CHIReview
photo credit: Etta
Etta
Included In
Chicago has all kinds of places to eat. There are steakhouses, takeout joints, BYOBs, casual neighborhood restaurants, and tasting menu spots. And then there are Big Chicago Restaurants (BCRs). What exactly is a BCR? It’s a restaurant with a huge space, an almost impossibly long menu, and a chef or team that both your boss and your dogwalker have heard of. BCRs are always crowded, and usually pretty hard to get into. But despite all this, BCRs aren’t always worth your time. Often, despite the hype, they’re just mediocre (or even outright bad). Etta is a BCR, but the good news is that it also happens to be an enjoyable spot with excellent food.
Etta’s Bucktown space is very large (two floors, two big bars, and a rooftop patio), and its long menu is full of pastas, pizzas, roasted meats, and plenty of vegetables for vegetable-ordering people (you know who you are). It’s from the same people as Maple & Ash, although the two spots don’t have much in common, and it gets incredibly crowded, so you can’t expect to just wander in and get a table. In other words, this place definitely checks the BCR boxes.
photo credit: Sandy Noto
But more important than any of these things is the fact that all the food is rich and flavorful - it’s the kind of spot where you’ll start the stretchy-pants countdown about as soon as you place your order. The focal point of the menu here is a wood-fired hearth, and the stuff being made in it is really good. The pizzas, in particular, are delicious - there are six kinds (like truffle mushroom or guanciale and giardiniera), all with a chewy, bubbly crust we really like. The meat dishes, including a straightforward chicken with mashed potatoes that tastes like the platonic ideal of a Midwestern Sunday dinner, are also tasty, as are the housemade pastas, which (as far as we can tell) have very little to do with the hearth. If you don’t have at least two of them on the table, you’ve made a terrible mistake.
Reservations (if you can get them) are your best bet, but if you do try to walk in, you’ll probably find a bunch of people waiting around in front of the host stand. Luckily - because this is a BCR - there are two full bars where you can grab a seat and even eat something. And while some BCRs feel like crowded sh*tshows where no one knows what’s going on, this place generally comes across as well-organized even when it’s clear that 15 people are trying to find a way to squeeze into a booth for six.
When it comes to restaurants, Chicago really likes big - big spaces, big menus, and big, familiar names lurking on those menus. But while Etta has all the qualities of a classic BCR, the food and general experience don’t suffer as a result of the scale. Etta is what it looks like when a BCR just works.
Food Rundown
Fire Baked Focaccia With Ricotta And Honey
photo credit: Sandy Noto
Bubbling Shrimp
Spicy Meatballs
Fire Roasted Octopus
photo credit: Sandy Noto
Ricotta Pillows
photo credit: Sandy Noto
Fire Pie
photo credit: Sandy Noto
Cavatelli Bolognese
photo credit: Sandy Noto
Bucatini Cacio E Pepe
photo credit: Sandy Noto
Squid Ink Mafaldine
photo credit: Sandy Noto
Wood Fired Chicken
photo credit: Sandy Noto