Italian Suggestions

Recently on Check Please! they featured all of the "best" Italian restaurants in Chicagoland, but I'd still like to hear from you all.

I am taking our adminstrative assistant out for a birthday dinner this Friday evening, around 5 p.m. Just some background: she is 55 and I'm 26. A girls' evening out!

We work in the hospital district, and prefer to stay near here, though it doesn't have to be on Taylor street/walking distance (I will drive) by any means.

Price is not a huge issue. Wine selection isn't on the top of the priority list.

I'm looking for a pretty straight up menu, nothing too fancy. Just some outstanding dishes like chicken parmesean, lasagna or other red sauce preparations.

TIA!

Most of the faux-chic reviewers on 'Check Please!' wouldn't know good Italian if it hit 'em in the head...

I'm partial to Bruna's at 2424 S. Oakley, but doing a search on this forum will reveal many gems by fellow LTH'ers that would do just as well.

Bruna's does seem like the obvious first choice based on your post. A lot depends on your guest. Does she get around? Has she been to lots of places around town? Is she Italian? Does she cook? Will she be more comfortable in a less formal surrounding or would she really enjoy a bit of glam? A handful of possibilities, depending on the answers to these questions, would include along with Bruna's:

Cafe Spiaggia
Trattoria Roma
Vinci
Merlo
The Francesca's family

All great questions:

She does not get around. She is NOT Italian. She is definitely not a foodie. I'd prefer casual to fancy so not to intimidate her too much, though nice enough to celebrate a birthday.

I'd compare it to taking out a suburban mom.

Bruna's looks like your most convenient option and no slouch in the food department. Cafe Spiaggia might add a note of glitz with being up on N. Mich. and the whole ambience, without being intimidating at all.

What about Tufano's Vernon Park Tap, or Genaro's - both in the Taylor St. district? I also like Bertucci's at 24th & Princeton - a decent neighborhood Italian restaurant in the middle of Chinatown. None of these three places has a lot of flash, nor high prices, nor wild and crazy parties going on . . . but the food is solid and the prices reasonable, and they're close to the area in which you're working.