Slightly disappointed at Villa Palermo

For about 35 years, Villa Palermo has been serving pizza and standard Italian carryout on Devon (in a couple different locations). Growing up in Orthodox-Jewish West Rogers Park, I would make frequent trips to VP for their Chicken Vesuvio. It wasn't until recently that their near-perfect Vesuvio was eclipsed in my mind by the one served at Francesco's Hole-in-the-Wall.

Nowadays, I get to VP once every year or so for nostalgia purposes. Last night, after visiting my new-mom sister and brand new twin nieces at Evanston Hospital, Ms. EC and I stopped at VP to pick up some carry-out and head home.

The Chicken Vesuvio has all the same flavor and tenderness that I remember, but they're slipping....fast. There was once a time that the garlic-oil-wine sauce was abundant. You could dunk your bread almost an inch deep into the round foil container. The potatoes would swim in it, soaking up all the flavor. Last night I'd be surprised if there were 5 tablespoons of the sauce. It was the first time that I finished their CV and ran out of sauce before I ran out of bread.

The biggest disappointment was the lack of whole garlic cloves. I remember opening the same dish and it would be covered in at least a dozen whole cloves that were roasted along with the chicken. Of course I didn't eat them all, but they contributed to the dish in many ways.

Finally, I basically had to skip the white meat. It was stringy, as white meat can get. A touch more attention to detail could yield a delicious breast of chicken.

That all being said, the flavors, as I mentioned, were spot-on. Compared to dozens of other vesuvio-imitators out there, VP still serves up something good. Perhaps palette-nostalgia is playing a part, but It'll take some work to get them back to the top of the heap above the near-perfect vesuvio at the Hole-in-the-Wall

Best,
EC

Villa Palermo
2154 W. Devon Ave.
773-465-5400

Francesco's Hole in the Wall
254 Skokie Blvd.
Northbrook
847-272-0155

Dang, another reason to stick with VP's pizza by the slice. (Free pop with each one!) At least I ventured forth and tried a slice of thin crust Sunday.

--The Snob