Angelina Ristorante

Angelina’s Uovo di benedicte are served with a thick and lemony Hollandaise, spinach and pancetta (salt-cured and spiced Italian bacon) instead of Canadian bacon, and spiced potatoes with little bits of onions, tomatoes, and rosemary.

The pancetta was crispy, but there wasn’t quite enough of it. But, it did hit the spot after a long night out on the town. And again, a few months later, on St. Sebastian’s Day.

Angelina’s spicy bloody Marys are well-accessorized (lime, pickle, olives and salami slice), and the mini beer-backs are a particularly nice touch.

SGR must confess ahead of time to a somewhat lazy preference for this restaurant, as it is located three blocks from his apartment. That said, true laziness is not allowed by the proprietors, who only serve brunch on Sunday, and only until 3 PM. It is hard, however, to hold it against them, as Chicago seems to generally lack the kind of attitude needed to support restaurants (other than diners) in offering much food until late in the afternoon every day.

The luxuriating, late and lazy brunch is not a part of Chicago culture. Many restaurants that attempt it botch the job, or attempt to integrate the traditional brunch into some ill-conceived “fusion” effort, or into some conflicting, more mid-western culinary aesthetic. For every way in which Angelina doesn’t deliver a knockout brunch, it valiantly resists these impulses, and delivers a proper, button-up brunch every time.