Spiaggia in Chicago: Lives Up To its Reputation (Chicago Area Restaurant Review No. 82)

Every year we celebrate both of our December birthdays at one of the premier restaurants in the Chicago area. This year, Steve heard that our new President had taken his wife to Spiaggia for their 16th anniversary. He figured if it's good enough for Barack and Michelle, it's worth a try, particularly since it has always gotten rave reviews. We were very happy with this choice, and it was befitting of the fine evnts it was helping us celebrate.

Unfortunately, one mistake we made was reserving months in advance on Open Table. Open Table is great for making restaurant reservations, but we suspect reservations made through this website often produce bad results in terms of table location. Spiaggia has 3 rows of tables, the first closest to the windows, which provide its signature view of Michigan Avenue. Despite the fact that we booked 3 months in advance, we were seated in the third row. Perhaps we'd have done better either calling directly or putting our special occasion in the requests part of the Open Table menu. In all events, we were still able to get some of the view, and it was a cold night, so it might have been too cold by the windows anyway, and we did love the rest of the experience.

We started with a bottle of Renatto Ratti Barolo 2004. This was a choice from the waiter, since we know little about Italian reds. This started the trend of very informed and professional service, since we really liked this wine, which was light, fruity and medium bodied, with a nice taste that went well with all of our courses.

Our first courses were appetizers of steak tartare and sturgeon. Steve thought the steak tartare was the best he'd ever had, and Lisa also liked it alot. The sturgeon was also very good, although not remarkable and perhaps with a different non-salmony taste than we had hoped for. Next we had a pasta course. Steve's sheep milk pasta was delicious, cooked perfectly and with a very interesting pasta, set off nicely by the sheep's milk sauce. Lisa's veal stuffed ravioli with crunchy prosciutto was divine. She is not even really a veal person, but thought this tasted awesome, with a good combination of veal and prosciutto tastes helping the dish.

Up until the main courses, this dinner was almost perfect. However, the main courses were a bit weak compared to what came before them. Steve's lamb entree consisted of a chop and two braised portions. The chop was excellent but the braised portions were surprisingly tough, rather than the fall-off-the-bone consistency he expected from a restaurant of this caliber. Lisa's filet was cooked a perfect medium rare, and had a great flavor, but the bone marrow crust was a bit too herby (not Steve's long time golf partner, but spicy).

Next was the cheese course. Interestingly, the waiter never even mentioned this, even though the "cheese cave" is one of the things most mentioned about Spiaggia. Nevertheless, we specifically asked for the course, and chose 5 cheeses with the help of the cheese server. Some were smooth, some hard, and they ranged from bleu to parmesan. We liked the variety, since we usually don't have Italian cheeses. However, this course was just good, not great, with the cheeses best described, for the most part, as interesting but somewhat iffy.

Finally, for dessert, Lisa had the chocolate terrine, which was excellent, and was one of the few desserts of this type where the chocolate was dark enough for her tastes. Steve had the lemon panna cotta, which he raved to Lisa was one of the best desserts he'd ever had.

All in all, this was a great dining experience. great service in a marvelous location and excellent food. We would definitely highly recommend Spiaggia, but only for a once a year splurge, because it is very expensive. We spent $700 for two, and it still would have been upwards of $400, even had we only selected wine by the glass (although Lisa rightly points out that this seems cheap compared to the 900euros we paid for dinner at one place in Paris).

Washrooms were clean and well appointed but not over-the-top fancy and lacked substantial hot water, thus reducing their score.

Our ratings for Spiaggia, 980 North Michigan Ave, Chicago

9 of 10 Steak Knives; 2.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes