Cheese Beans and Other Italian Delights

I have picky taste when it comes to Italian food. My Italian grandparents make amazing food (as does my Mom) and often I am disappointed by Italian restaurants. Plus, it is really infuriating to eat a pasta dish for $20 when you can have similar (or better) at home for so much less. Yet, the type of restaurant I go to most frequently with Mark and my family is Italian.

My sister, Niki, and I tried a new Italian place last week, Fianco. It's in the Southport corridor - just a block north of the brown line stop. We went for an early dinner right after work and we were the only people in the restaurant for a good 30 min. The decor is simple, modern and barely noteworthy, but nice.

We happily started with alcohol. Niki had a glass of Prosecco and I had Pinot Grigio, and the restaurant provided bread with herb butter as a starter. Since we were chatting away it took us a while to decide. I convinced Niki to let us start with the antipasto plate and it was a good decision. It came with salami, pickled peppers, blueberry preserve, cheese and a few pieces of crostini. All of it was absolutely delicious. This plus a small salad would have been plenty satisfying, but we ordered large main dishes too.

I had trouble deciding between the scallops and the pork tenderloin - two of our waitresses favorites. I ended up choosing the pork tenderloin which was wrapped in bacon and served with what Niki termed "cheese beans" (the restaurant had a different name, crispy leek speatzle) and cabbage. The pork was tender and seasoned with rosemary and fennel, and I really enjoyed it. The "cheese beans" were a bit odd in texture and taste, hence the nickname. They looked like very small and thin beans, but had a cheesy texture and taste. We had many laughs about them and I can see my future career as a serious food critic floating away with this post...

Niki ordered the orecchiette pasta with spicy lamb sausage sauce and rabini. It was tasty, but much less funny than my meal. Niki enjoyed everything, but wished the dish was served really hot instead of merely warm.

I enjoyed Fianco, but it's certainly not the best Italian I've eaten out. If you go, order the antipasto plate!

Tab: Around $60