House-made Italian Pastas in Chicago

The recent discussion of Terragusto's excellent pastas got me thinking about the availability of freshly made, Italian pastas in Chicago restaurants. Specifically, noodles like tagliatelle or fettuccine or even the broader pappardelle (not filled pastas, which I would guess it much more common to find house-made).

My initial thinking was that I'd be shocked if there were ten places in Chicago that made their own Italian noodles. I can come up with three right off the bat, but I'm guessing that others can add to this list:

1) Terragusto
2) Merlo
3) Spiaggia (and Cafe Spiaggia)

Best,
Michael

Terragusto
1851 W. Addison
773-248-2777

Merlo
2638 N Lincoln Ave
(773) 529-0747
http://www.merlochicago.com/

Spiaggia and Cafe Spiaggia
980 North Michigan Avenue, Level 2
312-280-2750
http://www.spiaggiarestaurant.com/

Off the top of my head I can think of at least 2:

Leonardo's
5657 N Clark St
Chicago, 60660
(773) 561-5028

Caro Mio
1827 w wilson, chicago.
(773) 275 - 5000.

I have always liked Gioco and I believe all of their pastas are made in-house, although that is not entirely clear from their menu:

http://www.gioco-chicago.com/

I'm a big fan of Merlo, particularly their house made pastas. As a side note, Merlo has a second location closer to downtown:

Merlo on Maple
16 W. Maple
312.335.8200

There used to be some place up north called something pasta that apparently is very good, it might be more of a pasta store than restaurant not quite sure.

J

Add to that list Tuscany, Rosebud and (like it or not) Pompei. Also, does Francesca's on Taylor make theur own?

Tuscany
1014 W. Taylor
Chicago, IL
312-829-1990

Rosebud Cafe
1500 W Taylor
Chicago, IL
312-942-1117

Pompei
1531 W. Taylor
Chicago, IL
312-421-5179

Luna Caprese on Clybourn Ave serves several house made raviolis and pappardelle.



Luna Caprese
2239 N. Clybourn Ave

The assumption that there is little hand made pasta in Chicago, while potentially reasonable given the lack of respect the segment gets here, is not correct.

Just about every stuffed, filled, or rolled Italian pasta in Chicago is hand made. But you did say "noodles," which narrows the list considerably.

Still, there are very many. All of the Tuscany/Phil Stefani places have fresh noodles made locally. Indeed, the maccheroni alla Cipriani at the old Stefani's featured wide, eggy ribbons that were things of beauty. The tagliatelle at Sabatino's is house made and very good (I substitute it in for any number of pastas, as in zuppa di mare, which otherwise comes with linguine); as the poster said, same too for Rosebud. Pasta Palazzo, Coco Pazzo, certainly. Club Lucky's "pasta squares," the tagliatelle at Gioco, even the fettuccine at Italian Village are house made. Indeed, the pastas at the humble lunch time places Venice Cafe and Pompei, as mentioned, are made in house. I think the point is made, so I'll stop.

Two lessons are to be learned from this: house made pastas are not necessarily good pastas,* and house made pastas are very easy to find around Chicago.

If you expand your boundaries past Italy, Chicago is rife with great handmade Polish, Bohemian, even German pasta.

My main question is: considering how good it can be (see Katy's, and putting aside the fresh Vietnamese pasta that is everywhere on Argyle), why is there so little fresh Asian pasta here and elsewhere else in the US? Ramen, anyone?

*For example, the low point of my meal at Babbo in NYC a few months back was the tough, overworked house made pappardelle. A high-quality, well prepared dried pasta would have been much better.

JeffB wrote:Just about every stuffed, filled, or rolled Italian pasta in Chicago is hand made. But you did say "noodles," which narrows the list considerably.

I did say noodles because I was also working under the assumption that house-made filled pastas are extremely common, and as the shape of the cut gets smaller, the house-made nature of pastas becomes less common.

JeffB wrote:Two lessons are to be learned from this: house made pastas are not necessarily good pastas...

So, now we have uncovered my slightly-hidden agenda: To get people to sing about the spots that they love that they know make their own pasta. Reading my original post again, I should have been a little more explicit about asking for people's opinions about them. I was hoping that people would list places and say something about them, such as, "Ristorante X makes their own linguini, but it's usually gummy while Ristorante Y makes a delicious version in house", rather than just a list.

House-made anything doesn't necessarily mean that it will be better.

JeffB wrote:The assumption that there is little hand made pasta in Chicago, while potentially reasonable given the lack of respect the segment gets here, is not correct.

JeffB wrote:...and house made pastas are very easy to find around Chicago.

Good. That's what I was hoping to find. I'm happy to be shown that my assumption was incorrect.

So, let's give the segment some respect.

Best,
Michael

A couple more notes:

JeffB wrote:If you expand your boundaries past Italy, Chicago is rife with great handmade Polish, Bohemian, even German pasta.

My general level of disappointment with Italian food in Chicago created the specificity in my question.

JeffB wrote:My main question is: considering how good it can be (see Katy's, and putting aside the fresh Vietnamese pasta that is everywhere on Argyle), why is there so little fresh Asian pasta here and elsewhere else in the US? Ramen, anyone?

Hey! Start your own damn thread!

Well, I am not sure that the segment I meant (Italian food in Chicago) deserves that much respect these days. I certainly have my favorites, and I feel strongly that Chicago has the single best Italian restaurant in the country (and it's not Il Mulino), but it seems to me that Italian is not where it should be and indeed is not where it was even a decade ago when we had places such as the original Carlucci, Risotteria Nord, La Locanda, Trattoria Parma, and places such as Francesca's, Tuscany and Coco Pazzo were still very fresh and on top of their game.

Maybe good Italian will sneak back in through the eastward progression from the Costa Brava to the Cote d'Azur to la Riviera dei Fiori ...

JeffB wrote:My main question is: considering how good it can be (see Katy's, and putting aside the fresh Vietnamese pasta that is everywhere on Argyle), why is there so little fresh Asian pasta here and elsewhere else in the US? Ramen, anyone?

Americans would hardly stand for the smell which results from the production of khanõm jiin.*

E.M.

* Here in the U.S., dried somen noodles are the most common substitute.

JeffB wrote:and I feel strongly that Chicago has the single best Italian restaurant in the country (and it's not Il Mulino)

Spiaggia, or are you teasing us with something we wouldn't suspect?

JeffB wrote:but it seems to me that Italian is not where it should be and indeed is not where it was even a decade ago

I'm glad to hear someone else say that. I haven't been able to decide for myself whether it's the restaurant scene or me that has changed, but it does seem to me like ten years ago Italian food was one of our glories and it's much less so today. I'm sure partly I'm better educated by now, and there are a few stellar spots, but the general level of Italian places seems more mediocre than it did several years ago.

The 8-finger cavatelli here at the Grotto is hand made by our Chef Abraham's sister, Luz. She also makes the same pasta for their brother Ramon who owns Bella Notte on Grand. I asked why it's called "eight-finger" cavatelli, and was told it's due to the process of making the pasta - it's rolled into a strip just with her fingers, then pinched off into the small shape. I'm not sure how it's served at Bella Notte, but at the Grotto you can get the pasta with any one of our fresh made sauces (my favorites are the Vodka Cream or Marinara).

Grotto On State
1030 N. State St
Chicago
312-280-1005
www.grottoonstate.com

Bella Notte
1374 W Grand Ave
Chicago
(312) 733-5136

btw - in a couple of weeks the Grotto will be unveiling our new Italian Small Plate Menu - I'll post on the Professional Board what some of the menu choices and prices will be.....

DMChicago wrote:Luna Caprese on Clybourn Ave serves several house made raviolis and pappardelle.

Luna Caprese
2239 N. Clybourn Ave

I had the gnocchi in sage butter sauce at Luna Caprese last night, and I thought it was pretty good. I must say, I am not a huge fan of fresh pasta, odd as that may sound, because I feel it's very difficult (and maybe impossible) to cook it to a toothsome al dente -- it seems pasta may need to "dry out" to gain the tensile strength required for al dente-ness.

Still, the gnocchi were good, very simple, and fluffy.

Here's Steve Dolinsky on house-made pasta: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=News&id=3315036

Hammond

Jstevens75 wrote:There used to be some place up north called something pasta that apparently is very good, it might be more of a pasta store than restaurant not quite sure.

J,

Is this a text-based Guess the Restaurant entry?

Ok, I'll play. Pasta Fresh on Harlem Ave.

Enjoy,
Gary

Pasta Fresh
3418 N. Harlem Ave
Chicago, IL
773-745-5888

There are many food companies in Chicago that make fresh pastas and delivers them to the restaurants daily.

Unless you see em making it before your very eyes, how can you be so sure?

Mostly because they say so, on the menu or otherwise. You are correct though.

Making basic egg noodles isn't rocket science. If the labor costs make sense, why not do it in the kitchen. I mean, most every Polish place in the city makes pierogi by hand, including the pasta part, and sells them for almost nothing.

I don't think anyone's yet mentioned the house-made pastas at the tiny La Cucina Di Donatella. The place had many service problems early on, but the service and what comes out of the kitchen seem to have improved markedly in recent months. Admittedly, the high-tech plastic chairs may not be to everyone's taste, but on the other hand, it is BYOB.

La Cucina di Donatella
2221 W. Howard St., Chicago

DMChicago wrote:Luna Caprese on Clybourn Ave serves several house made raviolis and pappardelle.

Luna Caprese
2239 N. Clybourn Ave

And, as I suggested on my April 20th post on the Luna Caprese thread, the scialatielli chef Pietro produces in his kitchen, with its visible flecks of parsley a flavorful part of the pasta noodles, is both unusual and absolutely delicious

On the subject of housemade pastas: I've searched and can't find the thread that talks about butternut gnocchi with a lamb ragu. Sounds so delicious and I want to try it, but don't remember the name of the restaurant. Does anybody know where to get butternut gnocchi with lamb ragu?
Cheryl

CTB wrote:On the subject of housemade pastas: I've searched and can't find the thread that talks about butternut gnocchi with a lamb ragu. Sounds so delicious and I want to try it, but don't remember the name of the restaurant. Does anybody know where to get butternut gnocchi with lamb ragu?

Might it be here?

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=52499#52499

Thank you for the link. I couldn't find it because I was searching for "lamb" but the dish is described as ragu. Ironically, I was at Vinci on Wednesday night for their wine dinner. No butternut gnocchi on the prix fixe, but the braised pork dish was outstanding, as was the Livio Felluga Tocai that accompanied a potato/cheese ravioli. Sorry no pics...I am technologically challenged when it comes to digital cameras.

Avec had a chickpea gnocchi with a lamb ragu on the menu a month ago. I don't see it on their online menu anymore, though.

It was sublime.

Maybe the two dish descriptions got mixed up?

gleam wrote:Avec had a chickpea gnocchi with a lamb ragu on the menu a month ago. I don't see it on their online menu anymore, though.

It was sublime.

Maybe the two dish descriptions got mixed up?

I bet I did mix them up...but doesn't butternut gnocchi with lamb ragu sound good?

Last night, The Wife and I stopped in Filippo's, which is right up Clybourn from Luna Caprese. They make their own pasta for most dishes (and it works well in many dishes, especially a black linguine with seafood), but they do not make fresh rigatoni. I asked the chef why, and he said he doesn't make the "smaller pastas" -- as he said this, he grimaced and made a chopping motion with his hand as though to suggest that it involved a lot of work.

Thinking back, I'm pretty sure the pasta in the penne puttanesca I had at Luna Caprese was also store-bought (rather than house-made), and it seems likely that restaurants that make their own pasta may avoid smaller pastas (as opposed to long strips) as well as tubular pastas (which, when fresh, may lack the tensile strength I posited above).

Filippo's Ristorante
2211 N Clybourn Ave
773. 528.2211

Hammond

I had some particularly good house-made pastas for a friend's birthday the other night at Trattoria Pasta D'Arte in Jefferson Park. The most memorable of the pastas I tried were

1) cavatelli served with a very nicely flavored Italian Sausage, rosemary, garlic and tomatoes;

2) gnocchi served in a Gorgonzola and walnut sauce (personally I would have preferred a little more Gorgonzola, but the toasted walnuts really made the dish); and finally,

3) rotolo, which is pasta rolled with vegetables and ricotta and served in a tomato vodka sauce.

Appetizers of polenta (with Italian sausage, porcini mushrooms, onion and red wine) and artichokes with prosciutto and Parmesan were also very good.

They start you off with some very good and very hot, crusty bread, served with a bowl of a house-made giardiniera. The giardiniera was not really spicy, but still had a great flavor and was a perfect accompaniment to the bread.

Service was excellent -- very friendly. Judging by the packed house on Thursday, I'm guessing others are equally impressed. The pastas are $10-15, but pretty good sized . . . and come with a bowl of soup.

Trattoria Pasta D'Arte
6311 N. Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago
773.763.1181
www.pastadarte.com

BR wrote:I had some particularly good house-made pastas for a friend's birthday the other night at Trattoria Pasta D'Arte in Jefferson Park.

BR,

Timely post, I was wondering about Trattoria Pasta D'Arte just a couple of nights ago as I drove past. Thanks for posting the detailed write-up.

Enjoy,
Gary

CTB wrote:Thank you for the link. I couldn't find it because I was searching for "lamb" but the dish is described as ragu. Ironically, I was at Vinci on Wednesday night for their wine dinner. No butternut gnocchi on the prix fixe, but the braised pork dish was outstanding, as was the Livio Felluga Tocai that accompanied a potato/cheese ravioli. Sorry no pics...I am technologically challenged when it comes to digital cameras.

We were there too! We go to most of these. We were in the first room, in the far NW corner. I liked the pasta dish very much, along with that wine. It was my favorite.

They have a lamb ragu and a veal ragu, usually, on the regular menu. But they change the menu regularly and have specials, so check it out often

G Wiv wrote:

BR wrote:I had some particularly good house-made pastas for a friend's birthday the other night at Trattoria Pasta D'Arte in Jefferson Park.

BR,

Timely post, I was wondering about Trattoria Pasta D'Arte just a couple of nights ago as I drove past. Thanks for posting the detailed write-up.

Enjoy,
Gary

One day . . . I might also be so skilled as to add photos.

As you will see from their menu, they also have a number of seafood dishes (e.g., salmon, Chilean sea bass, tilapia and shellfish). My dining companions tell me that they do a wonderful job with seafood, and in particular, raved about the tilapia with the lemon butter sauce and spinach. But for this occasion, we opted for several pastas and appetizers.

I just returned from a very nice mother's day dinner at the venerable Wilmette establishment The Noodle (also in Glenview; I've posted on The Noodle before on this board), where they make (or at least cut) the pasta right in the front of the house. You can choose among various varities of pasta, and then pick your sauce -- I had the tarragon-asparagus over linguine. Very fresh and delicious.