Clara's

Bruschetta

To celebrate Natalie's father's birthday we went to Clara's, an Italian restaurant located at 6740 S Route 53 in Woodridge. Considering we would be going on a Saturday night we tried to get reservations but they do not accept reservations for smaller parties.  So we decided to get there before 5:30 so as not to have a huge wait. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes to be seated - it seems there were quite a few larger parties and there was even a special party of about 40 people that took up 1/4 of the restaurant for another birthday celebration.

For appetizers we ordered Bruschetta di Roma and Sausage and Peppers.  The bruschetta was fresh, clean and had the right balance of herbs.  The only critique of the bruschetta was that it may have been plated a little early as the bread was a bit soft from the juices of the topping. The sausage and peppers wasn't anything super special - something someone may have easily been able to make at home.  For the next course both of us had a bowl of cream of artichoke soup.  We both love artichokes and had never heard of cream of artichoke soup before so it was appealing for both of us.  It tasted great - Nick describes it as tasting like steamed buttered artichokes without all the mess of peeling and getting to the heart. The soup wasn't much to look at but that is typical of cream soups.

Chicken Vesuvio

Ravioli

For an entree Nick ordered the Chicken Vesuvio.  Clara's only makes this dish on the first full weekend (that also includes a Friday) of the month. As we are writing this we just learned that Chicken Vesuvio had its origins in the city of Chicago. It is a dish with chicken, potatoes, onions and peppers sauteed with garlic, oregano, white wine and olive oil and then baked.  When Natalie took cooking classes 10 years ago she remembers that this is a dish that takes several hours to make - so she encouraged Nick to order it because she probably won't be cooking it any time soon. Nick loved the dish - it was very aromatic, the chicken was tender and juicy, the potatoes were crispy.  In short everything was perfectly cooked.  It was a large plate of food with three chicken breasts so there was plenty to take home. Clara's has many options of picking your own pasta and sauce combination.  Natalie chose meat ravioli with vodka tomato cream sauce.  The ravioli were huge, filling and fresh.  It was a well balanced dish and perfectly portioned with the other courses.  Natalie's parents both ordered shrimp pasta dishes that they loved and would order again (Clara's Pasta al Fresco with shrimp and pine nuts and Rudy Jr.'s Shrimp Special). At the end of the meal the waitress brought out a piece of tiramisu and a small cannoli to celebrate Natalie's father's birthday.  The rest of us were too full to order anything else.

Pasta al Fresco with Shrimp

Rudy Jr.'s Shrimp Special

We got an extra treat during our meal. The large birthday party celebration that took up 1/4 of the restaurant was playing music throughout the evening.   At times they also had a live singer who alternated between singing and playing a trumpet, which happened to be red. This was unexpected but fun to have some entertainment while we ate.

Final thoughts on Clara's
Food: traditional Italian food, the best Italian food we've had so far in Chicago
Service: good, friendly wait staff; felt that our waitress really cared if we enjoyed our food
Atmosphere: since it was a Saturday night, seating was a little tight.  There was a boisterous feel to the whole restaurant.  It seems like the place to go for celebrations.