Piatto Pronto - Italian deli in Andersonville

A quick search resulted in no previous mentions of Piatto Pronto. A friend who used to live a block away raved about this place. My experience is limited -- I've ordered sandwiches to go both times, so I haven't explored the store as much as I'd like. Besides the deli, there are a variety of dried and fresh pastas and other Italian products. I can say that the sandwiches are pretty darn good and a great value. A few weeks ago, I had the Garden Di Tuscany (onion, roasted red pepper, cucumbers, olives, fresh mozzarella, marinated artichokes, lettuce, tomato, oil and vinegar or tapenade) and Mr. X had the Spanish Lover (imported serrano ham, manchego cheese and tapenade). Sandwiches are huge. We ordered 6" subs and they were easily 10". My sandwich had a great balance of crunchy bread, creamy mozzarella and different flavors and textures from the vegetables. Mr. X's sandwich had great flavor, but was a little dry. 6" subs are around $5, 12" around $7. They also have a variety of salads in the deli case and on the menu. We'll be back.

Piatto Pronto
5624 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60660-4109
(773) 334-5688
http://chicago.menupages.com/restaurant ... ronto/menu
(the website for the restaurant isn't working)

Thanks to the GP for that discovery.
After reading your post I did not waste time and went there around 1:30 . I ordered the Dolce Di Parma. What a delicious and rich experience it was.
The gentleman who officiates at the cash register-kitchen-deli counter at the entrance of Piatto Pronto was very efficient and quick in putting together that treat of a sandwich. When I specified that I wanted a 6 " with oil and vinegar as my choice rather than with tapenade, he asked me if I liked pesto. Of course I said. He then proceeded to cut an about 8" long section of a very fresh and very good tasting baguette that he sliced in 2 sections in its length. He spread some pesto all over both pieces of bread. Then he picked a good size Prosciuto di Parma ham (imported from Italy) from the cooler, trimmed the outer rim of skin and fat and sliced 3 very perfect slices of that beauty that he added to 2 slices of ripe tomato and some finely crushed sun dried tomatoes. He then added about 4 or 5 tiny balls of fresh mozzarella and drizzled delicately the whole thing with a mix of oil and vinegar before closing the sandwich and cutting it in two pieces.
I do not remember eating an Italian sandwich with such good quality components and assembled with such a dexterity and "savoir-faire" for a long time. Especially when you pay only $4.99 for that sandwich.
Next week you can be sure that I'll go back there to try the Cielo Panino, that includes Genoa salami, Italian Copa, Grilled zuchini, Roasted red peppers, with Jarlsberg cheese and a spread of tapenade with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. It must be something.
I took the time to walk around the store but did not spot any out of the ordinary Italian product that you would not find in similar shops in anay of the Italian neighborhoods of Chicago.

This is in our hood and where we go to buy Sopressata (mild) for my little guy who loves all cured meats. The owners used to work together at Treasure Island and decided they wanted to be their own bosses. They are super friendly, and I don't know how anyone could justify buying a nasty, squishy sandwich at the Subway just spitting distance away when you could get a really amazing sandwich with much higher quality ingredients for the same or lower price. They are really great are remembering you after just one or two visits and have been super gracious and generous with a couple of mistakes. (A new counter person sliced up sopressata hot and when I brought it back they gave me not a half pound but a pound to apologize.) Sure, they don't have the scope of product like Whole Foods or Fox & Obel but they are what I like to think of as my north side younger cousin version of Bari. They don't have the depth of Italian specialties as Bari (or their own rocking giardinera) but I am still very happy to have them within walking distance. The sandwiches travel very, very well to both the lakefront and Millennium Park concerts. I can vouch for that!

bjt

alain40 wrote:Especially when you pay only $4.99 for that sandwich.

Damn!

I guess that'll teach me to go north of Bryn Mawr on Clark from now on!

Thanks to the GP and alain40 for some mouth-watering investigation. Too bad it's only 7:12 a.m. right now.

I stopped by here for an early lunch on my way downtown and had mixed reactions. The grocery portion is nice, cluttered the way I like it, and has more than a few interesting items including truffle honey (with actual pieces of truffle), fresh cut pasta in the fridge, homemade soups and various odds and ends. Useful for the neighborhood I think.

My lady and I ordered two sandwiches - me the Napolitano and she the Spanish Lover (someone should have told her it was just a sandwich). The Napolitano was billed as salami, sopressata and prosciutto coto. The Spanish Lover was jamon Iberico and Manchego. Both came with lettuce and tomatoes and gardiniera on request.

The deli guy prepared my girl's sandwich first, and it looked absolutely lovely, a generous portion of freshly-shaved Iberico and thick chunks of hand cut Manchego. Generous gardiniera as well. The only downside was the bread, which I could tell was soft and mushy. It looks like they are using the same Damato long sandwich loaves that Bari uses, so I have a feeling the lack of crispness had to do more with today's humid weather than old bread. So far so good.

As soon as old boy started prepping my sandwich, things went noticeably downhill. Rather than grabbing ingredients out of the deli case, he reached into the bins next to the sliced veggies and pulled out what looked like 7-11 salami, cheap and floppy pepperoni (a far cry from dry sopressata) and sliced krakus ham. For real. Napolitano? More like Napervillitano. And I noticed that the vinaigrette was some kind of prepared product labeled "sub topping" or some such nonsense. Before I could say anything, the bottom half of my sandwich was flooded an oily, dark residue that looked like it belonged on a beach somewhere in the Louisiana. They give you an option of tapanade instead of oil/vinegar. I recommend people go with that, or avoid either altogether.

As we ate our sandwiches the difference in taste bore out what I saw in the preparation - it was like we had ordered sandwiches from two completely different places. One was carefully constructed with good ingredients, clearly a notch above most sandwich joints in Chicago. The other was better than Jimmy Johns, but that isn't saying much.

On the upside, I suppose, everything was cheap. My Crapolitano was $3.99, but now my stomach hurts. My girl's was $5.99, was in a totally different league, and her stomach is really happy right now.

*Edited a lot because I f'ing hate reading things before submitting. Been this way since elementary school.