Coco Pazzo: Sustained Excellence (Chicago-Area Restaurant Review 13)

Coco Pazzo has been on Hubbard Street near downtown Chicago for well over twenty years, and with good reason. While this is ostensibly an Italian restaurant, Coco Pazzo's menu offers many great choices. We started with the Scottato di Manzo, which is seared beef tenderloin, sliced very thin, with fresh parmesan, which we both enjoyed. Steve had the fresh buffalo mozzarella with oven dried tomatos. He really liked the mozzarella, which he insisted Lisa taste, and she agreed it was the best she'd ever had. But the tomatoes left something to be desired. They looked like stewed tomatos, and the taste matched the appearance. If you prefer fresh tomatoes, just eat the mozzarella. Lisa had the assorted seasonal greens salad. She liked that very much.

For an entree, we split the porterhouse for two, medium rare. It was carved tableside. While it was extremely flavorful, particularly the pieces near the bone, some pieces near the edges were not even medium. The quality overall, though, was excellent. For dessert, Lisa had the flourless chocolate cake, which was very dense dark chocolate, so of course she loved it. It has made Coco Pazzo her favorite place for dessert. Steve had the panna cotta. It was a custard with cherry sauce. Not surprisingly, he ate every drop.

Since we're not familiar with Italian wines, we asked the waiter to recommend a red that was not too heavy or dry. He suggested Red Angel on the Moonlight. It was slightly fruity and very smooth, and you can tell we liked it because we actually remembered the name, not to mention drank the whole bottle (we were walking home).

On a weekend, this is a perfect Chicago restaurant for either a pre-theater dinner or to spend an entire evening. We have found the service at Coco Pazzo a bit slow during the week, so it's not the place for a one-hour lunch or brief dinner. The decor is very relaxing, with hardwood floors throughout, well-spaced tables, a high ceiling, and warm lighting.

The total bill at Coco Pazzo was about was about $250, and would have been about $180 with wine by the glass.

This time Lisa and Steve agreed on the bathroom ratings. The Women's Room was clean, and had a marble sink counter, but wasn't particularly fancy. The Men's Room was similar.

Our ratings for Coco Pazzo, 300 W. Hubbard, Chicago, Illinois:

9 of 10 Steak Knives; 2.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes