Filichia: meatball hero heaven

Driving up Western in an area filled with tire shops, Polish dive bars and delis, and one or two hipster hangouts, I spotted this intriguing place out of the corner of my eye:

Filichia:


Inside, I found a store with mostly barren shelves that did have some interesting Italian sodas and syrups, seating for about 20, and a deli counter up front. From behind the counter, a friendly guy took a break from chopping onions to tell me a little about the place. Filichia has been around for about 6 months, and wants to be an old-school Italian deli with a focus on eat-in and takeout prepared foods in addition to a few hard-to-find Italian products. Business has been slow, but he says they're committed to earning a reputation by using only the best and freshest ingredients, and preparing as much as is reasonable from scratch.



Meatball Hero:


The menu calls this a "sandwich" rather than a hero, but friendly-guy said it's modeled after a life-altering hero he had at someplace in Brooklyn that's been written about in the NY Times. The "secret" to that one, he said, was the addition of creamy ricotta. I agree that the ricotta added a very nice element to the sandwich, but what won me over even more was the terrific house made red sauce, which was just perfect. Add some outstanding crisp and light bread from Biondillo, which I think competes favorably with D'Amato's, and you get one hell of a meatball sandwich, or hero, or whatever.

Filichia has about a half-dozen sandwich options in addition to this one, plus a number of pastas, all of which use the same good red sauce, and some prepared salads that I didn't try.


Filichia Food & Imports
959 N. Western Ave
(773) 697-8061

Biondillo Bakery
4900 West Division Street
(773) 921-8282

Stopped by Filichia yesterday to try to meatball sub. Fantastic! Crispy bread, gooey, flavorful provolone and home-made meatballs and marinara - all for $5. Thanks for the heads up.

Right as I was paying, the guy behind the counter laid out two really gorgeous-looking pizzas. Apparently they've been serving them for only a week. Has anyone had a chance to try one?

In another post, I asked if anyone had tried the pizza at Filichia (after having tried a phenomenal meatball sub there two days ago). Well, I couldn't wait for a response, so I stopped by for a slice this afternoon. Let me say that I am ecumenical when it comes to pizza -- I love the various Chicago styles (pan, stuffed, cracker crust), Neopolitan, Cal-Ital, New Haven, New York, Sicilian, etc., etc..

I would be very interested in hearing the NY partisans in Chicago weigh in on Filichia. It seemed to me to be a NY Style pie, and was certainly delicious. Medium-thick crust, crispy on the bottom, but still foldable, not too saucy. I had a piece with home-made sausage and mild giardinera. It was outstanding. Sorry that I didn't snap a pic (I have a thing about doing that in restaurants...), but the slice was gigantic (a 20" pie, cut into six pieces). At $4.50 is was not cheap, but just as satisfying and filling as two regular take-out slices, I would say.

Mark my words now -- with the quality of the ingredients, the TLC given to preparation, and the passion these young guys put into what they are doing, Filichia is going to take off soon.

Filichia Food & Imports
959 N. Western Ave
(773) 697-8061

Dr K - very nice to hear about a fellow Filichia fan's recent experience. One possible correction: unless things have changed, I don't think the meatballs in that hero are homemade. When I asked, friendly-guy told me they use a high quality brand, and I agreed with him (and you) that they were very good.

After a not-so-rave review from a friend ("I think it's a front for something, the shelves are all bare and I wasn't sure if I could order from the menu or not") I decided to see for myself. I ordered the eggplant parmesan dinner and a side of antipasto. The eggplant parm is very thin breaded eggplant slices (as I like it) served on top of a mound of spaghetti. It was piping hot and a steal at $5.95. The antipasto has generous chunks of artichoke hearts, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, olives and peppercorn salami in a vinaigrette. Also a great deal for $2.95 for about 1/2 lb. The service was not particularly friendly but I heard one of the young men working behind the counter say it's a family run business and since business hasn't been so great they haven't stocked their shelves. They had about 6-8 fresh salads in the case and were offering a gnocchi with pesto alfredo special today I believe. I will definitely return to try their Italian sub and have the eggplant parm again.

Did they have the meatball hero available?

To be honest I didn't pay much attention to the sandwich menu. It is not an expansive menu so I'm sure you could call and ask them.

i stopped by for some takeout yesterday. i took home a slice of thin crust cheese pizza and an order of eggplant involtini. the friendly, younger brother was the only one working. he said his older brother is the 'real pizza maker' and is out of town. so i'll give the pizza another try-this slice had almost no cheese and no sauce on it. very thin crust, no seasonings. not good. but the involtini, paper thin slices of eggplant, breaded and stuffed with a voluptuous ricotta filling and lightly sauced with the somewhat bitter marinara was fantastic. i hope it appears regularly on their menu as i look forward to having it again. justjoan

Just stopped at Lincolnwood Produce and found that they sell Biondillo baguettes - I'm really, really happy with them! Crisp exterior, chewy crumb, just holey enough. Glad to see that they're known to LTH.

Filichia closed earlier this month. I'm not really surprised given the inconsistent hours they kept. We only made it there once. Every time we drove by at a time we'd expect them to be open for lunch/dinner, they'd be closed.