18 Chicago Italian restaurants earn ‘authentic’ seal

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Antipasti at Coco Pazzo, 300 W. Hubbard. (Rich Hein~Sun-Times)

Updated: June 14, 2011 6:17AM

The Italian government has for the first time identified 600 “authentic” Italian restaurants worldwide — and 18 of them are in Chicago.

They include Spiaggia, 980 N. Michigan, a President Obama date-night spot; the 84-year-old Village, 71 W. Monroe, and its sister restaurants Vivere and La Cantina, and Gaetano’s in Forest Park, whose website touts its “upscale regional Italian fusion” cuisine.

“It is a big deal,” says Robert Allegrini, president of the Italian American Chamber of Commerce-Midwest. “There’s a lot of bad Italian food out there. There’s nothing worse than overcooked, oversauced pasta.”

Said pasta does not an Italian restaurant make. Nor does a bottle of olive oil on the table and Pavarotti on the sound system.

So what does?

According to Italy’s National Institute of Tourist Research, the arm of the Italian government that decides such things, a true Italian restaurant must meet this criteria:

The menu is written in Italian; at least half of the dishes and recipes are “of the Italian tradition”; at least one employee speaks Italian; the head chef has earned a Italian cooking certificate, trained in an Italian restaurant or cooked for at least three years; at least 20 percent of the wines on the menu have the Denominazione di Origine Protetta, or Protected Denomination of Origin, seal; the olive oil is DOP-certified extra virgin, and the restaurant makes known its commitment to using DOP-certified products on the menu.

Oh, and the dining room must be furnished in a “distinctive Italian nature” that shows “good taste.”

The 18 restaurants that have so far passed the test will be honored with the Ospitalita Italiana seal at the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Little Italy tomorrow — yes, St. Patrick’s Day, but also the day marking the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification.

The certification process is voluntary and ongoing; restaurants submit the required documentation to the Institute.

The Italian American Chamber of Commerce-Midwest is responsible for visiting each restaurant to check out their claims of authenticity, but the final world rests with the Institute.

“Italy’s cuisine is its greatest ambassador. It’s without the doubt the most popular ethnic cuisine in America, and it’s the same over much of the world,” says Allegrini. “So the Italian government wants to ensure that one of its greatest assets is regulated and is truly authentic.”

Restaurants will be reviewed every 12 to 18 months to retain their seal, Allegrini says. Nineteen Chicago area restaurants applied; only one didn’t make the cut.

The other restaurants with the “authentic” seal are: Coco Pazzo, 300 W. Hubbard; Merlo on Maple, 16 W. Maple; Pelago Ristorante, 201 E. Delaware; Phil Stefani’s 437 Rush, 437 N. Rush; Piccolo Sogno, 464 N. Halsted; Quartino, 626 N. State; Riccardo Trattoria, 2119 N. Clark; 312 Chicago, 136 N. La Salle; Ristorante Agostino, 2817 N. Harlem; Tocco, 1266 N. Milwaukee; Via Carducci La Sorella, 1928 W. Division; Volare, 201 E. Grand, and Sergio’s Cucina Italiana, 280 Rohlwing Rd., Itasca.