Baffo

Amuse Buche

We went to dinner at Baffo which is the formal restaurant inside of Eataly by celebrity chef Mario Batali.

We just ordered a few things.
Ravioli - braised beef cheek ravioli with black truffles and Castelmagno cheese.

Ravioli

Agnolotti - wild mushroom filled pasta with garlic and ragusano cheese

Braised short rib with heirloom carrots

So we wanted to try this restaurant inside of Eataly because it is the fanciest restaurant there and we wanted to see what Mario Batali's Italian food would be like.

Well we were disappointed. The service was just bad. It took a half hour from when we were seated for us to order food (and for at least 15 minutes we were patiently sitting with our menus closed and the waiter was nearby several times).  It seems they were way more concerned about people's drink orders than anything else, and maybe because we just ordered water we were not important.

Agnolotti

The food itself was very good but overpriced.  Especially in a city like Chicago we could get a lot of great Italian food for a much better deal.  In fact we were just in Napa Valley a couple of weeks ago and ate at an Italian restaurant also run by a celebrity chef and we had a much better experience overall and the food was better.

Also something weird about the menu, there were some appetizers but no salads or soups.  We looked at the appetizers and couldn't order any of them due to current temporary dietary restrictions, but we would have loved to have a salad instead but didn't have that option.

Final thoughts on Baffo:
Food - The food was good but not the best Italian food we have eaten.  Also it was quite pricey for the size of the entrees.  We left a little hungry but were no appetizers we could eat and the desserts didn't excite us that much.

Braised Short Rib

Service - we described our experience above, but this is once again an example of how bad service can taint the overall experience.  We probably would have enjoyed the food a little more if the service wasn't so slow.

Atmosphere - the restaurant is much smaller than we thought it would be.  It feels very separate from the rest of the Eataly experience, which is good for peace and quiet but since it has its own entrance you wouldn't even have to go in the rest of Eataly to eat at Baffo.

Forno Rosso

Barese Pizza

We went to lunch at a place called Forno Rosso.  We saw this place a little while ago on Check Please. This is a brick oven pizza restaurant that has the distinction of being one of 2 restaurants in Chicago that have a VPN rating. VPN stands for Verace Pizza Napoletana - True Neapolitan Pizza.  This is an association from Naples.  In order to be certified with VPN a restaurant has to serve Neapolitan style pizza in a 900 degree oven. The pizza can only be cooked up to 90 seconds and must be made with only certain types of ingredients. There only about 500 restaurants in the world that have this certification.

We ordered 2 regular pizzas and a dessert pizza.

Capricciosa Pizza

1) Capricciosa - tomato sauce, artichokes, olives, mushrooms, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella
2) Barese - brocolli rabe, sausage, burrata cheese

The pizzas had thin crusts but still had a good texture (not cracker-like). The Barese pizza had a little more of a char to it than Nick would prefer. But over all we enjoyed all of the ingredients.

Nutella Dessert Pizza - nutella, strawberries and bananas
We had to try the dessert pizza because we love Nutella.  We made sure to box up some of the regular pizza to save room.  The dessert pizza was fun due to the ingredients but nothing overly special.

Nutella Pizza

Final thoughts on Forno Rosso:
Food - good pizzas.  If we lived closer we would go back.  Nick didn't find it that much different than other wood fired pizzas.

Service - in the middle of the day so a bit slow. But maybe they were going for a more relaxed European vibe.

Atmosphere - casual. There was a large group of people watching soccer matches on the televisions.

Volare

We went to dinner at Volare in Oakbrook Terrace after seeing the Chicago location featured on Chicago's Best.

Rolled Eggplant

Rolled Eggplant - this is the dish that was featured on Chicago's Best, thinly sliced eggplant and stuffed with ricotta.  We both really enjoy eggplant so it was nice to have it served in a different way (not just as eggplant parmesan). This would be a fun dish to try at home as well.

Warm Kale Salad

Warm Kale Salad - the name is a little weird but this was a great salad with lots of stuff in it - garbanzo beans, prosciutto, pancetta, brussel sprout leaves, red onions, white beans, shaved parmesan; this is normally an entree sized salad but they were able to make a half size order so we wouldn't get too full on it. For not being kale lovers it was smoky and crisp but still salad-esqe.

Black Pasta with Seafood

The pasta dishes were huge and we probably were only able to eat about 1/3 of the dishes at the restaurant and then took the rest as lunch for the next day.

Fussilloni al Ragu di Vitello - pasta with ragu of veal, porcini mushrooms and peas (lots of peas). This was a very hearty dish with lots of veal.  The peas were a bit excessive.

Spaghetti Neri al Pesce - black spaghetti with shrimp, scallop and lump crab meat, lots of seafood. This was tasty.  It was a bit over-sauced as you couldn't really see the black pasta underneath.

Pasta with veal and peas

Dessert - We weren't going to order a dessert but we found out they have several small desserts (kind of like Season's 52) and that was good because we didn't have much room.  But they had a cannoli cream dessert that we split, basically cannolis that we stuffed ourselves.  It was a small but good end to the meal.

Cannoli

Final thoughts on Volare:
Food - tasty and we would go back since they are close to us. But we would keep in mind that the pasta entrees are massive and therefore maybe only order one and a full size kale salad.
Service - not memorable. We were there on a weeknight without a lot of other customers so we weren't ignored but they seemed to be setting up for a larger party coming later.
Atmosphere - typical Italian restaurant look. We didn't get too much of a sense of it because there weren't that many people there.

Topo Gigio

On a day off together we went to Topo Gigo for lunch in Old Town.  We had seen it on Check Please and it was recommended by friends.  We were in the area and stopped by.

Polenta with Bolognese

Appetizer - Polenta with bolognese sauce.  Nice, smooth polenta and quite filling with the sauce. There are 2 polenta appetizers so we had to make sure we ordered the one we wanted.

Entrees:
Tortellini alla Panna - with peas, mushrooms, and pancetta in a cream sauce. This was a huge portion and quite filling.  We both enjoyed the dish.  It was pretty typical Italian fare.

Tortellini alla panna

Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala special with spinach. The chicken was tasty; moist and good flavor. It was good but not spectacular.  There was a lot of spinach which Natalie thought was a bit excessive.

Final thoughts on Topo Gigio:
Food - good Italian food at a good price. But there are lots of Italian options in the city so its not worth going out of your way for
Service - There weren't that many people in the restaurant but it took a bit for the food to come out to us (for a lunch)

Topo Gigio himself

Atmosphere - the exterior was under construction but the inside was fully functional. It has a large dining area and lots of pictures of various forms of "Topo Gigio" the mouse from 1960's TV shows.

Bella Bacinos

Cauliflower Soup

We went to dinner at Bella Bacino's in La Grange.  A few years ago we went to its sister restaurant in Lincoln Park on a food tour and had a spinach deep dish pizza.  We were hoping to re-create that here and we wanted pizza because it was national pizza week.  But when we got there we realized they didn't have deep dish only thin crust cooked in brick ovens (so slightly different concept). We wish it were deep dish because there are a few other brick oven thin crust pizza places in the area already.



We ordered:
Cup of cauliflower soup - this was the soup special of the day.  It was creamy and tangy and reminiscent of a cream of potato soup (but different).

Duck Brown Butter Ravioli

Duck brown butter ravioli (also a special that evening) - Natalie is a sucker for duck entrees.  This dish was really good but the only critique is that there was a little too much butter in the sauce.  Otherwise the flavors of the duck, sun-dried tomatoes and basil were great together and the fresh pasta was scrumptious.

Pizza - Capricciosa - tomatoes, mushrooms, ham, artichoke, olives and mozzarella.  The pizza was a little burned looking on the edges (but that comes with the brick oven concept). We were expecting black olives but they were Mediterranean olives that had a strong flavor.  They kind of overpowered the rest of the pizza so we removed them and it tasted much better (more balanced) and ate the olives separately.

Capricciosa Pizza

Final thoughts on Bella Bacino's:
Food - go for the pasta not the pizza
Service - slow night because lots of snow outside so we were served promptly.
Atmosphere - good for families and wine aficionados.  Local vibe.

Giacamo's

Lasagna

We went to dinner at Giacamo's in Des Plaines.  This restaurant has been featured on both Check Please and Chicago's Best. We made reservations a day in advance and good thing we did because it has a smaller interior and there was an event happening in one room.

Mushroom Soup

Salad

We didn't order any appetizers because we saw the entree portions coming out to the other diners - they are quite large and in fact we took half of both our entrees home with us and we were still stuffed.

The entrees come with a cup of soup or salad.  Nick got the salad and Natalie got mushroom soup.

Entrees:
The lasagna had recently been featured on Chicago's Best so we tried that.  It was a massive piece of lasagna and what they do differently is that they have a layer of polenta in addition to the layers of meat, pasta and cheese.  The polenta gave it a sweet taste that was a bit unique.  We thought it was a good lasagna but not worth the 40 minute drive from our house.

Braciole

For our other entree we had Braciole.  Braciole is beef stuffed with Italian meats and cheeses, covered in tomato sauce.  This is an Italian dish we have never had before so it was interesting and unique for us.  It probably is featured at other Italian restaurants we go to but we never had ordered it before. Nick loved it and if he sees this entree at other places he will try it again.

Final thoughts on Giacamo's:
Food - Good down home Italian fare.  Super large portions so a great value.
Service - We went to Giacamo's on a Saturday night. It was super busy and even with a reservation we had to wait a bit. (We think there was a bit of an "after-mass" effect due to the time we were there on a Saturday night.) We were sat at a table right in the middle of the dining area.  So despite the service being good we felt like we kept getting bumped into by other people getting to their tables.
Atmosphere - family owned restaurant.  Most of the other diners seemed to be regulars. It was very full (elbow to elbow) when we were there.

Davanti Enoteca

Beet Salad

We went to dinner at Davanti Enoteca in Western Springs.  We had seen it featured on Check Please (but for their Chicago location).  We recently learned they were opening a location in Western Springs so waited until it opened to go.
Davanti Enoteca has been open just over a month now so we figured it would be nice to go after they worked out any kinks.

Tuscan Toast with Ricotta

The restaurant serves food in what they call small plates style, meaning the items are a little smaller and so you should order more than 1 dish each.  We would definitely agree with that for the pasta and the salad we ordered but the other items didn't seem that small. Also for a "small plates" concept restaurant some of the dishes seemed to be priced a little high.

We had looked over the menu ahead of time plus listened to the Check please recommendations and new that we were going to order lots of carb/cheese combinations.

What we ordered:

Beet salad - with cheese and maple butter.  Basically we ordered this just so that everything we ate wouldn't be carbs and cheese.  But this did come with cheese, didn't it? Well it was a nice and refreshing dish; the maple butter was unique and different.

Vasi of ricotta cheese and honeycomb - the cheese mixture was served in a cute mini mason jar over Tuscan Toast.  The toast was awesome; what you would have with bruschetta. We wished there were more honey because that tasted great with the cheese and toast. This would be a fun dish to duplicate at home.

Focaccia

Focaccia bread with cows milk cheese - This is slightly different than the focaccia bread we are used to: it is from the Ligurian region of Italy and bit thinner and crispier.  The cheese was stuffed inside the bread and served warm.  For an extra charge you can get it with honeycomb also. We didn't order it with honey because we were having the honey with the other dish.  But they brought us honey anyway without charging for it.  It really did taste great with it.  (But once again would have liked a little more with it - and it if is so great together why is there a separate charge; just include it all in one price). But overall this dish was really the best of all we ordered and we would order it again.

Focaccia

Cacio e pepe - Spaghetti with pecorino cheese and pepper.  A very simple dish but nicely prepared. Tasty but not remarkable.

Pizza D.O.C. - we don't know what DOC stands for but it was a margherita pizza - with fresh mozzarella and basil.  It was cooked in their wood burning oven. It had a super thin crust.

We did both order dessert also.

Cacio e pepe

Torta Bacio - Chocolate hazelnut mousse with a crunchy crust on the bottom.  It was nice and smooth with a great crunch from the cocoa nibs.

Carrot cake - also served in a mini mason jar with caramel mascarpone "icing" and candied carrots on top. Nick says it was one of the best carrot cakes he has ever had.  The cake was moist and had great spices in it and with the mascarpone, the dish was a bit elevated over other carrot cakes.

Pizza DOC

We somehow survived, even with all of the carb and cheese overload.  Neither of us had eaten much of a lunch so we finished everything off without any leftovers.

Final thoughts on Davanti Enoteca:

Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse

Food - great food.  The focaccia was definitely our favorite. We would return to this establishment for the food, but also because it is so close to us. We already picked out a few items we would like to have for the next time.  There were a lot of people ordering the ragu over polenta so that will be on the list next.
Service - good service.  However, there was a little mixup with the honeycomb.  When they brought out the vasi they didn't have the honeycomb at first and then had to get it.  Then with the focaccia they brought it without us ordering it (maybe due to the previous mixup?).  But for a restaurant that has only been open a month the service was fairly seamless.

Carrot Cake

Atmosphere - the restaurant is located in downtown Western Springs right by the train stop. The interior is very interesting and has different Italian and winery type decore.  There is a large bar area in front with long communal tables.  There were all sorts of people at the restaurant including a lot of parties with small children, including infants.  It wouldn't ordinarily be the sort of place for children but all of the children were well behaved and it was probably a nice outing for the whole family.

Maggiano's

We have been to Maggiano's many times in the past (but so far this is the first time since we started the blog).  There are a few Maggiano's locations in the Chicago area, so Natalie has been frequenting them since the early 90's. Nick had never been to one before moving to Illinois. If you don't know what it is - Maggiano's is traditional Italian fare and usually they serve huge portions. We decided to go this time (to the Oak Brook location) because we had a coupon.

Chopped Salad

Maggiano's has a regular deal on their menu where for $12.95 you basically order 2 entrees. You eat one of the entrees at the restaurant and you take the other entree home with you (it is already packaged and labeled for you).  This is available on all of their 8 classic pastas dishes, but not any specialty pastas.  In addition to this deal, our coupon gave us a side salad for just $2 more.

Chopped side salad - iceberg lettuce, diced tomatoes, crumbled bleu cheese, avocado and crispy prosciutto, served with a house dressing. Good chopped salad, nice to have before heavier pasta.

Four Cheese Ravioli

Natalie ordered the Ravioli for the restaurant and the Lasagna to go.  Nick order the Ziti for the restaurant and the Eggplant Parmesan to go.

Four Cheese Ravioli - ravioli stuffed with ricotta cheese, cream cheese, mozzarella and Provolone.  Served in a pesto-alfredo cream sauce with a touch or marinara. Large ravioli with nice combination of cheese.  The pesto-alfredo nice was really nice with the ravioli and it really didn't need the little bit of marinara sauce - probably just there for color.

Baked Ziti

Mom's Lasagna with Italian sausage and meat sauce - good lasagna, it was bit difficult to get the piece heated all the way through in the microwave because it is so sizable.

Taylor Street Baked Ziti with Italian sausage, pomodoro sauce with melted Provolone and Parmesan. Nick felt this was tasty and fulfilling pasta.  It was a huge bowl so he couldn't finish all of it so had the rest wrapped up to go. So he had 2 more meals out of this experience.

Eggplant Parmesan - good eggplant, but not nearly as awesome as the eggplant parm he had at Rosebud a few months ago.

Final thoughts on Maggiano's:

Food - good traditional institutionalized Italian fare.  Great value for the price, got 2 or 3 meals out of this.

Service - pretty good, we were kind of stuck in a corner but that didn't prevent our server from getting to us

Atmosphere - this restaurant is always busy; we actually made a reservation through open table on our drive to the restaurant just to be safe.  It probably saved us about 10-15 minutes by doing this as we were able to walk right in.

Piccolo Sogno

Outdoor Patio Seating

Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar

We went to dinner at Piccolo Sogno in Chicago.  We had heard about it on Check Please almost 2 years ago and we wanted to make sure we went there in the summer to take advantage of the beautiful patio space. We made a reservation a month ago and were surprised that it took that long to make a reservation for a weeknight, but then we realized than just a couple of days before we made the reservation that it had been briefly mentioned on Chicago's Best - the power of tv.

We heard this is one of the best places for al fresco dining in the city.  So when we made these reservations about a month ago who knew it would be the hottest day of that week at 100 degrees.  We figured since the patio is mostly shaded by umbrellas and trees we could make it.  A lot of other people also were eating outside.  It was very warm but we made it through.  But about 15 degrees cooler would have been just perfect. The interior space actually looked to be much smaller than the patio so they must get most of their business in the summer.  You truly do feel like you are in an outdoor oasis in the city.

Burrata con Culatello

Every table gets bread with Piccolo Sogno's own olive oil and balsamic vinegar - the vinegar is sweet and has an amazing taste. You can purchase it to go in bottles.

What we ordered:

Insalata di Barbabietole

Insalata di Barbabietole - mixed beets, shaved fennel, imported buffalo ricotta, local greens, citrus oil.  Once again we are continuing our new tradition of beet salads.  It was refreshing.  The cheese with beets was good.  Overall it was nice and cool on such a hot summer day.

Pappardelle con polpettine

Burrata con Culatello - Pugliese, hand-stuffed mozzarella and artisan style prosciutto - creamy fresh cow's milk mozzarella, stuffed with cream, very different than any cheese we've ever had.  Once again, nice and chilled and refreshing on a hot summer day.

We ordered appetizer sizes (smaller versions) of each of the pastas so we could sample more.  All of them were great and we would have enjoyed the larger versions of each.

Stracci di Farro

Stracci di Farro- farro flour pasta triangles, asparagus, mushrooms, garlic, truffle oil.  The truffle oil with asparagus gave it a garden fresh feel.  It was surprisingly light for a pasta dish.  The triangle shapes were neat and held the sauce well.

Paglia e Fieno con Vitello - "Stray and Hay" green and white ribbon noodles with veal ragu - veal ragu sauce very flavorful, like a light bolognese sauc.  It was very colorul with the green and white pasta and red meat sauce.  It was Natalie's favorite pasta of the three.

Pappardelle con polpettine - wide pasta, spicy lamb meatballs with pine nuts, golden raisins and a ragu of eggplant, roast peppers and green onions.  This was Nick's favorite pasta of the three.  The eggplant and peppers grounded this dish and allowed the flavor of the pasta to come through.  Everything complemented each other.  We enjoyed the lamb meatballs but the dish would have been great without them as well.

Paglia e Fieno con Vitello

Tortino di Gianduja - Chocolate and Hazelnut cake with hazelnut Gelato. Decadently sweet with hazelnut flavors.  It was surprisingly molten on the inside, almost like eating a melted candy bar.  We had to hurry and eat the gelato before it melted on such a hot day.

Mille Foglie - Thousand Layers of crispy pastry dough, layered with vanilla custard and chocolate chips.  This was a great summer dessert.  It wasn't too heavy with the light pastries and custard and sweet whipped cream.  It was very different than any other dessert we have ever had.

Final Thoughts on Piccolo Sogno:

Tortino di Gianduja

Food - none of the pastas were super heavy. We were a bit apprehensive to order the pastas on such a hot day dining al fresco but none were too heavy to make us feel overfull.  All of the food was great and we would order any of it again.
Service - very good, for the price of the meal it should be that good

Mille Foglie

Atmosphere - see above comments on the outdoor patio.  Even though it was very hot outside, everyone on the patio was enjoying themselves.  We actually chose to sit outside on the hot day since we heard the patio was the place to be. It is a beautiful garden scape.   It would be wonderful to recreate that look in a backyard. A comment we continued to hear around us was that it doesn't feel like we are in the middle of Chicago, especially a busier intersection.

Trees and Ivy in Outdoor area

Outdoor Patio Seating