Proper Salute

It’s a sultry summer night, and I’m at Salute Wine Bar with a strict schedule: drinks, dinner and then duck out for the tail end of a friend’s barbecue. My girlfriends and I have snagged a sidewalk table, stemless wineglasses already in hand. We have a few plates on the way—and, since it’s early (not even 7pm), we have the near undivided attention of our waiter, Christopher, a slender man in skinny jeans, Pumas and a V-neck sweater with tucked-in tie.

    His clothes are as casual chic as Salute, a new Italian bar and restaurant tucked in a pre-Victorian home at Superior and Wabash. Framed photos of Italian film stars, deep red booths with golden pillows and an intimate, sunken patio sport serious sex appeal, but a cheerful staff and manageable menu make this into a neighborhood destination, where—following the staff’s lead—it’s perfectly fine to don denim and non-designer footwear.

    Warm, funny and knowledgeable, Christopher  patiently walks us through his top five of the 70-plus choices on Salute’s all-Italian wine list. We pick a bottle of 2007 Cantine Colosi Nero d’Avola, a red from Sicily. Peppery but not too powerful, it’s perfect with our Tuscan white bean bruschetta. In that, crisp bits of roasted red pepper replace tomato, straying from the texture of traditional bruschetta but maintaining its clean, punchy flavor. (The crostini, however, is too toasted, and hard to bite into.) These come as piatti piccoli, or small plates; Salute also offers large plates, salads and panini, as well as cheese and meat platters.

    The four cheeses picked to pair with our wine, including a rich blue and piave vecchio (an aged cow’s milk cheese similar to Parmesan), are crowned by a dollop of honey so fresh that I’m almost expecting to find a bee farm on site. Christopher, who’s also a food buyer at Salute, explains that he got it from a local farmer’s market. Origin: Lehman’s Orchard in Niles, Michigan. His hope: to add deep-fried honeycombs for fall.

    By 9pm, we’ve shared a few small plates (the wild mushroom dischi with meaty mushrooms basted in truffle oil, is tops; the filet mignon carpaccio needs more capers and Gorgonzola) and one sandwich (a muffaletta piled with rich salami, hot coppa and mortadella). Now, we’re slowly sipping down our bottle and watching the River North crowd roll in, including a lively group of priests—it seems that Holy Name, right around the corner, has unofficially adopted Salute as a Sunday night hangout—and several boyfriend/girlfriend pairs.

    My pals wonder why, as an Italian restaurant, Salute offers no hearty pastas or pizzas. But to me, the light menu makes sense. This is a place to order a little, share a little, drink a little, order more. I’m behind schedule, but I’ve slipped into Euro-time, where there’s no rush between plates and always another hour to linger over wine. Or, tonight, over Italian cinema—Fellini classic Amarcord has started up, via projector, on the patio’s brick wall.

    For dessert, I love the cannoli’s flaky, lard-fried shell. The kitchen has run out of strawberry bruschetta, but on a previous visit, the strawberry-fig-Mascarpone combo was simple, fresh and delicious. When, with the check, Christopher brings us slivers of 70% cacao dark chocolate drizzled with balsamic (a surprising, yet perfect pairing, like fried chicken and waffles), and small glasses of a 1994 tawny port, it seals the deal: I’m not getting to that barbecue. Somehow, I’m not worried about it at all.

More Info:

46 E. Superior St., 312.664.0100.

HOURS: Sun.-Fri. 11am-2am; Sat. 11am-3am.

THE DEAL MAKERS
Insalata Salute of mixed greens, baby beets, dried apricots, Gorgonzola and grilled pears in a red wine basil vinaigrette, $8.75

Wild mushroom dischi of grilled polenta layered with mushrooms and topped with Tallegio and truffle oil, $9.25

Muffaletta of Genoa salami, hot coppa, mortadella and provolone topped with green olive tapenade and house-made caputo gardinaire, $9.75

Homemade cannoli, $4.75