Bari Italian Foods

-Chicago's Italian Grocers

Welcome back, the football season has begun and with that it means the Fall is here and so is primetime grilling and Smokin' season. You can expect alot of football related food posts on chibbqking and today's is a Chicago classic that me and many, many others just cant get enough of. Bari Food's on Grand ave. is one of the few Italian grocery stores/delis left in that area and is a spot I get too more so than often during the pigskin season. It's just a little storefront that used to be easier to spot when it had a sign, but that's been gone for a while. Bari is mentioned on some printed paper plastered on the windows along with some current sales. But the fact of the matter is Bari don't need no damn sign, it's a Chicago institution that I've been going to since I was a kid. Oh and what do I think about the 2010 Bears? No comment. I could write an entire story in itself about how weird of an organization the Bears are. All of the the people running it from the coordinators to the coach to the front office to the owners, all odd. Why do they have to be so god damn weird at Halas Hall? Oh well at least I know I got Bari this season.


a Chicago legend (pic by Bertran Projects. Circa 2006)

Bari is a family owned Italian grocer known for having one of the best sandwiches in Chicago along with a great deli/butcher and most everything you need for cooking up an Italian feast . They do it all right at Bari and take hardly any shortcuts and that includes making the sausage in house and cutting meats to customers specifications along with homemade canned and bottled goods like those seen below. The super hot giardiniera is what it says it is. it's not for those who don't like it HOT. i brought a jar of this stuff to the cooks at my hotel in Jamaica and they thought it was scorching. My buddy likes to use it in his housemade marinara sauce to take it up another level. This stuff is great for tailgates and just to have in your fridge for those that think they can handle it all.


Bari makes alot of its own items

It's by no means a big place, its actually pretty small but between the four short aisles and the deli counter/butcher in back they pack the place up with a great selection of offerings. Like I said above, its a place you can go get a bunch of stuff needed for a feast or even a tailgate. I love going to Bari and the feeling it gives me of going back in time to an old school butcher and what that was like back before I was even around. The place has a great charm and real character to it.


Fresh sliced deli meats, dried sausages, salads, antipasta, they got it all


Cured sausages are big with da superfans

Perhaps Bari's biggest money maker is its deli in the back where they pump out 100's and 100's of fresh made to order subs on a daily basis. You can almost always count on there being a line to order a sandwich off the menu on the wall in back surrounded by Chicago sports memorabilia. If you call ahead they'll have your order ready within 15 minutes or so. There's never a bad time to get a sandwich from here but I love to get the three footers early Sunday morning and eat them for the first slate of NFL games.


The line extends to the aisles for sandwiches


The sandwich menu

Bari is my gold standard for an Italian sub and where I will usually end up when I'm craving one mightily. Its the use of quality meat cuts with fresh ingredients, both of full of flavor that really sets them apart from the rest. Everyone loves the Italian and it is my go to "with hot". The bread is delivered fresh several times a day from D'amato's bakery next door. It's also the sandwiches strongest quality. The crunchy French bread is the best of its kind in the city and they got it right next door whenever they need it. Always super fresh. Any best sandwich in Chicago list of mine includes an Italian from Bari. Others swear by the prosciutto and fresh mozzarella. They're all good.

Italian sub with hot from Bari

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--Tailgatin' and how to make mofos start playa hatin' (Recipes)

Located to the right of where you wait for your sandwich to be made is the butcher. This is where you go to get all of your gameday and at home grilling needs. If your planning a big Sunday night Italian dinner than Bari is a spot to shop at if your in the vicinity. Along with all sorts of specialty products you'll find some great meats and sausage. Like I said up above this place is an old school butcher and will take care of you with beef, pork, chicken and some of the best housemade sausage in Chicago. Its a S'C'&C Hall of Fame legend.

Bari's butcher case


Sausage is made fresh in house with mild, hot and Barese being available

I got a little tailgate recipe that's sure to be a go getter and instant touchdown at any grilling event. The best part of it all is you can get everything you need for this simple yet so succulent recipe at the great Bari foods. I never order Italian sausage sandwiches from restaurants or beef shacks with the exception of Combos from Johnnies. This is because this sandwich here is what I want when I am in dire need of some Italian tube steak. The Barese sausage is some of my favorite sausage of any kind. Its a little smaller and is ground with garlic and herbs and made with sheep casing as opposed to pig casing which is what they use for the Italian sausage. Both are amazing so you might as well have the two of them. Read on.

The Bari Gameday Sausage Sandwich @ Home

Bari Sausage Sandwich

Ingredients

-1 lb each of hot Italian sausage and Barese sausage from Bari's
-1 loaf of french bread from D'Amato's next door (at the moment across the street)
-2 cups/cans beef stock
-3 green peppers, sliced for sweet peppers
-2 smashed garlic cloves and some crushed red pepper

Directions

1) Start out by grilling the sausage (over charcoal for best results in taste and flavor) and sauteing the sliced peppers in a pan on the stove with oil or butter. When peppers get that nice color add in the smashed garlic and let it cook for couple minutes more. Then dump in the beef stock and red pepper flakes and let it come to an almost boil and then put the heat on low.

2) Slice bread and place a piece of hot Italian in the middle and a couple pieces of barese sausage next to it. Add sweet peppers on top and then dip the sandwich at each end into the stock and then take a spoon and pour some gravy over the sausage and peppers.

Grilled Sausage and the sweet peppers in beef stock

Always a satisfying sandwich
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-Chicago's Italian Grocers

Another Grand ave. classic

I mentioned in the post that Bari gets it's bread delivered fresh from a bakery next door named D'amato's. I also said that this is where you need to go to get a loaf of French bread for the recipe up above and any other recipe that calls for it. D'amato's is another one of my favorite spots and since it's linked to Bari and a place I visit often when going to Bari I'm featuring it on here with them. Stop here for all your baked bread needs and some amazing cookies for after the grilling fests and while your at it get some of their pizza bread, its the best snack to munch on while getting the grill and everything else ready for the festivities. As of summer of 2010 they are remodeling their location next door to Bari but are open across the street.

D'amato's pizza bread (Veggie on L and sausage on R)

Bari Italian Foods

1120 W Grand Ave # 1

Chicago, IL 60642-6048
(312) 666-0730

D'amato's Bakery

1124 West Grand Avenue

Chicago, IL 60642-5801
(312) 733-5455

Nottoli Italian Foods

-Chicago's Italian Grocers

Its a new year and there are new specials to come with it. Like stops to all the great family run (by multiple generations) neighborhood Italian grocery stores and delis. I am very excited to post about one of my favorite market/deli/sandwich shops in Chicago as the inaugural place in this new series. Located on Harlem ave in Norwood Park, Nottoli Italian Foods is one of Chicago's best little Italian grocery stores with some of the city's best Italian sausage and maker of some mighty fine prepared foods too. The hell with trying to come up with words to describe this places goodness. I'm going to take you on a photographic tour of this small family run Italian grocery store that's been around since the 50's.


In Chicago's Norwood Park neighborhood


Nottoli does both groceries and already made prepared foods


The Hungry Hound named Nottoli the best meatball sammy in Chi

Even though Nottoli isn't too close to my place I still get over there pretty often. Its a spot where I can pick up groceries for the fridge and pantry both perishable and non along with their excellent homemade Italian sausage as well as prepared sandwiches both hot and cold. If you need some produce to go with any Italian meal you may be cooking they should have it over there as well as most of the other ingredients your meal calls for. If your not feeling like making dinner and don't want to settle for fast food, well they have food that's homemade and heats up nice and fast. Such dinners include spaghetti, ravioli, gnocchi deli sandwiches etc...Stock your fridge up by stopping at the deli counter in back and getting fresh sliced meats for sandwiches and pastas and other specialty's of theirs.


If you don't make your own, you aint a real Chicago Italian grocer


Prepared meals for later, dried sausage and fresh cheese is available


No matter how much you need, they got bricks for sale


A favorite back in the Old Country


Fresh sliced deli meats, prepared pastas and everything else you need...


...like some of my favorite hot Italian sausage, made fresh daily


Bottled Italian sodas and marinated everything is also packed in the two aisles


Such as marinated eggplant and artichoke hearts as well as olives


Despite being a tiny little grocer they pack the place and the shelves

On any given day you could find something made fresh in house and available to go and heated if you want it to be. I will usually by a piece of lasagna when they have it in the cooler display in back with the deli meats and sausage.


As seen above, homemade lasagna served in the deli by the lb


I could eat here 7 days a week and not have anything twice in a month

-The Sammy's of Chi


Nottoli's sandwich menu and deli meats to the far right

You'll notice most people stopping in immediately head to the back to make a sandwich order. Nottoli makes their own Italian roast beef and its available hot as an Italian beef or with their sausage as a combo and also cold by the pound and in a roast beef sub sandwich. When you place your order they will slice the meat fresh for you regardless of how your eating it. The little kitchen in the back pumps out some amazing old school family recipes including the extra hot Italian sausage available for home on the grill and in a hot sandwich to there. The man who you might commonly find staring at you while eating around Chicago food stops calls Nottoli's meatball sandwich the best in the city and its a very good one indeed and of course made with the old family meatball recipe.


Nottoli's Homemade Italian Beef in the slicer


Available hot as a sandwich or to take home and make IB's at your house


sliced fresh and extra thin upon ordering (gravy free with 1 lb purchase)


Nottoli's Homemade Hot Italian Sausage grilled in my yard


A made at home combo sandwich using Nottoli homemade beef and sausage


Nottoli's Meatball sandwich

I'm an Italian sub type of guy when it comes to my cold cut sandwiches. The folks over at Nottoli do up a might fine Italian that always comes out perfectly made and satisfyingly delicious. However the Italian roast beef is one their specialty's in my books and this is my go to spot for a cold roast beef sandwich when the hankering comes a calling. Its the same great beef used in the Italian beef sliced fresh and topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, provolone, oil and their homemade giardiniera. The family has been providing the neighborhood with their services for decades now. It has always been a popular stop for Bears fans heading down to the lake to tailgate as well as anybody looking to serve up some amazing food at their party. With conference championship week ahead and the Super Bowl coming next month Nottoli is a great place to keep in mind for any future events that you might need to pick up food and groceries for. No ones going to be pissed about the outcome of the food.


Italian Sub Sandwich


Roast Beef Sub Sandwich


The best roast beef sub in the city


Nottoli's does everything up good...check it out

Nottoli Italian Foods
5025 North Harlem Avenue
Chicago, IL 60656-3501
(773) 631-0662

Conte Di Savoia

-Lunch under $7 so you don't gotta eat at Subway

I've noticed quite a few new Subway's opening up around the city...WTF?!?!? to go with this they still have those corny commercials on the air what seems like all the time. Well lets just say if your going to Subway in this city you need to move to Rockford or something. Your taking up parking spots, contributing to traffic jams and eating garbage all while living in a city rich in food. So today we head off to the Taylor street area to stop in at an old time locals favorite. Its been since 1948 that Conte Di Savoia has been supplying the residents of Little Italy with European groceries, with an emphasis on Italian, as well as soup, sandwiches, picnic baskets and everything else that comes with a family owned grocery store that's been doing it up right for over 60 years.


a Little Italy staple

"For Italian families with a little more cash to spend, the large import stores on the Near West Side provided a supplement or sometimes an alternative to the neighborhood store. Terese DeFalco remembered Fiore's Grocery at Loomis and Taylor but also, "there were the big grocery stores on Halsted and Taylor that we used to go to for our weekly shopping. That would be for the olive oil, the olives and bacalà and dry garlic. They'd sell it in bulk....Whereas your grocery stores didn't." "Taylor and Halsted, well that was the capital. That's where everybody used to go," according to Louis Panico. Bountiful sidewalk displays tempted shoppers. At Conte Si Savoia, on Halsted Street, "Outside would be the wicker baskets with all the snails in them and the codfish, which is the bacalà, the dried codfish. Clams and mussels were just...it was unbelievable and all the olive oils." From the stores website.


Pic from website

Time has changed and with it so has Conte Di Savoia. Not in a bad way but in a way to accommodate its neighbors and customers. It was in 1948 they began doing more than just groceries and started making homemade soups, salads, pasta specials and sandwiches made with fresh sliced deli meats. The goal has remained the same in that they strive to provide the best quality products with great service at an even better price. Its a popular lunchtime stop with students and workers of all types. It makes sense when you try some of their offerings. The original location is at 1428 w. Taylor Street and they have since opened a spot a few blocks down at 2227 w. Taylor. One of their better deals is a Italian sub for $2.99 available after 3p. Its an appetizing sandwich and the price makes it even better not that it wouldn't still be good at it's regular price.


Conte Di Savoia's Italian Sub

The 2227 w. Taylor location will usually have a pasta special or two to go with their soups and salads. I try and get over there every now and then and pick up their lasagna special whenever I'm feeling like a meaty Italian dish. I think its something like $6.95 and it comes with a few pieces of bread and you can add a soup for a little extra. I've never been in there when the place was empty and the service is always great. Whats a damn shame is there's a Subway on Taylor street and some people, I don't know who, eat there. Do yourself a favor next time your in the hood and stop in for a nice light refreshing lunch.


Conte Di Savoia's lasagna with meat sauce

Conte Di Savoia
1438 W Taylor St
Chicago, IL 60607-4623
(312) 666-3471
2 locations
Website

Lunch & Groceries from El Mercado

-Lunch under $6 so you don't gotta eat at Subway

Oh my God! guess what? The Subway $5 for any footlong promotion is back...and so are the annoying commercials that come with it. Don't waste your time and be sucked in and settle for debris when you can get way better for the same price with a little bit of knowing where to go. At the corner of Southport and Grace is El Mercado food Mart, a little corner grocery store specializing in South American goods. Its great that the little corner shop has withstood the redevelopment of the Lakeview neighborhood and the 4 or 5 Subways that are scattered about it.


Lakeviews best kept secret

I imagine that this is what alot of local grocery stores are like in neighborhoods around towns and cities in Argentina. They have a fully stocked meat case tended by a real butcher with great cuts of beef and homemade sausage. If you need any type South American ingredients you will likely find them here. One of the most popular items is the homemade chimichurri sauce available at the butcher counter for a ridiculously low price. Here's a little secret, its the same sauce that the popular Argentine steakhouse Tango Sur next door uses. They offer fresh baked empanadas and other South American bakery treats. The pop selection alone is enough to make you think of all the pop, soda, cola whatever you wanna call it out there in the world that you haven't tried. Even better is the fact that there is a Jewel right down the street and although they don't carry as much as Jewel, seeing as it's much smaller, what they do carry is better than Jewel's selection in both quality and price by a longshot. I am told that they carry the largest selection of Yerba mate in the city if that's your thing. I bet whatever mass produced chimichurri marinade Jewel sells is triple the price of the homemade authentic jars at El Mercado. Seriously if your making lunch at home get a jar of this stuff at $2-$3 and make some pasta or grill a piece of beef or chicken and a side and it will still be cheaper than going to Subway.


The empanada case upon entering


Peruvian Chix empanada (L) Argentinian Beef (R)

I have been a frequent visitor to El Mercado grocery and meat market in Wrigleyville for a few years now. Its a great little neighborhood corner grocery that has withstood the local development of every franchise out there and its one of a kind in the area and these are the places I love. When you first walk in the smell of the fresh baked empanada's that sit on the counter hit you in the face in a oh so good way. These little guys are a steal at a little over a dollar each. I'm partial to the Argentinian beef one's that come with ground beef mixed with onions, raisins, green olives and a slice of hard boiled egg, try finding anything this good on the McDollar menu. When you walk out the door you got three empanadas of choice and a can of pop for under six dollars. El Mercado has the largest selection of bottled pop's and drinks from all sorts of Latin American country's that I have ever seen. One of my favorites is a canned pop simply called "watermelon" I have no idea about it because the label tells you nothing. Great snack to bring in with you to a Cub's game if they still allow food from outside, I cant remember. This is one of my frequent stops during summertime for grilling material and a quick cheap bite that tastes good.


Two of my three 'nadas and Watermelon pop that were under $5 on a visit


Chicken (L) Beef (R)

El Mercado Grocery
3767 N Southport
Chicago, IL 60613
(773) 477-5020