“Ovvio” may mean “obvious” in Italian, but the taverna restaurant, which opened in Glenview in early December, is anything but.
Just step inside and you’ll be engulfed in a space that feels more contemporary than classic, with earthy wooden architectural details and warm overhead open light fixtures.
Ovvio Italian Taverna, formerly an abandoned automotive repair shop, is meant to cultivate a natural feel, according to General Manager Lalo Prado.
While the bay windows and front half of the restaurant retain the original building structure, everything beyond that is a new build, Prado said.
As for the menu, it’s very Neapolitan-focused, with a taste of Central Italy and Italian-American style influences as well.
“Which is why [the owners] decided to do New York-style pizzas versus the popular Chicago-style or the tavern-style pizza,” Prado added.
“We get a lot of people from New York that are like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t feel like I have to travel to New York anymore because I can come have pizza here,’ but then there’s those people that [ask], ‘why didn’t you guys decided to do a tavern style?’”
But everything on the Ovvio menu is purposeful, Lalo said, and meant to blend American preferences with Italian dishes.
“We draw food from different parts of Italy,” said Ovvio co-owner Nick Philippas. “But our main focus was creating a community place where you can bring your kids, you can come in for a drink, you can do a little bit of everything.”
Philippas, who also operates Glenview establishments Joe Donut at 1025 Harlem Avenue and North Branch Pizza and Burger Co. at 4250 W. Lake Avenue, alongside co-owner Zeno Popa, said for a new Italian restaurant in this area, Ovvio’s prices are relatively inexpensive.
“That’s what we want,” Philippas told the Pioneer Press. “We’re more neighborhood-focused.”
And while the menu does boast a New York steak florentine entree at $56, a majority of the in-house prepared homemade pasta and pizza dishes are well below that.
Take the mezze lumache alla vodka ($24), one of Ovvio’s most popular homemade pastas.
The dough is hand prepared each morning by Chef Juan Ramirez — who also co-owns the establishment with Philippas and Popa — and then prepped alongside all ingredients brought in fresh daily.
The mezze lumache alla vodka is prepared with fresh Italian sausage, basil, Calabrian chili and stracciatella cheese.
Other crowd favorites include the sausage arancini appetizer ($13) and brussels sprout salad ($16), prepared with peppadew pepper, avocado, oven-dried tomato, garlic breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese and avocado caesar dressing.
For restaurant-goers with food sensitivities, a gluten-free penne is available upon request.
But what is the favorite pasta variation of the eight menu options for Chef Ramirez to prepare? “Ravioli,” he said with a smile. “The first pastas that I learned [to make] were filled pastas.”
Ramirez has been a chef for 12 years, but an industry native for over 25. He got his initial footing working at RPM Italian, training under Douglas Psaltis, “one of the best chefs I know,” he added.
“He’s the one that brought me up from the kitchen to the front of the house, basically, to the executive team,” Ramirez said. “I think I focus a lot on Italian [food] because you learn a lot of things over the years, mostly pasta shapes. There’s over 400 pasta shapes, so you never stop learning…which, for me, is great.”
Nonna’s chocolate hazelnut cake ($12), inspired by the movie “Matilda,” is also a favorite of Ramirez’s. The 12-layered dessert includes Nutella whipped cream, homemade gelato and fresh strawberries.
For the drink menu, Ovvio offers a variety of Tuscan wines, with specialty cocktail selections like the “Primadonna,” made with Madagascar vanilla-infused vodka and passionfruit and the “Glentucky,” an in-house take on the classic old-fashioned.
The “North Shore Princess” is another favorite, Prado added, hand-crafted by one of Ovvio’s bartenders, with basil eau de vie, sparkling rose, chartreuse and strawberry.
With four months already under its belt, Ovvio’s owners hope to continue the eatery’s influence on the Glenview community, with the ongoing support of Village officials.
The former vacant auto garage was able to be transformed thanks in part to a $550,000 forgivable loan from the Village of Glenview, issued back in 2023.
Trustees gave Philippas the sales tax break with the hope of generating more business downtown and filling up city properties that have remained dormant for years.
The money from the loan goes directly towards the development of the property, Philippas said, and will need to be repaid with sales tax revenues over 10 years, unless the restaurant remains open for longer than that.
If Ovvio should close prior to the 10-year minimum, the restaurant will be required to pay back the remainder of the loan, plus a 6% interest rate beginning at the time of closure.
“This place was providing zero sales tax for the community and now it’s producing an excess of $3 million in sales, plus we created 50 jobs,” Philippas said. “So there’s benefits to it… but it’s also, we have to produce, right? Otherwise, if we don’t produce, then we have to pay the money back.”
Funding for the loan comes from the Village’s Permanent Fund, which was pooled together 30 years ago when The Glen, a residential, retail and recreational section of the village built on land that formerly housed Naval Air Station Glenview, was built.
Over fears that The Glen would divert restaurants and businesses away from the downtown area, trustees moved to require developers to put money into an account that would provide future loans to business owners looking to open up new storefronts in downtown Glenview.
Philippas received an additional $750,000 forgivable loan back in 2024 to develop a new Smoque BBQ location across the street from Ovvio at 1132 Waukegan Road.
“Every village has been trying to grab [Smoque], so for us to get them is a big get,” Philippas said. “People have to realize that [these restaurants] produce tons of sales tax and jobs.”
The loans are part of more than $13 million in financial assistance the village has provided to local restaurants since 2024, according to previous reports.
Before you go: Ovvio Italian Taverna, 1148 Waukegan Rd., Glenview, IL 60025 is open Mondays through Thursdays, 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Fridays, 4 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Phone: 224-260-8114. Street parking is available with complimentary valet during business hours.
