Opening: Trattoria Trullo

Good Italian restaurants never really die; they just…leave town when the going is good. So maybe two months ago, Trattoria Trullo picked up stakes in Evanston where its building was slated to be destroyed and found refuge in Lincoln Square, much to the evident pleasure of neighborhood eaters.

The restaurant sports a little cafe and deli area, but let’s get right to the main menu. Basically, Trullo serves solid, classic Italian concepts with some modernization of ingredients, like a mahi-mahi sauteed with a potato crust in white wine sauce served over sauteed spinach for $21, or a risotto con porcini & mascarpone with porcini mushrooms and mascarpone cheese over imported organic acquarello canaroli rice for $19. But rest assured, you will find your pollo alla parmigiana (i.e. chicken parm - boneless chicken breast baked with tomato sauce, parmesan and mozzarella cheese, $18), vitello alla marsala (i.e. veal marsala - with shitake mushrooms, $20), ravioli alla vodka (cheese filled ravioli tossed with a vodka, mascarpone tomato cream sauce, $13), and even insalata Romana (i.e. Caesar salad, with hearts of romaine, shaved parmesan cheese, croutons and Caesar dressing, for $6).

It’s definitely a good sign when a restaurant chooses to name dishes in the language of origin rather than Anglicizing them - means that they care about fidelity to the food more than pandering to a xenophobic clientele. Not that you’d find much of that in Lincoln Square these days. Anyway, barring another real estate boom, this location should be around for some time.

Trattoria Trullo [MenuPages]

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Opening: Trattoria Trullo