 |
 |
|
|
Anteprima
|
|
The restaurant business goes through fashions just like anything else, and 2006/2007 in Chicago is the Italian Era. It seems like every third restaurant that opens has a name that ends in a vowel. You won't be surprised to hear that not all of them are good. But Anteprima, which opened in April in the hip Andersonville neighborhood, is very good. Marty Fosse is the owner and proprietor, and a visible presence bustling around the dining room, even doing some busboy duty. One of his prior jobs was front-of-the-house manager at Spiaggia, most people's choice as the best Italian restaurant in Chicago, and one of the best restaurants in Chicago, period. Strangely enough, he is also a partner in the local chain Charlie's Ale House, which you can find on Navy Pier and also just south of Anteprima. The styles couldn't be more different. Fosse has been quoted as saying that he aims to serve food that he has actually eaten in Italian homes, and there is an absence of the usual upscale accompaniments, like microgreens. But the food is well thought out, well prepared, well presented and downright delicious. Our table shared two appetizers, which got us off to a good start. The salumi platter had generous portions of a good prosciutto, thinly sliced sopressata (hard salami) and coppa, a lightly cured and soft pork salami. Accompanying the meats were an excellent cherry mostarda and a fig relish. There were toasts, too, but the bread sticks in the basket brought to our table were so good that it was easy to ignore the toasts. Fosse believes in using local ingredients when he can get them, and both the prosciutto and the sopressata were Chicago-area products. The coppa was from Salumi, the Seattle company/restaurant owned by Armandino Batali, father to celebrity chef Mario Batali. Our other appetizer was a plate of tiny veal meatballs with pinenuts and raisins on a bed of tomato sauce accented with saffron. The regular menu lists six pastas (conveniently available in entrée and appetizer portions) and seven main courses, which are all meat or seafood. From the pasta menu, my husband Bob chose a dish of orchiette and dandelion greens sauced with ragu of lamb sausage with pecorino cheese and a spicy chili oil. The Webmeister went for one of the day's specials, a strozapretti ("think of them as gnocchi that you grab and stretch," said our waiter) with lamb shank. The Webmistress and I independently chose calamari naplitano, tender squid with garlic in an olive oil/white wine/tomato with some more of the spicy chili oil. It was served on a bed of fregola, little pieces of broken pasta. The wine list is 100% Italian, with 5 sparkling selections, 23 whites and 39 whites. More than a third of the wines are available in quartinos, which are about a third of a bottle, brought to your table in a small carafe. The prices are as reasonable as the selection is broad. As I always do, I passed on dessert. I'm just not into sweets. The rest of my party agreed that while the desserts were quite good, they were probably not in the same league as the rest of the food. Anteprima passes the next-trip test. As we left, we were all considering what we would order next time we went. Anteprima |
 |