Quartinos - Must Hit Spot

Posted by admin on March 31st, 2007 at 06:45pm

A prime River North location, valet parking outside, innovative menu, not a place I want to pick up the check. Or is it?

Quartinos (Corner of State & Ontario) labels its offerings as italian tapas. As someone who loves food, I tend to be very indecisive when picking up a menu for the first time. Tapas is the perfect answer for those times when everything looks good. I also love quality Italian food as much as anybody who has lived off store-bought marinara sauce and spaghetti for the better part of college and fallen in love at first sight with hundreds of super hot Italian girls. However, I have never heard of a restaurant offering a combination of both of these dining pleasures. I was intrigued and ready to pay for it.

Once inside the crowded, yet surprisingly comfortable bustle of this friendly spot, we ordered clams and a carafe of cabernet sauvignon to start. The wine was impressively good - even before considering the $18/L price tag. The clams were deserving of a similar reaction. Coated in an excellent sauce and served in a generous helping, this was good eating. For the next course, we ordered the cavatelli. Touted by our friendly and fast waitress as a potato pasta similar to gnocchi, this dish was impeccable. I have not had pasta this good in quite some time. The sauce was bursting with flavor that was brought out perfectly by fresh ricotta cheese spread across the dish. This dish alone makes me want to return to Quartinos very soon.

Following this dish we settled on calamari as our final dish. The generous helpings made three dishes seem like the perfect number for two people. The calamari was the first and only falter of the entire meal. A bit undercooked and rubbery, they were still not horrible and I have certainly seen far worse served at higher priced establishments. We were well into our second carafe of wine by this point and decided that dessert was a must upon seeing the nutella paninis seductively lighting up the menu. When they were brought out, it was clear that these small sandwiches dripping with chocolate were the perfect end to a very enjoyable dinner.

I have no doubt that I will return to Quartinos in the near future. If I were to only consider the food, I would draw the exact same conclusion. Add to this that my girlfriend and I were able to enjoy 3 generously sized tapas dishes, dessert, and plenty of wine for less than $50 and I am just salty I didn’t hit here any earlier.

Under $$$ - Casual Dining+ $$ - Good Eats