Had to meet a friend in from Tel Aviv for lunch yesterday, and she was staying in Cicero, and wanted to drive somewhere close by that had a parking lot. So I took a flyer and decided on Salerno's on Roosevelt in Oak Park. From reading upthread, that must be one of Joe Salerno's places. Not much info on this forum beyond what's on this thread.
My companion simply wanted thin crust cheese pizza, which was very good. I had seen the buttery-crust thick version, and I could tell in a nanosecond that it was not for me.
But I got adventurous and ordered the baccala a la Calabrese, salted codfish fillets in a tomato gravy with mushrooms, onions, green peppers, black olives & potatoes. Very, very nice, and after sitting overnight even better.
I brought home a chicken cacciatore (excellent--a great rendition), linguine & calamari (tender squid, only a little tomato & ink sauce, the way it should be), and some escarole & bean soup (more scarola than bean but authentic, reminiscent of the stracciatella at Bruna's). High quality, all.
Again, not a destination venue, but it's good to see a few old 'goombah' places still surviving in the former Italian geographical nexus of Oak Park, Cicero, River Forest, Melrose Park, Forest Park, River Grove.
Salerno's of Oak Park
7128 Roosevelt Rd.
Oak Park, IL
(708) 383-1500