Riviera Italian and American Foods located at 3220 N. Harlem Avenue (near the intersection of Belmont) doesn't really qualify as a restaurant per se as it is a limited service grocery with a deli and sausage shop.
The Riviera is owned and operated by the family of Carmelo Pugliese, any number of whom can be found any day of the week in the store.
For locals seeking lunch options, Da Riv, as it has affectionately become known in my office offers one of the best bangs for your buck with it's deli selections that range in price from $3 to $5 depending who you know and what you order.
Carmelo and/or his son can usually be found at the Deli counter around lunch time everyday putting together sandwiches for neighborhood stragglers who drop in and out for sandwiches to go.
I always ordered from the menu, until one day, our friend Zim advised that he had great success offering to let Carmelo put a sandwich of his discretion together for him.
In a particular fit of gluttony, I ran the gamut of the meat case to have them prepare what is proudly known today as the Will Special: Hot Sopressata; Hot Cappicola: Salame de Prosciutto; Prosciutto Ham; (Roast Beef on Fridays was added a few months later);fresh mozzarella, a just a bit of hot giardinera on a roll I picked myself from the bread bin.
The Will Special at Da Riv (Photo Courtesy of GWiv and MikeG)
The cost? $3.50 though sometimes, for reasons of which I do not inquire, it costs $4.00 or $4.50. That's a real bargain at any of those prices in a neighborhood where one may be forced to pay one and a half to two times the price for some crap from Jimmy Johns in the alternative.
The Will Special now sits in infamy, with its ingredients on a yellow post it note, next to the meat slicer on the wall in the back.
I always feel a little guilty as I head to the register that I'm taking advantage of the Pugliese family at that sandwich price. So, I usually buy a quart of their excellent frozen red sauce, some of their top notch frozen ravioli, and maybe a bottle of their homemade giardinera or some of their good quality olive oil and/or tinned tomatoes. If I'm lucky, they may have a left over arrancicni from the weekend, I can pack in my to go bag. Da Riv's arrancini are particularly good.
If you're in the mood for dessert, the little lemon knots at the register fill the bill well.
Da Riv and the Pugliese family, and are true culinary gems iin our little corner of the world.
For that, I'd like to nominate Da Riv for recognition in the LTH Great neighborhood Restaurant program (even though it isn't a restaurant).
Riviera
3220 N Harlem Ave
Chicago, IL 60634
773-637-4252
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