Terragusto Cafe
1851 W. Addison Street, Chicago, Illinois; Phone 773-248-2777
Date of Review: January, 2009
Terragusto Café serves the best Italian food I have had outside of Italy. On top of it, I can’t think of another restaurant in Chicago that has delivered so emphatically on every aspect of the meal including atmosphere, quality and taste of food, value and service. With home-made pasta, sauces made the way they are made in Italy and a romantic atmosphere, I am thoroughly disappointed that this was the first time I visited this restaurant after 3 years of its existence.
The atmosphere in Terragusto is very romantic. We sat at the table that faces Addison Avenue and looked out onto the snow covered streets. It felt even better that we could look each other in the eyes and that we were eating on the same table that is used to make all of the restaurant’s homemade pasta. The back of the restaurant is spacious and has seating for about 40.
As a complimentary starter, they offered a few slices of bread with some olives sitting in olive oil. The olives were excellent and we used the oil they were sitting in to dip the bread into. This was just a taste and you wouldn’t want to get filled up with what was to come. We went for the Italian meal option which must be ordered by the entire table. It allows each diner to pick an appetizer (antipasti) and a pasta (primi piatti) and they pick one main course (secondi) to share. For $38.50 per person, this seemed like a good option for us. You can also order dish by dish a la carte or can go for 2 courses and skip the 3rd. We selected the polenta and the crostini. Both were fantastic and large in portion. There were 3 slices of 3 different types of crostini all served on wonderful grilled slices of bread. One featured buffalo mozzarella nearly with a tiny anchovy in a bit of olive oil on top. A second had nice deeply flavored smoked ham with a rosemary aioli. The third had a tarragon chicken salad that was full of flavor. As good as these were, the polenta was even better. We were presented with an entrée size portion of polenta squares that had just the right consistency of crispiness outside and softness in. The mushroom ragu was hearty and had such a deep flavor that it brought back memories of a forest mushroom soup I had years ago in Rhineland Germany. After this 1st course, Ivy and I were both blown away and were excited about the pasta course to come.
We ordered the Tagliatelle alla Bolognese Tartufato. This is the Bolognese of Bologna with only a hint of tomato. This version was rich with meat and cheese throughout and a touch of white truffle. The pasta was melt in your mouth good as I put one forkful after another into my mouth. When our third course came out and I still had some pasta left, I made sure to continue to pay attention to this dish despite the fact that I was trying to fillet a whole fish. The second pasta we ordered was a black linguini pasta that was dyed with squid ink and served with shrimp. There was a slight hint of spiciness in this dish but the majority of the flavor came from the equally perfect pasta and its flavor of squid. At this point, we were both stuffed and thoroughly convinced that this would be a place we would be coming to for a long time to come, yet we still had a whole sea bream looking at us. This large fish was prepared with a simple rub and topped with lemon. It had a gorgeous fresh taste and was served with sautéed spinach and another chunk of wonderful polenta. The fish was as good as everything else although I don’t know if we enjoyed it as much as we should have given out state of fullness.
We did opt for dessert which wasn’t included in the Italian Meal price. We had the gelato and sorbet combination. This included one scoop of vanilla gelato flanked by one scoop of apple cinnamon sorbet and another of berry sorbet. The gelato was creamy and the sorbet solid but I have had better and for $8.50, the portion didn’t justify the price. We should have just stuck with coffee for dessert as the beans are grinded in house and I don’t know if I have ever had a more flavorful cup in my life.
The server was excellent as he got us excited about each dish and talked intelligently about the restaurant, its evolution and its menu. The total bill came to $100.86 including tax but not tip. This was for 2 Italian meals, 1 dessert and 2 cups of coffee. The restaurant is BYOB and they only charge $1 for a recycling fee to open the bottle. For the quality of the food, ambience and service, I think one will be hard pressed to find a better dining experience in Chicago.
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