There seems to be a large Italian population on the far west side of Chicago, not far from O'Hare Airport. Most of the Italians in the area live in Harwood Heights, a small community just west of Chicago and sort of south and east of O'Hare. It turns out there are a lot of Italian restaurants concentrated in the area around Lawrence and Harlem, and I decided to try one that had been around since the early 70's, but had recently gone through a name change - RoccoVino's.
Vince Loiacono was born in Sicily to an American father and a Sicilian mother. One of four siblings, Loiacono had wanted to come to the U.S., but couldn't leave Sicily until his 18th birthday. Since he was under 21, his trip to the U.S. was sponsored by an Italian-American group and he ended up in the Chicago area. And as his father was an American, Loiacono was also an American citizen by birth. He then entered the U.S. Army and became a paratrooper in the 173rd Airborne Division in the early 60's.
Loiacono decided to open a restaurant in the Harwood Heights area of Chicago in the early 70's. He contacted his mother and grandmother back in Sicily to get family recipes. He also sought the help of his Italian-American sponsor, Josephine SanFilippo, for other Italian recipes. Once he had the recipes in hand, he opened Vince's on Harlem in 1973 in a small building on the west side of Harlem. The restaurant moved to its present day location across the street in the 80's into the Holiday Plaza strip mall. (see map)
In 1981, two young Italian immigrants who had settled with their families in nearby Norridge - Savino "Nuccio" D'Argento and Rocco DeFrenza (pictured right) - went to work at Vince's. Both started out as dishwashers and pizza makers, eventually working their way up the ladder at Vince's to waiting tables, managing the kitchen, and as front of house hosts.
In 1989, D'Argento got a side job working for Sbarro, the national chain of pizza by the slice eateries that are found in malls, airports and other high traffic areas. D'Argento was a regional manager for Sbarro and even got DeFrenza a job working for the company. But they still kept their other jobs at Vince's hoping for a chance to open their own place at some point.
That happened in 2001 when Vince Loiacono - who owned other restaurants by that time - came to the two friends and asked if they would be interested in buying him out of his Vince's location. The two were already working on a restaurant concept, but they couldn't say no to the deal Loiacono offered them. (Today, Loiacono owns Vince's the Pizza People, a family-friendly pizza and wings joint in the far northwest suburb of Pingree Grove.)
D'Argento and DeFrenza decided to go ahead with their own Italian restaurant concept - RoccoVino's Express - and opened in Elk Grove Village in 2003. Their little place was sort of a cross between Sbarro and Vince's - a place where people who worked or lived in the area could grab something quick on the go. Their second RoccoVino's location opened in far western suburban Carol Stream and featured a traditional sit-down restaurant with old world Italian favorites and pizza. They soon opened another location in Orland Park on the far south side of the Chicagoland area, and eventually turned the RoccoVino's Express into a straight RoccoVino's sit-down location in Elk Grove Village.
The two realized that Vince's on Harlem was starting to show its age. In early 2015, they decided to shut down Vince's and give it a much needed face-lift. After spending over $100,000 in improvements and updates to the place, they reopened in November of last year as RoccoVino's. They also updated the food selection, but made sure that any of the old Vince's favorite dishes could be whipped up for the regulars, some of whom had been coming to Vince's for over 30 years.
It was about a 10 minute drive from my hotel to RoccoVino's on a cool and misty evening in Chicago. I found it in the corner of the strip mall that also houses an Office Max. There seemed to be a lot of cars in the parking lot, but I was able to find a slot not far from the front door.
I found out why there were so many cars - there was a group of older people having what appeared to be a club meeting in a room off to the side of the dining room/bar area. The dining room/bar area had a number of tables open and I was seated at a four-seater in the middle of the room. I was given a menu and not long after that a young lady by the name of Stephanie came over to take drink order.
The bar featured a full wine list and a good selection of beers to choose from. I didn't think I wanted any wine that evening, so I ordered up a Goose Island IPA. A basket of bread with a bottle of extra virgin olive oil and parmesan cheese was dropped off at the table. The bread was soft, warm and very fresh. I'm guessing they baked it on-site as it was very good.
The menu featured a vast array of old world Italian specialties - pasta, steaks, seafood, thin and thick pizzas, a number of salads and appetizers, and classic Italian dishes such as chicken (or veal) parmigiana, stuffed egg plant, or chicken, veal or pork Vesuvio. Every thing is made from scratch in the kitchen, they have only one microwave in the kitchen and it's used very little. This was the place to go if you were hungry for Italian food, but didn't know exactly what to get.
I've been on kind of a meat-filled ravioli kick over the past few months - my wife doesn't care for ravioli too much so I don't make it at home. But on the road, I like to have some ravioli, maybe with a marinara or bolognese sauce with a couple meatballs to go along with it. When I ordered the ravioli from Stephanie that evening, I was in a quandary as to get either the marinara or the bolognese sauce. She said, "Do yourself a favor. Get the tomato basil sauce. It's my favorite." So, I did just that.
For a starter, I got my choice of soup or salad and I went with the salad. I had asked Stephanie if they had a house-made Italian dressing and she said, "Get the sweet vinaigrette." She didn't steer me wrong. The vinaigrette had a wonderful flavor with the fresh greens and veggies that were mixed in the salad. I didn't want to over-stuff myself on the wonderful bread, but I couldn't help but sop up some of the vinaigrette when I got toward the end of my salad.
The ravioli featured large pillows of ground meat filled pasta with a healthy amount of the tomato basil sauce. Two smaller meat balls came on the side. From the first bite, I knew exactly what Stephanie was talking about with the sauce. It had a nice sweet taste with a hint of Italian basil mixed in. The ravioli was generously filled with meat and along with the sauce it was very tasty. The meat balls were mixture of pork, veal and beef and were mixed with herbs and spices. They, too, were very good. The amount of food that I had was just perfect - I was full enough by the time I finished the ravioli and meatballs and had a little bit of sauce left to dip some of the bread into.
I liked everything about my visit to RoccoVino's. The service was excellent, the place was cozy and inviting, and the food was superb. They have quite a selection of Italian specialties on the menu at RoccoVino's and I'm guessing I could go there a dozen times and get something different each time. This was a great find and it will definitely be in the rotation of Italian restaurants that I go to in the Chicago area.
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