Some people might be surprised to learn that Little Italy is not River North. The sheer volume of new Italian restaurants opening there and on Randolph Street in recent years seems unsustainable, and yet they keep coming. And with historically Italian enclaves like Taylor Street and Heart of Chicago now just pale shadows of themselves, the perception is almost understandable. But the stretch of Harlem Avenue dividing the city from west-suburban Elmwood Park (and thereabouts) has for decades maintained a stronger Italian-American presence than anywhere else in the region. Stronger and consistent, yes. But growing? Perhaps not until now.
Maybe I’m a sucker for tomato-vodka cream sauce just because part of me is trapped in the 80s, but there’s no denying that this simultaneously sumptuous and brightly acidic sauce is enduring. At BarTucci it helps peas and Italian sausage bond to the deeply ridged rigatoni. Ravioli-like tortelli stuffed with sweet pumpkin puree in a sage-spiked butter sauce sprinkled with crushed amaretto cookies is just as familiar as it should be, and no less savory. Meanwhile tubular, twisted casarecce would likely lend themselves well to sweet red beet sauce tossed with goat cheese if they weren’t overcooked.
3426 N. Harlem 773-887-4416bartuccichicago.com
