Chicago (Italian) - The Rosebud

The Rosebud
1500 W. Taylor Street, Chicago, Illinois; Phone 312-942-1117
Date of Review: September, 2009

This is the Grand Opus for Italian food in Chicago. It is the place they talk about with the old school décor and the pictures of famous people like Robert Deniro, Frank Sinatra and the numerous athletes who have dined at this establishment over the years. As they add more locations and restaurants, we sometimes have a tendency to forget about the original. However, Rosebud on Taylor opened in 1977 and they still have a fabulous business in a cut throat industry because they deliver night in and night out. Maybe I forgot this as I have a tendency to lose interest in an establishment as they open up more locations and I hadn’t visited The Rosebud in a few years. However, I have never forgotten my wonderful experiences at The Rosebud in the past and recently added a few more pages to my Rosebud notebook.

One of my recent visits came on the day of the Festa Italiana on Taylor Street. This made it easy to get in the mood for an Italian meal with sausages grilling, Italian cookies for sale and many olive skinned, dark haired people roaming the streets. In the spirit of the event, The Rosebud set up 20+ tables outside to accommodate the spillover of diners from the festival.

When you walk into the Rosebud and see the dim lights, wood walls and classic bar in the front, you can almost imagine Frank Sinatra, Robert Deniro or a real life Don Corleone sitting down to break bread at this place. There is nothing modern about Rosebud. This is old school Italian which includes the service. For us, that meant a waitress in her late 50’s with a charming, matter of fact attitude that was definitely no nonsense Italian.

Rosebud’s menu covers all the bases including pasta, seafood, veal, beef, chicken, pork and then some.

Along with the complementary warm and chewy bread which is served with olive oil and what looks like a sugar cube holder full of cheese, they have an assortment of excellent appetizers. The Melrose peppers (a regular special not on the menu) appetizer ($12) consists of long green peppers stuffed with an assortment of cheeses in one and sausage in the other. The sweet peppers are served in a tasty olive oil sauce with yummy fillings; a great way to start a meal. I also recommend the Rosebud Chopped Salad which includes a healthy portion of fresh vegetables, mixed greens and cheese in a red wine vinaigrette dressing. For entrees, the cavatelli arrabbiata ($16.50) which includes soft and chewy homemade 8-Finger" ricotta dumplings simmered in spicy marinara sauce (the way I like it) with fresh chilies, pancetta and white wine is fantastic. The pasta squares are a Rosebud original for a reason. These soft folds of homemade pasta melt in your mouth and their chewiness almost makes them heavenly. The sauce is a rich, tomato sauce that is the absolute perfect complement to the wonderful pasta. A side of Mama’s meatballs ($5.25) which consists of 2 oversized meatballs served in marinara sauce is a nice compliment to any pasta dish. The linguini with clams in a garlic white wine sauce ($19.50) is the best rendition of this dish I have ever had. While the linguine wasn’t homemade, it was cooked perfectly in a bread plate cleaning good white wine and garlic sauce with 8 large clams and a mountain of chopped clams piled high in the middle of the dish that ultimately made their way down to the bottom of the bowl.

For desert, the pistachio gelato is nutty and refreshing and is enough for at least 2 to share and the Italian cookies (warning, 1 order consists of about 8 cookies) offers a nice assortment of traditional Italian cookies. The coffee is rich and flavorful.

The Rosebud is relatively pricey but you certainly get what you pay for. On one recent visit, as a party of 4, our bill came to $270 with tax and tip included. We had 4 cocktails, 4 glasses of wine, 1 appetizer, 4 entrees, 1 side dish and 3 desserts. The Rosebud continues to be one of Chicago’s very best Italian restaurants.