It wasn't ALL bad.

For those of you who read my previous entry, please know that we did have some great food while we were in Chicago.

As it happened, we were on a plane on the evening of my birthday. Needless to say, this did not exactly lend itself to going out to dinner, so we planned to celebrate on Saturday night instead. I did a little research over at Serious Eats, and printed out a thread that discussed good places to eat. (Sadly, the thread also contained Pizzeria Due. But I digress.)

After arriving at the hotel on Friday night I perused the six pages of posts, and narrowed it down to five or six possibilities. The final winner was Cafe Spiaggia. I called from the Navy Pier on Saturday afternoon. The hostess inquired as to whether we wanted the main dining room or the café. Not knowing the difference, my husband and I shrugged at each other, and I and booked us a table at the Café for 8:15. She asked if we were celebrating anything special, so I told her it was my birthday dinner.

We went on a fabulous architectural boat tour of Chicago at 6:00 (highly recommended), and then made our way to the restaurant. It's well hidden, in a big building at One Magnificent Mile, up on the second floor.

After we'd ordered our drinks (Chianti for the hubby, a limoncello martini for me), we perused the menu. EVERYTHING on the menu was looking fabulous, if a little pricier than we had anticipated for a place that had "Café" in the name.

We started by sharing the Polipo: wood roasted baby octopus with cipollini onions, potatoes and celery. My husband surprised me by suggesting this; when we have sushi, he's not much of a fan of octopus. It was just delicious. Tender, a little smoky, and tasting of the sea. The vegetables worked perfectly with it.

We each had an Insalata Italiana, which was mixed Italian greens with sweet onions, ricotta salata and Chianti vinaigrette. I don't know if I can convey in words how good this salad was. I think with every bite, I said "Oh, my goodness. This is WONDERFUL." The dressing was just exquisite, and the salad was dressed perfectly - flavorful but not dripping.

We both opted for a lighter meal, and each had just a pasta course instead of adding a main dish (Secondi) as well. My husband chose the gnocchi, which are a house specialty. The homemade potato gnocchi are served with with a wild boar ragu and Parmigiano Reggiano. I opted for ravioli, filled with Prosciutto di Parma and ricotta, with spring peas, pine nuts, and mint. I was a bit disappointed when the plate was placed in front of me, as I'd been expecting a larger portion (there were seven ravioli), but it was just enough food to leave me room for dessert. As with the salad, every bite was sheer perfection. It was easy to eat slowly and savor every bite.

Which brings me to dessert. Holy moley. (Longtime readers know about my legendary sweet tooth.) After agonizing over the list, I chose a dessert (wish I'd written down the details!) that was comprised of a shortbread-ish crust, a layer of homemade raspberry jam, a layer of lightly sweetened mascarpone , and studded with fresh raspberries and blackberries. I talked my husband into the chocolate panna cotta, accented with sea salt and almonds, going on the theory that we would be sharing and that the raspberries and chocolate would be a good combination.

The waitress brought out the panna cotta first, with a long, thin candle in it, apologizing that it wasn't my dessert, but that it was much easier to get the candle into my husband's dessert! I was also presented with a birthday gift of a $25 gift certificate for our next visit! I made my wish, and we dug in. If the rest of the dinner was sensational, the desserts were extraordinary. Words fail me farther than that. We also had the best cappuccino we'd ever had. Mine was decaf, and it was simply outstanding.

To sum up: If you are in Chicago, and your budget permits: GO TO CAFÉ SPIAGGIA. If the rest of the menu is as even half as delicious as what we ate, you can't go wrong.