Alimentari Fires Up the Pizza Oven on Randolph Street

Photo courtesy of Chris Geick

By Sarah Freeman

We like Randolph Street, with restaurant after restaurant pushing the culinary envelope to come up with fresher and more creative dishes. Sometimes, though, we crave creations that have been prepared the same way for decades. Answering our plea is Alimentari, which opens today with traditional Italian fare.

We could talk about their housemade pastas utilizing ingredients imported from Italy, or the array of antipasti such as grilled sepia and octopus or eggplant Parmesan. But it is Pizza Week, after all, so lets talk about their 900-degree pizza oven churning out margherita pies.

The wood-burning oven is made with red ceramic tiles that complement the warm color pallate and exposed-brick walls of the restaurant. In addition to the margherita, there's also a sausage pizza with peppers, oven dried tomatoes, mozzarella and pickled basil.

Additionally, there are gluten-free pizza and pasta options, including agnoletti stuffed with sweet potato and served in a butter sage sauce; vegetable pizza topped with grilled vegetables, goat cheese, walnuts, pesto and olive oil; and chickpea farinata pizza with squash carpaccio, cucumber, tomato and pine nuts.

The food is traditional and the atmosphere classy yet casual - it makes a low-key alternative to trendy Fulton Market.

621-623 W. Randolph St.; 312-382-8880