South Barrington's Incontro A Tavola delights diners with regional Italian

Incontro A Tavola has about six months under its belt, and while the new arrival on the northwest suburban dining scene is still evolving, it looks like it's off to a good start.

The upscale restaurant, tucked in the Arboretum of South Barrington complex, occupies a modern, warmly lit, inviting space that can accommodate 170 diners including 45 in a private-party room. Its name translates roughly to gathering around the table.

The ambitious menu — laudable, if challenging — aims to embrace the best gustatory delights from Italy's multiple regions, including Rome, Milan and Sicily. The kitchen also offers a classic dish from Florence: Bistecca Fiorentina. The hefty 30-ounce porterhouse is priced at $70 and serves two.

Most a la carte entrees, however, are priced in the $18 to $30 range.

Fresh Italian bread and a small bowl of mixed olives are brought to the table as diners sort through Incontro A Tavola's diverse wine list, drawn mostly from California and Italy with a few scattered selections from elsewhere. Beer drinkers will find a small selection of domestic and imports on tap or in bottles, as well as some classic cocktails, including one prepared with limoncello.

Baked artichoke, stuffed mushrooms, and fried or grilled calamari are among the antipasti possibilities. So are pizza margarita, mussels in either garlic white wine sauce or a spicy tomato sauce, and scallops with fennel and flash-fried leeks in a lemon beurre blanc sauce.

Salad makes an ideal starter, and two can't go wrong sharing the Insalata Barbabietole ($13), attractively composed of sliced red and golden beets, tomato and arugula in a flavorful lemon-oil dressing — the whole works topped with a large mound of buttery burrata made from mozzarella and cream.

Also on the salad menu were caprese, bruschetta and carpaccio.

Homemade pasta stars in a number of entrees. Even though the kitchen erred in the timing of the Tagliatelle Anatra, I would order the dish again if more vigilance were paid so the long, flat fettuccine-like noodles didn't overcook but retained their al dente bite.

The misstep wasn't enough to supplant the enjoyment provided by the otherwise well-made dish with its slow braised duck, sun-dried tomatoes, wild mushrooms and peas in a white wine herb sauce with grated grana, a hard Italian cheese.

Incontro A Tavola redeemed itself with the braciole, the entree my dining partner chose. The flavors jumped out in this rolled skirt steak braised in a tomato and red wine sauce and filled with spinach, cured meats and cheese. It came plated with a made-in-house pasta and grated cheese.

Traditional desserts, priced from $4 to $6, were predominant: cannoli, tiramisu, flourless chocolate cake, lemon sorbet, and pistachio, chocolate and vanilla gelato. One less frequently seen dessert, bomboloni con crema, is worth getting to know. This commendable goody involved fried pastry dough filled with Italian custard and served with honey and a drizzle of melted chocolate.

If you want to linger after dinner, live music is offered in the bar area Thursday through Saturday evenings.

• Restaurant reviews are based on one anonymous visit. The Daily Herald does not publish reviews of restaurants it cannot recommend.

Incontro A Tavola

100 W. Higgins Road, H-20, South Barrington, (847) 836-1700, <a href="http://www.incontroatavola.com">incontroatavola.com</a>

<b>Cuisine:</b> Regional Italian

<b>Setting:</b> Modern, white tablecloth space at the Arboretum of South Barrington

<b>Entrees:</b> $18-$30

<b>Hours:</b> 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday