Trattoria 225 in Oak Park (!)

Trattoria 225 in Oak Park (!)

Oak Park -- The Town That Seems Like It Should Have More Good Restaurants Than It Actually Does -- now has Trattoria 225 into the mix. I haven't been there yet, but intend to go in the next few weeks and am intrigued by the focus on local/sustainable cuisine.

I drove by Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon and it seems like the place is doing a good biz. I spoke with owner Craig Charlton, who attributes the local enthusiasm, in part, to pent-up interest -- they've been talking about opening for some time now, and many of us expected the place to open this spring.

If anyone has been there yet, I'd be very interested in hearing about your experiences.

Trattoria 225
225 Harrison
Oak Park
708.358.8555
http://www.trattoria225.com/

My husband and I went here a couple weeks ago on a Sunday night. It was very busy and we did not have reservations, so we sat at the bar. The bar was not quite fully stocked yet, and I have to admit that I didn't look at the wine list extensively so I can't comment on that. Some people were eating at the bar. We waited about 20 minutes before getting a table right by the entrance. The crowd was typical Oak Park: birkenstock-clad middle-aged folks with kids/strollers/sometimes grandparents in tow.

The space is kind of cavernous and somewhat sterile -- hardwood floors, lots of tables, and a few tables outside (not under an awning). We got a loaf of Italian bread wrapped in paper when we got to our table, not hot. Got a dish with some olive oil which we quickly used up and there was no oil on the table to refill. We ordered an appetizer and our dinner; for an appetizer we got the grilled calamari. The appetizers are quite reasonably priced and I understood why when we got our order, as it was very small -- 4 grilled calamari, a small mound of greens with some good vinaigrette. Dinner took a long time (about 30 minutes after we finished our appetizer) to come out, we didn't get offered any more bread. For dinner, I ordered the "Goat" pizza with sausage, goat cheese, peppers, mushrooms (I think). I really liked it. The crust was thin and crispy, as a woodfired pizza should be. Hubby had steak and potatoes; his steak was a bit underseasoned. It was late when we got done so we didn't look at the dessert menu. The service was fine, the waitress said the kitchen was behind and apologized for the wait several times.

We saw a lot of people ordering carryout. I think this is what I will do in the future if I want "gourmet" pizza. The menu is pretty small, the wait was so long, and the space itself not inviting enough to return regularly. But it was neat to see a business on Harrison Street "hopping."

Argh. (The Charlie Brown kind).

Lovely room, very pleasant service, quite full on a Friday night but everything was running like clockwork. Suspiciously so.

Starters were the arugula salad (nice, lots of tarragon and lemon), and a grilled Caesar salad. Not a grilled chicken or shrimp Caesar, but an actual grilled Caesar, a la Steven Raichlen. Thick, greasy, crisscrossed grill marks across a ginormous (Merriam-Webster, 2007) wedge of romaine, served with a dull butterknife and a slight smear of dressing that had melted across only the very top layer of lettuce. The grill-imparted scent was more like 9:30 PM Panda Express burnt-wok fried rice crust than good hardwood fire. The portion size was excellent, though.


No, that's not me. It's Steven in an existential moment asking why everything must be grilled.

We shared the grilled octopus appetizer, which was pretty but completely flavorless, and was brought to the table luke-warm. There were some nice grilled shallots on the plate and the aforementioned pleasant vinaigrette, but the greens and knot* had been given too much of an opportunity to sit and mingle.

In a curmudgeonly Mike G. moment, I chortled audibly when the "wild mushroom" flatbread (preciously called "The Funguy" on the menu) arrived, since it was spread with uniformly pre-sliced Pennsylvania white button mushrooms. It was not bad; butter had been liberally used to brush the crust and the smoked mozzarella added some complexity, but there was no sauce of any kind. My main issue with the pizza is that it, and the others we saw on every table in the place, was a Giotto-perfect circle, with evenly spaced dimples on the bottom. They're either using Boboli pre-formed shells, or are making, trimming, and ventilating the crusts in advance. The net effect is like your aunt's crescent roll appetizer pizza: butter-rich and tasty, but pro forma, lacking the artisanal variability that really makes for good food (cf CoalFire, where every pie is a handcrafted masterpiece).

Dessert was fine; a competent flourless chocolate cake topped with dried cherries and a pistachio creme-anglaise (which tasted more like a New Rebozo raw mole, adding probably unintentional interest). The wine list was good and I liked the several varieties of Morettis and Three Floyds alongside Fat Tire among the beer offerings.

I was deeply underwhelmed but by no means pissed; the "argh" is more for the fact that the status quo continues to reign in Oak Park (did we really need another Italian place?) Our server was great and the courses came out with commendable celerity, but I'd have been happy to wait another 5-10 minutes per course for something really handcrafted. We did not try the pastas since we've been eating Bucatini the past few days with some lovely guanciale from Panozzo's.

Looking forward to other new openings in town. For 225, any revisits will likely be on street fair days, as I've seen them pitch a tent out front on several occasions serving good rosemary lemonade and white-bean bruschetta, both offering more interest than our dinner tonight.

*murder of crows, ____ of octopi

Santander wrote:In a curmudgeonly Mike G. moment, I chortled audibly when the "wild mushroom" flatbread (preciously called "The Funguy" on the menu) arrived, since it was spread with uniformly pre-sliced Pennsylvania white button mushrooms. It was not bad; butter had been liberally used to brush the crust and the smoked mozzarella added some complexity, but there was no sauce of any kind.

It may not have been bad, but to serve button mushrooms and call them wild mushrooms is a damnable lie.

According to Chicago Magazine, the thing to order is the Pancetta and Arugula Pizza. Never been there myself.

I think it is a welcome addition to Oak Park. We also had the grilled octopus app, and I found it quite tasty, a nice bit of char and not gummy. Hubby had the sausage/goat cheese pizza which was very, very good. I had the clam pizza, and the clams were a bit rubbery, so it was only ok. I do agree, though, that the crust isn't outstanding, especially having been to Stop 50 (where they too called white button topped pizza "wild mushroom" when we were there). The service was wonderful and the wine list very reasonable. I like that you can get a glass of wine in 3 or 6 oz sizes. We had the pistachio gelato for dessert, which was organic and from Michigan I believe, and it was very good. We will be back as its not too far away and is much better than most of the other restaurants in Oak Park.
LO

Better. Somewhat.

We gave 225 another shot tonight with an in-town and rather culinarily unadventurous friend we hadn't seen for a while, and there was some improvement. Staff continues to please, room is nice if getting a little loud when packed, and Labriola bread and oil arrives at the table 10 seconds after you do. Course pacing was slightly improved, still perhaps a bit fast for a Friday night.

After sharing a nice antipasto with crispy prosciutto and both provolone and gorgonzola, I had a succulent bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin that was commendably medium and still moist. I would say that the loin had been cut into large medallions first, then seared, and then finished in the wood-fired oven. It was served with Freddy's-worthy rapini in butter and garlic and some canned applesauce that had been revived with dried cherries and a touch of olive oil. All very tasty.

The pizza tonight, still on what I think is a pre-fab shell, was the 'Goat', with lots of cheese, peppers, and nicely cooked spicy sausage. The crust was again savory by virtue of being brushed with seasoned oil or butter, but alarmingly bready through and through. My wife's pasta, a butternut squash ravioli, had no hints of being made in house, and would have been quite bland except for being saved by a well-prepared sage and brown butter sauce.

Still goofy: $6 for a bottle of Newcastle or Blue Moon, served bottle only until glasses were requested. They didn't know how to make an Americano, or even a standard Negroni, but had Campari clearly visible on the bar, so I asked for a Campari and soda. I got an unmixed pint glass half full of the aperitif (that's a lot of damn Campari), topped off with non-sparkling San Pellegrino, with no garnish. Tiny tableside pepper shaker with industrial-grade flecks, and no offer of fresh coarse-ground pepper (even though I know they have the grinders from previous experience.

The wine list and the wood-fired oven are great tools for this place; if they could tweak the beer list and table accoutrements, and hire a scratch dough and pasta maker, I think they could really have something. Currently, there is nothing to recommend it over La Piazza, the best regional Italian cuisine in the area.

Some quick drop-in dining here early last eve with the fun bunch and it was a certainly satisfactory experience. An asparagus appetizer about which the server noted was fresh from the farmer's market the day prior, amply grilled, resting on unremarkable olive oil with thinly sliced manchego atop, hearty lemon wedge to the side. The small, warmed loaf of Fabriola with oil and grated parm a nice start. Pizzas a bit oily (a theme here ...) but quite tasty. Small gelato (vanilla bean) to wrap up, palate pleasing.
Is 225 at the top of the second tier of OP/FP "Italian" places, after Gaetano's?

Notes from last week:

Since everybody else and their mom is doing it, Trattoria has added a 100% Kobe Beef Burger with pancetta and house-made parmesan potato chips to the menu. It's not half bad, though it's a bizarre menu item of overlap with local Yucatec Mexican joint Maya del Sol. When the Marion Street Cheese Market and Mama Thai offer them, I'll start to worry. When Szechuan Beijing does, I'm moving.

Unforgivable: a baked ziti (what was I thinking), which contained the following items, randomly thrown into a casserole with no artistry and then scorched beyond recognition in the wood-fired oven:

- uncooked pasta tubes
- chunks of dry Hormel pepperoni
- pinches of uncooked Italian sausage
- a sprinkling of over-sweet ricotta
- half a basil plant (stem still attached, only in one part of the dish)
- half a can of undrained American plum tomatoes
- perfect cubes of waxy cheese-tray mozzarella

Wow. Easily the worst pasta dish of the year, possibly one of the Worst Things You've Eaten (TM). I wish Gaetano would come over and offer some cooking classes to the pasta staff (other items are usually acceptable).

Santander wrote:randomly thrown into a casserole with no artistry and then scorched beyond recognition in the wood-fired oven:

How was the portion size?
(Jeff B)

Had a great experience with my niece who is interested in pizza - Craig Charlton, the owner, helped her put the pizza together with dough we made at home and tomatoes from our garden. I have a professional relationship with Craig (he buys wine from me) but I have the feeling that anyone who interested in VIP treatment for kids can get it. It was a great experience for my niece and one that she'll likely remember for a while. She can be shy, but Craig (on the right) did a great job of making her feel comfortable.

G Wiv -

The grill-imparted scent was more like 9:30 PM Panda Express burnt-wok fried rice crust than good hardwood fire. The portion size was excellent, though.

From upthread. Those who forget history are doomed to reheat leftovers from better restaurants.

Matt