Mrs. JiLS and I decided to tour Millennium Park today (suitably impressed), then strolled south to Grant Park, then the heat got us thinking about a libation and we wandered into Kitty O'Shea's for a couple of pints and, before you could say boo, we were on the Roosevelt bus headed toward Taylor Street. Tonight we ended up in RoSal's, a Sicilian spot that hasn't received too much (read: any) attention here. I'm no advocate for this place. I'll come right out and say I had some serious issues with RoSal's, but overall I'd give it a solid "B-" at least. First the bad news: there is a definite vibe of what, for a lack of a better term I'll call "tourist trap" about the place. Here's an example of what I mean. Our waitress, while certainly attentive, had a canned spiel that she delivered with all the feeling of a ride operator at Six Flags. And we heard her repeating it to every table around us. Yes, she listened to our orders, but there was no real dialogue. It felt like a drive through window, more or less.
Anyway, as to the food, we had the fried ravioli appetizer. Why, I don't know. It's an odd dish, indeed. But it was the highlight of this meal. The ravioli is doused in a white cream gravy that I can best describe as southern country gravy without the sausage and with a dose of garlic and Italian herbs. But the pepper content is right on. So what I'm saying is that these were basically Italian biscuits and gravy; and on that standard, I'd throw them in the ring as an honest contender for best B&G in the city of Chicago. Seriously, this was a great appetizer. We sucked down all the gravy with our bread (a so-so Italian loaf). But here is my most serious negative comment on this place. The menu lies. They say this appetizer includes 8 ravioli, and we got six. That's just plain dishonest (and not trivial, as the appetizer costs 9 bucks).
I kept the ravioli theme going with the goat cheese variety for my main course. They offer a wide range of choices, including duck. For me, that's an exotic choice, and maybe if there's a next time I'll try it. I went with the goat cheese figuring it would match well with a good Sicilian red sauce. And it did, although I'll be darned if I could taste any goat in that cheese. Has anyone else noticed how mild and bovine the goat cheese has been tasting over the past few years? The filling in these ravioli may as well have been Dean's ricotta. The sauce also failed to grab my imagination, although it was clearly the product of hand labor and had all fresh ingredients. I guess my feeling was, either go for it and do the whole Italo-American heavy, gooey red sauce, or go for the purist Italian dabs of tomato approach, but don't go halvesy on me. For the behavioralists in the audience, I suppose it is noteworthy that I did finish every bite.
Mrs. JiLS had the veal parmgiana, which was veal parmigiana. Reminded me a lot of the stuff I got from Ex-Mrs. JiLS's family (Italian Americans in Newburgh, New York). Not gonna spit it out, but not worth a special trip, either.
So, I'd probably go back, but I wouldn't go out of my way.
Last edited by
JimInLoganSquare on July 31st, 2004, 8:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.