La Trattoria del Merlo

I couldn't find any mention of this new spot from the folks behind Merlo and Merlo on Maple. I've always really enjoyed those two restaurants, but found them too pricey to be anything more than rare-occassion restaurants.

The menu of this new, more casual spot looks terrific, and the prices are way more approachable. Anyone tried it yet? I might just do so very soon.

La Trattoria del Merlo
1967 N. Halsted Street
Chicago, IL 60614
312.951.8200

Thanks for posting this. Is this in the space that once housed Aubriot?

Kennyz wrote:Anyone tried it yet? I might just do so very soon.

When I say say soon, I mean soon.

Trattoria del Merlo has done a terrific job capturing the essence of the fabulous trattorias I visited in northern Italy. It's got a host (Giampaolo) that makes you feel like family, a warm and comfortable room, and delicious, homestyle cooking done by Fabio, recently brought over from the owners' home town of Bologna.

I started with Tonno di Coniglio e Crostini Integrali (poorly translated on the menu as "deboned rabit, marinated in extra virgin olive oil and herbs"). Thin, just-right-texture crostini were topped with shredded rabbit meat (the texture of tuna you'd get out of a can) with finely diced carrots, celery, olive oil and herbs. This was a simple, delicious beginning that was perfectly executed.

I moved on to a classic: Rigati di Semola al Ragu Bolognese. There are many Chicago restaurants that make homemade pasta, but that's usually limited to fettuccine, papardelle, and other wide, unshaped noodles. Here you have homemade rigati, cut into perfectly imperfect lengths, and cooked to a spot-on al dente texture. Toss those terrific rigati with a judicious amount of classic pork and beef ragu that's rich and intensely meaty (virtually tomato-free), and you get one hell of a pasta dish. A dish that I want to come back for again and again.

To finish, I tried the salame di cioccolata con panna e fragole. Dark chocolate fondant mixed with some nuts and fruit, then rolled and sliced to look like salame. This was OK, but it's safe to pass on it.

I often lament the fact that Chicago lacks affordable neighborhood Italian restaurants that turn out high quality versions of classic dishes. Now we appear to have one very excellent version of exactly what I've been looking for.

Thank you for your review and for posting a link to the menu, which looks interesting.

To answer my own question, the restaurant clearly is not located in the building that formerly housed Aubriot, as it is on the east side of Halsted (duh). (I used to live in that immediate neighborhood, and was trying to picture the building in which LTdM is located.)

My wife and I tried La Trattoria del Merlo tonight. We both gave it a very mixed review, but agreed we'd try it again -- mainly because we are both very big fans of the two existing Merlo locations.

The space is very cute. It's located in the spot that the shoe store Alternatives used to have, if my memory serves me.

We also started with the Tonno di Coniglio e Crostini Integrali and agree with Kennyz that is very good. It may have been the highlight of the dinner. We had two pasta dishes for dinner: The first was Maccheronicini Verdi Salsiccia e
Funghi nel Tegamino - a mixture of regular and spinach pasta, tossed with pieces of homemade sausage and mushrooms, with a very light cream sauce. We both loved this dish. The sausage had a nice bite and the cream sauce was perfect balance between being creamy and being light. The other pasta dish was Spaghetti Freschi al Tonno, and was not so good. It was homemade spaghetti with a tomato sauce and poached tuna. The tomato sauce was one dimensional and tasted like it was from a can. The pieces of tuna were way overcooked.

Things went a little worse on the drinks side. When we arrived, the waitress said they had a full bar and asked if we'd like to start with a cocktail. I ordered a Negroni (equal parts Campari, gin, and sweet vermouth) - seemed like a good choice for an Italian restaurant on a cold night. My wife ordered an Old Fashioned. The waitress came back and said that they didn't have the ingredients to make the Negroni. I assumed this was because they didn't have the Campari, which is a little surprising, but no big deal (esp because they just opened). I ordered an Old Fashioned.

The Old Fashioneds did the trick of warming us up a bit, but they were not made correctly. The proper way to make an Old Fashioned is subject to a lot of controversy. I won't bore you with the details, but in this case the orange and cherry weren't muddled at all and there was way too much soda. So it was basically a whiskey-soda with a piece of orange and a cherry. As soon as we tasted them, we joked that we know not to order this drink unless we're at place that we know makes them the right way (or we tell them how we like it).

We wanted a glass of wine after the cocktails. There are a lot of bottles on the list, but many of them are quite expensive - most $50+. I suspect that many of the wines are from the list at Merlo. But the food here is considerably more downmarket than Merlo, and the wine list should match it. Almost every entree is around $15 - there should be more wine in the $30-$50 price range to match the food. We decided to order a half bottle from the menu, but they didn't have any of it in stock. We each opted for a glass of Italian red, both of which were very good.

At this point, our meal was over and we were happy. We both agreed that one of the pasta dishes didn't really work and the cocktail, while not very good, was pretty much what one expects from a restaurant that doesn't really "do" cocktails. The food prices were good, the quality matched, for the most part.

Then the bill came. It turns out those Old Fashioneds were $15 each. (The Violet Hour charges $11 for their amazingly concocted cocktails, by way of comparison!) We asked the waitress if $15 was correct. She agreed that it seemed high, and asked the bartender to double check the price. She came back and said that $15 was the correct price because it was made with Jim Beam and was a larger pour than normal, and there was nothing she could do about it because it was coming from the bar manager. $15 still seems high, even if we had requested a nice bourbon (we didn't request the Jim Beam).

We'll still return and give it another shot another time. Feeling like you got ripped off a little bit on the (not great) cocktail just left a little bit of a bad taste in our mouth.

Darren,

Glad to hear that you loved the food as much as I did (at least 2 out of the 3 dishes you described). My instinct from looking at the menu was that the red sauce items were not going to be the place's forte, and your experience seems to confirm that. Thankfully, red sauce is rarely what I'm interested in at Italian restaurants.

Your description of the tomato sauce as "one dimensional...out of a can" is surely spot on, and - for better or worse - it's exactly what I imagine the kitchen is going for. In fact, the menu doesn't call it tomato sauce - it just says "stewed onions and [canned] San Marzano tomatoes".

$15 for a Jim Beam Manhattan does sound completely outrageous to me, and I agree that the wine list could use some more reasonably priced options. IIRC, there was not a single bottle under $40.

FWIW, they are in the midst of a "soft opening," and don't plan to publicize a "grand opening" until after the new year. I thought things were running fairly smoothly anyway, but there are surely some kinks to be worked out as well.

Kenny

Thanks to Kennyz for posting this. I've enjoyed every trip I've made to Merlo, so I will make an effort to visit LTdM.

My $.02: $15 for a Beam Old Fashioned is ridiculous, esp. in light of what $11 gets you at Violet Hour and the general idea that this is supposed to be a more casual and cheaper version of the other Merlos.

Not that it changes the horror of a $15 well cocktail, but the Violet Hour's drinks are now $12.

I returned last night with the bride, and completely disproved my speculation that tomato sauce isn't Trattoria del Merlo's forte. The tomato sauce served with the homemade gnocchi was outstanding: intense and complex, from what I imagine must have been hours and hours of simmering and reducing. The gnocchi themselves were large, 2-bite specimens that were different than any others I've tasted. They were potato gnocchi that somehow seemed stuffed with, well, potato. The outside had a somewhat standard, chewy pasta/dumpling like shell, but the inside had the texture of ethereal mashed potato, without any flour or egg binding it. I enjoyed eating these for the uniqueness of experiencing what was to me a brand new gnocchi preparation method, though I don't think I'd choose said method over what I consider more common preparations.

We also had the Spaghetti di Farro alla Giuggiolona, another dish that showed the kitchen's ability to produce intense, long-simmered sauces. The nutty, homemade noodles were tossed with a deeply flavored, highly acidic but also sweet white wine reduction - imagine a whole bottle of wine reduced to about a quarter cup, then finished with a touch of cream, and you get the idea. Add in plenty of garlic and some toasted pine nuts, and you end up with a delicious, simple pasta dish. NB: if you haven't had farro pasta before, expect a texture that's different from what you’re used to. When cooking farro pasta, you have a choice of textures: mushy or crunchy. There really is no "al dente" middle ground like there is with regular pasta. At TdM, the kitchen rightly chooses crunchy, so that's what you get. I like it.

I really like Tratorria del Merlo, but I do wonder whether they'll make it. Customers will have to completely change their expectations about what an Italian restaurant is. While prices are reasonable, portions are small and presentations are austere. Dishes with familiar-sounding names have quite unfamiliar tastes and textures. I'd suggest going with an open mind and an open palate, expecting that - love it or not - you'll likely learn a thing or two about Bolognese cooking.

Kennyz wrote:I really like Tratorria del Merlo, but I do wonder whether they'll make it.

Kenny,

If Friday evening's packed house at 9pm is any indication Trattoria de Merlo is in for the long haul, and deservedly so. Highlights were made in house pasta, of the three we tried, Rigati di Semola al Ragu Bolognese, Spaghetti di Farro alla Giuggiolona and Bucatini di Grano alla Matriciana, the toothsome nutty qualities of Spaghetti di Farro really struck a chord.

Stracchino Rucola e Crostini, creamy fresh cows milk cheese reminiscent of burata on multi grain crostini with arugula and meltingly tender cured tuna, Tonno Sott’Olio set the starter tone, though I found the Tonno di Coniglio e Crostini Integrali bland and texturally uninteresting and the Torta di Zucchini boring. I should point out of amongst my table mates I seemed to be alone in this opinion.

Tiny meatballs of veal rolled in Parmigiano and simmered in chicken stock were tender and complemented nicely by fresh peas and artichokes but, like the Calamari w/Polenta Bianca, were quite salty to my taste, in particular with the slightly under seasoned nature of previous courses.

Service smooth and professional, room attractive, prices seemed a bit high, though I realize it's a high rent area, and the quality of ingredients is consistently topnotch. If I had one major complaint it would be table spacing, I doubt they could get one more chair in the two dining rooms if they brought in a master jigsaw puzzle designer.

I've long been a fan of Merlo, thanks for the introduction to Trattoria del Merlo Kenny.

Enjoy,
Gary

We went there tonight and thought the food itself was wonderful. Everything beautifully flavored, cooked, and seasoned. We both felt that it wasn't a great value (we left hungry after sharing what's below), but that the food was definitely worth a return visit.


Rigati di Semola al Ragu Bolognese


Spaghetti di Farro alla Giuggiolona


Pollo ai Funghi Porcini


Zuccottino Tiepido alle Mele e Mandorle con Panna Montata e Mirtilli


Salame di Cioccolata con Panna e Fragole

We went there tonight and thought the food itself was wonderful. Everything beautifully flavored, cooked, and seasoned. We both felt that it wasn't a great value (we left hungry after sharing what's below), but that the food was definitely worth a return visit.

Glad you liked it, Ed, and thanks for the terrific pictures. I think TdM is doing some unique and wonderful things that don't exist elsewhere in Chicago.

I've gone back and forth about the pricing, and decided that opinions here are just a matter of one's comparison point. If you compare TdM to other small, casual, neighborhoody Italian joints in the city, it appears not to be a great value. If, however, you compare it to the fair number of higher end Italian restaurants trying to do authentic Italian cooking with premium ingredients, I think TdM actually starts to look downright cheap. Even if you had added a starter to the meal you described above would have come in under $70 (before t and t, not including wine). More expensive than filling up at Pasta Palazzo across the street (which I know you wouldn't do), but on par with or less than a list of places that don't put out food half as good. Before I adjusted my own comparison point, I definitely thought "wow, those portions are small!" And I pretty much never complain about portion size. In the end, for food that wonderful, I think $30-$40 per person, not including wine, is indeed good value.

With tax, without tip, our bill was $71 for everything above (no drinks), so $70 with one antipasto before tax and tip sounds about right. I just wish it hadn't left me planning to reheat a Super Pretzel when I got home

After last night's dinner, La Trattoria del Merlo joins Riccardo Trattoria on my very short list of Chicago authentic Italian restaurants to recommend.

We started with two antipasti, both served on toast. Oil-marinated shredded rabbit (reccommended by Kennyz above) is just how I like to start an Italian meal: a very flavorful bite, not too heavy on the stomach.

The second antipasto was less exciting: a daily special of fava bean puree served with sheep's milk ricotta. The cheese was sweet, mild, and creamy. Excellent. The bean puree on the other hand was mixed with a too heavy hand of Parmigiano Reggiano (or some other sharp-flavored cheese). The beans were aggressively sharp and unpleasant unless masked with the ricotta (and the excellent house-made mild giardineria).

For our pasta we shared the baked maccheronicini with homemade sausage and mushrooms. This was an excellent dish made entirely unique by the funky-flavorful sausage. There was a prominent flavor to the sausage that neither myself nor Cookie could recognize. The waiter wasn't aware of it and when he went to ask the chef, we learned that the "homemade" sausage was not as advertised. The chef didn't know either. A mild disappointment in information gathering about an excellent dish. Warning: this dish is much creamier and heavier than the menu may lead you to believe.

Next it was "zucchini ripieni in umido": ground veal and Parmigiano Reggiano stuffed in zucchini and stewed in tomato sauce. This was delicious and tender, made ever more tasty so by the perfect tomato sauce: not acidic, not sweet, and just a little bite of spice. It tasted perfectly of cooked tomatoes and herbs.

My only major complaint about La Trattoria del Merlo is the prices of wines, particularly by the glass. There are none under $11/glass and the average price edges closer to $14/glass. I tend to feel that an authenic trattoria, certainly a step more casual than a ristorante, should have an easily affordable house wine option. This is the only spot where they really miss the mark on authenticity.

Overall, I'm pleased that Chicago has another regional Italian restaurant focused on quality ingredients, good cooking and authentic recipes.

Best,
Michael

I too enjoyed Trattoria Merlo when I was there recently (the pastas in particular) but felt that the rest of the food was a bit under seasoned for my taste. Still, very well done, just needed that additional extra something to bring it into the realm I seek. Riccardo is still my go to for that.

eatchicago wrote:My only major complaint about La Trattoria del Merlo is the prices of wines, particularly by the glass. There are none under $11/glass and the average price edges closer to $14/glass. I tend to feel that an authenic trattoria, certainly a step more casual than a ristorante, should have an easily affordable house wine option. This is the only spot where they really miss the mark on authenticity.

They listened. There are now three $7 glasses (a Chardonnay, a Sangiovese, and a Barbera d' Alba), and each of those bottles is under $30. They also had a fantastic special last night: 5 plump squash blossoms stuffed with buffalo mozzarella and a hint of anchovy, coated with a light tempura batter and fried, served with fresh, bitter, lightly dressed greens. At $10, that dish is a real bargain.

G Wiv wrote:Tiny meatballs of veal rolled in Parmigiano and simmered in chicken stock were tender and complemented nicely by fresh peas and artichokes but, like the Calamari w/Polenta Bianca, were quite salty to my taste, ...

I loved the tenderness of the huge calamari, and the parmesan herb filling was delicious. But the beautifully-crisp, pan-fried white polenta at the bottom of the plate was indeed unpalatably salty.

We had a pretty good dinner at Trattoria del Merlo last night. While I wouldn't describe the food as outstanding, the restaurant certainly deserves to be busier than what it was last night. The place was maybe half full when we arrived for our 8:30 reservation and we were the last ones there by the time we left at around 10:30.

For an appetizer we split a special of the ricotta puree and fava been puree. I thought the ricotta was bland, but the fava been was nice and fresh tasting.

The pastas were the highlight of the meal. My spaghetti with tuna and the wife's gnocchi were both excellent.

Main courses were fine. I had the breaded pork chop that had been pounded thin. It was ok, but not terribly interesting (the dominant flavor was probably salt). The wife's beef tenderloin was cooked a decent amount past her requested medium rare.

For dessert (which was comped along with 2 glasses of Moscato d'Asti) we had two scoops of gelato - granny smith apple and blood orange. A nice way to finish out the meal.

We ate at the Merlo on Lincoln avenue on Friday.
The storefront is very cozy. There was a woman stationed in the front window making pasta. The crowd leaned a little toward LP trixie (but I try to be tolerant).
Service wasn't so hot. We were briefly approached right after we arrived with a 'be right back' but it was easily 20 minutes before someone came to get our drink orders. Our server (who was overall a little condescending and WAY too intrusive) abruptly stopped listing the specials to us to go take care of another couple saying "Oh, they're in a hurry, they have theater tickets" even though they had arrived after us (we had already watched them receive wine and bread before being approached for drink orders). Also, he would enunciate and state very loudly every remotely Italian-sounding word (even if he wasn't saying, say a region like Piedmont, in Italian) as if we were hard of hearing and couldn't understand. Honestly, the guy just kind of grated on us the whole night.
That being said, food was very good. We really liked a zucchini torta--a thin pastry baked with zucchini and parmesan accompanied by a small salad. The prosciutto and parmesan appetizer was good but the prosciutto was sliced too thick. The pastas were terrific--we split a paparadelle bolognese and an incredible special ravioli filled with burrata and topped with shaved black truffles. The truffle pasta was just amazing--a contender for a last meal. The semifreddo with chocolate sauce we had for dessert was very nice and they have great cappucino. We also enjoyed their selection of wines by the glass). Portions were small (and our waiter let us know that pastas were meant to be part of a three course meal) but prices were very reasonable for the quality of the food.
Overall, I'd definitely return (though my dining companion iswill only go back if we sit in another section and I concur)

Salumeria de Merlo
2638 N Lincoln
773 529 0747

I worry about La Trattoria del Merlo's fate, as business does not seem to have improved since last year. There was just one other table occupied at 7:15 this evening. Losing this place would be a real shame as there are few, if any places like it in Chicago.

Tonight I had squid ink spaghetti, a dish that is no doubt served at other places around town, but I feel certain that none does it quite as boldly as LTdM. The pasta was made in house and cooked to an al dente state that some might describe as underdone, but which was perfect for my taste. It was also remarkably fishy and funky in a robust, in your face way that I don't think many places would be willing to chance. Served with beautifully tender pan-roasted mussels and excellent olive oil, this was a dish to behold. To start the meal, a pheasant terrine with asparagus and carrots wasn't as successful as the pasta. Though tasty, it was unpalatably dry. House made gelato to end the meal, on the other hand, was outstanding, though I can't for the life of me fathom why the kitchen thought it a good idea to sprinkle copious amounts of chalky powdered sugar over the top of something so delightfully smooth and creamy.

For lovers of a type of authentic Italian food that's hard to find here, I suggest getting to La Trattoria del Merlo while you have the chance.

I'm a big fan of Merlo on Maple -- in my opinion, one of the most underrated restaurants in the city. But Saturday was my first visit to Merlo La Trattoria and I'm sad to say that it let me down. I wonder if was just an off night or if the lack of crowds described above has caused them to lose focus (I should note that at 9:00 on a Saturday night, only a few tables were occupied).

In any event, my dining companion and I had a pretty light supper, two appetizers and two pastas. We started with the tuna and apple salad, which featured some beautiful sliced tuna and seemed like it would have been excellent, except that it was doused in dressing, and the dressing was so acidic as to make the salad almost inedible - very careless. The vegetable soup with basil pesto and pecorino was just ok - it was under-seasoned, featured too little pesto and if there was pecorino anywhere, I couldn't find it. So far, a rough start.

The rigati with the Bolognese ragu also disappointed us. The Bolognese ragu at Merlo on Maple is consistently rich and excellent. But on this evening at Merlo La Trattoria it was a little under-seasoned, not as rich (seemed like it might have even been missing the pancetta) and just not nearly as flavorful. And the rigati was overcooked, probably by a few minutes which is enough to ruin what would have probably been excellent pasta. Too bad because I have always been tremendously impressed by the house-made pastas at Merlo on Maple.

There was a bit of redemption with the ricotta and parmigiano gnocchi. These were very light and fluffy and the accompanying artichoke ragout was terrific.

And for desert, the zuppa inglese featured a moist and rich rum soaked cake with a nice pastry cream and was pretty decent.

Prices would have been more than fair (especially for this neighborhood) had the food been prepared with the care we had expected. But it simply did not meet our expectations so I'll continue to stick with Merlo on Maple.

I got an email last week announcing that LTdM had completely revamped its menu and approach, now focusing on "40 small plates & our traditional pasta allowing you the oppotunity to build your meal as you dine!!". I did not find this change encouraging.44

We were invited by the owners to visit La Trattoria de Merlo last week. We hadn’t been there before they moved to the small plate menu, so I can’t do the before/after appraisal (though I’d be interested to know if there’s actually been any qualitative change that accompanied this quantitative change in plating).

We decided to go with the approach of “hey, why don’t you just cook some good stuff for us,” which I persist in thinking chefs appreciate. We were not looking for any off-menu items; we were just letting the chef do what he does best, which is figure out how to make people happy with whatever is looking good in his pantry.

We started with a baccala which I thought was fantastic, but it wasn’t a dish that jumped out at me right away. I knew I liked it a lot because I kept returning to the cod fish pot for more (we had some other apps on the table, but this cured cod kept calling me back). I like salt, and I like the taste of fish, so salt-cured cod with capers is going to push the right buttons for me, but there were also herbal notes that pleased immensely. The sommelier, who reminded me of the young Udo Kier, poured us a flight of three whites, and this was just an excellent starter for a hot summer night. Funny exchange: The Wife looks at the bar rack and asks the young Udo, who I believe is actually named EVOO (no kidding – probably a nickname), about Hypnotiq. He offers to pour us samples, and after tasting we ask him what it is, and he says in a totally non-condescending way that he wasn’t sure, and that “I vouldn’t drink it.” Appreciate the honesty; I probably wouldn’t drink it again either.



On the carpaccio with salsa verde, The Wife and I split. She thought it was just wonderful, and this gave me pause as her gustatory sensibilities are better than mine (I’m not saying that to be gallant, which anyone who knows me knows I’m not). She raved about it, saying twice it was the best she ever had. I thought it was a misstep as the green sauce overwhelmed the subtle beef, so much so that all I tasted was sauce. It was a little imbalanced.



The gnocchetti di ricotta was made with semolina not potato flour and was very light with the pleasing Roman touch of topping it with artichoke. This, too, is a very fine summer dish, flavorful but not at all heavy (as no gnocchi should be), the slight bitter greenness of the artichoke balances the creaminess of the pasta punched up with a little parm, a lot of flavor without a lot of mass.



As I mentioned, we were not able to get to this place before they went tapas, but I like getting small portions (on principle) and can’t really say if the quality of the food has changed much with what seems a largely cosmetic modification of the plating system. I defer to those with prior experience to make that judgment.

I don’t know how you feel about reading LTHForum about a restaurant before going out to eat at that restaurant. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. In this instance, I did not, and if I had (and I have since eating there), I would have tried the ragu Bolognese. A few previous posters mentioned the lack of crowds, but last Wednesday the front dining room was over half full, which doesn’t seem bad for a neighborhood joint on a weeknight.

One advantage of half-full house was that we spent a lot of time speaking with this guy Landon, who was hosting that night. Turns out, Landon is an Iowa boy and so we talked about the Iowa State Fair, and we asked him about his favorite food there. He said, the giant turkey leg, which has always seemed a silly food to me, so big and blunt, but based on Landon’s rec, I got one.



It was remarkably good, very meaty and smoky, even kind of hammy. I wished we’d bought two extra to bring back to Illinois.

David Hammond wrote:I don’t know how you feel about reading LTHForum about a restaurant before going out to eat at that restaurant. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. In this instance, I did not, and if I had (and I have since eating there), I would have tried the ragu Bolognese.

Maybe the ragu Bolognese was just off the night I was there, but it was a real letdown for me. And I had very high expectations because that ragu has been perfect every time I've had it at their flagship, Merlo on Maple.

(Not a good) sign in the window reads "Temporarily Closed" with no further info.

The Merlo Restaurants website used to list 3 restaurants. Now only 2.