Napolitano's serves up Italian with a Latin twist
The farther west you venture, the bigger things get. Shopping malls, chain restaurants and even townhouses acquire almost gigantic proportions. But when you enter Napolitano's off Randall Road, you know that the new restaurant is not striving for that sort of approach.
The room, totally remodeled from its previous turn as Asiago's, is large, but divided into several parts. It's framed by modern decorations, oversized wine bottles and faux cracks in the paint to create a lived-in texture. A private area is closed off by windows that come down in the summer for an alfresco dining feel, while a six-person chef's table is especially positioned to face chef and part owner Juan Ortiz in the kitchen. A mahogany bar stands on one side, and a fireplace warms up a section of two-seaters.
Ortiz is a local guy who also happens to be a multiple award winner. Medals, trophies and certificates make up a sort of shrine to the chef at the entrance.
Several things become immediately apparent when one opens the food photo-interspersed menu. One impression is that Napolitano's aim is to be all things to all people. While appetizers such as bruschetta (on a just baked flatbread, a nice twist) and plump, salty mussels, imprinted red from the wine butter-garlic broth they float in, are quality takes on classically reliable starters, one's left to wonder why the chef would also want to include onion rings, rustic chicken spring rolls or Buffalo wings, for that matter, on the menu as well.
To do so slightly dilutes the potency of a culinary breadth that is otherwise inarguable, as evidenced by both soups. The du jour offering involved a mighty tasty depiction of a creamy carrot and ginger combo with just the right amount of calmness and kick. A rustic sausage potato creation, meanwhile, was a flavorful combination of minutely diced, yet perfectly firm, colorful vegetables surrounded by Italian sausage in a roasted vegetable broth.
Entrees - Italian with a Latin twist - are ambitious, with seafood, pizza, pasta and chargrilled choices.
With a brick fire oven on display, one will be hard pressed to back down from the pizza challenge - and we were amply rewarded. A white, crisply thin pizza of chopped shrimp, velvety Alfredo sauce and just-ground basil pesto becomes an instant classic in its complete flawlessness.
We fared less well with pasta Mediterranean - overcooked penne bathing in a watery marinara, topped with a thinly sliced, chicken breast and a curiosity-inspiring bunch of steamed broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus.
Within the trio of homemade desserts, presented in such restrained quantity as to mimic the exquisiteness of French pastry chefs and their miniature tour-de-force, is an ovation-stealer tiramisu that more resembles a layered cookies-and-cream creation in appearance, but is moistly imbued with liquor and espresso. It is absolutely gorgeous.
Napolitano'sInfo: 455 Redington Drive, South Elgin, (847) 888-8660, napolitanosrestaurant.com Cuisine: Italian with a Latin twistSetting: Shiny woods and spotless glassEntr#233;es: $10 to $27.99Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and SaturdayFalse20001966Exotic drinks are made with fresh ingredients at Napolitano's restaurant off Randall Road in South Elgin.Laura Stoecker | Staff PhotographerFalse