Mark and I started this blog to stay in touch with our friends and to let you know where we are so you can come meet us. With the best of intentions to post daily, we have been very busy!
We are really enjoying the tour and the people we are meeting. We have received wonderfully warm welcomes from old friends and new. Rather than re-cap the last week, I’ll say that we had a lot of fun on NBC with Al Roker and with Martha Stewart on her show, in Boston and Philadelphia.
We are in Chicago now. I haven’t been here since the tragic events of 9/11, but for many years Chicago was a second home to me. In 1992 I opened my 2nd Coco Pazzo restaurant on West Hubbard Street.
I felt like I was visiting a long lost relative, and to my delight, Chicago is the warm and lovely place I recall, not the Windy City it is called. After a day signing books, we enjoyed a lovely evening at QUARTINO Restaurant, a warm, rustic and very busy restaurant on North State Street. Chef John Coletta prepared a menu of my favorites: Jewish-Style Roman Artichokes, cooked to perfection, crispy and very tasteful. My tagliolini with meatball and mushrooms pasta recipe prepared perfectly, tender little meatballs well seasoned and served with an earthy mushrooms and peas…WOW! The combination with a rich meatballs and the flavorful sauce was excellent. Main courses included chicken scarpariello and lamb shoulder, everything delicious and still we found room for desserts.
What a treat for a chef to have a meal prepared exactly to his liking without any work! Intermittent with eating and talking, we signed lots of books. The restaurant was full of old friends, employees and colleagues. Chicago was always good to me; I received a warm welcome when I opened Coco Pazzo in ’92, and again during this visit. I love this city, and I know that Chicago loves good Italian food.
Today we visit an old Chicago institution: Sam’s wine and Spirits on N. Marcy Street for a great tasting of meatballs and companion wines from Banfi…where among the many good choices is an outstanding ROSSO di MONTALCINO “PLACIDO”. Come out to see us if you can.
We will have as much fun tonight as we can before turning early, for tomorrow at dawn we travel to Vancouver. I really looked forward to this next stop because I never been there…
Be in touch with me. I’ll stay in touch with you.
Pino Luongo
