Rootstock
954 North California Avenue, Chicago, Illinois; Phone 773-292-1616
Date of Review: March, 2010
http://rootstockbar.com/
Rootstock is a wine bar and restaurant that opened in Humboldt Park a little over a year ago. It was opened by some friends who used to work together at Webster’s Wine Bar and a chef that used to work at Cafe Spiaggia. They wanted to create an environment that was casual, relaxing and focused on small producers of wine and beer and a food menu that puts emphasis on sustainable farming. The owners have succeeded in fulfilling their objectives and more importantly have created a relaxing environment that entices one to stick around for a bit while enjoying another drink or bite to eat.
Rootstock is located on a quiet stretch of California Avenue near the intersection of Augusta by the California Clipper. Street parking is easy to find in this area which has a mix of restaurants and shops and residential condo buildings. If you look for a door in the front like I did, look again. The restaurant/bar is accessed via an alley that leads into the restaurant through a side door. The interior has dim lighting and a mix and match of plates, chairs and tables that add to the aura, charm and laid back atmosphere of the place. There is seating for 50 or so at tables, the bar and a counter. They play jazz at just the perfect decibel level that allows you to appreciate the music while still allowing you to chat with your guests.
As for the wine and beer menu, they have an impressive selection of bottled beers with detailed descriptions, including the alcohol content. They focus on small producers so don’t expect much to look familiar although you should be impressed with whatever you choose. The wine menu is expansive and equally impressive. The food menu is a small, diverse offering of reasonably priced bar plates, salads, flatbreads (or crusts), larger plates and meat and cheese platters. To begin, the charcuterie and cheese board (3 meats and 3 cheeses) is the most impressive selection of this type I’ve had in Chicago. It is pricy at $21 but well worth it as the portions and quality of the meats, cheeses and condiments are all top notch. We also ordered the “crust” topped with bourbon glazed mushrooms, vivace cheese and herb salad. It was crispy and equally good as you can’t beat a flatbread that is finished with fresh herbs. We finished our meal with the burger and frites with house made ketchup. My only complaint about the solid (but not quite stellar) burger is the bacon-scallion aioli layered on the bun. While tasty, it was a bit too rich for my tastes and I think another flavor selection would go better with the high quality meat. The frites were very good.
My wife and I walked out of Rootstock with a hefty bill of $135 (that includes tax and tip). We each had 4 drinks and shared 4 separate dishes so our large bill was related to our consumption rather than the costs of our selections. We also walked out knowing we had discovered a new gem a mile from our house that we will visit often. Lastly, we left genuinely feeling like the owners we talked too cared about our experience at Rootstock and appreciated the time we spent at their establishment. Here’s a toast to them.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
River Grove (Italian) - Da Luciano
Da Luciano
8343 W. Grand Avenue, River Grove, Illinois; Phone 708-453-1000
Date of Review: March, 2010
http://www.dalucianos.com/index.cfm
Da Luciano is a no frills Italian “joint” with good food that smells and feels old school from the minute you walk into the restaurant. It actually reminds me of the restaurant in the movie the Godfather, Part 1 where Michael Corleone executed the crooked cop McCluskey. If you don’t remember the exact verbiage, I’ll help you.
Michael Corleone wanted “a public place -- a bar, a restaurant -- some place where there's people so I feel safe.” The venue ended up being Louis' Restaurant in the Bronx. When asked if anybody knew the restaurant, Tessio said ‘Yeah, sure, I do. It's perfect for us. A small family place, good food. Everyone minds his business. It's perfect. Pete: they got an old-fashion' toilet -- you know, the box, and - and - and - ah the chain-thing. We might be able to tape the gun behind it.”
While there are no guns in the toilet (at least I didn’t notice any), Da Luciano is small street side restaurant that you would imagine local Italian families frequent regularly. Put another way, it is the type of place where people feel comfortable dining in shorts in the summer or in a jumpsuit for one particular patron on the evening of our visit. The restaurant is small and basic with nothing fancy about it. There is seating for less than 30 in the main room that also houses a small bar and the kitchen in the back. The adjoining room was either under construction or was being reorganized for a private event as there was seating for an additional 60-90 but it was completely empty during our visit.
I first heard about this restaurant when I saw it on Check Please about a year ago. It is known for its generous portions of home style cooking and is also known for its gluten free kitchen. People that have an allergy to gluten have pretty much eliminated pasta from their diet. Places like Da Luciano allow them to once again enjoy home cooked pasta.
My family celebrated a few birthdays here on a nice March evening. We started with an order of lightly breaded fried calamari ($7) that was served with cocktail sauce. The calamari was high quality and anything but rubbery. We also had asparagus parmigian ($7) which consisted of large spears of fresh asparagus with an olive oil and parmigian crust which was outstanding. We used the warm crusty bread to make sure none of the sauce from the asparagus dish went to waste.
All entrees are served with a salad or soup. A couple of us ordered the straciatella which I found to be a bit too salty for me. The salad was a standard house salad which was good with decent Italian dressing that was better with a bit of the creamy garlic dressing mixed in. My brother in law and I decided to split the 2 homemade pasta entrees. The homemade pastas were rotolo (a pasta roll stuffed with ricotta and spinach) and manicotti filled with ricotta. The pasta was soft and chewy and the sauces were excellent. The vodka sauce we chose on the rotolo, while a bit rich for me, was outstanding. We had spicy and fresh arrabiatta sauce on the manicotti that was more of spicy tomato mixture than a puree. Other entrees we had were the shrimp, broccoli and linguini in olive oil and garlic sauce, chicken cacciatore and zuppe di pesce. Of these dishes, the rich and flavorful marinara sauce on the chicken cacciatore stood out the most. While I wasn’t blown away by any particular dish, I enjoyed everything I ate and found the large portiodn and reasonable prices (10$- 12$) be an excellent value.
We were too full for dessert as we exited the restaurant with leftovers. Overall, Da Luciano is a go to Italian spot with generous a range of reasonably priced high and quality standard Italian dishes.
8343 W. Grand Avenue, River Grove, Illinois; Phone 708-453-1000
Date of Review: March, 2010
http://www.dalucianos.com/index.cfm
Da Luciano is a no frills Italian “joint” with good food that smells and feels old school from the minute you walk into the restaurant. It actually reminds me of the restaurant in the movie the Godfather, Part 1 where Michael Corleone executed the crooked cop McCluskey. If you don’t remember the exact verbiage, I’ll help you.
Michael Corleone wanted “a public place -- a bar, a restaurant -- some place where there's people so I feel safe.” The venue ended up being Louis' Restaurant in the Bronx. When asked if anybody knew the restaurant, Tessio said ‘Yeah, sure, I do. It's perfect for us. A small family place, good food. Everyone minds his business. It's perfect. Pete: they got an old-fashion' toilet -- you know, the box, and - and - and - ah the chain-thing. We might be able to tape the gun behind it.”
While there are no guns in the toilet (at least I didn’t notice any), Da Luciano is small street side restaurant that you would imagine local Italian families frequent regularly. Put another way, it is the type of place where people feel comfortable dining in shorts in the summer or in a jumpsuit for one particular patron on the evening of our visit. The restaurant is small and basic with nothing fancy about it. There is seating for less than 30 in the main room that also houses a small bar and the kitchen in the back. The adjoining room was either under construction or was being reorganized for a private event as there was seating for an additional 60-90 but it was completely empty during our visit.
I first heard about this restaurant when I saw it on Check Please about a year ago. It is known for its generous portions of home style cooking and is also known for its gluten free kitchen. People that have an allergy to gluten have pretty much eliminated pasta from their diet. Places like Da Luciano allow them to once again enjoy home cooked pasta.
My family celebrated a few birthdays here on a nice March evening. We started with an order of lightly breaded fried calamari ($7) that was served with cocktail sauce. The calamari was high quality and anything but rubbery. We also had asparagus parmigian ($7) which consisted of large spears of fresh asparagus with an olive oil and parmigian crust which was outstanding. We used the warm crusty bread to make sure none of the sauce from the asparagus dish went to waste.
All entrees are served with a salad or soup. A couple of us ordered the straciatella which I found to be a bit too salty for me. The salad was a standard house salad which was good with decent Italian dressing that was better with a bit of the creamy garlic dressing mixed in. My brother in law and I decided to split the 2 homemade pasta entrees. The homemade pastas were rotolo (a pasta roll stuffed with ricotta and spinach) and manicotti filled with ricotta. The pasta was soft and chewy and the sauces were excellent. The vodka sauce we chose on the rotolo, while a bit rich for me, was outstanding. We had spicy and fresh arrabiatta sauce on the manicotti that was more of spicy tomato mixture than a puree. Other entrees we had were the shrimp, broccoli and linguini in olive oil and garlic sauce, chicken cacciatore and zuppe di pesce. Of these dishes, the rich and flavorful marinara sauce on the chicken cacciatore stood out the most. While I wasn’t blown away by any particular dish, I enjoyed everything I ate and found the large portiodn and reasonable prices (10$- 12$) be an excellent value.
We were too full for dessert as we exited the restaurant with leftovers. Overall, Da Luciano is a go to Italian spot with generous a range of reasonably priced high and quality standard Italian dishes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)