It's carefully hidden in Oakbrook Center. Or at least that's what it says on the menu. Almost a next-door-neighbor to ma cherie, Mon Ami Gabi, the restaurant Antico Posto is like Gabi's quiet Italian cousin. It's a "Lettuce Entertain You" restaurant just like Gabi and another restaurant I love, Wildfire.
Ever since the first moment I stepped inside this restaurant through its revolving door, I loved it. There's a bar at the front and a couple bar tables, but the majority of the restaurant is dimly-lit, white-tablecloth dining. And it's usually packed.
The first thing placed on the table is crusty, fresh-baked bread with coarse salt on the crust and a dish of add-ons: fruity olive oil with garlic, parmesan, and balsamic and a dynamite giardiniera with green olives, onion, celery, cauliflower, and eggplant. If the entrees themselves weren't quite so phenomenal, I could just eat the bread.
But the thing is, the entrees are phenomenal. So don't do too much carbo-loading at the outset of your meal.
They make these really great brick oven pizzas with a chewy crust that tastes a little pretzel-like to me. They hardly use any sauce, which allows the flavorful toppings to shine, whether it's oven-roasted tomatoes and basil on their goat cheese pizza or sweet fennel sausage and fire-roasted peppers. The goat cheese pizza is my sister's favorite, and it's the food item that taught her to embrace the roasted tomato.
I happen to be rather partial to the pasta dishes, and I've sampled quite a few. The pasta is made fresh in-house, and this really makes a difference in their plates. I love the gnocchi (both bolognese and pomodoro), and the spaghetti bolognese. While not necessarily authentically Italian (according to Food Network's Alton Brown), this combo of thin, delicate pasta and rich meaty sauce is undeniably delicious.
My all-time favorite pasta at Antico is the cavatelli, which in Italian means "little worms"...delicious, right? But in all seriousness, it's a hearty yet delicate pasta with a pleasant chew to it. At Antico, they make it with ricotta, and they pair it with assertive toppings.
I've tried the cavatelli special with vodka-cream sauce, tossed with sweet fennel sausage and lots of fresh parsley (shown right). It was a great deviation from my usual, a plate only available once a week.
Behold, ladies, gentlemen, and others: Cavatelli with Sunday Meat Sauce. It is a heaping plate of pasta tossed in a light cream and topped with a great big ol' dollop of braised meat. On my last visit, our waiter gave up the names of the meats they use, five in all: pepperoni, sausage, sopressata, roast beef, and roast pork. All of this is cooked down in garlic and tomato until it's a soft, sumptuous sauce full of meat that is fall-apart tender. I can think of nothing to improve upon it.
And don't even get me started on the desserts. They have these great little mini-desserts, from a velvety panna cotta with brandied cherries (my favorite, right) to a creamy lemon cheesecake, topped with whipped cream and lemon curd (my sister's favorite, already half eaten before I got a chance to snap a pic...though I don't blame her). All you need to cap it off is a LaVazza cappuccino, and you're in business. Bella, bella, bella.
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