Italian Restaurants in Chicago

What are the best Italian restaurants in Chicago? Thanks in advance!

villiers wrote:What are the best Italian restaurants in Chicago? Thanks in advance!

Best?

Spiaggia
980 N. Michigan Ave. Others are excellent and cheaper, but I think most would agree that, for food quality, Spiaggia is best.

villiers wrote:What are the best Italian restaurants in Chicago? Thanks in advance!

Romano's Macaroni Grill

Fellow Foodie Friends,

I just wanted to share our super din-din experience tonight at Macaroni Grill. Our waiter, Tad, was just super, friendly, well groomed and very bubbly personality, he told us he's an aspiring actor, how cool. Not only was Tad a super cool guy, but the restaurant itself was so inviting we ended up staying almost one full hour, just for dinner, can you imagine?

Macaroni, don't you just love the name, had pictures of real Italians on the wall and, not just Italians, but cool old Italians like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Macaroni also had pictures of Italy, no Eiffel Tower though, and played real Italian music, I recognized two songs from the Godfather movie and the theme song from the Sopranos.

The food you ask, how was the food, just yummy, I mean really yummy, to die for. The pasta (means spaghetti, but in Italian) was just loaded with sauce, the meat balls were as big as soft balls and the portion was so huge that four of us could have shared. We also had pizza, which was just so delish, so loaded with cheese that it reminded me of a grilled cheese sandwich.

We had vino (wine in Italian) and it was really really good, but it was white, not like my usual pinkish color that I like to order. I think it was a grigio, sort of like that cool movie with Ben and J-Low. As an aside, why do you think they call zinfandel white if it's really pink?

Here's the coolest part, Macaroni (doesn't the name just sing Italian) just opened up near my house, my tummy is so very happy.

Hope all my Fabulous Foodie Friends had a very yummy evening, I know I sure did.

Enjoy,
Gary

What would be the other "excellent and cheaper" ones be? Thanks!

villiers wrote:What would be the other "excellent and cheaper" ones be? Thanks!

Villers,

As you may have surmised, my response was a bit of a joke. But the Best question is so scatter shot it's difficult to respond.

Upscale, price be damned, Spiaggia, no doubt, notch down, Merlo, Old School Italian, Bruna's, Old School Italian American, Sabatino's. Casual Chicago Italian, Tufano's, Casual modern Chicago Italian, Francesca's on Taylor.

This is just a start, also, most, if not all, of the places I mentioned have posts, in some cases multiple posts, on LTHForum. The search function is at the top of the page.

Enjoy,
Gary

villiers wrote:What would be the other "excellent and cheaper" ones be? Thanks!

Merlo is one. If you are looking for Italian-American, Sabatino's is my favorite. If what you want is Neopolitan pizza, then Spacca Napoli would be perfect. Your question is so broad, it is difficult to help you. But LTH helps those who help themselves. Just put "Italian" in the search feature and go nuts, why don't you? It may take some time, but there are literally hundreds of posts on Italian dining options on LTH. And there are so many varying opinions, you've created a fools enterprise (thus Gary's funny but facetious post).

thus Gary's funny but facetious post

Which has an illustrious history, having already been posted and pulled on another board, fyi. In fact, I think LTHForum came into existence just so that, someday, he could post it again. (And of course to wage war on Sweden.)

(Cough!) Where was I? Ah yes. Some more keywords to search for: Terragusto, Bruna's, La Scarola, A Tavola, Follia...

Mike G wrote:

thus Gary's funny but facetious post

Which has an illustrious history, having already been posted and pulled on another board, fyi. In fact, I think LTHForum came into existence just so that, someday, he could post it again. (And of course to wage war on Sweden.)

Hh-hmm. Where was I? Ah yes. Some more keywords to search for: Terragusto, Bruna's, La Scarola, A Tavola, Follia...

Gary's insatiable regarding this particular post! I'll have to admit, the original posting on the Indianapolis thread and the responses to it I actually found irksome and somewhat insulting and uncharacteristic of LTH. I'm still not entirely sure what prompted that series of posts. It hurt a little bit seeing my hometown instantly and without any justification equated with Macaroni Grill. The fact is that Indianapolis has a (very) Little Italy (southeast of downtown) with a number of more-or-less authentic Italian and Italian-American restaurants (Milano Inn, Iaria's, etc.) that are basically unknown to those outside the city, and would be so far off the beaten track for convention hotel goers, etc., that I can completely understand how they fly under the radar of even astute diners who don't or haven't ever lived there. Anyway, I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

Jim, as the product of another large yet somehow unknown and occasionally punchline-featured midwestern metropolis, I feel your pain.

"This is sh*t straight out of Wichita, Kansas!" --some White House guy to Robert Redford, All the President's Men

Mike G wrote:Jim, as the product of another large yet somehow unknown and occasionally punchline-featured midwestern metropolis, I feel your pain.

"This is sh*t straight out of Wichita, Kansas!" --some White House guy to Robert Redford, All the President's Men

Yeah, but shit, Mike; you're talking about Wichita!

Re: Indianapolis

Mike G wrote:Jim, as the product of another large yet somehow unknown and occasionally punchline-featured midwestern metropolis, I feel your pain.

Mike, Jim,

My home town is well known for Italian restaurants, the place is lousy with hand rolled pasta, fresh mozzarella and the streets are paved with guanciale. Oh, wait, I meant beer, brats and Laverne and Shirley*.

Jim, truthfully, the only 'Italian' restaurant I have been to in Indianapolis is, and I kid you not, Olive Garden. My nephew Danny's wedding was held in Indianapolis and the rehearsal dinner, which included out of town guests, was held at Olive Garden.

After dinner we adjourned to the Slippery Noodle, a cool as hell bar with bands on two floors, and had a very nice time.

Enjoy,
Gary

*I should note Laverne and Shirley is tongue in cheek, Milwaukee is a wonderful cosmopolitan city with great restaurants, terrific schedule of summer time festivals, picture perfect lake front and a world class Art Museum

I just wanted to share our super din-din experience tonight at Macaroni Grill. Our waiter, Tad, was just super, friendly, well groomed and very bubbly personality, he told us he's an aspiring actor, how cool. Not only was Tad a super cool guy, but the restaurant itself was so inviting we ended up staying almost one full hour, just for dinner, can you imagine?

Macaroni, don't you just love the name, had pictures of real Italians on the wall and, not just Italians, but cool old Italians like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Macaroni also had pictures of Italy, no Eiffel Tower though, and played real Italian music, I recognized two songs from the Godfather movie and the theme song from the Sopranos.

The food you ask, how was the food, just yummy, I mean really yummy, to die for. The pasta (means spaghetti, but in Italian) was just loaded with sauce, the meat balls were as big as soft balls and the portion was so huge that four of us could have shared. We also had pizza, which was just so delish, so loaded with cheese that it reminded me of a grilled cheese sandwich.

We had vino (wine in Italian) and it was really really good, but it was white, not like my usual pinkish color that I like to order. I think it was a grigio, sort of like that cool movie with Ben and J-Low. As an aside, why do you think they call zinfandel white if it's really pink?

Here's the coolest part, Macaroni (doesn't the name just sing Italian) just opened up near my house, my tummy is so very happy.

If you read this in a Rachael Ray voice, it's even funnier.

Make flailing arm gestures at your own risk.

Interesting to see Spiaggia getting highly plugged - I guess I've never read much about it on LTH or heard much about it from my "other" foodie sources (of course much less reliable sources then the LTH!!). Or perhaps I have subconsciously avoided reading good reviews on Spiaggia based on the high expense of dining there. Anyways, in my novice foodie opinion - my favorite Italians:

La Scarola (best grilled octopus I've ever had)
Bruna's
Merlo

.... and looking forward to Spiaggia

OK, Spiaggia is fantastic, likely the best Italian restaurant in the US.

G Wiv wrote:My home town is well known for Italian restaurants, the place is lousy with hand rolled pasta, fresh mozzarella and the streets are paved with guanciale. Oh, wait, I meant beer, brats and Laverne and Shirley*.

You forgot Fonzie! How could you forget Fonzie? Even without all that other stuff, Milwaukee would definitely still be cool, just because of Fonzie. And I'm the first to say it: Fonzie is far cooler than anybody famous from Indianapolis.

(Has this thread-jack now officially Jumped the Shark™?).

James Dean is cooler than Fonzie

SGFoxe wrote:James Dean is cooler than Fonzie

To be fair to Fonzie, James Dean is cooler than anyone. Dean is from Indiana (though not Indianapolis), so the Hoosier State trumps Wisconsin in the coolness department, I suppose.

I won't argue whether James Dean or Fonzie was cooler, but I beg to differ with your analysis of the coolness they imparted to their respective home towns/States. James Dean (that punk!) abandoned his Indiana home for Hollywood, while (with the exception of the shark episode), Fonzie remained loyal too -- and remained living in -- Milwaukee. That kept Milwaukee cool in a way Fairmount, Indiana can only dream about. (Yes, James Dean "remains" in Fairmount, in one sense of the word; but Fonzie was cool enough to stay alive and healthy in Milwaukee, much to the civic betterment of that noble city.)

JimInLoganSquare wrote: Fonzie is far cooler than anybody famous from Indianapolis.(Has this thread-jack now officially Jumped the Shark™?)

So then is the "Romano's Macaroni Grill" referred to in G Wiv's post actually the "Ann, Julie and Barbara Romanos' Macaroni Grill"? I love it when everything ties together.

James Dean is cancelled out by David Lee Roth, Atomic Punk days notwithstanding.

Why can't you answer a simple question like "What are the best Italian restaurants in Chicago?" Just name the ones you like the best or if you feel that this question has been asked too many times in this forum then why would you bother to respond to it at all?

This is a great forum for finding out about new restaurants, neighborhood places, little known spots, etc. but the "regulars" with their sarcasm and wierd snobiness is just a bit much.

People are always going to come to this site with questions that have already been asked - so just either help them out or move on to the next post, because no one wants to read jerk-off responses all the time.

misstee wrote:Why can't you answer a simple question like "What are the best Italian restaurants in Chicago?"

The search function works wonders... probably 15-20 threads on this topic. Especially if you narrow by neighborhood. It's not a simple question, in my opinion, unless there are many more parameters given.

Spiaggia is definitely an amazing place to eat, and certainly has Italian sensibilities at its' core.


re: Indy... don't forget Wes Montgomery (nobody is as cool as Wes), Freddie Hubbard, The Big "O" Oscar Robertson, Letterman, Rev. Jim Jones (Kool-Aid related, not cool) and of course, Kurt Vonnegut.

Looks like we can put misstee down for at least 3 bowling shirts.

Welcome aboard!

Nobody has mentioned a restrauant that is up there with Spiaggia, but cheaper and located right next door. So close that they share a kitchen with Spiaggia!

This place would be Cafe Spiaggia, which is one of my favorite restaurants on the Near North Side to grab a quick and delicious bite. The service is attentive and thoughtful, and everything I've ever eaten there has been top notch.

I've also had several good meals and, in particular, delicious plates of handmade pasta, at Via Emilia on Clark Street in Lincoln Park. I haven't been for probably five or six years. But the food was always reliable.

Happy eating!

Jonathan

Topo Gigio- ox tail rigatoni mmmm.....
Bacchanalia (south side old italian neighborhood that is a little oasis of italians)
those are my two picks, if i really want to go out for italian i would drive an hour+ in traffic from the suburbs to get this food in a heart beat.

Misstee,

Thank you for your input.

In fact, the thread has lots of possible answers in it. (It also probably has a higher goofiness quotient than almost any previous thread here, so I grant that you have a certain point.)

That said, nobody here is under any obligation to answer any question and the broader and more general the question, the less likely it is to attract interest. You see this on Chowhound all the time, someone comes on and says "Where should I eat in Chicago?!?" with no indication as to whether they have the money for Alinea or merely Hot Doug's, like experimental cutting-edge cuisine or just steak, etc. Not surprisingly, few such queries attract any answer at all, let alone one that's very useful to the person who asked the question, or anyone else.

While there is not, strictly speaking, a requirement that one contribute before asking questions, the fact is that the site is built on the sharing of information, not a one-way flow of it from "regulars" to anyone else. At the least it is polite, and probably more useful to you, to use the Search function or poke around for fairly obvious clues like a whole section labeled "Great Neighborhood Restaurants" before posing basic-level queries. No, I'm not saying anyone is not permitted to pose such a basic question. But I'm not saying anyone is obliged to answer one, either.

So: you've apparently been reading for a while, and now you've posted one post. How about making your second one about what you think the best Italian restaurants are?

re: Indy... don't forget Wes Montgomery (nobody is as cool as Wes), Freddie Hubbard, The Big "O" Oscar Robertson, Letterman, Rev. Jim Jones (Kool-Aid related, not cool) and of course, Kurt Vonnegut.

Wichita... uh, Stan Kenton, Louise Brooks, Don Johnson... and Tammy Faye Bakker's second husband!

Although I am not a serious fan of Italian, I was incredibly impressed with the New Year's Eve fare that I had at Rosal's on Taylor Street. It is very cozy inside and even has a second floor. There is a lot of history to the restaurant and the owners are there more often than not.

Of course, near Wrigley, there is always Jennifer Aniston's favorite, Mia Francesca. I have never eaten there, but it gets rave reviews.

What about Rosebud on Taylor Street? I had dinner there a few nights ago and everything was great! The calamari "spicy" is also excellent!

elhat wrote:Of course, near Wrigley, there is always Jennifer Aniston's favorite, Mia Francesca. I have never eaten there, but it gets rave reviews.

I happened to eat at MF last night. It's still very crowded (even at 6 pm on a Wednesday -- lots of families seemed to be there at that time, but the kids were all well behaved.) (but also crowded as in the tables are packed pretty tightly.)

The food was rock solid. I had a half a roasted chicken which I think could pass for Vesuvio, although they didn't list it that way, and a nice (and huge) string bean salad. One of my dining companions was kind of underwhelmed by his salmon dish, but everyone else seemed pretty enthusiastic Service at the bar while we were waiting for our group was lousy, but our table service was excellent.

I don't really get fired up about Italian, so I'm not the one to rank it amongst options in Chicago, but I've consistently had good results at Mia Francesca. I've not been to the other locations, except once to the Taylor street location, but that was for a social event.

JimInLoganSquare wrote:The fact is that Indianapolis has a (very) Little Italy (southeast of downtown) with a number of more-or-less authentic Italian and Italian-American restaurants (Milano Inn, Iaria's, etc.)

Actually, Indy had two high quality
places come-and-go: Bacco on the
northwest side, and Tavola di Tosa.
The chef from Tavola is still
in town - was at 14 West,
but is now to head a new
culinary school.

The top three currently are:
Enrico's and Mama Carolla's,
both tucked away in residential
Broad Ripple, and Sangiovese
(with a great covered deck,
that's not just overlooking a
parking lot!).

But you asked about Chicago:

Is Stefani's on Fullerton still
around? They had probably
the finest, most perfectly prepared
veal that I have ever tried.

And Vivere serves up some
out of the ordinary dishes
(pheasant ravioli in sage
butter was quite tasty I recall)