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player ready...A close dining confidante has fallen in love with the Italian influenced fare at Lettuce Entertain You’s Osteria Via Stato (620 N. State St.; 312-642-8450). He has only one complaint: When he and a friend arrived for a 5:45 p.m. dinner recently, they were seated at a communal table (a six-top) and spent the night annoyed by having to rub elbows with two other couples.
“Oh that is so charmingly European,” I said.
“But I am an American,” he asserted.
I called the restaurant to find out what a sharing-averse dining pair at Osteria could do.
“We absolutely accept requests,” says Osteria partner Randy Brand. “We only have 10 private dining tables but if someone requested one at 5 p.m. or 5:15, when we first open, we could almost certainly accommodate them right away. If it is later, when it is more crowded, sometimes you might have to wait a little longer.”
Wine whine
During a recent meal at Everest (440 S. La Salle St., 40th floor; 312-663-8920), a colleague spotted star sommelier Alpana Singh and looked forward to her arrival at his table. But not only did the wine master and “Check Please” hostess never visit, but no one ever even gave him the wine list.
Things might have turned out differently if he’d simply asked to see Singh or the list, but it turned into a test at a certain point.
We called Everest. Chef Jean Joho apologized, but he compared the diner/sommelier relationship to the shopper/clerk dynamic in a high-end store. “They give you guidance if you would like it, but if they come rushing up you can feel like you are being pushed,” he said. “We don’t want our diners to feel like we are ordering them to order something.”
Chicago’s Joe Spellman, who is vice chairman of the American Chapter of the Court of Master Sommeliers, says that it is not necessary for a sommelier to visit every table, and it is “almost impossible to do that at a busy restaurant with lots of tables. In my many years as a sommelier, I was never expected to be the sole person fielding questions about wine. But if assistance was requested, of course I would be right there.”
But what about the wine list?
“That’s a flaw in restaurant service,” Spellman says.
Making me drool
After a recent World Eats column in which I lamented the lack of local pasta fagioli on permanent menus, I was beaned by a handful of readers offering examples of places that did serve the dish regularly and well, they say. Among the recommended spots were Armand’s Pizza and Pasta (7400 W. Grand Ave., Elmwood Park; 708-456-5200), Pompei Bakery (1531 W. Taylor St.; 312-421-5179) and D’s Little Italy (9 E. 31st St., La Grange Park; 708-352-7588).
Reason to live
The lighter than air mini passion fruit souffle at Vong’s Thai Kitchen (6 W. Hubbard St.; 312-644-8664) is served only at lunch for 99 cents. This four-bite treasure is the perfect size for us. Sooo much flavor, so little guilt.
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