Volare Overhauls Menu, Doubles Restaurant Size

By Amy Cavanaugh in Food on Jun 10, 2012 3:00PM

Downtown eatery Volare Ristorante Italiano recently underwent a major overhaul, doubling the size of the restaurant, adding an open kitchen, and changing up the menu. We were invited in for a visit this week to sample some of the new items and left stuffed from our four-course meal. Here are some of the highlights.

We started by sharing crunchy tomato and basil-topped bruschetta and a half order of calamari (which was still a large portion) that featured a golden pile of lightly fried squid rings with lemon, tangy cocktail sauce, and a mild marinara.

Then we moved onto the highlight of the evening—the pasta course. The menu offers pastas made in house as well as some imported from Italy. We opted for the ricotta gnocchi with vodka sauce and the ricotta and basil ravioli with marinara. Both are made in house. Ethereally light, the gnocchi are pretty perfect renditions, and a reminder of why I prefer ricotta dumplings to the potato version. The ravioli was tender and light, and it made me wish I had opted for two pasta courses for my meal.

Things faltered on the third course, which was the filet (which had slightly burned edges and was more done than we asked for) and the special of the night, pork tenderloin rolled with ham, fontina, and spinach, which was fine but didn’t reach the level of the pasta.

The dessert course redeemed itself, though we don't have pictures to show for it, because we were sitting outside and the light was gone. But the crème brûlée was spot on and the pistachio gelato (from Angelo Gelato Italiano in Bensenville) was a nice way to wind down the meal.

Volare Ristorante Italiano is located at 201 East Grand Avenue.