Review: Osteria Langhe

Tell us about your first impressions when you arrived.
This Logan Square spot is equal parts cozy and lively, with warm wood furniture and a giant, scenic print of a Piedmont landscape (in a nod to the restaurant’s focus on Piedmontese cuisine). The small bar up front offers prime views of the long dining room, while the back of the restaurant houses more intimate seating.

What was the crowd like?
Osteria Langhe is casual enough for locals, but high-end enough for Loop dwellers and foodie out-of-towners to make a night of it. The mixed crowd creates a perpetually convivial and energetic dining room.

What should we be drinking?
Owner Aldo Zaninotto mans the Italian-focused wine list, filled with interesting reds, whites, and sparkling wines from northern Italy. Indigenous grapes like freisa, timorasso, and erbaluce are well represented, as are classics from Barolo and Barbaresco.

Main event: the food. Give us the lowdown—especially what not to miss.
Culinary Director Michael Lanzerotte's and Chef Fabian Hernandez’s thoughtful takes on northern Italian and Piedmontese cuisine go above and beyond standard red-sauce joints; they turn out laser-focused regional specialties that are at once familiar and novel. Plin, a beloved, hand-pinched ravioli, is filled with creamy La Tur cheese and served in a butter and thyme sauce, while Piedmontese beef comes raw and poached, with a crispy egg that’s not too dissimilar from a Scotch egg. Primi courses feature excellent pastas, like handmade tajarin noodles in a rich ragu sauce, and a rotating risotto option highlighting seasonal ingredients. Entrées like prosciutto-wrapped rabbit loin and Verdura (vegetable-filled  fillo dough topped wit  leek sauce and hazelnuts) are immensely shareable, as is dessert—especially the Panna Cotta, with blueberry compote, candied lemons, and a shortbread cookie.

And how did the front-of-house folks treat you?
Staff is well-trained in both the extensive wine list and the regional specialties.

What’s the real-real on why we’re coming here?
Whether you come for the diverse wine list or the regionally-focused Piedmontese cuisine, Osteria Langhe offers a genuine taste of Italy, right in Logan Square.