While in Chicago celebrating our wedding anniversary earlier this year, we decided to head out to Chicago Little Italy neighborhood to have some delicious Italian food. We took an Uber out to a small Italian restaurant along Taylor that we had found on-line. When we stepped into the nearly deserted place around 7 p.m., we were told that if we didn't have reservation we couldn't possibly be seated until 9 p.m. Somewhat crestfallen (it was a cute little Italian place), we wandered back east on Taylor checking out a few other restaurants along the way. We ended up in front of Tuscany, a restaurant that I was familiar with, but had not tried before. Even thought the place was packed, it turned out that we could get in with a minimal wait. (see map)
Phil Stefani is one of the longtime well-known names in the restaurant business around Chicago. Along with his uncle Lino Stefani, they opened the original Stefani's restaurant in Chicago in 1980. The original Stefani's is long closed, but he has three Tuscany restaurants - the one on Taylor Street that we went to, one up in the far northern suburb of Wheeling, and one out in west suburban Oak Brook.
Pictured right - Phil Stefani
Along with the trio of Tuscany restaurants, the Phil Stefani Signature Restaurants group also owns Riva Crab House at Navy Pier, MAD Social in Chicago's West Loop (it is run by Stefani's daughter Gina), and Tavern on Rush, an upscale steakhouse near Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood. The Stefani group also owns the Crystal Gardens, a one-acre indoor botanical center at Navy Pier that hosts receptions and events with food catered by Stefani's catering company headed by his wife Karen and their daughter Gina.
The rainy day had turned into a beautiful sunlit evening by the time we made it down to Taylor Street. When we walked up to the maître d' at Tuscany, he told us that we would have a 15 minute wait to get a table. There was one other couple seated at the bar waiting for a table to open, so we sat down to get a pre-dinner drink. Karen was the bartender that evening and she got a Lagunitas IPA for me and a Ruffino chianti for my wife while we waited.
The restaurant featured a number of cloth-topped tables with accent lighting on some mural paintings on wall. Even though the dining room was packed, it wasn't loud in there. The only thing I didn't care for was that the tables were literally on top of one another. It was pretty cramped in the dining area.
We were seated right next to the open kitchen at Tuscany. We were able to see into the kitchen to see both the food prep and the wood-fired oven they used for their pizzas at Tuscany. Pizza sounded good, but I was in the mood for pasta that evening.
In the back of the restaurant is a large room that is used for private dining, receptions, meetings and overflow. Even though the restaurant was full that evening, the back room was not in use that evening.
While we looked through the menu, our server for the evening - Saul - came over to greet us and to drop off a basket of fresh-baked bread. He also had some freshly roasted whole garlic with him.
Saul poured some olive oil and put some parmesan cheese top of the oil, then he took some garlic cloves and crushed them in the oil. The pungent smell of the garlic smelled wonderful. Even more wonderful was the somewhat spicy taste of the fresh garlic on the bread along with the olive oil and parmesan cheese. If that's all we got for dinner that evening, we would have been more than happy.
It was old world Italian dining at Tuscany with items they featured on the menu. They had a veal chop entree, as well as a rack of lamb entree. They had a seared beef tenderloin filet on the menu, as well as a roasted pork chop with sage and rosemary that came with a side of garlic-sauteéd rapini. They also had a number of pasta dishes on the menu, as well, but none of which were exactly what I was looking for. But I did find something that appeased me with the help of some suggestions from Saul along with some modifications from the kitchen.
After a nice house salad that featured fresh iceberg lettuce along with sliced cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots, Saul brought our main courses out. They had a pappardelle pasta plate that was topped with a wild boar ragout sauce and shaved fresh parmigiana cheese. I was looking for something kind of spicy and Saul suggested that I get a side of grilled Italian sausage.
I cut the sausage into chunks and put it on top of the pasta and the wild boar bolognese sauce. The grilled sausage was the spicy taste I was looking for and it was a great compliment to the boar ragout. The pappardelle pasta was fresh and had a great egg taste. (Tuscany has a facility that produces up to 40 different types of pasta daily for the various Stephani restaurants.) I was more than happy with the meal I had that evening.
My wife ended up getting the Spignola del Chile Livornese - Chilean sea bass topped with chopped Taggiasca olives, capers and Swiss chard and topped with a tomato sauce. Organic polenta came on the side. The fish was light and flaky, and my wife thought the tomato sauce with the capers gave it a nice balance in flavor. I normally don't like tomato sauce with fish, but my wife thought it was a nice combination.
For dessert, we had to try a slice of their tiramisu. The presentation was nice with a side of whipped cream cheese and a chocolate sauce drizzle. The tiramisu was rich and filling, a nice ending to what we thought was a very good meal.
For walking in off the street with no reservation on a Saturday evening, we couldn't have been more satisfied with how we were treated during our visit to Tuscany. Everyone was welcoming and accommodating, our server was professional and proficient, and the food - we thought - was excellent. While we were disappointed we couldn't get into the restaurant we initially chose, Tuscany turned out to be a very good Plan B for dinner that evening.
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