New Bridgeport Italian

I don't get to the South side as often as I should, but last night found me on 31st Street, at Trattoria 31.

Even though it was only their fourth day of operation, it's a keeper. Chef Paco Ruiz came to the table to chat for a while - he's a veteran of The Four Seasons and The Pump Room; this is the first (but he indicated, probably not the last) venture on his own. He's also a grad of the real Kendall College, when it was in Evanston, before it went commercial on Goose Island.

I had a basic filet with mashed potatoes and green beans - sounds plebian, but everything was so well crafted. The filet had just a slight topping of what appeared to be a red wine sauce, the beans were a bit garlicky, and the potatoes were well herbed.

My friend had a pasta con fngi, which also had surprising depth of flavor.

I did feel intimidated into not admitting I'm a life-long Cubs fan.

Trattoria 31
605 W. 31st St.
312-326-3500

Hey, isn't that the former Graziano's? I had heard that they had closed a few months back. Had many a good meal there before Sox games.

jnm123 wrote:Hey, isn't that the former Graziano's? I had heard that they had closed a few months back. Had many a good meal there before Sox games.

Exactly right. Kept a lot of the old BW photos, otherwise the space is updated.

What's pricing like? I noticed the restaurant recently which is several blocks from where I live. I wasn't sure if it was just going to be another one of the lackluster Italian eateries in the neighborhood.

Pricing was pretty good - I think two of us got out, after plenty of food, for under $50. (Not including the BYOB wine.)

nr706 wrote:I had a basic filet with mashed potatoes and green beans - sounds plebian, but everything was so well crafted.

NR,

I'm headed to Trattoria 31 at some point over the next few days, and I was struck by the generally "plebian" level of most of the dishes on menu I downloaded from Menu Pages. I'm very glad to hear you liked the place, and that even simple dishes are "well crafted" (which is what a lot of Italian chow is all about). I got a little worried when I saw items like Chop Salad (sic), New York Strip Steak, and Atlantic Salmon (good dishes, perhaps, but not what I think when I think Italian).

Though I consider myself the Great Enemy of Alfredo Sauce, I am intrigued by the bacon-filled version they serve here. Country Tuscan Mussels? We'll see.

Hammond

I was looking for an Italian place in Bridgeport a couple of weeks ago, and I will again soon, so thanks for the tip. Ended up with a Meatball sammy at Jimbo's which was inedible even if I did eat it. Chased it with a hamburger from Parkside, which was decent as always.

I asked what the best thing was at Jimbo's and they steered me to that sammy, too.

Must say, I think this is place is overpriced.

Tonight, we went for a range of dishes: antipasti, paste, entrees.

Focusing on the positive: paste were quite excellent: gnocchetti were helium-filled pillows of pleasure, and the papardelle with bacon was lush and satisfying.

Here's a negative: Costo grade shrimp, and granted the oregano was fresh, but five medium shrimp for nine bucks is robbery. Just not right.

And almost six bucks for an espresso shot over ice cream (afogato)? Nuts.

It's BYOB, which helps, but I feel this place is taking advantage of Bridgeport.

Hammond

I made it tonight for a quick dinner on the way to the ballgame.

They got their liquor license this week, and the wine list is interesting, full of reasonably priced and some unusual Italian selections - had a reasonable pour of a nice Tuscan for $6.00. My New York strip was pretty good, not a great cut but done well with some brown sauce for about $15. The sides - oven browned potatoes and grilled vegies (tomato, squash, eggplant) were very good.

My son had gnocchi with tomato sauce which was not so good, though he enjoyed it. Overcooked pasta, and too sweet tomato sauce.

So, it was just okay for me.

But then we went across the street to Scoops, which appears to be a fairly new ice cream place. Very good Zanzibar ice cream, which is super chocolate. Would go back there any time.