In-House Limoncello?

Hello! I am attempting to find an Italian restaurant in the city that makes its own limoncello. Does anyone have any suggestions? Much obliged.

geenser wrote:Hello! I am attempting to find an Italian restaurant in the city that makes its own limoncello. Does anyone have any suggestions? Much obliged.

I can't think of any off the top of my head, but it's really not all that much effort if you want to make your own. It's actually a pretty simple infusion. It won't get your fix taken care of right away but it will be awesome to have around the house.

I agree that limoncello is easy to make - Mario Batali has a recipe online that I just used and was pleased with the results. (You can also make it with blood oranges or even meyer lemons. Might as well take advantage of the variety of citrus available right now).

As for restaurants - here are the places that I have known to have house-made limoncello in the past but call and check before you go:

1) A Tavola (definitely call them - the last few times I've been in there, they've been dodgey about the status of their limoncello, telling me that it wasn't ready yet, offering commercial limoncello as a substitute.)

2) Osteria via Stato

3) Cafe Spiaggia/Spiaggia

Good luck.

A Tavola
2148 W Chicago Avenue
773-276-7567

Osteria Via Stato
620 N. State St
Chicago
312-642-8450

Cafe Spiaggia/Spiaggia
980 N. Michigan Avenue
Chicago
312-280-2750

Thanks for the suggestions! I am about to make mine at home, but I haven't been to Capri in a good five years and forgot what the real stuff tasted like.

BTW, I had a dissappointing experience at A Tavola the last time I went. The chicken was very unremarkable.

geenser wrote:Thanks for the suggestions! I am about to make mine at home, but I haven't been to Capri in a good five years and forgot what the real stuff tasted like.

BTW, I had a dissappointing experience at A Tavola the last time I went. The chicken was very unremarkable.

I've never had the chicken there, but I generally like their food a lot. Maybe try something else? A short rib special they've had going (and going) there never disappoints. But did you ask about the limoncello? I'm beginning to lose hope on that score.

PS Geenser - Welcome to LTHForum!

Thanks for the welcome! I've been resisting joining because I know this site will eat my life.

Had I known about the limoncello, I would have inquired. I will definitely return to A Tavola, though. One unremarkable chicken dish isn't enough to put me off somewhere that tasty.

I don't know it for a fact, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if The Violet Hour had house-made limoncello.

nr706 wrote:I don't know it for a fact, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if The Violet Hour had house-made limoncello.

I wouldn't either.

FYI - I was at the Violet Hour last night and did not see limoncello on the drink menu.

My parents brought me a bottle of Limoncello from Capri and it was so wonderful!
I recently bought a bottle at the store, and it sits, forlornly awful and sickeningly sweet in my refrigerator....
just not the same....

Gioco makes their own, usually 2 different flavors I believe...you can see the big jars on the back bar shelf.

Gioco
1312 S Wabash
312-939-3870

Save your money and make your own. Here's a very easy recipe that I thought compared very well with all the limoncello we were sampling in Italy last fall.
A cautionary warning-I've made many batches from Costco lemons, however my last few came out bitter. They may have a new source which I don't recommend.


Limoncello

8 lemons
2 1/2 cups grain alcohol,Everclear
2 1/4 cups sugar

Peel rind of the 8 lemons using a potato peeler. Place in a large jar. Add the Everclear. Store closed in a dark place for 8 days. On the 8th day prepare a syrup using the sugar and 2 1/4 cups of water. Simmer until sugar is dissolved. Let cool and add syrup to the mixture. Store for 8 days. Filter through a coffee filter. Store in freezer in glass container.

Here's a secret about simple syrup- you don't need to heat it to dissolve it. It works just as well to shake the hell out of it in a bottle.

RevrendAndy wrote:A cautionary warning-I've made many batches from Costco lemons, however my last few came out bitter. They may have a new source which I don't recommend.

I agree about the Costco lemons. I don't think they're ripened enough before they're picked.

RevrendAndy wrote:Peel rind of the 8 lemons using a potato peeler.

Reverend -

Just to clarify - you're talking about peeling just the yellow zest, right? Not the white, pithy part? 'Cause that will make it bitter.

aschie30 wrote:

RevrendAndy wrote:Peel rind of the 8 lemons using a potato peeler.

Reverend -

Just to clarify - you're talking about peeling just the yellow zest, right? Not the white, pithy part? 'Cause that will make it bitter.

I agree - if you use a potato peeler, you'd need a very light hand with it. I'd probably use a microplane instead, since it'll expose more surface area, and if you're straining it through a coffee filter anyway, the small pieces won't be an issue.

I use a potato peeler. A little of the pith will come with it but not enough to cause any bitterness. The lemons were the problem, not the peeler.

I've played with this channel knife before and it's truly wonderful for things like this: channel knife

RevrendAndy wrote:I use a potato peeler. A little of the pith will come with it but not enough to cause any bitterness. The lemons were the problem, not the peeler.

That's what I thought. If the peeler is sharp enough, it can be peeled pithless, with a light hand, as nr706, points out.

I'm in the middle of making my own limoncello for the first time. When I did the lemon zesting last week, I used a potato peeler, but I tried to be very careful about not taking off any pith, so I hope it won't turn out bitter. Tonight I made the simple syrup. Just a few more days to go!

Katie,

Don't worry about a little pith. If the lemons are good the limoncello won't be bitter.

I hope you're right, Reverend. Three days to go to know for sure!

Traditionally in Sicily, they use green (unripe) lemons or mandarins depending and a clove or two.

I decided to look around and see what I could find that was something different from the ordinary preparation discussed here of steeping lemon rind in alcohol, adding sugar, and straining. Virtually everywhere one looks, the "standard" method is used with one minor variation or another.

I found something completely different, though, in Giuliano Bugialli's Foods of Sicily & Sardinia and the Smaller Islands. (For those who don't know it, this sadly out-of-print book is that rarity: an exquisite coffee-table book with top-notch writing and recipes.) The first thing that caught my eye was that he calls it lemoncello. He describes his as the "true method" and, were he not Giuliano Bugialli, I'd move on. But I find his method absolutely intriguing. What follows is my paraphrase of his recipe.

He washes 2 large, thick-skinned, lemons, first in warm water, then in cold, and then pats them dry. He then wraps them up in cheesecloth, tying the package with a very long piece string.

After pouring 2 cups of pure grain alcohol or unflavored vodka into a Mason jar, he then hangs the lemon package over the alcohol: "[being] sure that it does not touch the liquid"! The long piece of string now comes into play. The long ends are used to tie the package to the jar in such a way as to ensure that the package is securely in place with the lemons suspended over the alcohol. Then the jar is closed and put away in a dark place for two months.

When the time comes, he dissolves between 1 and 2 cups of sugar (the amount depending upon the final sweetness desired) in 1 cup of cold water. He then adds 5 drops of lemon juice and heats the mixture until a syrup is formed, about 45 minutes. The syrup is then placed in a bowl and allowed to cool completely. At that point, the lemon package is discarded and the alcohol poured into a bottle to which the cooled syrup is added. After shaking, the bottle is allowed to rest for 2 hours and then filtered into a clean bottle. After corking, it is allowed to rest 5 more days before using.

Now, if I follow this correctly, the alcohol is perfumed exclusively through the scent of the lemons. I can't read the recipe any other way. Even allowing two months and a closed container, I'm amazed that the scent would be sufficient to impart much flavor, but Bugialli is too knowledgeable to distrust. So I guess I'm going to have to try his method out.

If I could figure out how to insert an image on this site, I would show, in my humble opinion, the absolute best zest peeler going. After going through potato peelers, micro planers, apple peelers, very sharp knife, etc, my wife had a brain flash one day and purchased a neat little tool call the Mr. Tweezerman callous shaver. The designed purpose of this tool is to remove that ugly dry callous that builds up on the bottom edge of the foot. What caught her attention was the advertized claim of removal of a micro thin shaving of callous on each pass. She brought it home, handed it to me and I did twenty lemons in just over a half hour. With a little practice, you can go from the top of the lemon to the bottom without breaking the peel with absolutely no pith. You know when you are getting only zest as the oil runs down the tool onto your hand. It has a double edge case hardened blade that will last forever, but there are cheap replacement blades available it needed. We have done six batches with one side of the blade and it still cuts clean.

You can pick one up at just about any drug store or order it on line. Revlon also offers a like alternative. They run between seven and ten dollars, but well worth the price. I agree with the previous posting that the quality of lemon is the most important, but since we discovered this new peeler, no bitterness at all.

I would love to hear feedback from someone else who has tried it.
Check out the web site below.

http://www.ariva.com/twsaslcashw.html

Katie wrote:I hope you're right, Reverend. Three days to go to know for sure!

Well Katie, what's the verdict?

Tonight I'm going to strain out the lemon zest and see how it turned out. I'd do it now but what if the husband came home at 5:30 and it looked like I was already hitting the limoncello?

Katie wrote:Tonight I'm going to strain out the lemon zest and see how it turned out. I'd do it now but what if the husband came home at 5:30 and it looked like I was already hitting the limoncello?

Would that be a problem?

aschie30 wrote:Would that be a problem?

Funny, I thought the same thing!

Hmmm. My limoncello turned out to have a wonderful lemon aroma and flavor, but is very syrupy-sweet. I don't mean syrupy in the viscosity sense, I mean in the sweet-as-corn-syrup sense. It's okay, but it takes a lot of ice to make it seem like something other than lemon-scented alcoholic syrup.

I tried adding a dash or two of it to a gin and tonic, which was not bad, but not a discovery by any means.

I read something somewhere about mixing limoncello with cream or half-and-half? Has anyone tried that?

And does anyone have any suggestions for what to do with or how to alter my first limoncello batch? Or should I just try again?

Katie wrote:And does anyone have any suggestions for what to do with or how to alter my first limoncello batch? Or should I just try again?

Cut with more vodka or grain alcohol till it gets to the sweetness level you prefer. If that makes it not lemony enough, steep it awhile with more lemon peel. You could also add some strained lemon juice.

However, before you do that, take your current product and put it in the freezer overnight. Then taste. Limoncello is meant to be served very cold. Chilling will reduce the sweetness.

Tfusion wrote:After going through potato peelers, micro planers, apple peelers, very sharp knife, etc, my wife had a brain flash one day and purchased a neat little tool call the Mr. Tweezerman callous shaver. The designed purpose of this tool is to remove that ugly dry callous that builds up on the bottom edge of the foot. What caught her attention was the advertized claim of removal of a micro thin shaving of callous on each pass. She brought it home, handed it to me and I did twenty lemons in just over a half hour....

I would love to hear feedback from someone else who has tried it.

I confess I have used these ... but only on my feet.