Splash Out At Pelago
By Melissa Wiley in Food on May 2, 2012 7:00PM
Last weekend we splurged for a recherché late lunch at Pelago, where our server poured us some Prosecco before we could so much as ascertain whether it was complimentary (it was). The classical music, chiaroscuro paintings of fruit on the walls, and sumptuous white leather chairs all quietly signaled that we weren’t in a simple trattoria, but a petite palazzo of a modern Italian eatery, which was perfectly fine with us. Pelago is genuinely lovely, after all.
Intending to order the bass at first, we changed our mind when one of a bevy of impeccably groomed servers informed us of a champagne risotto special, and we changed it back again when we saw the option for a two-course lunch for $28, in the process accruing an additional plate of mushroom-filled ravioli. No, this wasn’t exactly a steal, but it made a certain amount of sense when the striped bass alone, topped with fried zucchini slices, was $20 and the pasta dishes hovered around $16 each. Plus, with the Prosecco on the house, we were already filling our quota of daytime bubbly, so we conjectured that we wouldn’t necessarily miss it in our risotto.
Our pairing of seafood and pasta was emblematic of the ristorante’s driving concept. Chef Mauro Mafrici focuses his artistry on homemade pastas and fresh piscine fare. For all its upscale ambience, Pelago, it's worth noting, remains an essentially family affair. Mafrici’s wife, architect Kimberly Anguil Mafrici, designed the space to reflect her tastes for spare modern lines and Botticelli curves alike. And despite its cool exterior, there is a warmth to the cuisine and décor that makes this Streeterville palazzo quietly inviting.
An apology: our appetites were such at the time that we devoured the ravioli and its aromatic anointing in butter and sage sauce before we remembered to photograph these perfectly plumped vittles, in place of which we snapped our dining companion’s veal scallopini sandwich with ham and cheese. Abstemious souls that we are, we gave the dessert menu a pass but were delighted to receive some parting cookies in a glass case reminiscent of that housing Dorothy’s ruby slippers in the Smithsonian.
If you’re going to Pelago, you might as well go whole hog—not that the gastronomic nobility there would countenance such an expression—because the cuisine is simply worth it. Indeed, the only drawback to the experience was the extreme, if flawless, attentiveness of the staff, making us feel slightly less civilized in comparison. Perhaps the terrace would feel a little less formal and afford more comfort. You could foreseeably guffaw (as some of us are wont to do) out of doors with less risk of raising well-heeled eyebrows. But for this social experiment we’ll have to wait at least a few more weeks. Everything runs along perfectly synchronized grooves here and nothing is done by fits and starts, so al fresco dining doesn’t commence until the warm weather demonstrates, like Pelago itself, some staying power.
Pelago is located at 201 E. Delaware Place.