Life by Fork: Chicago by Fork Volume 6

Place: Trattoria Caterina
Food: Italian

This place had a very cool atmosphere, Italian music, Italian waiters who actually talk to you. It was one of those places where you feel at home.

The first thing you get is bread. I like places that give you bread. The bread itself did not have any flavor like cheese or herbs. That all came from the Italian butter (olive oil, cheese and pepper). The bread had a really good crust and the inside was oh-so soft. It sopped up my butter perfectly, the crust making a little ledge for extra cheese.

The salad was a little plain. I like cheese, onions, peppers, crutons, you name it, it's probably in my salad. This just had a tomato, peppercini and lettuce. I don't care for peppercinis, so I just had a tomato. The salad was very fresh and crunchy, the tomato juicy. The Italian vinagrette was sour and tart, coating the lettuce well. It was full of flavor and very fresh.

Now, I don't really like pasta. I only eat penne and mac-n-cheese (and not always that). But I thought ziti was like penne.

It wasn't.

Penne has ridges. Ziti doesn't. I have found that I like penne because of the ridges. I didn't even know! So, I am afraid that the next part of my review will be a little lacking.

I ordered chicken parmigiana on ziti.

It was huge! The chicken was very thin, very crispy and pretty juicy. It was a little chewy, but nothing unbearable. There was lots of sauce which I really enjoyed. It was very very fresh and thick, flavoring everything but not soggifying the chicken. I love sauces, and this one was lovely. There was lots of melty cheese on the chicken, and parmesean in the chicken breading. There was enough sauce that I could disguise a few noodles enough to eat them. In fact, a few bites with lots of cheese, sauce, chicken and little pasta shreds were delightful.

I had spumoni for dessert which was quite good, creamy and sweet.
Momma and Daddy split homemade tiramisu which I got a bite enough. It was exquisite. I'm not quite sure what's all in it except marscapone cheese, ladyfingers, espresso, and chocolate. It was smooth and creamy. The coffee did not overwhelm the rest of it. It was very well balanced.