Sitting in the flight path of O'Hare International Airport along River Road in western suburban Schiller Park is an Italian restaurant that I've driven past a few times when I stay at a hotel in Rosemont - Tuscano's. Their sign out front says that they're a Greek and Italian restaurant, a nice Mediterranean combination. It was a cool rainy night when I checked into my hotel just up River Road in Rosemont and I decided to go down to Tuscano's for dinner.
For years, Giannotti's Italian Steak House was *THE* place in the near northwest suburbs for a great meal for families celebrating birthdays or anniversaries, for a guy trying to impress his date, or for a high-powered business lunch. In the fall of 2009, Giannotti's suddenly closed "for remodeling". That's usually the kiss of death for fine restaurants that had gone out of business. The owner of the building, Sam Zarcone, had leased the space in a small strip mall along River Road to the Giannotti family. After they went out of business, he decided to take over the space with his own Italian restaurant. He partnered with Peter Jovanovic and rehired many of the staff of Gianotti's - including chef Javiel Villalobos. They reopened as Tuscano's in early 2010.
On weekends, Tuscano's can get packed. They feature a piano player in the lounge area early in the evening. Then after 9 p.m., they have everything from small bands to a singer who performs with a karaoke machine on a small stage with a dance floor in another part of the restaurant. Tuscano's is one of those neighborhood places where regulars show up each weekend for food and dancing.
It was a weeknight when I pulled into Tuscano's, just south of the Stephens Convention Center. (see map) They have a sort of open dining area with low walls that allows a bit of privacy in some areas, but you can see across the room when you stand up. The lounge area features a large bar and a number of tables with flat screen televisions on the wall. The lights are very low in the lounge area and I took two or three pictures of the room with my camera on my smartphone, but none of them came out.
A hostess asked me if I wanted to sit in the dining room or in the lounge. They had basketball games on the flat screens in the lounge and I decided to go with that. She dropped off a dinner menu and I waited for my server to show up.
The bartender/server that night, Lisa, came over to greet me. She asked me what I wanted to drink and I took a quick look at the taps behind the bar. The lights were so low that I was having trouble making out what they had. Finally, I saw the familiar Samuel Adams logo and I ordered one of those. She came back out with the Sam Adams poured into one of the special Samuel Adams beer glasses that are supposed to be used to drink their beer. I thought it was a petty nice touch and something that I've rarely seen at a bar or restaurant. (Click here to learn more about the Samuel Adams beer glass.)
The dinner menu at Tuscano's features a long list of Italian favorites, Greek specialties, wood-fired ribs and pizza, veal, chicken and pasta dishes, steaks, lamb chops and seafood. I'm always a little leery of places like this who have a large menu because while they can usually do everything just all right, they can't do it all very well.
The veal picante - lightly breaded veal sauteed in lemon juice and white wine - sounded pretty good to me. A choice of soup or salad and a side pasta dish came with the entree. I thought a bit about the homemade fettuccine alfredo, but that seemed a little boring to me. The linguine with clams in a white sauce was another thing that caught my eye. But nothing really jumped out at me.
I looked long and hard at their wood-fired pizza. They had a basic margarita pizza with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. They also had the Diavola - spicy pepperoni, fresh mozzarella, black olives and red pepper flakes. Suddenly, pizza sounded real good to me. I hadn't had a good pizza in a while and I ended up getting the Rustica - Italian sausage and pepperoni along with fresh mozzarella, sliced mushrooms, housemade tomato sauce, onions and sweet peppers.
While I waited for my pizza to show up, another waiter brought out a basket of warm bread slices. Olive oil and parmesan cheese were on the table. The bread was soft and flavorful, and dipping it into a combination of the olive oil, parmesan and black pepper was a great taste sensation. It went well with the beer.
I had finished my first beer and was looking for a second one when another server brought my pizza out to me. Lisa was busy behind the bar and having to wait on patrons in the lounge area. But after she got my pizza order, she just forgot about me. I looked over and it appeared that she was talking with a couple guys who were probably regulars at the bar. She just completely forgot about me. I had water with my pizza.
The pizza was about 10" in size and the crust looked like it was pre-formed and not hand tossed. The crust was thick toward the edge and thin in the middle.
The toppings were a little disappointing. There was little Italian sausage on the pizza, as well as only a few slices of pepperoni. Strips of sweet red pepper were on the top of the pizza - a plus in my book. Small slices of onion were prevalent, but not numerous. Same with the mushrooms. I could taste some of the fresh mozzarella, but overall I was disappointed in the pizza. The crust did taste like a preformed crust - sort of lifeless and hard to chew. This was a pizza that had a lot of promise, but didn't live up to the billing of a good wood-fired pizza. I only ate 4 of the six slices before I called it quits.
On top of all that, Lisa completely forgot about me. She was still paying attention to people sitting at the bar so much that I thought I should go over with my pizza and just sit at the bar. When the server who brought me my pizza came back to inquire if I wanted the rest boxed up, I declined and told him I'd just take my check. I sat an waited for another five minutes or so and no one brought me that check. I finally had to go up to the bar, interrupt Lisa and ask for my check. I almost gave her a bad tip and with a note on the receipt "Don't forget your customers." (I've done that a few times in the past.) But I gave her what was basically a ten percent tip and called it good.
I do want to go back and try Tuscano's again at some point. Everything started out so nice, but went downhill after the basket of fresh bread came out. I'd probably go with my first instinct and get the veal picante or a pasta dish, but I was far from impressed with my pizza at Tuscano's. I couldn't even give you an answer if it passed my "Does it taste good with beer" test because I didn't have any beer with the pizza thanks to Lisa forgetting about me. Sitting in the dining room may be a better plan if I do make it back at some point. I just hope the rest of the food is better than the pizza.
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