NATALINO'S ITALIAN RESTAURANT

NATALINO’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT
A NEWSRADIO 780 WBBM RESTAURANT REVIEW BY SHERMAN KAPLAN
BROADCAST JULY 25, 2008

The Old is The New at Natalino's, a swanky retro Italian restaurant at 1523 West Chicago Avenue. Granite topped bar tables, luxurious soft wraparound booths and a collection of Italian themed posters help set the mood.

It's big time dining, and at reasonable price points considering all that went into the mood inducing decor. We got past opening amenities from our sever, and took a look at the menu, as we were presented with a bread basket loaded with savory herbed foccacia. It tweaked our appetites for what lay ahead.

The cooking is largely Southern Italian, and as with so many Italian-American restaurants, many dinner portions are easily generous enough to share. So, the best way to approach Natalino’s from a couple’s point of view could be to order two or three appetizers and share an entree.

Among starters, rolled eggplant puts a real emphasis on the eggplant. There’s no batter, not even a thin one…but, there is plenty of ricotta and Parmesan and Provolone cheese bound together in a chunky tomato sauce.

Other appetizers include fried or grilled calamari, served with chunky potatoes, or banana peppers stuffed with sausage, steamed mussels in white wine and garlic or red tomato sauce.

Try burrata, a soft Mozzarella cheese from Puglia, with basil, olive oil and toast. Escarole and beans is another option, in chicken broth. This is perfect, with garlic on one end of the flavor scale, and creamy white beans at the other.

Several pastas and sauces can be mixed or matched. Gnocchi with red sauce is excellent. So too is the house 8 fingered cavatelli, though I frankly prefer the heavier, home made variety, granted that the dry pasta Natalino’s uses is very good. Among other pastas, orecchiette, tiny ear shaped noodles have texture variations that lets sauce cling to them.

The rest of the rather extensive menu runs a gamut of meats, fish and seafood. It turns out that everyone in our party chose pasta, but that just means a good reason to come back for the rest of what we did not try.

Nightly desserts are showcased on a tray brought out by your server. There is free valet parking. Expect to spend about $70 a couple plus add ons. Natalino’s is at 1523 Chicago Avenue and has a K/RATING of 18/20.

AMBIANCE 4/4 HOSPITALITY 5/5 FOOD 9/11

(312-997-3700)

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