Monteverde

Few restaurants in Chicago devote more attention to pasta than this earthy-modern lair. Multiple chefs in the mirrored open kitchen play with flour and wheat and whey. Every other employee seems to be rolling out dough, mastering the extruder, or drying sheets of pasta on racks by the butcher-block bar. The small but inspiring noodle roster includes arrabbiata (smoky wok-fried strangozzi with head-on Gulf shrimp) and plump egg yolk ravioli stuffed with ricotta and kale. Monteverde also positions itself as a pregame and postgame draw for Bulls and Blackhawks fans. That means Sarah Grueneberg (Spiaggia) and partner Meg Sahs (Terzo Piano) fill the menu with memorable antipasti, such as fegatini Calabrese (tomatoey wok-fried chicken livers atop polenta), and preposterous feasts, including the ragu alla napoletana—a meat orgy that includes a massive tomato-braised pork shank, thick cacciatore sausages, and giant soppressata meatballs. And, because this is Monteverde, it’s all nestled against a tidal wave of fusilli rustico.