The Best Old-School Italian Restaurants in Chicago

It ’s not hard to find good Italian in Chicago . Acclaimed restaurants serving refined pasta peach and rustic Tuscan joint constellate almost every neighborhood . When diving into the city ’s Italian inheritance , you do n’t need new twists or human - sized part , you desire a plate of chicken parm that will feed in you for three sidereal day . You need crowded , sauce - covered tables , checkerboard cloth , and waiter who pre - date color TV . You ’ll regain it all at these older - schooling Italian eating house in Chicago where the intellectual nourishment is better than your nonna ’s ( even though you will never tell her that ) .

The Rosebud

Opened:1977While The Rosebud may now be the bedrock of a local eating house imperium , its original locating in Little Italy rightfully draw in Chicagoans depend for heaps of pasta , baked clam , and some of the good meatballs in the metropolis . The bustling lineament of this wood - panel atavism space might trouble you in another restaurant , but here that brash , energetic liveliness only adds to the character .

Italian Village

Opened:1927It ’s ill fame as the old Italian eatery in Chicago could have spoiled Italian Village ’s terminus repute , teetering into tourist trap territory , but this third - generation house have spot has stubbornly and righteously clung to custom . It now encompasses three eating place , but the original dining room still sports the unselfconsciously unhip faux - Italian decor that it has for years . As for food the firm specialty is the volaille Vesuvio , supposedly the original , create by founder Alfredo Capitanini from a formula he bring in from northern Italy .

Sabatino’s

Opened:1969Old enough that the current owners do n’t even remember when the eating house was founded ( plausibly 1969 ) , Sabatino ’s is a high-pitched - end Italian phantasy straight out of the ' 70s in the best possible way . This classic supper cabaret is owned by two comrade who landed the joint after come over from Italy and spending years in the kitchen at the Italian Village . The plates of nitty-gritty and sauce are uncomplicated , straightforward , and , agree to them or the legion of regular , taste precisely the way they did 35 years ago .

Bacchanalia

Opened:1979Italian cognoscente will love Bacchanalia as shortly as they step in the door . A Pilsen staple that ’s been drawing Pilgrim Father from all over the city since 1979 , Bacchanalia guides its diners through a narrow unostentatious Browning automatic rifle area that ’s coated in sure-enough neighborhood charm . Still family owned , it ’s hearty Italian classics like veal scallopine are base on homestyle formula that the original founder Belfonte Pieri fetch with him when he immigrate from Tuscany in 1958 .

Club Lago

Opened:1952A throwback to the era when River North was patrol by warehouse workers and glad - handing politicians instead of finance bros and social climbers , Club Lago proudly holds on to its workings - socio-economic class roots with big plate of spaghetti and meatball or overstuffed lasagna at a damage that would be reasonable anywhere in the city . Although it was damaged by an explosion a few years back , the current owners , grandchildren of the original founder , made sure the renovation maintained the same ruby-red - leather simple spell , and of course the accessible attitude and great Martini ’s never went off to begin with .

Bruna’s

Opened:1933Taylor St may have fill over the Little Italy moniker but it ’s Oakley Ave in Pilsen that has the oldest Italian hood in the city . While the old resident may have propel on Bruna ’s utterly has not , many of the menu items are old than most of the other restaurant in Chicago . Regional northern Italian distinctiveness mix with Italian - American fare and they do n’t really have a specialty because everything is that bloody good . Paintings and leather chairs fill the dimly lit dining room that dispatch the spot between passé and perfect .

Gene & Georgetti

Opened:1941Gene & Georgetti may be a steakhouse first and first of all , but do n’t let that distract you from it ’s Italian spirit . Generous slab of steak are help alongside mussel marinara , fried calamari , and chicken Parmesan , a fantastic monitor that the Italian encroachment on Chicago cuisine go beyond pizza pie and pasta . Burgundy carpeted and closed off from the out-of-door world this is as old - shoal Chicago as it gets .

Gino’s North

Opened:1941It ’s hard for place like Gino ’s North . While other old Italian spots have survive on their adherence to an experience that most topographic point merely do n’t offer up any more , the city is still full of abstruse dish restaurants that sling a solid pie at a decent damage . But with so many of them chain it ’s comforting to see a on-key neighborhood spot like Gino ’s still fly high after so long . With its big glass - game barroom complete and greco - Roman Catholic statue it ’s a atavism to the gaudy delight of the ' sixty and ' 70s , not to bring up the pizza pie ’s crafter is Peggy Gelsomino , an 80 - plus - year - old grandmother who still seduce all of the insolence by hand .

Mart Anthony’s

Opened:1981When an exterior that face like a dive bar turns into an elegantly simple interior like at Mart Anthony ’s you know you ’re in for a goody . The holy Italian trinity of friendly syndicate - style service , relaxed atmosphere , and overstuff entree has been perfectly represented at this cult favorite for over 30 years . Devoted regulars follow recreate owner Marty from the onetime location on Randolph St to it ’s new West Loop lodgings , and continue to clamor for their touch inglorious linguini or steak Vesuvio .

Tufano’s Vernon Park Tap

Opened:1931A sparse no - ruffle loyalist of Little Italy – that is still - immediate payment only despite this being the yr of our lord 2016 – Tufano ’s advance laurels for not only its wondrous unregenerate honest-to-goodness - schooling vibe but also for the fact that it may be the only place in Chicago where you may get a decent plate of alimentary paste for the same price as a Venti double - whip mocha and a cookie . The service has a brusque technique , the cup of tea are a individual shadowiness of red , and the piazza is worked by up to four fellow member of the same kinfolk that once had four generations in the kitchen .

La Villa

Opened:1972La Villa is the embodiment of the small mob - lead pizza pie and pasta neighborhood restaurants that used to overtop the Italian landscape painting . pop out as a small take - out shopfront in the former ' seventy owners Nicoletta and Salvatore Canale step by step built it out into a full - divine service shop that has been feeding Irving Park classical Italian consolation ever since . The best part ? The original owners still work the kitchen , making everything from the sauce to the cabbage from scratch .

Orso’s

Opened:1972While other classic Italian spots may transude a more homey vibe , Orso ’s is a atavism to an era when Italian dining was one of the only high - end “ ethnic ” options in township . Around since before most of the Old Town crowd was even carry , Orso ’s swing for an old - world Italian elegance with its luxuriant cut up Sir Henry Wood and rich chandeliers . The solid food however is unadulterated Chicago Italian , with roll of drowned gnocchi and plates of chicken Vesuvio giving diners a welcome reprieve from the rash of trendier options throughout the neighborhood .

Calo

Opened:1965While other long ladder Italian spots might stand behind their adhesiveness to a dozen recognizable dishes Calo carries the Verbascum thapsus for another variety of mostly gone eatery , a place where the steak and the ribs are as much of a hooking as the great pizza pie or veal saltimbocca . monumental bill of fare aside Calo has stayed alive and thrive by exchange very small about what makes them enceinte even while the locality had transform around them ; formula croak down from father to son , low-cost monetary value , and an idealistic location in the center of Andersonville .

caprese salad with fried eggplant