Cuzzins - Italian comfort food in Des Plaines

Cuzzins, a northwest suburban outpost of Danny's Deli and Catering in Melrose Park, opened in Des Plaines last Wednesday. The restaurant is under the same ownership and features the same menu and prices as the Melrose Park location.

Our party of seven was warmly greeted with one of the wait staff insisting on personally escorting my 91 year old mother, who uses a walker, to the table making sure nothing was in her way. Before our drinks arrived there were baskets of Italian bread and bowls of red sauce for dipping on the table.

We had fried smelts, sausage and peppers and an artichoke heart for appetizers. The artichoke has great buttery and garlic flavor, and is heavily breaded. The sausage and peppers was great with the sausage having a nice texture and mix of spices. The fish lovers in the group enjoyed the smelts (count me out).

Five of us had pasta dishes that were cooked just right and had bountiful portions. The son in law had the neckbones that were fork tender and covered in red sauce. The potential son in law to be had the Giambotta - sauteed sausage, chicken and pork, served in a white wine and tomato sauce with peppers, mushrooms and onions. An excellent choice. We all brought leftovers home.

The sign in Des Plaines is right. Cuzzins, like Danny's in Melrose Park, puts out some very good Italian comfort food. Cuzzins, also like Danny's in Melrose Park, has that neighborhood ambiance and knows how to make you feel comfortable and welcome. Check it out.

Cuzzins
1881 Oakton
Des Plaines, IL
847-795-0009

I was excited to see this place opening on my way to work the other day..... after so many failed attempts before this place sounds great. Neckbones! exciting! I am looking forward to visiting and hoping it will stay around. I will update after I go, probably this weekend.

They were slammed tonight (and last night too according to the owner) but did a good job in keeping things cool. Only three cooks, new wait staff and 1 bus boy meant a long wait for the entrees but appetizers, salads and drinks were still handled efficiently. Most important to me, the neck bones were still making it out the swinging doors at 8.45. Good vibes and loud buzz through out the room. With basic, good and inexpensive southern Italian food like this, who isn't happy?

Cuzzins is a nice addition to a few blocks stretch of area that already has Paradise Pup, Taqueria Arandas (with the only pastor spit within miles), Rinconcito Hispano (pupusas) and Romano's (cracker thin crust pizza).

I rallied the troops within my family to meet here for a Sunday Italian feast only to discover they're closed on Sundays. Oops.... Time to regroup.

Went there Friday night, and had a great time. I had Pasta Alfredo, and my wife the lasagne, with a side of meat balls. I had a side of Italian Sausage, both were big time winners. The soup was great, as was the bread. Carl the owner came over to meet us, as we were the only strangers in the room. Spent about 10 minutes with him, and we told him how much we liked his place. In the conversation he mentioned the sausage was from Natolie's on Harlem, and we both agreed that they make some fine sausage,

In the news

Had lunch with a couple of co-workers today. We had a groupon we decided to take advantage of.

The menu is a replication of that at Danny's in Melrose Park. But, the execution wasn't.

My housemade rigatoni with vodka sauce and crumbled sausage was both a bit undercooked and a bit undersauced. The portion was huge and will make for at least one more in offcie lunch this week. Lunch compadres had the italian sub which looked great and the polenta with red sauce and sausage crumbles (which is one of my usual favorites). Was disappointed to see the dining room less than half full at lunch time.

Given that my office is only a few blocks from Danny's, i'm more likely to dine there in the future than at Cuzzin's.

YourPalWill wrote:Had lunch with a couple of co-workers today. We had a groupon we decided to take advantage of.

The menu is a replication of that at Danny's in Melrose Park. But, the execution wasn't.

My housemade rigatoni with vodka sauce and crumbled sausage was both a bit undercooked and a bit undersauced. The portion was huge and will make for at least one more in offcie lunch this week. Lunch compadres had the italian sub which looked great and the polenta with red sauce and sausage crumbles (which is one of my usual favorites). Was disappointed to see the dining room less than half full at lunch time.

Given that my office is only a few blocks from Danny's, i'm more likely to dine there in the future than at Cuzzin's.

Nice running into you yesterday, Will.

I've never been to Danny's but after seeing it featured on Check, Please! a couple of years back, the image of those neckbones entered my brain and never really left. Finally, yesterday, I got to try them at Cuzzin's. From what Will says above, the places aren't comparable and that's a relief because for me, the neckbones at Cuzzin's were far less than the sum of their parts. Yes, the meat on them was tender but they tasted like they'd been boiled, then added to the sauce and not cooked for very long at all. For a plate-full of slowly cooked meaty bones to be so lacking in richness was a tremendous let-down. There was no of depth of flavor like one would typically expect from a braise.

I enjoyed the other items I ate, though. Sausage, Bean and Escarole soup was tasty, as was an order of crispy fried smelts that my friend ordered as an appetizer. His main course -- Sausage with Fried Romaine (and lots of garlic) -- was tasty, too. Ironically, before I ordered, I looked around the room and just about everything I saw on other tables looked great (as did much of the menu)...but I only spied one other order of neckbones in the whole place. Still, that's what I was there to try and I stuck to my plan. As it turns out, I should have heeded my own observations. The one other person had who'd ordered the neckbones didn't seem particularly pleased with them. Maybe this is just an item that's better at dinner than at lunch.

In any case, the sandwiches, pastas and other items around the room looked damn good and even though I'd not liked their signature item, I took a carry-out menu and do plan to order lunch from Cuzzin's again soon...but I won't be wasting any real estate on the neckbones again.

=R=

I ate here the other night and it was good, like Danny's not outstanding. My pasta was very undercooked, I told the waitress and she said there would be a long wait because the pasta is all pre-cooked and the kitchen was short staffed and busy. They did take it off the bill and were very nice about it. The sausage was really tasty and, like Danny's, everyone knew eachother in fun Soprano fashion.

I ate here a few weeks ago. I have to say, the pasta was about as awful as anything I've ever had at a restaurant. Lots of it but it was like eating glue. Totally overcooked as was everyone's dish and there was about 20 people in the place counting the nine of us. Someone had the neck bones and he liked them but wasted overwhelmed by them.

ronnie_suburban wrote:I've never been to Danny's but after seeing it featured on Check, Please! a couple of years back, the image of those neckbones entered my brain and never really left. Finally, yesterday, I got to try them at Cuzzin's. From what Will says above, the places aren't comparable and that's a relief because for me, the neckbones at Cuzzin's were far less than the sum of their parts. Yes, the meat on them was tender but they tasted like they'd been boiled, then added to the sauce and not cooked for very long at all. For a plate-full of slowly cooked meaty bones to be so lacking in richness was a tremendous let-down. There was no of depth of flavor like one would typically expect from a braise.

=R=

Very surprising to hear this as I get the neck bones on Wednesday evenings, on a carryout basis, about once a month and find them quite tasty with a richness and far from boiled taste. I've always seen a maillard reaction browning on them as I tend to scrape off the gravy being a sauce on the side kind of guy. Once I did get an almost fried in oil taste but never the boiled meat thing going on. I certainly trust Ronnie's palate so I wonder what's going on and will be quite vigilant on my next order.

T Comp wrote:I've always seen a maillard reaction browning on them . . .

Yeah, that's what I was looking for but didn't find it visually or flavor-wise. Again, this was my first and only visit, so please, take my experience for what it's worth. Next time in, I'll order something else and get some neckbones for all of us to share, and for "research."

=R=

Cuzzins has been renamed and the new place hasn't opened in months, I'm guessing closed for good. FYI.

They changed the name to Cugino's awhile ago and were open under that name for a few months before they closed completely.

If you were a fan of Cuzzin's and crave their food, Carl and Paula are now at Paula's, 9400 W. Grand Ave. in Franklin Park, less than 20 minutes from the former Cuzzin's location. The menu is largely similar to the menu at Cuzzin's, except I recalled lunch size pastas at Cuzzin's and they only had more expensive entree pastas at Paula's. But all of the sandwiches and the housemade chips, parmesan chips, vesuvio potatoes . . . they're all there.