. And parmigianno and butter; this was, after all, Bolognese. A really great dish and the one that got closest to capturing my recent dining experiences in Bologna. Also, tortellini in brodo, which was pleasant. The broth was perhaps less intense than I wanted, and the tortellini slightly underdone, even for someone who likes pasta appropriately al dente. This dish was really quite nice, but I'm being picky here.

Desserts truly were just ok. A bourbon gelato was bland, with an icy structure. The zabaione semifreddo had a nice chocolate drizzle on it, but I couldn't detect any marsala or wine flavor in it.

Wine selection is all Italian, with some great selections, but the usual high markups. They don't allow BYOB. Pastas were around $16, entrees $20. This place I will definitely return to, but not have dessert at.

So to follow the demands of our sweet tooths, we tried out the new Bobtail ice cream place I keep hearing about. It's a cute space, and they have about 15 flavors. We had the merlot with chocolate flakes and ... blanking out here. Verdict: merlot ice cream was slightly purple, but with no discernible wine flavor. Ice cream was not cloyingly sweet and did have a freshness to it, and I really appreciated both of these aspects. It also has that carageenen gum texture that I'm not a fan of, and neither flavor knocked my socks off.

So, Merlo the restaurant: a great experience. Merlot the ice cream at Bobtail, for me it's just fine.

Let me add addresses
Bobtail, which has been discussed at some length on CH, http://www.chowhound.com/midwest/boards ... 49088.html

Bobtail Soda Fountain
2951 N. Broadway
773-880-7372

Merlo
2638 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, Illinois 60614-1488
(773) 529-0747

Thanks, Ann. I meant to add the addresses but forgot.