Hi, everyone. Long time no type. Mrs. JiLS and I moved away from Chicago in 2018 and have been enjoying our lives in Central New York, where we are happy and Italian-American food prevails.
When we lived in Chicago, we were quite possibly Sabatino's best customers. We sort of lived there, had dinner sometimes four or five times in a week. Twice, they gave us Christmas presents.
Anyway, Sabatino's went away shortly after we did (we hit them for one final meal in August 2018).
We were so pleased when we heard about Avvio, which would have all the Sabatino's recipes we missed, cooked by the chef who had cooked them for us back at Kenneth and Irving. But ... when we made our way to Avvio on a visit to Chicago, the experience was disappointing to say the least. No liquor license, just a big sparsely decorated room, no bar, no ambience, all kind of stale boring and "meh." The fact that the food was exactly the same as Sabatino's actually somehow made the experience worse. It certainly was no substitute for the overall dining experience of Sabatino's.
So, that off my chest ... What currently available spot in Chicago might possibly meet our Sabatino's expectations or create new ones for us? We have been and will continue to be regular visitors to our long-term former home city, and would love somehow to replicate or at least come close to matching our sentimental old favorite, while acknowledging that perhaps you truly can't go home again.
JiLS