Riccardo Enoteca, My Favorite Red Sauce Joint, Is Haunted | Bon Appétit
"A tiny, old-school Italian-American spot on Clark Street that nails a comforting, Classically Chicago Brown aesthetic: tiled name-plate pizza oven, a mahogany mini-bar, dim lighting and only about five tables squeezed into the space. The kitchen turns out remarkable charcuterie (notably prosciutto), bomb-old-timey pasta and complimentary bruschetta, with a legal wine-and-beer list and the sort of hands-on trappings—pasta maker, meat shaver, coal-fired pizza and red-pepper shakers—that evoke both ritual and warmth. It’s affectionately casual (patrons in leggings and crewnecks feel right at home), though the bathrooms are unglamorously bright and utilitarian (one-ply toilet paper and antiseptic pink soap) and sit uncomfortably close to the kitchen. Housed on the site of the 1929 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, the place carries a playful haunted lore—imagined invisible hands winding machinery and refilling shakers—that only adds to its melancholic-but-comforting atmosphere; the operation even extends across the street to a fancier, yellow-bathed trattoria." - ByClaire Carusillo
