Papa Milano

I've never been so upset about a resturant closing until I read this in yesterday's Tribune. This was my late parents favorite back when they where dating.

http://tinyurl.com/nkc8z

mrs. riddlemay and I are sad about this. It was a date place for us back in the seventies, and we've relied on it "just being there for us" ever since. Dammit, that corner should be landmarked! Maybe we can get up a protest moment to form a human chain to stand in front of the bulldozers in November.

riddlemay wrote:mrs. riddlemay and I are sad about this. It was a date place for us back in the seventies, and we've relied on it "just being there for us" ever since. Dammit, that corner should be landmarked! Maybe we can get up a protest moment to form a human chain to stand in front of the bulldozers in November.

God only knows what will be built there. Maybe a Block-Buster? A cellphone store? Or better yet, a WALGREEN'S?

Phil wrote:God only knows what will be built there [...] Or better yet, a WALGREEN'S?

A Walgreen's already exists on the S.W. corner of that same block, so, yeah, that is a distinct possibility.

Kidding aside, I bet this means that Mondelli's goes too.

E.M.

Used to live in that neighborhood and the way it's going, it deserves Red Lobster, Chili's and Weber Grill.

Wow, that stinks. Conicidentally, I was just reminiscing about Papa Milano with a friend the other day. Back in the punk-rock days, it was the place all our friends would meet up for pizza before hitting the bars. In fact, we decided we should all get together there soon for "old times sake", but had no idea it might be the last time. I will regret losing Papa Milano much more than Berghof's.

In the early 70s, I was going with a hippie woman who was doing research at the Newberry, so when I was in Chicago, we'd eat at Papa Milano. What I remember most was that it was fairly inexpensive, and they had great little Italian cookies (which may have been offered free after a meal).

David "Tune In, Turn On, Eat Out" Hammond

I also used to live a stone's throw away and found myself eating there on more than one occasion. It's been far too many years--and I have occasionally thought about introducing the Lovely Dining Companion to a real Chicago classic. Sadly, like so many other classics, it's not going to be here much longer for anyone to enjoy. Time may be marching on but it's clearly out of step with progress.

What is of no small note here is that there seems to be very little mention of the food. Not that this is a bad thing, and we are pulling back some years here, but wouldn't one or two dishes have stood the test of time's slow misting over?

I think I had lasagna there once. With cheese.

Hammond

David Hammond wrote:What is of no small note here is that there seems to be very little mention of the food. Not that this is a bad thing, and we are pulling back some years here, but wouldn't one or two dishes have stood the test of time's slow misting over?

I think I had lasagna there once. With cheese.

Hammond

Papa Milano's (the original location on Western, mainly) was the regular Wednesday night dinner spot for me and my family for many years when I was growing up. The veal parmigiana was (and still is) the gold standard for me when it comes to judging this dish on the rare occasion I order it. My normal order was the veal, with my brother ordering the also excellent eggplant parmigiana. We would then split the two orders between us along with an order of garlic bread.

I lived in the area and thought it was a quiet and semi-quaint Rat-Pack kinda of place but never really cared for the cuisine or even the pizza.

It didnt really do a tremendous business from what I saw. Im not surprised it has to close. Either the rent is way too high or they are taking a deal they can't refuse.

The neon sign and tinted windows will be missed though.

Snark wrote:It didnt really do a tremendous business from what I saw. Im not surprised it has to close. Either the rent is way too high or they are taking a deal they can't refuse.

The only way they could be taking a deal they can't refuse is if they owned the building, and Phil Vettel's story sure didn't give that impression. And if they're paying rent (which is surely the case), no amount of rent they could possibly pay would equal what the owner of the building is going to realize from the sale of the property--so Papa Milano could have been lining up customers around the block every night for the last twenty years and it wouldn't have made any difference on that score.

David Hammond wrote:What is of no small note here is that there seems to be very little mention of the food. Not that this is a bad thing, and we are pulling back some years here, but wouldn't one or two dishes have stood the test of time's slow misting over?

When I ate there a bunch of times during the late '80's I remember ordering the same thing every time: very garlicky chicken vesuvio with crusty potatoes. Mmmmm.

I was not happy to read the news of its closing, but I must say the food was quite bad. I was there not too long ago and asked them to make a simple spaghetti with olive oil. What arrived -- I'm not joking -- was the pasta bathed in cooking (i.e., Wesson) oil. It was really pretty pathetic.