In 1992 chef Scott Harris opened Mia Francesca on Clark Street, a few blocks from Wrigley, with a few friends and some cash borrowed from his grandmother, and it became one of the first Chicago restaurants to sell the city on the casual, contemporary trattoria: simple, rustic cooking from Rome, Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio, friendly service and fair prices. A dozen sister restaurants later, the flagship still runs on that formula. The menu rewards ordering like an Italian grandmother is watching. Start with roasted beets with walnut butter or Nonna's meatballs over whipped ricotta, then pick a pasta: rigatoni alla vodka with crumbled sausage, a proper carbonara, linguine with Manila clams, or Dana's Bolognese.
Big appetites go for the Pollo Arrosto alla Romana or the braised pork shank with saffron risotto, and the profiteroles with pistachio gelato close things out right. Before a Cubs game or after work, the move is aperitivo, Monday through Friday from 4 to 6pm: $9 spinach-and-ricotta arancini with black truffle fondue, $10 fried Roman artichokes and meatball sliders, a $10 pizzetta of the day, $10 spritzes (Aperol, limoncello or Hugo), a $12 Manhattan and $8 wines. Dinner runs 4 to 9pm, until 10pm on Friday and Saturday, and reservations are taken.
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