Olio E Piu- Italian to perfection!

***** There are lots of fine dining spots in the River North area. Food of any type or style you may want. Traditional Italian is always special. The flavors are always tasty and with a co-host on the radio who is Italian, I enjoy dining Italian without him. While I love Frank, he begins to compare all Italian cooking to his mother’s, his grandmother’s and even his own. No restaurant can ever compare with that, so for our visit to Olio E Piu, Jane and I made the trip alone. The restaurant is located at 445 N. Dearborn and in addition to a lovely bar and dining room, during these days of summer, they have some wonderful outside seating. By the way, we found meters on Dearborn, so parking was easy and quite affordable.

We opted to dine inside so we could be in a position to take photos and see many dishes go by, and our server, Josune, was delightful assisting us with some of our choices. We started off with cocktails. As I always say, “when in Rome, Do as the Romans do” so instead of our usual cocktails, we selected  two of their HOUSE COCKTAILS: Jane the Mocha Espresso Martini- Kaola chocolate rum, Cuzan Black Strap Rum, all spice dram, lucano caffe, espresso ( very chocolaty), and I tried the Farfalla Rossa – absolut, cinzano, 1757, prosecco, Giffard lychee and cranberry- quite sweet and very yummy. After finishing that, I did have a Tito’s Martini straight up- made everything even better!

For our starters, from the “antipasta” menu, we opted for the Fritto Primavera: fritto misto primavera and tartare aioloa ( calamari, shrimp, carrot, celery and zuchini)- quite a nice dish and very flavorful. The second appetizer was the Carpaccio Estivi- sliced beef ( very thin), arugula, shaved parmigiana and capers. Both were delicious. By the way, they brought us assorted home baked breads including a cheese bread that was “to die for’ .

The menu has a lot of fine Italian foods to select from, and I would say that it might take us four or five more visits to try them all. Being only two of us ( instead of the normal four) we were limited as to the number of dishes to explore and while pasta was on my list, I felt that a meat and fish were the right thing for this story. For the meat- we chose the Tagliata Di Manzo Rucola E Grana- sliced beef rib-eye, salsa verde, arugula, cherry tomatoes and parmigiana potatoes.  This was as tasty as I have ever had- anywhere! The second choice, was the Branzino All Acqua Pazza- with cherry tomatoes, white wine sauce, garlic, basil, slice potatoes and vegetables.

Jane and I shared every dish and while she took more of the fish and I more of the meat, I would think it all evened out, BUT then came the deserts. Six amazing choices, making it a difficult task as Jane and I LOVE desserts. After some discussion, as I sipped the last of the martini, we decided on the Mousse Al Choccolato/evoo ( 62% dark chocolate mousse, cocoa nibs, EVOO)- yum yum and the second choice, Exotic Panna Cotta ( Bourbon vanilla panna cotta, pineapple brunoise and passion fruit sauce) amazing!!!

This was an amazing dinner, with great service, a wonderful feeling in the dining room and an easy walk to the car for the journey home. Olio E Piu is located at 445 N. Dearborn in Chicago. The website is www.olioepiu.com ( they also have locations in Washington, DC and New York City).

Hours: Monday-Saturday  11 am- 11 p.m.

Sunday                    11 am-10 p.m.

Phone 312-363-3335

They do have some great special opportunities: Aperitivo Hour: 2p.m.- 7 p.m. Monday-Sunday( bar and patio) special drinks and menu items at $10

If you are ready to try some new menu items, may I suggest that you take the trip to the River North Area where you will feel as if you have found a little piece of Italy on North Dearborn. ENJOY!