Quartino Ristorante- Chicago IL
Quartino Ristorante- Chicago IL
After a long day of exploration in the city, this is the one place you can sit down, relax and really take it all in. Enjoy the evening as the sun sets in the city. Quartino Ristorante on Ontario St. in downtown Chicago is not only a beautiful place to eat but truly encompasses Italian cuisine and hospitality. When you pull up the restaurant, you can see a few dozen tables on the outside patio (at least in the nicer months) with people enjoying themselves, laughing and chatting it up. It's a great place to feel like your right in heart of Italy, sitting along the street and watching passersby. Sitting on the patio is a must do if you are here but their entire restaurant is very well thought out. It's modern but classic and on the inside covered wall to wall with beautiful woods and clean marble. It's honestly deceiving on the outside because it really opens up into a multi-level eatery when you walk in. Great to host large parties and eat family style or to even take a date to have dinner. In my opinion, it's perfect just to sit outside and enjoy the splendor of the city with a glass of wine. That's exactly how it went on my visit to Quartino. The thing that I loved about this place is that they serve their wines in small glasses. Not your traditional stemmed wine glasses or even stemless. Just simple small glasses that you can savor fully and enjoy your wine bit by bit. Now that's Italian. For the wine picks, an oaky Chardonnay, a lighter Sauvignon Blanc, a nice Barolo, Chianti, Pinot or even Montepulciano.
Upon walking into the patio area for the first time, you'll see many small tables with wicker chairs and beautiful flowers in their outdoor landscaping. It's hard to pull off patio landscaping in the city, but the owners really made it smart and simple here with some nice small garden florals. The first food I saw upoon entering was a large cheesy thin crust pizza that a couple was ordering. The amount of cheese just said "heaven" to me and that was on the list for something I had to order. It was the Quattro Formaggi to be exact. Pecorino, Mozzarella, Fontina, & Parmigiano cheese made thin crust style that is soft and crispy at the same time. All the food here is traditional Italian. They had some beautiful pastas, main entrees, fresh seafood and plenty of small plates to share. I went with the artichokes that were dressed in olive oil with carrots and pickled onions. Artichoke Campobasso it was named. It was absolutely divine. While waiting for your food, your server will give you a nice basket of fresh bread that you can nosh on while waiting for your other dishes. Another great part about this restaurant is that they have some good Italian olive oil on the table, along with some nice aged balsamic and a grind- your -own fresh parmesan cheese shaver at every table. If I can be honest here, this was dangerous because I ended up putting cheese on literally everything. 1) Because it was fun to grind my own 2) What is an Italian meal without Parmesan? My guest with me had the sun dried tomato soup with basil and a ricotta crostini which was to die for. The bold flavor of tomato and carrot in the soup with again more fresh parmesan on top...excellent. The pizza arrived just in time and normally it's easy to just take a couple pieces, call it a day and wrap it up for tomorrow's lunch. Not here. Every piece was eaten into oblivion and was served with fresh oregano on the side to sprinkle over the pie. Not a shaker full of dried oregano. Fresh herbal oregano hand cut from the server with an aroma that was indescribably good.
Other things on the menu worth mentioning but that we did not have a chance to order. The salumi and cheese selection. Should you just want to enjoy a small meal- just some cheese and meat, this is a nice option. Some thinly sliced prosciutto, coppa or mortadella for you perhaps? Pair it with some runny taleggio, gorgonzola or fontina maybe? Add on some dates wrapped in pancetta? Ok, I am making myself hungry here. A meat and cheese board is always a smart way to go. All of the pastas are homemade, so you are getting something that was made fresh that day at the restaurant. I have to admit all of their plates of pasta looked fantastic and tempting. The potato gnocchis and tagliatelle bolognese caught my eye along with the ravioli that was filled with braised pork, beef, and speck with fava beans. There are of course several different vegetarian options for the veggie and salad lovers out there and also some beautiful seafood dishes including baby octopus and shrimp risotto.
The staff is very friendly, professional and on the ball. We never had an empty glass and servers and managers visited our table several times to make sure everything was to our liking. I give this place two thumbs up and will absolutely be returning. On the way out of the city and a few blocks down, a group of confused individuals were trying to debate on where to eat for dinner that night. I pointed them to the way of Quartino and told them they had to go there for one of the best Italian meals. Their food debate seized immediately and all seemed to be well as they started to make their way over to the restaurant.
After a long day of exploration in the city, this is the one place you can sit down, relax and really take it all in. Enjoy the evening as the sun sets in the city. Quartino Ristorante on Ontario St. in downtown Chicago is not only a beautiful place to eat but truly encompasses Italian cuisine and hospitality. When you pull up the restaurant, you can see a few dozen tables on the outside patio (at least in the nicer months) with people enjoying themselves, laughing and chatting it up. It's a great place to feel like your right in heart of Italy, sitting along the street and watching passersby. Sitting on the patio is a must do if you are here but their entire restaurant is very well thought out. It's modern but classic and on the inside covered wall to wall with beautiful woods and clean marble. It's honestly deceiving on the outside because it really opens up into a multi-level eatery when you walk in. Great to host large parties and eat family style or to even take a date to have dinner. In my opinion, it's perfect just to sit outside and enjoy the splendor of the city with a glass of wine. That's exactly how it went on my visit to Quartino. The thing that I loved about this place is that they serve their wines in small glasses. Not your traditional stemmed wine glasses or even stemless. Just simple small glasses that you can savor fully and enjoy your wine bit by bit. Now that's Italian. For the wine picks, an oaky Chardonnay, a lighter Sauvignon Blanc, a nice Barolo, Chianti, Pinot or even Montepulciano.
Upon walking into the patio area for the first time, you'll see many small tables with wicker chairs and beautiful flowers in their outdoor landscaping. It's hard to pull off patio landscaping in the city, but the owners really made it smart and simple here with some nice small garden florals. The first food I saw upoon entering was a large cheesy thin crust pizza that a couple was ordering. The amount of cheese just said "heaven" to me and that was on the list for something I had to order. It was the Quattro Formaggi to be exact. Pecorino, Mozzarella, Fontina, & Parmigiano cheese made thin crust style that is soft and crispy at the same time. All the food here is traditional Italian. They had some beautiful pastas, main entrees, fresh seafood and plenty of small plates to share. I went with the artichokes that were dressed in olive oil with carrots and pickled onions. Artichoke Campobasso it was named. It was absolutely divine. While waiting for your food, your server will give you a nice basket of fresh bread that you can nosh on while waiting for your other dishes. Another great part about this restaurant is that they have some good Italian olive oil on the table, along with some nice aged balsamic and a grind- your -own fresh parmesan cheese shaver at every table. If I can be honest here, this was dangerous because I ended up putting cheese on literally everything. 1) Because it was fun to grind my own 2) What is an Italian meal without Parmesan? My guest with me had the sun dried tomato soup with basil and a ricotta crostini which was to die for. The bold flavor of tomato and carrot in the soup with again more fresh parmesan on top...excellent. The pizza arrived just in time and normally it's easy to just take a couple pieces, call it a day and wrap it up for tomorrow's lunch. Not here. Every piece was eaten into oblivion and was served with fresh oregano on the side to sprinkle over the pie. Not a shaker full of dried oregano. Fresh herbal oregano hand cut from the server with an aroma that was indescribably good. 
Other things on the menu worth mentioning but that we did not have a chance to order. The salumi and cheese selection. Should you just want to enjoy a small meal- just some cheese and meat, this is a nice option. Some thinly sliced prosciutto, coppa or mortadella for you perhaps? Pair it with some runny taleggio, gorgonzola or fontina maybe? Add on some dates wrapped in pancetta? Ok, I am making myself hungry here. A meat and cheese board is always a smart way to go. All of the pastas are homemade, so you are getting something that was made fresh that day at the restaurant. I have to admit all of their plates of pasta looked fantastic and tempting. The potato gnocchis and tagliatelle bolognese caught my eye along with the ravioli that was filled with braised pork, beef, and speck with fava beans. There are of course several different vegetarian options for the veggie and salad lovers out there and also some beautiful seafood dishes including baby octopus and shrimp risotto.
The staff is very friendly, professional and on the ball. We never had an empty glass and servers and managers visited our table several times to make sure everything was to our liking. I give this place two thumbs up and will absolutely be returning. On the way out of the city and a few blocks down, a group of confused individuals were trying to debate on where to eat for dinner that night. I pointed them to the way of Quartino and told them they had to go there for one of the best Italian meals. Their food debate seized immediately and all seemed to be well as they started to make their way over to the restaurant.
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