Day 28 - RPM Italian

I know I am not a food critic, I am not even close to being one, but I do enjoy myself a good meal.  I am one of those people who eats food because it tastes good.  I think that going out to dinner is one of my favorite social activities.  A bottle of wine, and some delicious food, and I am set.  I don't understand the people who eat food for fuel and nothing else.  I don't understand...AND I am jealous.  Imagine how much healthier I would be if I could flip the switch in my head from "wanting food" to "needing food" and only eating what was necessary.  Healthier - definitely.  Boring - totally!!

This past weekend, Mike and I went to the new RPM Italian in River North.  In case you don't know or in case you were living under a rock for the last year or so, RPM Italian is the new Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises restaurant, opened by Bill & Giuliana Rancic, Doug Psaltis, and the Melman's (of LEYE).  It's a swanky Italian restaurant located on the corner of Dearborn and Illinois.  It is right across the street from a fire station, and it just so happened that the night we went was St. Patrick's Day; there was definitely a lot of opportunity for people watching, and by people watching I mean drunk girls in knee high socks and neon green tutus, and the firefighters were taking advantage of watching the insanity unfold.  I, on the other hand, was watching the firefighters watching the insanity.  +1 for RPM - location.

We had early reservations because we were heading over to the United Center to watch the Bulls Beat the 76ers (89-80).  We had arrived about 30 minutes prior to our reservation time, but they sat us anyways in a cute little corner booth.  The servers all wore white blazers and black bottoms.  Mike was surprised by the black-and-white theme.  When I asked him what he was expecting, he didn't really have an answer for me, but he was taken aback by it.  I didn't have any preconceived notions, so I thought the outfits were trendy and flattering.  They ambiance, including the music, was "cool."  It wasn't a stuffy Italian restaurant where the tables are too close together, and old school Italian music is playing in the background.  It was spacious and exciting.

As for the menu, it is most certainly designed for sharing, and for you to try a lot of what is on it.  We started the night with the Pinot Nero wine.  It was so good; we did work on that bottle pretty quickly.  There are breads, small bites, hot and cold appetizers, salads, pasta dishes, and main entrees.  We had the ricotta bread to start which was the best Ricotta either of us had had.  We asked the server what he thought and he said that the garlic bread was popular, but his personal favorite was the ricotta bread.  We went with that, and boy was he right!!  Giuliana's salad was good, and our pasta choices were great.  I had the Mama DePandi's Bucatini Pomodoro which was awesome; the pomodoro sauce on it was so tasty, and the garlic cloves were a nice add!!  Mike enjoyed the Short Rib Pappardelle as well.  We topped the meal off with their pistachio gelato which was, by far, the best gelato I have ever had.  Mike is a huge pistachio junkie, and he agrees that it was amazing.

Overall, our experience was a good one.  Our server was great, soft-spoken, but knowledgeable.  The prices were reasonable - which was a welcomed surprise.  And it being a LEYE restaurant, we were able to use gift cards!  WOO!!  Being that our reservation was earlier (4:30PM, but we sat at 4:00PM), our experience may have been different than maybe people who go at peak dinner hour.  I would definitely like to go back around 7:30 or so and see how our first experience compares.  If you are interested in trying this restaurant out, better make your reservations now.  It may take a few weeks for you to get in.  Let me know what you think if you do go!  Maybe I will see you there.