New Restaurant Recommendation

Joe and I had time to squeeze in a visit to one last new restaurant this week, and now I want to pass on the info to you because it was very delicious! The owner of Campagnola restaurant has just opened Union Pizzeria in Evanston in a very cool loft-like space at Chicago and Dempster. It is the exact restaurant we needed around here. It's half wine bar/half Italian tapas and features a beautiful big bar and lounge area with couches and low tables (filled with kids and families since it is in Evanston!) and a wood-burning pizza oven in the middle of all the action. We went at 6:30 p.m. on a Tuesday and had to wait for a table, so it seems that this is the new hot spot. Afterall, it just made Chicago Magazine's "Top 10" restaurant list for April, so that has to mean something, right? Hmmmm....right.

The space is awesome, so on to the food. The menu is rather limited, but what they prepare seems to be done well. I ordered a pizza with lamb sausage, eggplant and olives and it was delicious. Much better than Pizza D.O.C. right down the street. Joe and I both had caeser salad, which was good, and Joe also tried a couple of things that didn't contain wheat (admittedly hard to find in an Italian restaurant): mushroom & chickpea soup, which I thought was great, and a grilled saugage & peppers tapas dish. We were both happy with our meals and I can't wait to return, particularly since the space absorbs a lot of sound and there were actually a couple of babies dining out. Yeah!