Zaza's generous portions, cozy atmosphere will warm your spirits

Northern Italian food in generous portions is filling the house - at least on Saturday nights - at ZaZa's Tavola Italiana in Lake Barrington.

The casual, vintage supper club occupies a wedge of property in a strip shopping mall just off Route 59, with plenty of free parking and close-up access as the weather turns nasty.

Inside the cozy space black-and-white celebrity photos from television and cinema cover the walls, from Elvis to the Rat Pack. Linen-topped tables are divided between two main rooms, with a few extras squeezed into the lounge.

Consistent with the Northern Italian theme, red sauce is almost nonexistent on the Lake Barrington lineup in favor of cream- and wine-based sauces. But I was disappointed that the menu ignored risottos, a Northern staple, in favor of pasta, more commonly a Southern carb.

What's there is generally well made for a neighborhood trattoria catering to a local crowd.

Very warm Italian bread with a dish of marinated olives and another of grated cheese make for a soothing Mediterranean welcome. This is a nice change from same-old olive oil and cheese.

Seafood dominates the appetizers, but the promise of house-made sausage sidetracked us to the funghi ripieni. Six large mushroom caps are stuffed with fennel-accented, ground sausage and topped with pecorino Romano cheese; we applied the brakes after eating one and a half each to save room for the rest of meal, but it wasn't easy.

To counter the meat-centric starter we added the baked artichoke, adrift in seasoned bread crumbs and parmesan, and generously encircled by rich, balsamic wine sauce.

Eating the tender leaves is labor intensive, and the breading is excessive, but the rustic flavors are well matched.

Look, too, for standards such as grilled or fried calamari, clams in garlic wine sauce and scallops in lemon-butter with caramelized fennel.

Pastas are wide-ranging, pairing a variety of shapes, sauces and proteins: penne with chicken in white-wine garlic sauce; capellini with shrimp in a spicy tomato sauce; and scallops with fettuccini in a lemon cream sauce.

We sampled a generous portion of orechiette con funghi, ear-shaped pasta in a rustic mix of wild mushrooms and dark-meat chicken with brandy cream sauce. The sauce was so rich I would have preferred breast meat instead of the fattier thigh meat, and I couldn't taste any brandy. But it's a comforting, hearty dish for cold nights.

For a lighter, more elegant entree, try the pesce bianco spinaci, roasted whitefish with capers, nestled on a pool of lemon and balsamic wine sauce. This was the highlight of the night, accompanied by fire-roasted spinach, cautiously cooked al dente and glistening under a light olive oil coating.

Most entrees include roasted potatoes or goat cheese mashed potatoes, but oddly, not the fish.

Look for several veal dishes among the options, including a sautéed version in white-wine lemon sauce with capers.

Typically house-made desserts trump those supplied by vendors, but not here. The in-house tiramisu lacked the liqueur and chocolate flavors typical of the dish, and the mascarpone overwhelmed the thin layers of lady fingers.

The chocolate layer cake is from a popular Chicago supplier; I've eaten this in numerous places. It is moist and fudgy and garnished with chocolate chips. Just some whipped cream or crème fraiche would be nice to cut through the solid wall of chocolate.

Service was up to snuff, even on a frenetic weekend. Bonus points to our busser, a cheerful, hard-working fellow with a Mohawk 'do who kept our water glasses full and whisked away dirty plates.

• Restaurant reviews are based on one anonymous visit. Our aim is to describe the overall dining experience while guiding the reader toward the menu's strengths. The Daily Herald does not publish reviews of restaurants it cannot recommend.

ZaZa's Tavola Italiana

5047 Shoreline Road, Lake Barrington; (847) 381-1333; zazaslb.com

Cuisine: Northern Italian

Setting: Vintage, casual supper club

Hours: 4 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 4 to 10 p.m. Friday; 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday; 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday

Price range: Appetizers and salads, $4.50 to $13.50; steaks and chops, $19.50 to $34.50; pastas, $15.50 to $26; entrees, $16.50 to $23.

Accepts: All major credit cards