La Madia

I decided to try the newly opened La Madia last nite. Since it had just opened, I thought the place would be packed at 7:30 pm but it was less than half full. they have been touting their wood fired oven so we started with their "Heavy handed Pepperoni pizza. Very average, was missing some sort af seasoning accent.....not even close to Coalfired. Next we had the Gnocchi which was again, average at best and drastically underseasoned.
I know the place had just opened but when I asked to see the wine list, the waiter mumbled something about it was still at the printer?? The owner is a former LEYE exec, surely he should know better. The service was not the best and not well trained. Since they had no wine menu I asked what Pinot Noir's they had. He said they had Flowers Pinot so we ordered two glasses....got the bill and they were $20 a piece.

IMHO...they need to get their act together quick....or they will not see June!!

La Madia
59 W Grand Avenue
Chicago, IL 60610
312-329-0400

On that cheery note, welcome to the board. Do I detect the sound of a grinding ax?

No ax to grind....really was hoping it would be great. I will try it again in a month nnd hopefully will have better results. I did not mention that I was surprised that with it being brand new, the owner, manager and chef seemed more interested in chatting with one table for almost the entire time I was there. Not a good start!

We tried La Madia last night and I totally agree with you that they need to step it up a bit. We did see the wine list and I'm not at all surprised that you paid $20 for a glass of wine. The wine list, while impressive and extensive, is ridiculously expensive! There are only a handful of bottles under $30. This is crazy for an upscale pizzeria. My husband and I were laughing as we read the bottles for $200 and up. The restaurant doesn't even have entrees other than pasta. I wonder how many of those expensive bottles they expect to sell? We started with the bruschetta with mushrooms and ricotta and it was delicious. The highlight of the meal. We split the pizza with sauage, peppers and sweet onion and the heavy handed pepporoni with basil and truffle oil. The sausage pizza was completely tasteless. The pepperoni pizza had more flavor, but still seemed to be lacking something. We live in the neighborhood and couldn't wait for this restaurant to open, but we were disappointed. Service was also very slow and not at all polished. We are going to give them a break since it was their first week and try again in a few months. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things improve by then.

nside111 wrote:We tried La Madia last night and I totally agree with you that they need to step it up a bit. We did see the wine list and I'm not at all surprised that you paid $20 for a glass of wine. The wine list, while impressive and extensive, is ridiculously expensive! There are only a handful of bottles under $30. This is crazy for an upscale pizzeria. My husband and I were laughing as we read the bottles for $200 and up. The restaurant doesn't even have entrees other than pasta. I wonder how many of those expensive bottles they expect to sell? We started with the bruschetta with mushrooms and ricotta and it was delicious. The highlight of the meal. We split the pizza with sauage, peppers and sweet onion and the heavy handed pepporoni with basil and truffle oil. The sausage pizza was completely tasteless. The pepperoni pizza had more flavor, but still seemed to be lacking something. We live in the neighborhood and couldn't wait for this restaurant to open, but we were disappointed. Service was also very slow and not at all polished. We are going to give them a break since it was their first week and try again in a few months. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things improve by then.

This is what's going to doom Via Carducci in Wicker Park. Any bottle worth drinking is so far out of the price range of the food it's insane. For mediocre Italian food I'll go down the street to Enotecca Roma where the wine list is really quality.

I honestly feel that Via Carducci on Division is better than mediocre. Granted, it's really easy for me as it's a one minute walk from my home, but the pasta's I've had there have all been "to the tooth" and on the money with flavorful sauces and not at all over sauced in the American fashion. You can actually taste the pasta, which I find to be few and far between. The Italian sausage app with peppers, onions and potatoes, the grilled calamari and the baby spinach salad with almonds are also better than mediocre.

Coincidentally, I was there last pm with some out of town friends, loving the weather and enjoying the patio/street. They were more than happy with our good fortune. We drank an unremarkable Pinot by the glass but all and all, dinner was very good. Service isn't exactly a strong point (our dishes that we were sharing were dropped at table before our eating utensils, a pet peeve of mine) but at least they seemed to have stopped the obnoxious hovering bus boy routine, make a right turn at attempting to take your food away twice a minute that they had early on.

A revelation? No. Better than mediocre? Most definitely.

Jazzfood wrote:I honestly feel that Via Carducci on Division is better than mediocre. Granted, it's really easy for me as it's a one minute walk from my home, but the pasta's I've had there have all been "to the tooth" and on the money with flavorful sauces and not at all over sauced in the American fashion. You can actually taste the pasta, which I find to be few and far between. The Italian sausage app with peppers, onions and potatoes, the grilled calamari and the baby spinach salad with almonds are also better than mediocre.

Coincidentally, I was there last pm with some out of town friends, loving the weather and enjoying the patio/street. They were more than happy with our good fortune. We drank an unremarkable Pinot by the glass but all and all, dinner was very good. Service isn't exactly a strong point (our dishes that we were sharing were dropped at table before our eating utensils, a pet peeve of mine) but at least they seemed to have stopped the obnoxious hovering bus boy routine, make a right turn at attempting to take your food away twice a minute that they had early on.

A revelation? No. Better than mediocre? Most definitely.

The last 2 times I've been there my pasta has been let's say less than al dente (read: crunchy to the point of wondering if it had been in water), and the sauce so unbelievably thin I'm surprised they even bothered to put tomato in it. Mediocrity, from my experiences, would actually be generous.

While that has not been my experience over the 4 meals I've eaten there, which alone says a lot, I'd imagine it's the old inconsistency monster rearing it's ugly head, the one that kills restaurants. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Last night, I had the pleasure of dining at La Madia. This is an Italian pizza place with a wood burning pizza oven. It was started by an executive from Maggianos, but I wouldn't hold that against the place.

First, a few qualifications:
1. I love italian pizza. This is in stark contrast to my feelings on chicago style pizza. (I love NY style pizza as well, but it is a different beast entirely. )
2. My favorite pizza in Chicago is Spacca Napoli - a naples style of pizza. Although I prefer Roman style pizza (with a bit crispier crust) SN is the standard for wood burning pizza in Chicago. Though I have tried other local places but still have not found a great example of Roman pizza.

Dinner at 7:30 on a Monday was uncrowded and unrushed. We were seated immediately in a very pleasant, quiet dining room which gains lots of style points for the decor. The bathrooms were nice too, for what it is worth. The oven is in the back of the dining room. It is quite large and appears a bit more industrial than the artisan oven at SN. Still, there was a nice hot flame (metromix claims 875 degrees) and plenty of wood. Anyway, on to the food:

For starters, the table shared the wood oven roasted artichokes. I love this dish, and this rendition fell a bit short. The artichoke did not taste very smokey or woody. It was cooked well and tasty with the accompanied dipping sauces.

My wife and I split a salad of arugula, apples, and walnuts. It was delicious - also including several giant sized raisins that were moist and very complementary. A very good salad - but we weren't there for the salad.

We ordered two pizzas : a simple sausage pizza and a white pizza with "autumn" mushrooms. These pizzas were nice looking - serves pre-sliced and large enough to share - likely 16 inches or so across. The crust showed evidence of being cooked at high heat, with a nice golden brown edge with occasional black "char" spots. It was a bit soggy in the middle - the sausage pizza moreso than the white pizza. It tasted like pizza crust - which is to say that there was not much of the bready taste that really excellent pizza places have. Also, not much taste of the wood burning oven.

The sausage is home made and tasted pretty good. A nice meaty chunk with obvious fennel. The white pizza contained "autumn" mushrooms - whatever that means, and was also quite tasty. It was even better drizzled with truffle oil, which the kitchen nicely provided at my request.

Our dining companions ordered a gnocci dish and they were very happy with it, but I did not taste it. (Although it did contain multiple meaty chunks of the tasty house made sausage.) We ordered two deserts - a pear crostini and blood orange ice with prosecco. They were ok, nothing to write home about. The pear was served with chianti gelato - which didn't taste much like chianti - even to my 8 month pregnant wife who has been dreaming of her first glass of wine for the last 6 months.

Wine list seems very deep, including many Italian wines from regions that I did not recognize. They allow you to order full or half pours and we enjoyed the glasses we ordered. Our server wasn't much of a wine resource, but it was the only fault for otherwise good and efficient service. They also serve panini and have a few pastas and risotto (risotti?) on the menu. The online menu lists some main courses, but that online menu (at www.dinelamadia.com) is much different that the menu we ordered off of, so I would view it only to get an idea.

Re-reading this, I hope it doesn't come off as though I didn't like the place. I actually really enjoyed the entire meal and felt the pizza was great. I will dine there again. But it wasn't the best Italian pizza I've eaten in Chicago (if that wasn't already clear from my descriptions above.) In fact, if offers several advantages to my current favorite. Namely: it is open on Monday, is open later, and they take reservations. It is also downtown and tends to be a bit more quiet with a full bar area. All in all, a solid entry into the Chicago pizza scene. Not my favorite, but better than some others that I've tried (Pizza DOC and Gruppo Di Ameci - I am looking at you.)

La Madia
59 W. Grand Ave.
Chicago, IL 60610-4301
312-329-0400
11:15 am to 11:15 S-Thurs
11:15 am to Midnight F, Sat.

Best,

Veeral

My friend and I tried La Madia for dinner Saturday night. We arrived on time for our 5:30pm reservation and were seated immediately. Because it was early, the restaurant was not very full and our server was a little over-attentive to start - this corrected itself once a couple more of his tables were filled and he could spread the attention. I agree with the comments above regarding the wine list - I thought it was too heavy on expensive bottles as compared with the menu price points. My friend and I asked our server about a couple bottles in the $25-$29 range, and our server needed to go to the bartender to get the answers. He returned with two glasses for us to sample a recommendation from the bartender - however when we looked up the wine on the list, we saw that the bottle was $50. We felt like it was an obvious upsell and, not wanting to spend that much, chose another bottle on our own that was $28. As for the food, we were pretty pleased with what we ordered:

App: Foil roasted crackling olives - nicoise olives presented in a foil pouch. The olives were good, however I would have preferred a larger olive, the nicoise were tiny. They need to work on the presentation as the foil pouch brought out on a white plate doesn't look very appetizing.
Salad: Apple, arugula and walnut salad - we split this salad as well and both enjoyed it.
Pizza: I ordered the white clam pizza - crust was very crisp (which I liked), clams were in their shells resting on top of the pizza - I think I would have preferred them out of the shell, but not a huge deduction. My friend had planned to create her own pizza (per the online menu), but this is no longer offered as an option. However, our server said she could add ingredients offered on other menu items to one of the menu pizzas. She chose a mushroom pizza and added basil leaves and truffle oil. This pizza was definitely the winner at the table. The truffle oil made the pizza!
Dessert: We split the chocolate tortino - chocolate cake layered with chocolate ganache - cake was moist and delicious.

Total before tip, but including tax was $88.

We went last night. We had two appetizers, three different pizzas, and one pasta. The fire roasted olives were very good, but they do need better presentation. I didn't care for the artichokes.

The pasta (gnocchi) was decent. Sauce was good, and texture was good. It's not Spiaggia, but they aren't trying to be Spiaggia.

We had pepperoni pizza and it was delicious. We also had the La Madia with fennel sausage, and it was good. The autumn mushroom was also good.

My complaint is with the crust. It was thin enough, but in my opinion it is not crackly enough. I have read in other places that the owner prefers it a bit softer. I read where he likes it gooey in the center. I think they should try it the more crisp.

We did have a slip up on wine service where they sort of forgot we ordered another bottle. However, they remembered, and the house paid for dessert. We had the pear tart which was very good, and a chocolate thingy that was also pretty good.

Others have complained about the wine list. I thought the list was decent. Lots of selections at different price points. My only complaint would be that I would like to see more wines offered by the glass. The Chateau Montelena Chardonnay was $24 for a 7 oz pour. That is a bit pricey. However, we had a nice bottle of Spanish red for 27, and we had a Barbera for around 70. If I were redoing the list, I would get rid of some of the big cabernets they have. They don't pair well with the types of food that they are offering.

All in all, if I were giving out stars it would be 2.75 out of 4. I would go back.

I tried La Madia for lunch on Friday.

Ordered a straightforward margherita, sat at the bar in back.

It was more just a cheese pizza than margherita, and on that basis it wasn't too bad. No fresh mozzarella from any animal, a handful of shredded basil tossed over the top.

I actually preferred the softer middle. There was an unpleasant ring of dried sauce around the crust, which was not memorable for taste or texture.

Service was friendly and efficient, though, and they did bring out a rather large slice of wild mushroom bruschetta, gratis, for a few of us sitting at the bar. I thought that was a nice touch. Even if I worked more regularly in the area, I probably wouldn't return, but it certainly wasn't offensive. I'm curious to see how it fares in the neighborhood.

I would guess there other pies are better than the margherita, whose simplicity demands excellent ingredients, but I wanted to try it as a baseline.

Had dinner at La Madia Friday night. Was looking for something convenient to the movies around Michigan Ave., and my wife picked this place. I had serious misgivings about going here, I'm not a huge LEYE fan so I was braced for mediocrity and my expectations were pretty low.

But hey - sometimes even a jaded dine gets pleasantly surprised. First off, they have a massive wine list, with great depth and all kinds of choices in different price ranges. I think it's kind of silly to spend $50+ for a bottle of wine to go with pizza, but who knows. I narrowed it down to the Puglia wines, and asked the waiter for his opinion - he said decide for yourself, and brought out a couple of samples. Now, here's where I started getting impressed. He brought out a couple of fine what I believe he said were Schott Zwiesel crystal burgundy glasses for my extravagant purchase of a $26 Feudi di San Marzano, Sud, Malvasia Nera 04, Puglia. Call me a consumerist stooge, but to me everything tastes better in nice crystal and this wine was perfectly acceptable.

The waiter, Marty, was very engaging and personable, and sincerely enthusiastic and very knowledgeable about their food, their sources and so on. He gave us some great recommendations, and we started with the Bresaola, Shaved Fennel, Sweet Peppers & Parmesan. Then we had a special of baked figs stuffed with country cheese and wrapped in prosciutto. Then a salad of romaine and, wow who would think it in wintertime surprisingly good market tomatoes. All three starters were excellent, Green City Market quality produce and excellent salumis.

For the pizza we had the House Made Fennel Sausage, Tomato Sauce with Mozzarella Cheese. On the waiter's suggestion, we also added some fresh wild mushrooms. This was a very good pizza, nice chewy crust and topped with very high quality ingredients. The Italian chef was out making the rounds and also seemed sincerely interested in what was coming out of his kitchen and how his customers liked it. I came in here expecting some corporate turn the tables machine, and instead found more personal service than I find in most mom-and-pop places. That was the most pleasant surprise, and on top of that I thought the food and wine was very good and fairly priced. This place is a nice oasis in the culinary wasteland around Michigan Ave., if you approach it with an open mind you might find out that you like it.

Fast Eddie wrote:Call me a consumerist stooge, but to me everything tastes better in nice crystal and this wine was perfectly acceptable.

You're no consumerist stooge. Different wine tastes different in different glasses. There's a reason we use Pinot glasses for pinots. There's a reason we use bordeaux glasses for bordeauxs. I know people say that they don't believe you can tell a difference, well, the proof is in the pudding. Er in the grapes. You get what I'm trying to say.

jpschust wrote:

Fast Eddie wrote:Call me a consumerist stooge, but to me everything tastes better in nice crystal and this wine was perfectly acceptable.

You're no consumerist stooge. Different wine tastes different in different glasses. There's a reason we use Pinot glasses for pinots. There's a reason we use bordeaux glasses for bordeauxs. I know people say that they don't believe you can tell a difference, well, the proof is in the pudding. Er in the grapes. You get what I'm trying to say.

Hey, I'm spoiled by my Riedels. IMO they make a huge difference in taste, but they damn things are fragile as hell. The crystal they use at La Madia is thicker than Riedel, and the waiter said they're pretty rugged and can be dishwashed. But still, that's a huge plus for this place. To me that shows a very serious commitment to their wines when they bring out the crystal for any bottle that you order. Most resto's only break out (literally) the Riedel for the big bottles.

Fast Eddie wrote:

jpschust wrote:

Fast Eddie wrote:Call me a consumerist stooge, but to me everything tastes better in nice crystal and this wine was perfectly acceptable.

You're no consumerist stooge. Different wine tastes different in different glasses. There's a reason we use Pinot glasses for pinots. There's a reason we use bordeaux glasses for bordeauxs. I know people say that they don't believe you can tell a difference, well, the proof is in the pudding. Er in the grapes. You get what I'm trying to say.

Hey, I'm spoiled by my Riedels. IMO they make a huge difference in taste, but they damn things are fragile as hell. The crystal they use at La Madia is thicker than Riedel, and the waiter said they're pretty rugged and can be dishwashed. But still, that's a huge plus for this place. To me that shows a very serious commitment to their wines when they bring out the crystal for any bottle that you order. Most resto's only break out (literally) the Riedel for the big bottles.

What Riedel's are using? My Vinum's are surprisingly strong.

I've also got the vinums. It's weird, they seem perfectly fine early in the evening but occasionally they start to spontaneously break around midnight.

Stopped in to La Madia with a friend earlier this month, expecting (from this board) fairly decent wine and food, although not exactly preparing by stapling my socks on, either.

We had a very friendly, helpful waiter who was more than happy to talk to us about what wines and foods we like and help us choose. While I'm usually ok choosing on the food end, wine is a big, shrouded mystery to me - I'm more of a micro-brewed beer fan and more than a little intimidated by a big wine list. Taking my preference for fruity, crisp, mildly sweet whites into account, he pointed me to a varietal with which I was unfamiliar (Viognier), and I came away with a little more knowledge and a desire (whether that's good or bad) to drink more of this grape. Perhaps this is simply what a server should do, but having dealt with some degree of disdain from waiters who were not impressed by my unimpressive selections, I liked his team approach much, much more.

We started with the arugula, chicken, apples, spicy walnuts salad. A tried-and-true combination, La Madia's version was very lightly dressed (just olive oil and white wine vinegar, if my tastebuds' memories are to be trusted). It was simply a nice, fresh salad, certainly large enough to split in two (I like value), and a pleasant appetizer. We split a pizza as well - the bufala campina mozzarella with tomato sauce and torn basil. I must say I thought they took a heavy hand here. As a Neapolitan-style pizza fan, the crust and char was definitely to my liking (though not to the standards of coal fire - and not what I imagine Spacca to be, having regrettably not yet made my way up there). However, the whole pie was covered in what seemed to be nothing more than shredded mozzarella, with the pure white circles of bufala mozz mired in the sea of grease caused by its inferior cousin. Leaving the excess mozz off and allowing simply the bufala mozz to take center stage, much like I was expecting a la the margherita style, would have been much preferable. This all said, it didn't' stop us from finishing it up - it was still a good pizza, but not what it could have been had they given the star of the show the right to shine. We did have a great dessert, though - we got a scoop of house-made vanilla gelato, into which had been stirred bits of light chocolate cake sprinkled with Sambuca, and over which was poured a shot of hot espresso. Mmmmm....

For the pizza we had the House Made Fennel Sausage, Tomato Sauce with Mozzarella Cheese. . . . This was a very good pizza, nice chewy crust and topped with very high quality ingredients.

Pretty much my sentiments, with this to add:

La Madia is currently offering a $25 lunch for two, which includes a shared opener and pizza along with a glass of wine each. What makes this a notable offer is that the wine being served is not out of the barrel but the recommended menu-pairing with the pizza, and since they have solid selections, the offer makes for a very satisfying light lunch for two.

Quartino is still my go-to-place in the area if I'm looking to dig into small-plate Italian, but as long as the $25 offer holds, La Madia will be my preferred alternative for a light Gold Coast lunch, particularly since its wood-burning version of pizza is on par with (if not slightly superior to) Q's, and its ambience is far more relaxing and laid-back than Q's usual frenetic pacing.

Fast Eddie wrote:I've also got the vinums. It's weird, they seem perfectly fine early in the evening but occasionally they start to spontaneously break around midnight.

Just looking up this thread because we're tossing around going to La Madia in the next week- FYI there's a whole line if Riedels specifically for restaurants. If I had to purchase our glasses over again I would buy these instead- I'll trade the thickness for the increased durability.

That said, I've only had one vinum break, but I'm pretty delicate with them.

Risotto and Other Simple Stuff @ La Madia

I hardly ever order risotto. It’s one of those relatively simple foods, much like duck confit (sounds fancy; pretty simple to make), that I like a lot but that almost never meets my expectations. Risotto is usually too gooey, gluey, mucilaginous, know what I mean (?), with everything kind of clumping together into a solid mush that gives no pleasure. I remember I used to order it all the time in the 80s at Scoozi!, and never really got a plate that knocked me out, but for some reason I kept beating my palate against that culinary wall, hoping at some point I’d taste something good.

At La Madia last week, I accidentally ordered the risotto. Our server, Zoe, came around and told us what she thought looked good for dinner, and I considered the dishes she mentioned, but wasn’t moved. Then she said “We have the chianti-braised short ri…,” and I jumped and said “Yes, that’s what I want,” because short ribs sounded just right that night. And this entrée turned out to be exceptional mass of lusciousness; The Wife and I always trade plates at half-time, and this time, she was ready to trade her pasta, a lamb Bolognese, long before she was half-finished: she had eyes only for that beautiful brick of short rib, one of the meatiest hunks of rib meat I can remember, so soft, with layers of flesh and fat alternating perfectly, almost makes one buy into intelligent design.



Now, much as I liked the meat at the center, what impressed me most was the risotto ringing the periphery. It was remarkably light, with each grain distinct, and some julienned zucchini mixed in so there was a slight, fresh crunch in each bite. This was how risotto should be.

I had previously stopped by La Madia to find a platform for sampling finger limes, and this time I was a guest of the management, and under those circumstances one never knows if the treatment I’m getting is different, and I guess maybe it is, but I doubt they prepared the risotto or anything else differently, just for me.

The Wife’s lamb Bolognese represents a problem I seem to have with lamb, a meat I like but have a hard time enjoying in mole, for instance, still a ubiquitous preparation in Chicago’s Nuevo Latino restaurants or in new incarnations like the lamb with anchovies at Sprout. I’ve come to the conclusion that lamb does not always play so well with other strong flavored ingredients, and in this dish, which was tasty in and of itself, the acidic tomatoes in the sauce and the lamb simply overwhelmed each other. In almost all cases where I’ve had lamb with some other equally feisty ingredient, I find myself thinking it’d be nicer just have the simple cut of lamb, well prepared, without any additional flavors competing with it.

Prior to our entrees, we had a pizza that pleased us very much. Like risotto, pizza is really a relatively simple platter, but I hardly ever order it because I’m so easily seduced, especially when I’m hungry, by a big steaming cheesy island of sausage that I end up eating too much, even if the pizza is mediocre, which I feel many times it is. This pie, though, had Coach goat cheese, which is one of those goat cheeses that is not so refined that it loses its distinctive goatiness, lardons and “melted leeks,” which is basically leek cooked down (with butter, probably) until it reaches a state somewhere between a solid and a liquid. It was just a fantastic bite.



Simple foods sometimes get short shrift; for instance, today I’m preparing to whip up some shrimp and grits as part of my own personal Super Bowl Avoidance Party , and I was dismayed to see that Charleston Receipts doesn’t include a recipe for this Charleston fav, probably because it lacks the fancy pants panache of, say, shrimp balls, which is a shame.

At the end of the meal La Madia, I spotted cookies on the menu, and I ordered them, because I always order cookies, a favorite dessert but, sadly, almost never included on a menu. “Probably just too…simple, I guess,” offered the server. Yes, I thought, exactly why I like them.

This weekend's Groupon is for La Madia. Two pizzas for $12, which is less than half price (potentially much less if you opt for the pricier pizzas).

I dined here for the first time tonight and was a guest of the management.

I occasionally pass La Madia on early morning runs through the neighborhood and had always thought of it as a large, cold modern space, having only ever seen in empty and closed. And so it was a lovely surprise to arrive there on this cold night with the restaurant almost full, warmed by the buzz of conversation and the small fireplace in the front, where I sat until my dining companion arrived.

The space is quite handsome with a cozy bar area with lounge chairs and two-tops next to the fire, tall booths and round tables in the main dining area, a brighter, semi-private section where a group of 10 or so was seated when we arrived, a more intimate back area and seats at the counter overlooking the open kitchen. I really liked the diversified space and, like jbw, prefer it to Quartino's loud, expansive quarters.

What we ate:

Foil-Roasted Crackling Niçoise Olives:



Oven-Roasted Prosciutto-Wrapped Medjool Dates Filled with Gorgonzola Dolce:



Frisée, Belgian Endive, Radicchio, Currants, Pine Nuts & Balsamic Dressing:



White Anchovies, Fresno Peppers, Caciocavallo Cheese & Garlic Pizza:



Diver Sea Scallops, Wilted Garlic Spinach, Fingerling Potato Salad & Pomegranate Sauce:



Pan-Seared King Salmon, Farro, Cippolini Onion, Grape Tomatoes, Brussels Leaves & Meyer Lemon Sauce:



Taleggio, Grana Padano, Humboldt Fog with Clover Honey, Marcona Almonds & Three-Hour Chianti Roasted Grapes:



I don't know that I had ever had roasted olives before (dried and pulverized but not roasted). La Madia's olives just tasted like they had been generically warmed--there wasn't anything distinctive about them except that it was a very large portion.

The dates were dry, and the bitter, balsamic slaw on which they were served was bizarre and did not work at all. The frisée presented a lot more bitterness--perhaps the largest mound of frisée I've ever seen on a plate. I'm rarely one to request more dressing, but I thought this salad was under-dressed. When I did get pieces of whatever soft cheese was in there and currants, the salad was much more enjoyable, but most bites were just bitterness.

I didn't have any of the pizza, but my dining companion said she enjoyed the anchovies and the medium heat of the peppers. She thought the crust could be crisper but would definitely return to La Madia for pizza.

The scallops were my favorite dish of the night. It was an unusually hearty dish with the potatoes and mound of spinach, a character I liked. (There were also just a lot of scallops on the plate, one or two over-seared.) I didn't detect pomegranate in the very comforting cream sauce; the pomegranate seeds on the plate didn't do anything besides provide color contrast.

A close second favorite was the salmon and, in particular, the brussels leaves--a nice respite from the bitterness of our first dishes.

The cheese plate was also very handsome. I enjoyed the Taleggio with the Chianti grapes the most--granted, not an uncommon combination, but I'm very curious how the pairing plays out on their Taleggio-grape pizza.

Overall, the food was good, and given that the dishes the two of us ordered could have fed 4-5 (the portions were larger than I've seen in a restaurant in a long time, though excellent for sharing) and the neighborhood, the value seems respectable. The wine list also seemed fine, though feeling under the weather tonight, I stuck to Julius Meinl tea--not my favorite source for tea but good enough.

Nothing about La Madia seemed especially unique, but I'm happy that it's there. I would return with a small group to try other salads, split larger plates and simply enjoy the space.

Had lunch last week at La Madia. One of my favorites is their homemade lamb sausage, mint salsa verde, fresno peppers, caciocavallo pizza. Also tried a new one (to me) last week- the carbonara pizza. This was my first time having eggs on pizza, and I loved it! Organic eggs, guanciale, onions, pecorino, black pepper. Delicious.

Several coworkers and I have become regulars at Madia ... both for lunch time salads that really work as a meal and post-work glasses of wine that more often than not become glass of wine plus dinner. I could live on their chianti braised shortrib with vegetable risotto and their roasted artichokes are a great way to start ... the apple crustada currently on menu (they seem to always have a seasonal crustada) is also very good (much to my current diet's dismay).

Nice staff and management - low key in the best possible way ... service has always been great in a friendly, take your time manner even when they are really busy.

They do some cooking classes that look neat and sitting at the counter watching the cooks is fun as well ...

Osteria La Madia Will Close On Saturday After A Decade in River North

http://chicago.eater.com/2017/3/23/1503 ... iver-north