CHICAGO TRIBUNE (January 12, 2006)

By Phil Vettel

The waitress approached our table, delivering bread and pouring a generous amount of the day's featured olive oil onto a saucer.

"So that's why they call this place Extra Virgin," I cracked.

When you work at a place called Extra Virgin, putting up with dumb jokes is part of the job description.

And it seems that the servers have heard them all - several times - even though Extra Virgin is only eight weeks old. Then again, a restaurant that divides its "Virgin wines" into "blondes" and "redheads" is probably asking for it.

The sign outside bills Extra Virgin as an enoteca - arguably a bit of a stretch, given that the 54-bottle wine list is about one-third Italian. But it's probably unreasonable to insist on strict Italian regionalism in the middle of Randolph Street, and in any case I find it difficult to gripe about a wine list that is both affordable and features nearly three-dozen by-the-glass pours.

Extra Virgin is the latest soldier in what I call Chicago's antipasto revolution, which has turned Italian-style cured meats (salumi in the plural) and imported cheeses into menu stars. The movement that began with Avec in late 2003 now embraces a half-dozen restaurants where antipasti rule, and I don't expect the trend to trickle away any time soon.

Extra Virgin certainly offers plenty of small-plate action. For something to munch on, diners can select from a half-dozen cichetti, each $4, including a basket of addictive truffled potato chips and a plate of assorted olives. The antipasto bar offers cheeses, meats and vegetables, about a dozen in all - select any three for $8 or six for $12 - served on elongated pizza peels. My favorites include a sinfully rich caciotta tartufo, a semi-soft and fragrant sheep's milk cheese, the assertively seasoned salami and grilled baby artichokes doused with lemon.

You encounter artichokes at several other points on the menu - alongside sauteed tiger shrimp and tiny bits of soprasetta (pork-shoulder salami), and as one of the dipping agents in a rich fondue of grana padano cheese - reflecting a personal fondness of executive chef Nick Van Wassenhove. "I love fresh artichokes," he says, "and so many places you see them canned. I take pride in using them as a high-quality ingredient; we spend a lot of time peeling, but it's worth it."

Now pairing fresh artichokes with cured meats isn't going to keep a chef very busy, but other dishes, which the menu divides among small and large plates, display more of Van Wassenhove's skills.

Memorable small plates include hearty hunks of duck sausage with porcini mushrooms and creamy polenta, sauced with a cognac-laced reduced duck stock. Flatbread pizzas are well-executed; the smoked chicken with prosciutto and sage (kind of pizza saltimbocca) is good, but even better is the combination of mission figs, sweet copa and gorgonzola.

The trio of miniature Italian beef sandwiches is a bit of whimsy that doesn't pay off. It's a cute idea, which the chef spruces up by using Kobe-style beef in the sandwiches and a rich dipping sauce that's practically a demiglace, but the flavor just wasn't there.

Among the large plates, there's a very good chestnut risotto with crisped pieces of duck confit and brussels sprouts. It takes a certain amount of daring to plate chestnuts and brussels sprouts together (two acquired tastes; I love the latter but am indifferent to the former), but the result is a very nice dish of hearty winter flavors.

I'm also fond of the Maine-lobster canneloni, a soft pasta tube stuffed with a bounty of lobster meat, herbs and three cheeses, over a tomato broth flavored with lobster stock. Eight-finger cavatelli is the real deal, hand-rolled pasta batons dressed with pistachio pesto and served with sturdy, spicy veal meatballs.

The short rib osso buco is probably the best of the bunch; the braised short rib meat is a bit softer than that of the more traditional veal shank, but it compensates with a richer, beefier flavor. For all that, however, the meat is nearly upstaged by its companion, a baked Yukon Gold potato "with the works," meaning it's adorned with pancetta, Irish butter, truffled goat cheese and creme fraiche. Think of it as a baked potato dressed for the senior prom.

The pastry team, overseen by Victor Zumido (ex - Le Lan and Les Nomades), changes its offerings so often that only one dessert I tried remains on the menu. But it's a good one, a rich and moist pumpkin bread pudding coddled in a luscious caramel sauce.

The front room is running much more smoothly now - there was a bit of a seating crisis on my first visit, back in December, though they managed to placate everybody - but service still could use a little tightening up.

For one thing, Van Wassenhove makes a big deal of the extra-virgin olive oils he serves with the bread, changing varieties weekly. But in four visits only one waitress mentioned a word about this. If a restaurant is throwing a little extra value a customer's way, there ought to be a consistent way of telling the customer about it.

This space used to be Bluepoint Oyster Bar, which was transformed into Extra Virgin (without changing owners) in just three months. Now it consists of a long front room with a lengthy bar and a few tables (an adjacent lounge, to be called XV, will open in February), plus a wide-open dining room whose walls are decorated with pictures of beautiful women, including an oversized tease of a wall mural (more joke fodder there).

The tables can be reconfigured quickly to accommodate large parties, which EV already seems to be attracting. And why not? The menu abounds in simple, shareable dishes, and prices are exceedingly modest (there are nine main courses costing $16 or less).

Just skip the virgin jokes. They've been done.

Extra Virgin (star) (star)

741 W. Randolph St., 312-474-0700
Open: Dinner Mon. - Sun.
Entree prices: $10 - $21
Credit cards: A, DC, DS, M, V
Reservations: Recommended
Noise: Conversation-challenged
Other: Wheelchair accessible; valet parking

Ratings key:
OUTSTANDING (star) (star) (star) (star)
EXCELLENT (star) (star) (star)
VERY GOOD (star) (star)
GOOD (star)

Reviews are based on no fewer than two visits. The reviewer makes every effort to remain anonymous. Meals are paid for by the Tribune.

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