Piccolo Sogno
Focaccia, Rustic White, Grissini, House Balsamic and Olive Oil
Margherita – Tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil
Gnocchi d’inverno – Spinach and potato gnocchi, mushrooms, oven dried tomatoes, toasted garlic, herbs
Anatra e spinaci – Wood roasted, shredded duck with mushrooms, aged balsamic tossed with baby spinach
Millefoglie and Americano
Much like New York and Philadelphia, one of my favorite things about Chicago is the wide range of mid-priced Italian restaurants throughout the city – not the typical “red sauce” places that are ubiquitous in any “Little Italy” and packed with tourists, but rather the chef driven spaces where businessmen hold meetings, locals go to meet friends, and the maitre d’ knows (or at least seems to know) everyone in the room…especially the round table of big guys that may or may not be “Family,” – blood relatives or otherwise; all these things present in spades at North Halsted’s 5 year old hot spot Piccolo Sogno.
Translated as “Little Dream” and without doubt a work of passion from the kitchen to the front of the house the first thing one notices at Piccolo Sogno is just how friendly everyone is – smiles abound, chairs are pulled out for ladies, and whether they are real or not the Italian accents are thick and never cheesy. Seated quickly next to a table well heeled socialites happy to pay corkage on a duo of vintage Barolos even at lunch it was mere moments before I was greeted by my server, Gabriel, with a bread basket to go with olive oil and balsamic already on the table and working through the soft pillows of focaccia as I made my decisions it would not be long before my order was placed and even less time before the first of four courses arrived; the wood fired Margherita crisp and lightly charred, but unfortunately a bit bland with far less basil or acid than I’d have preferred – a flaw leading me to only eat 2 slices, something my server noted after I declined to have the rest boxed up to go home, with the item subsequently removed from my bill.
Moving on to better things, paste and secondi followed next with each showing far more attention to seasoning than the pie, first the small pillows of tender green pasta interspersed with intensely sweet tomatoes, hefty notes of garlic, plus tableside shavings of slowly melting pecorino and then the rich, crispy duck over tender spinach finding balance in a sea of earthy mushrooms and sea salt brightened up with aged balsamic.
With an Americano offered on the house as I perused the dessert menu it would not be long before I rejected my server’s suggestion of tiramisu in favor of a puff pastry tower sandwiching vanilla custard and with the pastry baked to order with the cream added a la minute I’ll simply say that anyone who goes to Piccolo Sogno and doesn’t order this is making a huge mistake as it is every bit as good as the Mille Feuille at Au Cheval and therefore nearly as good as those throughout Paris – a truly exemplary dessert whose shattering layers caught the attention of the ladies to my left and a table of four just behind them – both placing their orders shortly thereafter and, judging by their “oohs and aahs,” further cementing my sentiments above that this, by itself, is a reason to put Piccolo Sogno on the short list.