Probably our favorite restaurant all time is Rose Angelis in Lincoln Park. I shouldn’t say probably because this would have absolutely been top on both our lists. I can’t even tell you how many times we’ve been there. Even when we moved to the burbs we still made it a point to make specific trips just to eat there or to stop by when we were already in the city.
Cari’s favorite dish was Mezzalune al burro- spinach pasta half moons stuffed with ricotta and pesto served in a seasoned brown butter sauce with sundries tomatoes, toasted pine nuts and parmagiana. My favorite weekday dish (because they only served it Sun – Thurs) was Aged New York Strip medium rare, peppercorn crusted 16 oz steak finished with gorgonzola and sautéed onions served with grilled asparagus and sun dried tomato mashed potatoes. My weekend dish varied. I would always wait to hear the specials and would often choose the Manicotti. But the Lasagna is great too. Oh yeah, and their seasonal specials with pears, apples, or pumpkin are always top picks.
And then there’s the desert. Besides the amazing food and ambiance are the deserts. We never (well maybe just once) went there and didn’t save room for desert. We always ordered the chocolate and carmel covered strawberries. Sometimes we would get more, especially for Cari if there was something with a brownie or a tempting chocolate dish. She definitely had a sweet tooth. I think one of the first times, if not the first time, we were there and the service was a little questionable. The waitress ended up giving us two deserts for free. I think we were sold without the extra length they went to make sure we were happy, but it certainly didn’t hurt.
And then there’s Maeve, the bar across the street. We, as well as many others, would walk over to Maeve while waiting for a table. Rose Angelis doesn’t normally take reservations so the wait is around an hour or more at peak times on the weekends. Maeve made it so that the wait didn’t matter. We’d hang out for a martini or two and would just sit and chat til our table was called.
We really loved going here.