I Monelli

With a wood-burning pizza place popping up on every other corner these days, you have to admire the chutzpah of people who would open a place offering gourmet pizza cooked in a conventional Blodgett oven.

Three-month-old I Monelli is also located in a semi-fabled space at Western and Winnemac, as you'll read when perusing this thread.

I didn't have a chance to sample much of the menu (having dined on Food Network leftovers at WASC earlier in the day), but started with the baked scamorza over an arugula salad. The lightly dressed arugula was a nice offset to the richness of the slightly-melty cheese, and having greens on the plate helped me convince myself I was being healthy.

The pizza we ordered (actually a half-order, 9" rectangular pizza) with artichoke, olives, onion, and IIRC bacon, ordered with extra garlic) arrived in a rustic square shape on a pizza peel, cut into rectangles.


The crust was unlike any I've ever had. Slightly charred and crackly on the outside, ethereally light with a nice crispness in the interior. I later learned that one of the unusual things about making the crust is the dough's remarkably high water content - around 70%. Apparently, the dough has to rest quite a while before the semolina soaks up all that moisture, to get to anything resembling a workable stage. It's a technique I'll have to try sometime.

The bright, fresh flavor of the uncooked tomato sauce also showed through. The only disappointment was the extra garlic, which had a definite jarred flavor. With the pedigrees of the owner and chef (Pizza Metro, Pizzeria D.O.C.), you'd think they use fresh garlic. Still owner and chef were very friendly, making the rounds of the few occupied tables (about 25% occupied on a Friday night), and chatting freely.

It's worth another visit, when I have more room to sample the other offerings.

edit to add: BYOB

I Monelli
5019 N. Western
Chicago, IL
773-561-8499

We tried it with the family about a month ago. I also enjoyed the crispness of the crust, but that was really the best thing I thought the pizza had going for it. We got half sausage onion and garlic, half hawaiian (for the kids ) As I recall, the sausage wasn't bad, but it was somewhat bland and in small crumbles. The sauce and cheese were OK. Neither the garlic nor the onion really tasted right; now that you mention the issue with the garlic, I can see that that might have been the case with ours too, but I really don't know what they could have done to make the onion taste that way.

Although I enjoy their pizza immensely, I usualy order the oricheiette (or however you spell that) pasta with the greens and the nice kick of red pepper in an olive oil based sauce/dressing. My husband really liked their meat lasagna but he's not the most discerning - my fork wasn't fast enough to get a taste so I can't accurately report. I could be biased because it's only a 3 minute walk from my house and BYOB (with a small corkage) to boot, but I can't say I've had a bad meal there yet. Next trip I plan on trying the tortellini.

I've done delivery from I Monelli twice now, and both times were fast and delicious (by fast I mean under an hour which is hard to come by sometimes). The first time we tried the smoked scamorza and arugula, which was awesome and the pizza with artichokes, ham, mushrooms and olives--always a good best.
This past time we tried half sausage, half anchovies, the latter being the winner. And unfortunately they were out of the smoked cheese, but that gave us a chance to try the mozzarella and prosciutto salad.
I'm so glad to have I Monelli in the neighborhood. Previously I went for Apart Pizza, but this is a great alternative.

Do they have a website yet? I was thinking of ordering delivery tonight and was looking for an online menu, maybe.

NR706, I haven't seen olives that color since the late 60's.

No website I could find, but they're nice people, and if you give them a call, I'm sure they'd be happy to walk you through the menu.

I Monelli
5019 N. Western, Chicago
(773) 561-8499

PS - on my screen, they look like basic black olives - which is how they looked in person, too.

They do have a nice little, seemingly new Web site, here: http://www.imonelli.info/

[Roll your mice over the menu items to read pop-up descriptions of each.]

Going there for a second try this weekend, after having had a nice dinner there shortly after they opened. Maybe we'll try the pizza this time around.

Really wanted to be a fan of this place and was a frequent delivery client that is until they cussed me out for calling to check on order that they forgot. As hard as that is to imagine in a customer service establishment after a six month time out I tried them again and it happened again. Great pizza but not worth the verbal abuse and poor delivery record.

I'm going to have to say 'nay' on this one. Which is a shame because I live close. It's a cute little corner store front with faux brick painting, checkered tablecloths inside. We split an apple and gorgonzola salad which was nicely/lightly dressed (my preference) though the lettuce seemed to be from a bag. The special orzo and pancetta soup was a little oversalted and the pancetta tasted and looked like ham. We also split a square pizza margarita with the addition of roasted red peppers. The pizza had chopped roma tomatoes as well as tomato sauce--the pinkish out of season tomatoes didn't add anything. The medium thickness crisp/light crust was definitely better towards the periphery but a little too greasy and just really not my cup of tea. I should add that I generally prefer thin crust pizza. Overall, the pizza was undersalted. I'd consider going back to try the pastas but I wouldn't re-order any of the above.

I just place a delivery order on the recommendation of a co-worker. Like me, my co-worker has great taste in food and is picky, so I'm giving it a try. This thread has lowered my expectations - I will report back after my meal. I ordered a 18 inch, half saus/cheese and half hawaiian.

Rhythmdoctor wrote:I just place a delivery order on the recommendation of a co-worker. Like me, my co-worker has great taste in food and is picky, so I'm giving it a try. This thread has lowered my expectations - I will report back after my meal. I ordered a 18 inch, half saus/cheese and half hawaiian.

Ok, so that was quick. Delivery in less than 20 minutes, but I did order right at 5PM.

I gotta say, this was the most under-whelming pizza I've ever had. Even with lowered expectations, I was disappointed. There was just nothing good about it, not the sauce, not the crust and not the toppings. The ham tasted like the ham out of a 'Hot Pocket'. Everything was really less than mediocre and I'm shocked that my co-worker liked it so much. Sorry not much to report, just a bunch of meh and more meh.

I'm an iMonelli fan and I do like their pizza very much - sorry others haven't had such a great experience. I will say that this probably isn't the place that I would order a Hawaiian style pizza - I'd stick to the more traditional toppings. I had a nice meal there on Saturday night - we started out with a special fresh mozarella appetizer that also included mozarella creme (not quite sure what the exact definition would be but it was sort of like the mozarella ball had an extra creamy center). It was a tough choice becasue I LOVE their smoked scamorza cheese appetizer, but I'm glad we went for the special as it might not always be available. My husband and I split a very large spinach salad with artichoke hearts and goat cheese - greens were fresh & crisp and goat cheese was plentiful and creamy. Husband had the lasagna which he loves (and always orders), and I had the pollo al limone which was nicely done with a tangy lemon/caper sauce. Maybe I'm biased because it's only a 5 minute walk, but I have enjoyed everything I've had here and I've always had helpful service (sometimes a little flakey/slow but never rude) whether I've eaten in, carried out, or had delivery.

Following up on the under-appreciated Pizza Rustica, I finally got around to trying I Monelli's pizza. These two places serve a nearly identical style of pizza.

I was very impressed with I Monelli. I don't know what type of fat they're using in their dough, but it was rich, crispy and tasty. Perhaps not as rich and tasty as Rustica's, but my wife appreciated the decreased richness and I still enjoyed it very much. The potato & rosemary pizza was just as nicely balanced as Rustica's.

Personally, I'd choose Rustica as the leader of the pack for this style of pizza, but I Monelli is a reasonably close second place. Since I Monelli is significantly closer to my home, they're now my go-to pizzeria. I'm sorry it took me this long.

Best,
Michael

We ate at I Monelli last night. The place needs some love -- we arrived shortly after 8 and were the only people in the place. Everything we ate was excellent, the server was friendly and well-informed, and we were able to park almost directly in front, where there are no meters.

We started with a quarter of a Margharita pizza. The crust is thin and crispy, but not dry and crackery. I had buccatini amatriciana. The thick red sauce had just the right amount of heat and fat. My wife had the ravioli special - a house made Italian sausage with a cheese/cream sauce. Our only disappointment is that we didn't notice that we left the boxed left-over ravioli on the table until we got home.

With a $25 restaurant.com coupon and a reasonable corkage on BYOB, this was an excellent value, too.

I have to say, I do really like this place's pizza. I dunno what kind of style I would call it, but it is delicious. Really love the potato rosemary, IMHO their best flavor. Supposedly the pasta dishes are decent, but I'll never know since I'm too busy stuffing my face with potato and rosemary slices.

We order for delivery 1-2 times a month. They do a nice job - packaging, timely, temps, etc... We always order salads/pastas. We'll have to give the pizza a try soon.