Luna Caprese

My dining destination for tomorrow night used to be BYOB, but they got their liquor license this week. Nevertheless, they're honoring a no-corkage fee BYOB policy for the rest of the week. It's in the old Bistro Ultra space.

Here's the Metromix listing:

Luna Caprese
2239 N. Clybourn Ave.
773-281-4825

This cozy southern Italian eatery from chef-owner Pietro Cristillo, who hails from Caprese, Italy, offers a menu of Italian classics with a focus on house-made pastas like ravioli and pappardelle. Other specialties include scialatielli (house-made short, flat pasta) with clams and mussels in a cherry tomato sauce and green spinach gnocchi in a butter sage sauce. Desserts are all house-made and include tiramisu and an almond an chocolate "caprese" cake. Head here now and save while they wait for the liquor license (temporary BYOB, no corkage fee).

Hours: 5-11 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday-Thursday; 5-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday; closed Monday

nr706,

I recognize you greatly appreciate the BYO concept in Chicago. Now that this restaurant has acquired their liquor license, will the lack of BYO cause you not to visit?

In a parallel situation, yesterday I had lunch with a friend. We were considering going to specific restaurant, then realized we forgot the coupon at home. We went somewhere else and postponed our visit until we had our coupon. I suggest this may be where coupons or other special offers may backfire causing someone not to visit because they cannot get the deal they expect.

What do you think?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:nr706,

I recognize you greatly appreciate the BYO concept in Chicago. Now that this restaurant has acquired their liquor license, will the lack of BYO cause you not to visit?

My not very helpful answer is .. it depends. If the food's great (and remember, I haven't tried it yet) I might. But, unless it's a blow-out dinner, I really prefer BYO's, because they tend to be smaller, family-run ethnic places, and I 've got some very nice wines in my cellar (well, okay, my basement) that I don't get to open very often (unless we're having friends over, and that's not happening until I finish the remodeling of the downstairs bathroom).

But the short answer is, BYO is a big plus in my book (hence our proclivity to head over to Think Café if we’re trying to somewhere else and it doesn’t appeal).

It is actually a little more complicated. Usually, liquor subsidizes food. So everything equal, restaurants with liquor licences should have cheaper food. Or quality might improve with a liquor licence (if one is allowed a liquor licence, they might be able to hire a better chef...)

But, I agree that Byo restaurants tend to be more of a local "mom and pop" production (at least in Chicago where getting a liquor licence is less costly than other places)...
Elie

I know the Internets tell us that Don Pie' is from Caprese (home of Michelangelo), but I'm betting he actually hails from Capri. If I am right, I would try anything with shellfish.

I expect that his Luna Caprese is less lachrymose than the song of the same name by Connie Francis.

Choey wrote:I know the Internets tell us that Don Pie' is from Caprese (home of Michelangelo), but I'm betting he actually hails from Capri. If I am right, I would try anything with shellfish.

Maybe the chef-owner is just having fun playing off the seeming* relatedness of the names Capri / Caprese but, going along with Choey, I would guess too from the presence of scialatiellë that it's more likely he's from Capri and the Metromixers just mixed it up. That very interesting and still rather local form of pasta is supposed to have originated in Amalfi but is nowadays made more broadly in central/southern Campania.

Antonius

*'Seeming' insofar as there are two different places, the town Caprese in Tuscany(<*Caprensis) and the island Capri near Naples in Campania. And of course, caprese is also the adjective that goes with Capri.

Feeling completely intimidated by GAF’s Trotter review, I’ll stumble through a rough description of last night’s meal at Luna Caprese. Overall, it was a somewhat surprisingly good meal. As usual, we shared. I didn’t take notes, so the descriptions might be a bit sketchy, but here’s the best I can do.

We had the scialatielli (basically a fettucine that’s never been to Jenny Craig), which provided a nice, slightly chewy contrast to the clams and mussels. We were a bit concerned that the cherry tomato sauce might be a bit heavy, marinara-style, but it wasn’t – little bits of tomato in a light stock-based sauce.

But before that we started with grilled calamari – very good, but would have been better had it been pulled off the grill about 15 seconds earlier. As the waiter was dividing up the calamari between two plates (thus destroying the presentation – we usually share from one plate for something like this, but we weren’t given that option), he asked if either of us liked the “legs.” So of course I had to respond that I didn’t know squid had legs, but I did like the tentacles.

Then we went to the tricolore salad – lettuce (I think it might have been a bibb), arugula and (I believe) feta, with Belgian endive – wouldn’t blow anyone away, but it was tasty and refreshing.

The other entrée was tilapia – it was good (though not as good as the scialatielli); it was a special, but I really don’t remember the details. So sue me.

We skipped dessert.

It was all paired with an outstanding Daydream sauvignon blanc, which we got last year at Reverie http://www.reveriewine.com on Diamond Mountain in Calistoga (where the winery tour is combined with a scavenger hunt). And you have to admire a place where the owner uses his son’s name for their second label (the son is Andrew S. Kiken, so of course they have some ASKiken wines). Unfortunately, now that Luna Caprese has its liquor license, I doubt you’ll be able to get it there. You might have to go to The French Laundry to get it, instead.

One strange point – the obsequious waiter. At least he dropped the fake Italian accent halfway through the meal. I can only hope that management didn’t encourage this.

nr706 wrote:We had the scialatielli (basically a fettucine that’s never been to Jenny Craig), which provided a nice, slightly chewy contrast to the clams and mussels. We were a bit concerned that the cherry tomato sauce might be a bit heavy, marinara-style, but it wasn’t – little bits of tomato in a light stock-based sauce.

The slightly chewy texture is right; they're made with milk and often also parsley and cheese in the dough.

One strange point – the obsequious waiter. At least he dropped the fake Italian accent halfway through the meal. I can only hope that management didn’t encourage this.

Yikes. Maybe he got tired from being on his tentacles all evening.

Thanks for the report.

Antonius

I recently discovered this wonderful little Italian restaurant, and while I hope it doesn't become so popular, it gets hard to get into (looks like no more than 45 or so seating), I think it's a winner anyone might want to try. We've been there twice in the past two weeks, both times as a party of four, so I've been able to taste several of the dishes.

As hinted at in prior posts, the scialiatielli is spectacular. I've never seen this type of pasta anywhere else in the city, and it's a treat. Perfectly cooked al dente rods of pasta with visible bits of parsley mixed in, we had it both times in the restaurant's cherry tomato sauce, which, while not spicey, sets the tastebuds dancing for joy. Antonius really knows his regional foods, as we found out the young chef/owner, Pietro, is, in fact from Capri. Pietro makes all of his own pasta, and believe me, you'll tell the difference.

I've tried the grilled calamari, tender and flavorful; a chicken special I don't remember the exact name of, but it was a pounded breast, lightly breaded, and rolled around prosciutto and cheese - it was terrific. We were early last night, and chef Pietro was out and about, and I asked him if he could make a dish I'd had in Malta several years ago. It was a sort of frittata, made with linguini, crumbled sausage and cheese, then pan fried until just a bit crispy on the outside. He accommodated me, and the result was exactlly right, and brought back memories of the beautiful restaurant in Malta, on a hillside overlooking the water on a warm summer night.

The wine list is very reasonable. Last night we drank two bottles of a 2004 Blue Moon Pinot Noir, $29/each. Nice, smooth, fruity - went well with each of our courses. We really like this place. A lot. Because we tend to dine early, parking along Clybourn within a half block of the restaurant has not been a problem. And one more time, DO NOT pass up the chance to try the scialiatielli.

Luna Caprese Trattoria
2239 N. Clybourn
Chicago, IL 60614
773-281-4825

marydon2 wrote:As hinted at in prior posts, the scialiatielli is spectacular. I've never seen this type of pasta anywhere else in the city, and it's a treat. Perfectly cooked al dente rods of pasta with visible bits of parsley baked in, we had it both times in the restaurant's cherry tomato sauce, which, while not spicey, sets the tastebuds dancing for joy. Antonius really knows his regional foods, as we found out the young chef/owner, Pietro, is, in fact from Capri. Pietro makes all of his own pasta, and believe me, you'll tell the difference.

md2,

Many thanks for the compliment...

... and I asked him if he could make a dish I'd had in Malta several years ago. It was a sort of fritatta, made with linguini, crumbled sausage and cheese, then pan fried until just a bit crispy on the outside. He accommodated me, and the result was exactlly right, and brought back memories of the beautiful restaurant in Malta, on a hillside overlooking the water on a warm summer night.

I'm jealous; I'd love to go to Malta. But also, what an outstanding bit of service on the part of Pietro.

I regret not having remembered nr706's advice and gone there and now am very grateful for the update and reminder. Nice post.

Antonius

marydon2 wrote:As hinted at in prior posts, the scialiatielli is spectacular. I've never seen this type of pasta anywhere else in the city, and it's a treat. Perfectly cooked al dente rods of pasta with visible bits of parsley mixed in, we had it both times in the restaurant's cherry tomato sauce, which, while not spicey, sets the tastebuds dancing for joy. Antonius really knows his regional foods, as we found out the young chef/owner, Pietro, is, in fact from Capri. Pietro makes all of his own pasta, and believe me, you'll tell the difference.

The scaliatielli at Lunda Caprese really is terrific, so good that next time I'll just ask for it with some melted butter because, unfortunately, Luna Caprese makes some pretty lousy sauces. The cherry tomatoes with shrimp were a watery and flavorless mess that really detracted from the flavorful, pleasantly chewy noodles. Linguine alla volgole also had well-cooked pasta with bland, watery sauce.