As a food writer, I’m beginning to view the appearance of every new Italian restaurant with existential dread. In terms of word slinging, the battle between steak houses and Italian spots for Chicago restaurant hegemony throughout the last few years has me running low on ammo. While there are fresh things to write and be excited about (Osteria Langhe, Animale), I fear the oversupply of new, formulaic, pan-Italian pizza-pasta-piattini pushers might be creating an impression among unseasoned eaters that one of the world’s greatest cuisines is molto repetitivo. My instinct is to disregard these restaurants in favor of any kind that smells even remotely original.
One thing that clearly sets this menu apart is the presentation of a bottle of house-made Calabrian chile oil. It shows a remarkable lack of ego in an accomplished chef that he would arm his guests with the unlimited ability to alter the flavor of his food. Or maybe Thompson errs on the side of caution, suspecting the default Lakeview palate has a capsicum tolerance well below the southern-Italian standard. Either way, there was little I ate at Coda di Volpe that wasn’t improved by it.
Thompson is also rolling a few uncommon pasta shapes: horn-shaped trombette in a Sicilian-style pesto of tomato and crushed almond with fennel sausage and sharp Caciocavallo cheese; fettuccine made with chickpea flour, topped with pork ragu and salty dried ricotta. More conventionally, string-shaped chitarra nestle among vaguely manky clams with meaty nduja, preserved lemon, and the minty herb nepitella, while fat bucatini swim in the rendered juices of roasted cherry tomatoes.
3335 N. Southport 773-687-8568cdvolpe.com
