Italian Foodventures in Chicago

I’ve long criticized the fact that it’s hard to find good Italian food in Washington, D.C. and northern Virginia. The best I’ve found–excluding the Italian sub scene, which is for another post–is at La Piazza, next to the Braddock Road metro stop in Alexandria, and Alberto’s on Barracks Row.

Because the Italian food in D.C. is famously below par, I sought out Italian food on my business trip to Chicago last weekend. I ate three different Italian restaurants and wanted to share some brief thoughts about those restaurants here.

On Thursday night, I had dinner at Vivere, one of the three “Italian Village Restaurants” that boasts the largest wine selection in the entire city. I started with a small Caesar salad and my entree was the oh-so-delicious Linguini con Gamberi e Pomodori Secchi, which featured linguine, sauteed shrimp, toasted garlic, extra virgin olive oil, chili flakes, and Sicilian sun-dried tomatoes. In our group of 8, three people ordered this and if you could taste it, you would understand why.

On Friday night, I was able to slip away from work for a bit and meet up with Emily, my best friend from high school, at Rosebud on Rush. Again, I started with a Caesar; Emily and I shared–and it was definitely big enough for two. I was having a hard time deciding and told the waiter that I wanted the tortellini, but that I couldn’t eat meat during Lent and “excluding the prosciutto would take away all the fun.” He suggested that I switch to the tortellini in a tomato cream sauce, which actually isn’t on the menu. Tortellini with tomato sauce might be my favorite food of all time, so I embraced his line of thinking and was very happy to have done so. Emily and I split a bottle of Travaglini Gattinara Vendemmia 2003, and it was incredible. I took a picture of the bottle so I would remember the name and remember to order it again in the future. It was light enough to not have to compete for attention with our cheesy pasta dishes, but full-bodied and spicy enough to hold my interest.

Saturday afternoon, I needed to grab something relatively quick near my hotel, but still wanted hot food. I headed back over to the trio of “Italian Village Restaurants” and tried The Village, a Northern Italian restaurant with the most adorable, rustic village decor. I ordered Scampi Casalinga, which was sauteed shrimp in sherry wine with shallots and mushrooms, over angel hair pasta. It wasn’t bad, but I made it much better with red pepper flakes and a little Parmesan cheese. Unlike the shrimp pasta dish from Thursday night, I probably wouldn’t order this one again. The waitress said it was the best thing on the menu, in her opinion, and if that means anything, I’m guessing that I’d refer visitors to Vivere instead of The Village.

That’s all to say, I was pretty sick of shrimp pasta by the time I headed back east. I am, however, on my way back to Chicago about a week from now and need to pick out some additional places to eat then. Bearing in mind that meat is still off limits, any suggestions?

Alternatively, if anyone in the D.C. area would like to argue that there is other good Italian food around town, I’m happy to be proven wrong.

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• By emily henderson, March 20, 2009 @ 4:55 pm

  hey, katie–try alpine in arlington–small little place, great owners and we’ve always had great food there.

• By Katie, March 21, 2009 @ 5:26 am

  Alright, I’ll have to check it out!

• By Adrian, March 23, 2009 @ 6:19 am

  So gald you are posting again. In D.C. I would suggest Landini Brosthers in Old Town Alexandria. It is right on Kind Street towards the water (on the left side if you are looking at the water). You can’t eat it now but after Easter go and try the Penne alla Romana or any specials. Great place my family has been going to for years.

  Oh and I have been to Alpine (I also think there is one in Old Town which I think are owned by the same people). I would say decent but not great, but note I have only been to the Old Town version and I may be wrong about them being owned by the same people.

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