Merlo on Maple

I purchased the Gilt City deal listed above and...I guess I'm happy I received the discount. Though there were some very good dishes, others left me wanting.

Bread service has a nice variation


and their cocktails were effective


Prosciutto di Parma e Parmigiano Reggiano


Tarta Di Carciofi artichoke tort prepared with mortadella di bologna, eggs, cream and parmigiano reggiano, lightly baked in the oven and served with a baby greens salad dressed with aceto balsamico originale di modena vinaigrette


Involtini Di Melanzane Al Pomodoro E Basilico sliced eggplant rolled with parmigiano reggiano and parsley, baked in the oven and covered with our special homemade fresh tomato and basil sauce

I'm not a huge fan of eggplant, so I'm a bit biased against this dish.

Straccetti Verdi Con Ragu Di Coniglio green hand-made bow tie pasta, made with parsley, tossed with rabbit ragu and sauteed artichokes


Tagliatelle Al Ragu Bolognese hand-made tagliatelle served with our traditional bolognese meat ragout


Imprigionata Alla Petroniana lightly pounded veal tenderloin butterfly sliced open, with slices of prosciutto di parma and parmigiano reggiano layered inside; breaded with eggs that have been scented with lemon and nutmeg. single pan fried in extra virgin olive oil that is freshly changed for each preparation. served with sautéed spinach and sweet and sour cipolline in aceto balsamico originale di modena

Left much to be desired. Dish didn't feel cohesive due to the separation of components.

Budino Di Mascarpone, Cioccolato E Caffé slices of angel bread cake dipped in espresso coffee and grand marnier, with a mascarpone cream and dark chocolate crunch


I very much enjoyed the pasta dishes, but other dishes fell a bit flat for me. Still, those dishes that I enjoyed were spot on so I plan on dining at Merlo on Maple again, but I'll go a la carte.

Incite,

Beautiful pictures. Merlo's pastas are among my favorite restaurant pastas in town. Just to clarify, I think the Lincoln Ave Merlo location has recently changed its menu to be more like the shuttered Trattoria del Merlo, but the Maple location is still the same as it's ever been.

Merlo on Maple
16 West Maple Street
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 335-8200

Merlo
2638 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL. 60614
773-529-0747

Merlo on Maple has always been one of my very favorite Italian restaurants in town, and maybe my favorite when it comes to homemade pastas. It had probably been a year or so before my most recent visit (a long time for me considering my affection for Merlo), but my affection for the place has not lessened.

I will warn you that Merlo on Maple is not where you go for the latest buzz. It's a little more staid and less flashy, even more so if you dine in the downstairs, carpeted dining room versus the main level. Service is a little more formal, more old fashioned, almost a reminder of upscale dining in the 70s or 80s. It's certainly an oasis of peace and better food than one would expect in the vicinity of the Viagra Triangle.

But most importantly, Merlo on Maple takes its Italian food very seriously. Bread service is outstanding, always a couple of types of housemade bread in addition to the housemade crackers shown above. A terrific rosemary focaccia was my favorite the other night. Try to resist finishing the basket - quite the challenge.

Merlo features a number of imported ingredients, black (and sometimes white) truffles and outstanding burrata included, but does not ignore what is locally grown and in season. The other night, I was fortunate enough to taste their lightly battered, perfectly fried squash blossoms, filled with a fantastic burrata. I'm not sure where Merlo obtains their tomatoes, but it's always one of my favorite places to visit during the height of tomato season because they feature many varieties, often in their simplest form.

And while Merlo on Maple is no slouch when it comes to fish and meats (their osso bucco is fantastic, and I enjoyed a great beef carpaccio the other night), I'm not sure you can do better than their housemade pastas. I always have a tough time not ordering the Tagliatelle al ragù Bolognese - I'd be surprised if this isn't the very best version in Chicago. But the other night, I ordered the Tagliatelle al tartufo nero fresco, burro e Parmigiano Reggiano, which featured Merlo's housemade tagliatelle, fresh shaved black truffles from Umbria, with butter and Parmigiano Reggiano. It was outstanding in all respects.

Piccolo Sogno is almost impossible to get into; Merlo on Maple is always easy to score a reservation. With respect to the atmosphere at the two and considering the food at Piccolo Sogno is also terrific, I think I understand. Yet I can't understand the lack of discussion on LTH about Merlo on Maple (and sometimes the lack of crowds), because they've been turning out outstanding and authentic Italian food for some time, strangely often under the radar.

Christmas Eve, like Valentine's Day, may not be the best day to visit a restaurant. On the other hand, there was very little evidence that the place was especially busy.
In fact, we were pleasantly surprised to find it not at all busy when we arrived a bit before our 6 pm reservation. The chef is from Bologna and we were looking forward to "authentic" Northern Italian food having just been in Bologna and Florence a couple months ago. Of course, we were relegated to the first floor room, but there were only a handful of folks there so we thought that the quieter room would be conducive to a lovely evening. At its busiest the room was never full and there were about 6 or 8 people in the room when we left around 7:45 pm.
The service--the room was the responsibility of a single server--was not impressive in any way. Our server engaged in zero chat, staying long enough each visit to have his question(s) answered or to answer ours. No mention was ever made that special menus (vegetarian, tasting, etc.) even existed. There was an incredible, inexplicable delay before our apps were served and another astonishingly long delay before our entree plates were cleared, before the server returned, and before dessert was served.
Since BR noted the bread service, I'll observe that there was a basket on our table. It was filled to bursting with good crackers and two small slices of a fruit bread. Nothing else. The server mentioned that focaccia would be brought out when it was ready. About 40 minutes later, I asked about it and two one-inch-square pieces were brought out. Nothing else was ever offered. So much for the vaunted bread service.
The food? Good at best. The prices for the day's specials, on the other hand, were astonishing. The one special app for the day--scallops served on the shell--featured three dime-sized scallops with parmegiano reggiano for a mere $18. The Lovely Dining Companion chose the entree special, rombo al limone (turbot). The page listing the specials had no prices for no earthly reason we can discern. In any event, there was only one of each: one special app, one special primo, one special secondo, one special dolce. Although the server said the prices were available upon request (he couldn't be troubled to mention them for some reason), we didn't bother. Why not? Because (i) the prices on the "regular" menu were all expectable and reasonable and (ii) we figured that even if they were a little high for the evening, they couldn't be THAT outrageous. Our error. An essentially unseasoned piece of turbot doesn't usually command $72.
My carbonara was reasonably good but I had to keep digging past the far-too-frequent pieces of far-too-salty prosciutto. A generous portion is fine but here it overwhelmed the dish both in appearance and in taste. Although I liked the wine list, I'm used to having good whites served at other than room temperature. I'm also used to having someone (usually the server) ask if I might like another glass. And I'm not used to having an empty glass sit on the table through dessert.
The chef/owner was much in evidence when we arrived, and her husband spent some time at the table next to ours at that time. We never saw either again. Other than the obligatory "how's everything?" (this from the server who barely paused on his way to the next table, never breaking stride or waiting for an answer), no one cared.
I could go on and on but am just too depressed thinking about the evening. From beginning to end, what was supposed to be a festive and enjoyable night out turned into a slog more than anything else. These are just random thoughts and I am sorry that they are not particularly well-organized. But to be honest, given the experience of the evening and the lack of interest in us in terms of either service or quality of food, I have no interest in bothering with the pictures, zero interest in returning, and zero interest in recommending this place.

Not to bust your chops, GypsyBoy, but this is the way Carbonara is supposed to look. Charred, chewy guanciale. Silky, eggy sauce. Sharp Pecorino Romano. A blend of African black peppers. The Roscioli family has it going here. A mind-bending dish.

Not quite sure how you're busting my chops. I've got no argument at all with what you say, although my experience suggests that prosciutto is the proper ingredient (and that guanciale is sometimes substituted). However, regardless of which is "correct," I agree with you 100%. My objection was to a dish which contained too much prosciutto and to prosciutto which was much too salty. The only other aspect of the dish that seemed peculiar was that the top seemed a bit "dried-out," not "wet" as I expected. Almost as if it had been thrown into a salamander at the last minute.... Odd.

Just a figure of speech, GypsyBoy. I know what it's like to have a taste for a dish and then have it fail, in this case for something as simple as ingredients not in balance. Ronnie's expounded on this kind of thing in another post.

For Carbonara, I've seen guanciale, prosciutto, pancetta, thick bacon, and even (gasp!) ham used.

Italian staple Merlo on Maple has been closed for weeks at 16 W. Maple Street. No one at the restaurant has answered the phone or responded to inquiries about whether it’s closed for good, but Open Table lists it as permanently closed.

https://chicago.eater.com/2018/1/2/1684 ... sures-2018

Only dined there once, with Italians who said this was high-end authentic.

It was very good, and a beautiful room to boot, but I thought Merlo on Maple was incredibly expensive enough to make 'very good' almost a disappointment.

'Course, the Blackhawks were playing a deciding game in one of their Cup runs, so I may have been a little distracted...