You’ll sink about six inches into the leather banquettes at Formento’s, the 859th new Italian restaurant to open in Chicago during the last 18 months or so. It’s a nice detail that might persuade you that you’ve arrived at your grandfather’s Italian restaurant, which of course you haven’t. Formento’s comes from what is now known as B. Hospitality, the folks behind the Bristol and Balena, who have striven to distinguish themselves from the horde by opening a proudly Italian-American red-sauce joint. It’s named for partner John Ross’s grandmother, and with it they’re attempting to tap into a vein of nostalgia I’m sure runs through a great many dedicated eaters, if not a great many weary of the rigorous pursuit of old-world authenticity that’s dominated these recent openings.
There’s a preponderance of a similar sweetness all over the menu, which isn’t necessarily surprising or even incorrect in Italian-American food. You taste it in the red peppers wrapped around a salted cod puree that needs only a dab of tartar sauce to come into balance. You taste it in the marinara that blankets the crispy, thick eggplant Parmesan and in the Sunday gravy with light, pillowy meatballs and tiny, mealy fennel sausages served to the side of the ruddy canestri.
One thing Formento’s manages to avoid that red-sauce joints usually don’t is needlessly oversize portioning, the exception being the desserts, which are large enough to weigh down the doggie bag, from a towering chocolate layer cake to a huge slab of spumoni, its layers of rich ice cream jacketed in a thin layer of pistachio cake.
925 W. Randolph 312-690-7295formentos.com
