Italy’s il Tricolore flies proudly above River North’s Te’ Jay’s Adult Books—oops, sorry, it appears over Il Porcellino, the “Everyday Trattoria” next door. The flag is positioned just so as to blot out the porn shop’s sign as you gaze up at the restaurant’s own marquee. Named for the Florentine bronze boar that tourists feed their spare lire for good fortune, Il Porcellino is the restaurant Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises has spawned, apparently by groupthink, to fill the space after retiring Paris Club (and Brasserie Jo before that). It certainly smells better than barnyard odor that greeted diners when Paris Club opened. But it has the same ersatz, Disneyesque artificiality that LEYE is prone to employ to entice the masses. There are the padded red-leather booths, the red-checkered tablecloths, the wicker-jacketed Chianti bottles, and a wall bedecked with photos of pop culture icons. OMG Dean Martin! the tourists will squeal. Tony Danza! Danny DeVito! It’s a monument to Italian-Americans who’ve never eaten there nor will.
And you know what? It’s fine. Mostly.
Cocktails are by recent Los Angeles transplant Julian Cox, who debuts three versions of the negroni along with more easy-drinking (if aggressively sweet) creations like a Paloma made with San Pellegrino soda and a mascarpone-washed gin drink that tastes like diluted pineapple juice. Older generations can unironically order daily wine specials served in wicker-wrapped carafes.
59 W. Hubbard 312-595-0800ilporcellinochicago.com
