Campagnola, Evanston

Went there with some friends last night (after being told at Wholly Frijoles, at 5:30, to expect a 3-hour wait for a table). Good move. The ribeye I had there last night is, without exception, the most amazing thing that's ever been in my mouth. I asked for it a touch past rare, not quite medium-rare, but received it rare; I'd have to agree with the cook's decision that it was ready nonetheless. Stunningly flavorful crust from the sear (the waiter said they grilled it over white oak), beautifully marbled inside to carry that flavor. I salute the steer that died to provide me with that experience.

(On my last trips there I've had the leg of lamb and the duck breast, both of which were very good but otherwise unmemorable; the restaurant has always been one I've wanted to like more than it ever gave me a reason to.)

For an appetizer, I split with a friend the bruschetta, a genuine failure, so laden with cheese and tomato that it came across more as a Stouffer french bread pizza, so soggy we couldn't pick it up. I couldn't taste the fresh basil strewn across it with all the competition of tastes and textures from the overloaded chunk of bread. For dessert, the four of us were full enough that we split the chocolate lava cake; the flavor was intense enough that two or three bites each was just right. I also liked the creme brulee I had on my last trip, and there were two or three other desserts I'd've liked to try as well.

Last night some friends treated me to a birthday dinner at Campagnola in Evanston. I hadn't been there since before it re-opened, yet now I am sorry to have overlooked it for so long, based on the cooking last night. I thought I would revive this old thread, because most mentions of Campagnola seem to be buried in other Evanston dining threads.

My only complaint is that the welcome and service seem a bit detached, as in reserved or slow-to-warm-up. Not a make or break issue for me, as I am a patient sort of person and I was with friends who wanted to talk. We waited for bread until our order had been placed, but water glasses were refilled in short order. I think the waitress and kitchen were a bit overwhelmed, based also on the wait times between courses.

I wonder if their bread is house-made. It had what for me is a perfect balance of flaky crust and light, slightly chewy-stretchy center with an extra bonus of the slightest char. My friends agreed it was the best restaurant bread they had had in a long time.

Nevertheless, the grilled appetizer of radicchio and goat cheese was bitter and smoky and unctuous and very satisfying. A scallop appetizer was also smoky and paired with unexpected brussels sprouts and pancetta (or was it guanciale?). This combination was new to me, and it worked better than I could have imagined. Best of all was the authenticity of the smoke flavor-perhaps real smoke from a grill out back accounts for the waits.

My short rib with polenta and rapini was meltingly tender and not fatty in the least, with a nice brown crust. I would have liked a bit more polenta and greens, though. Two thin spears of rapini were just not enough. My friend had an interesting dish of lamb with ripe olive puree and black lentils, which I thought an inspired combination. (On the other hand, I am a sucker for anything with black olives.) I did not try the sea bass, but it was pronounced delicious by my friend's husband.

Of the two desserts we tried, the bread pudding with white chocolate and fig was the best. Normally, I find bread pudding just too heavy and eggy and sweet all at once, but this was surprisingly light and browned on top with a bit of a crunch-- was it meringue? I am not sure, but when a dish makes me wonder about it, I know it was a success. The bits of dried fig were large enough to be satisfying, and fortunately, I did not have to deal with any congealed white chocolate (which I hate), as it seemed to have melted and disappeared into the pudding.

All in all, an excellent dinner. A more intimate/personal vibe would improve the place for me, but that might come forth on a weeknight, I don't know. It's hard to say, not knowing the place. But I look forward to trying Bistro Campagne which is closer to my new address.

I'd never heard of this restaurant until tonight, when a neighbor of mine invited me to have dinner with her and her mother - a woman celebrating a 90-something birthday. The mother/daughter are regulars at Sabatino's and had first thought of dining there but they were also frequent diners at Campagnola . . . before the renovation of the space . . . so they wanted to re-visit . . . for a change of pace.

The main dining room is comfortable - brick walls, lots of wood . . . and the other customers seemed well-heeled . . . lots of suits and ties (uncharacteristic of what many people may expect to encounter in an Evanston restaurant). My companions chatted with the owner, whom they new from before.

Our waitress was very impatient as we studied the menu . . . at 6:30 p.m., and we were one of only three tables occupied in the room. She seemed intent on getting us to order drinks before dinner; we disappointed her. Not only was she impatient, but I sensed from her performance throughout the dinner . . . that she was inexperienced (or just not good at the job).

We ordered minestrone as a starter course and I enjoyed the soup. This is a Northern Italian version, I'm thinking . . . with lots of red beans, veggies, little or no pasta and a slice of bread with slivers of Parmesan (?) cheese on top - perched in the center of the soup bowl. I enjoyed the flavorful soup but my friends are fans of the soup served elsewhere (Sabatino's), which includes white beans and not as many veggies.

The bread was dealt-out in a stingy fashion; we had to ask for a breadbasket. No oil or cheese accompanies the bread as is found is many other Italian restaurants. I liked the bread's crust, but the rest of it was so/so. The butter was great tasting - and I found myself slicing slivers from the large patty . . . and eating it on it's own (not something I typically do).

The tables in the restaurant filled steadily, and when we left at 8:30 all but one was occupied. It was an impressive showing for a Wednesday - Halloween - night.

I chose as my entree selection a pasta which I'm not familiar with - small - dime-sized - cap-like shells with almost frilly edges . . . accompanied by fennel laced sausage, some veggies, and something billed as "melted tomato's". The pasta wasn't cooked enough - a little tough to chew. The sausage was okay, but I had a better version (of the sausage) at Mr. Beef at lunch a couple of weeks ago. The "melted tomato's" reminded me of stewed tomato's - a chunky sauce not unlike what you get out of a can purchased at a grocery store . . . without much taste beyond the tomato.

My companions shared an order of short ribs (a porton of which I sampled), and the meat was wonderfully tender - almost melting in the mouth. Divine. The meat was presented on a small serving of polenta, and topped with room-temperature julienne-sliced vegetables.

The order of short ribs arrived from the kitchen at room temperature (the veggies which topped it were intended to arrive that way) and my pasta was luke-warm, but the sausage was a bit warmer. We called the waitress back to take the plate of short rib back for warming and she seemed to forget us. A nicely-warmed plate (and short ribs) was returned in about 15-20 minutes.

Being the only drinker of alcoholic beverages in the group, I opted for a by-the-glass serving of a full-bodied red wine the name of which I don't recall. The wine accompanied the entree well, though. I had tea at the end of the meal - and was served black breakfast tea . . . no other choice was offered. No sugar or lemon was served with the tea . . . nor was I asked if I'd like any, and I struggled to get the waitress' attention in order to get some sweetener. The sambuca which accompanied my tea was okay; I suspected it wasn't top-shelf.

I didn't contribute to the payment of the check as I and the birthday girl were invitees - and I don't know what the tab was. This appears to be a successful restaurant and I know the owner(s) have other establishments. However, I don't think I'll want to visit again - any time soon.

Campagnola
815 Chicago Avenue
Evanston, Illinois
(847) 475-6100
Website: www.campagnolarestaurant.com
Hours: Open at 5:30 p.m. daily

I had a different experience a couple of Sundays ago. We certainly had none of the service problems you mentioned and we were generally well-treated. Among the dishes we had, the grilled items (radicchio stuffed with goat cheese, in particular) and secondi (salmon and duck breast in this case) were superior to the pasta dishes. I would go back if I were in the area and were looking for a mid-priced Italian restaurant, altho I would stick to the meats and fish as an entree.

Hopefully, whatever service inconsistencies they have will be looked after. I restaurant in that price range should not have the problems you experienced, particularly not on a weekday.

Just so no one gets the wrong idea...

Bill wrote:the other customers seemed well-heeled . . . lots of suits and ties (uncharacteristic of what many people may expect to encounter in an Evanston restaurant).

Campagnola is casual in feel. While you can wear a suit and tie anywhere, it is neither required nor expected at Campagnola (or anywhere else in Evanston). It's possible that a particular group was in town, or that people came in right after work or after attending another dressy function; Campagnola is across the street from the Main Street stop on the purple line and around the corner from the Metra stop. But you needn't feel that you need to dress up to go to Campagnola; most of the time, blue jeans are far more common there than suits and ties.

FWIW, it's been pretty good the times I've been there, but the last time I went, there was a decided emphasis on legumes (it seems every dish had beans in it), which was a bit of a turn-off. There are lots of other good choices for Italian food in Evanston, too, in various price ranges. Va Pensiero tends to be only slightly more expensive than Campagnola and, in my experience, is considerably better in every way; I strongly recommend Va Pensiero if you enjoy mid-priced Italian food. In the same price range as Campagnola, you've got Trattoria D.O.C. practically around the corner (haven't been there yet), and Gio downtown (dreadful, IMHO). At the low end, you've got Dave's (also dreadful) and Panino's (pretty good, and my recommended Evanston spot if you're looking for low-priced Italian).

Sorry to say that my experiences at Campagnola have been consistent in only one regard -- rude and poor service.

=R=

Say it ain't so, Nsxtasy:

nsxtasy wrote:Dave's (also dreadful)

On January 7, 2007 in his original post (since edited) nsxtasy described Dave's as "Great" for which some snotty posters - including this writer - gave him a hard time. I felt that it was a nice restaurant for collegiate dates, serving its niche. Still do.

But what did poor Dave - and its pizza, pasta, and Chianti - do to stumble from "Great" to "Dreadful." Dave doesn't deserve either adjective.

As for Campagnola, the problem is that it likes to talk as if it is North Pond (or Timo) with local and seasonal cuisine, while it is an adequate mid-range Italian trattoria. Alice Waters is not in evidence, only decently prepared, but not thrilling, pasta and chicken.

GAF wrote:
As for Campagnola, the problem is that it likes to talk as if it is North Pond (or Timo) with local and seasonal cuisine, while it is an adequate mid-range Italian trattoria. Alice Waters is not in evidence, only decently prepared, but not thrilling, pasta and chicken.

I haven't been to Campagnola in its current Italian incarnation. I had a very good meal there way-back-when when it was Italian (the first time), then didn't much care for its short-lived French Bistro re-thinking. I was happy to see it convert back to its Italian roots, but now am not so sure about going back. Is it still casual downstairs and more formal upstairs, like it was originally? For those who've tried both before and after, is it any different? Or could I have been in a generous critical mood during the first go-round?

GAF wrote:But what did poor Dave - and its pizza, pasta, and Chianti - do to stumble from "Great" to "Dreadful." Dave doesn't deserve either adjective.

Sure it does, IMHO. And I explained why in this topic, discussing Gio as well as Dave's:

nsxtasy wrote:The last two dinners I've had, the food at both has been terrible, meaning "unpleasant; disagreeable". I already described my bad food at Gio above. While my expectations for Dave's were lower, due to the low price, I expected edible, but that would be a highly generous and undeserved characterization of the food there. We had two dishes. One was veal in lemon sauce, which consisted of a few slices of veal with no breading and no taste, served over rotini in a liquid that I can only guess was the water in which the pasta was boiled. The dish had absolutely no lemon taste whatsoever. The other was a special, grilled chicken and provolone ravioli, in which the ravioli (including filling) had absolutely no taste, and were submerged in a tomato sauce that might have come from a jar at the supermarket (and from the cheap brand, too). Also, from the Department of Ewwww, I'd also like to know what the green-colored liquid in the olive oil dispensers on the tables is, because it sure doesn't taste like olive oil (although the serving of undistinguished bread without butter would lead one to expect it to be real olive oil).

I don't eat at expensive restaurants every time I eat out, and I don't expect the same thing when I'm paying $10 or $14 for an entree (the veal at Dave's is $13.95) as when I'm paying $20-30 or more. But I expect it to be better than, say, what I find in the frozen food department of my local supermarket. At both these meals, it wasn't; it was worse.

Those two meals, at Gio and Dave's, were the worst meals I've had in 2007, by far. And there's no need for inexpensive Italian food to be that bad, with Panino's as a ready counterexample in Evanston.

Ahhh.

To me Dave means spaghetti, sitting with a bunch of late teens. Ordering veal at Dave's is a triumph of hope over experience!



Sorry I didn't read the earlier post.

Not to be OT from Campagnola (which I haven't been to, but had heard good things about, so I'm a little surprised at what I'm seeing here), but I really like Dave's.

I have had that veal with lemon sauce and also found it to be disappointing, but other than that, I've never had a bad meal there. The occasional dish that wasn't as good as I'd had someplace else, but overall I find it to be very tasty, good portions, price and pretty good service, even on the busiest of nights. My favorite is the salmon with bow-tie pasta and veggies.

I previously wrote about Campagnola...

nsxtasy wrote:FWIW, it's been pretty good the times I've been there, but the last time I went, there was a decided emphasis on legumes (it seems every dish had beans in it), which was a bit of a turn-off. There are lots of other good choices for Italian food in Evanston, too, in various price ranges. Va Pensiero tends to be only slightly more expensive than Campagnola and, in my experience, is considerably better in every way; I strongly recommend Va Pensiero if you enjoy mid-priced Italian food.

Well, there's nothing like a return visit to change an opinion! We went to Campagnola tonight (in an unplanned visit after finding Guan closed for remodeling, then going to Cuetzala Gro and finding it closed, presumably because it's Sunday), and it was absolutely wonderful. This was far better than the last time we ate there (a while ago), although even then it was good, and this was as good as the last dinner we had at Va Pensiero (late last summer). You can get a great meal at either of these two fine restaurants, and Evanston is lucky to have both of them.

We started by splitting the "Mussels saffron & fennel broth, shaved garlic, Pernod". WOW! These were perhaps the best mussels I've ever had, absolutely fresh and flavorful, and the broth was... WOW! Delicious. Oh, and the portion size was quite ample for two to share ($9).

We had two mains. One was a daily special of pan seared halibut with roasted tomato, fingerling potatos, and asparagus, and a black olive tapanade ($24). Very nicely prepared, with a thin crispiness on the outside and moist flesh inside. The other was "Roast Duck mashed new potato and plum mostardo". It was a half duck, which was very good and to which the preparation really added a nice zing, not just the bed of potato (very good) but especially the plum mostardo. This was a subtlely sweet plum sauce with mustard seeds, which also covered the duck, and there were quartered skinned spiced plums alongside the duck, all of which was mmmm good ($22). We also had a side order of Dekalb County creamy polenta ($4) which was a great choice, mild and creamy as a nice counterpoint to the two strong main dishes.

We had two desserts, vanilla panna cotta with plum compote ($7), and polenta pound cake with peach marmalade, served warm and topped with a dab of whipped cream ($7). Both were simply superb.

As you can see, this was a wonderful dinner, in which every dish was excellent and there wasn't a single clunker in the group.

There were no problems at all with the service. Our server (according to the receipt, his name is "3" ) was friendly, helpful with advice, and efficient, bringing us dishes with good timing and checking on us from time to time to make sure everything was good.

The attire of the other diners was strictly business casual, not a jacket or tie in sight. As it happens, we were a bit more casually attired (blue jeans) as a result of the switch in plans; otherwise we would have worn something just a tad nicer.

I see there is some discussion above about Campagnola's culinary history, and specifically about how its menu has been through periods when it is more Italian in nature, and others when it is less. Right now, I would say that it is not exactly strictly Italian. There was a selection of five pastas, and a few things like prosciutto and carpaccio, but many of the other dishes seem to be as much French or contemporary American in nature. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, as long as it's what you're expecting. And it's not all that surprising, nowadays with so many restaurants serving menus with influences of many different cuisines rather than a single, strictly traditional menu. What results, in the case of Campagnola, is great food, whatever you want to call it. Highly recommended.

Last night I had another wonderful dinner at Campagnola. The soup (butternut squash) and salad (butter lettuce) were very good, the braised short rib was one of the best around, but what really blew me away was their vanilla bean bread pudding. I think it was the best bread pudding I've ever had.

You don't hear much about Campagnola around here - nothing in the past three years, as you can see - but it's the epitome of a great neighborhood restaurant (to coin a phrase ), turning out high-quality food at an affordable price, a place you can drop in and they make you feel right at home.

And now, an eight-year topic bump.

We ate at Campagnola again tonight, and once again it was outstanding. There's only one caveat: they were almost completely booked, and this was a weeknight (Wednesday). We walked in at 5:30 when they opened the doors, and they were fully booked from 6:30 on. We agreed to have dinner and finish within an hour, which we did. And we're so glad that they were able to squeeze us in. From now on, we'll phone ahead for reservations, and not take our chances as a walk-in, even when they open the doors.

Unfortunately, only one of the photos I took came out:

Spinach Salad - warm bacon vinaigrette, herb croutons, fried egg

Here are the other dishes we had:
Roasted Beet - whipped goat cheese, pistachio, orange, basil
Halibut (daily special) - sweet potato, ham
Veal Scallopini - mushroom marsala, mashed potato
Vanilla Bean Bread Pudding - vanilla ice cream
Strawberry Crostada - vanilla ice cream

Everything was excellent. In particular, I've already stated that their bread pudding is the best I've ever had, and I love bread pudding. So I was amazed to find that the strawberry crostada was equally amazing. Served hot, the crust was just the perfect consistency - almost like a biscuit-type shortcake, but not quite as dense.