AWARDS/REVIEWS

The Daily Herald

Francesca's seventh restaurant offers simply authentic Italian fare.
Scott Harris is the mind and hands behind the winning Francesca's - all eight of them.

Opened last February (2000), Francesca's Campagna in downtown West Dundee is the seventh restaurant in the string. The ninth restaurant is planned for Arlington Heights.

While upscale in design, Francesca's also offers the surprisingly welcome feel of a small town dining spot. Campagna means "country", and the menu, which changes weekly (sometimes even daily), offers simple and authentic food.

You could eat here every day and not eat the same thing; at least three new fish dishes and six pasta, veal, or pork chop dishes are offered.

Inside the sleek lines and warm woods evoke a clean and classically striking ensemble (thanks to designer Nancy Warren), which is both comfortable and decidedly urban. Harris also makes sure the style of each place reflects it's neighborhood location.

Francesca's Campagna also harkens back to the origins of the building it calls home. The building originally served as a city hall in the 1890s, a library in 1979, and as an art guild for the five years before the restaurant opened in February 2000. The walls are graced with an exclusive collection of noted Chicago photographer Paul Elledge's work. Shot on the island of Sardegna, Italy, in 1988, Elledge's black and white portraits capture the pride of rural Italian people.

Francesca's is a busy place - reservations are a must on weekends - with professional, responsive, and sometimes witty service to boot.

The down-to-earth and helpful attitude is reflective of all the staff we encountered, which makes a difference when your wavering between what to order.

Sure appetizer bets are the superb Gamberi Al Fresco, expertly sautéed scampi with wild mushrooms, tomatoes and basil in a lemon balsamic sauce, and the Insalata Capesante, with tasty but small sautéed sea scallops.

It's no wonder Harris, a chef by trade, describes his dishes as earthy and reflective of real Roman food," because everything here is authentic Italian. One entrée creatively titled Linguine Arlecchino, "the color of the clown" consists of sautéed scampi, sea scallops, manila clams, garlic and white wine in a tomato-herb broth; the punchy ravioli stuffed with eggplant; and the cavatelli, with artichokes and tomato basil sauce, which was raised to a new level by the flavorful combination of chanterelle mushrooms and goat cheese.

Monkfish takes on a new twist in Pesce Saltimbocca which uses the traditional preparation of wrapping the main ingredient in prosciutto and seasoning it with sage, garlic and white wine.

Dessert, or dolci, is a colorful selection of country Italian classics such as tiramisu, an apple tart with cinnamon gelato and raspberry angel food cake.

Although the wine list will soon change to reflect more variety, the menu now holds lots of California red selections in a range of prices, available by the glass and bottle.

In 1992, partly to strike out on his own after working at a number of well-known Chicago Restaurants, including The 95th, Ambria, Sole Mio, and Trattoria L'Angelo di Roma, Mia Francesca was Harris' first independent venture (with co-partners Terry Alexander and Michael Noone).

The energy of a contemporary Italian trattoria is apparent in every aspect of this restaurant, and Harris has kept the same philosophy - honest, clean cooking and flavor, great service and good prices - for each new restaurant he opens. But it’s the evident striving for consistency in food and service and the quality of the food that keeps customers returning.