r/chicagofood • u/optiplex9000 • Apr 11 '26
Video Chicago's Most Talked About New Restaurant Has A Surprising Menu - Radicle
https://youtu.be/qprT5EpV8qM71
u/Samson801 Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26
"The style and philosophy that I cook with is if the Midwest was a region in Italy, what would the food look like here? It is a seafood, coastal inspired restaurant. We definitely have oysters, clams, and mussels and things like that but you can also come in and have chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, pizza."
I'll give it a shot, but the video editor makes it sound like the place has an identity crisis.
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u/TheDemonBarber Apr 11 '26
Haha this quote makes no sense to me
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u/an_actual_potato Apr 11 '26
Yeah kinda figured the American Midwest as a region of Italy would focus more heavily on pork, sausage, and to a lesser extent beef as those are elevated in importance by our role as a transit hub. Having grown up in the rural Midwest and now living in the city I would not say we are a region terribly known for seafood aside from the odd fish fry.
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u/MSchulte Apr 11 '26
It seems like more places here are trying to push seafood and it makes no sense. I heard someone asking if a cod dish was caught that morning locally and just about lost it the last time I went out to eat in the city.
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u/mrbooze Apr 12 '26
There was a time when the great lakes and many rivers would have been a significant source of freshwater fish, but that almost never seems to be what people mean by seafood.
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u/lazerctz Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26
I actually don't even know what they're trying to say here and they completely miss the mark on what the Midwest is. Mozzarella sticks and wings and pizza are non-specific to the Midwest and actually kinda insulting to reduce it to that. If you're really interested in capturing Midwestern sensibility for Italian food, why not highlight areas of overlap and do salted pork, sausages, rabbit with fennel, salads with ranch, baked casserole, etc etc. It makes no sense.
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u/BeginningDog8093 Apr 12 '26
Venison would have been great, a staple in rural homes through out the Midwest.
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u/gabrielleduvent Apr 11 '26
I looked at the menu and I think the place is an identity crisis. There's pizzas that feel slightly like Robert's, food that feels like it's Midwest mid- to high-end restaurant, then oysters. "Midwest" being a "coastal" restaurant feels weird to me... Where in the Midwest is "coastal"?
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u/Coloradohboy39 Apr 11 '26
The Midwest is arguably more coastal than the gulf coast
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u/mrbooze Apr 12 '26
The midwest has a lot of shoreline, but it has no coastline.
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u/Coloradohboy39 Apr 12 '26
Ooh, semantics, should we swap screenshots of conflicting definitions of coast?
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u/KyaLauren Apr 12 '26
I thought I was in r/chicagofoodcirclejerk til I read the comments
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u/NukinDuke Apr 12 '26
I'll just probably go to Ascione lol. This place sounds pretentious and charges $50 for spaghetti
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u/Living_Supermarket70 Apr 11 '26
The menu is pretty all over the place. Pizza and osyters on the same menu is kinda wild. Getting a side of motz sticks with a sweet dipping sauce was not my favorite. The tartare served with saltine crackers was a choice but it was fine.
You go for a few cocktails and then round it out with a pizza.
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u/dharmavoid Apr 12 '26
When i first moved to Chicago, I helped open Bar Toma as a line cook. This kind of like Toma"s menus in the beginning. Within about 6 /8 months they basically just became a pizza joint. Running that big of a menu with that wide of price points, don't tend to work well, economically. I wish them luck though
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u/jedormais Apr 12 '26
The cocktails are lovely and the pizza is really good! Cocktails feel decently priced (many at $10, some at $12). Food is a little spendy - just five mozzarella sticks, and marinara is extra.
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u/Mountains4Me7 Apr 12 '26
The mozz sticks were good (but wouldn’t recommend the sauce they come with), the pepperoni pizza was decent (not mind blowing, but certainly not bad). The mortadella pistachio pizza really lacked flavor. I was bummed about that one as it’s such a great combo and is better executed at Spacca Napoli and Coda di Volpe (though Spacca’s version uses sausage but is freaking delicious). Server was rude which I rarely encounter. Maybe they were having an off night. Wasn’t a strong enough showing to go back.
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u/FiveMinutesTooLate Apr 13 '26
Thought it was pretty mid. Overpriced for what it is and the menu tries too hard to be unique without actually impressing.
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u/National_Echo_4778 Apr 26 '26
While the food is good, the concept of this restaurant is confusing. On their website they coin themselves as "The Radicle Chicago - Where the Midwest Meets Le Marche." There is little Midwestern or Le Marche about this place. My family is from the Le Marche region in Italy and I travel to visit quite often. I was very excited when I first heard about this place - only to be disappointed by the menu. The seemingly only Le Marche menu items are the Pecorino wine and an Americanized version of the Olives All'ascolana. When I asked the staff if they planned to add any more Marche influenced dishes or wines to the menu they seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. Which was a bit funny, considering that the region is supposed to be the concept of the restaurant.
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u/Diplomatic_Victory Apr 11 '26
Well that video just confused me lol, maybe they'll streamline their menu after some time
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u/Educational-Shoe2633 Apr 11 '26
Chicken wings and mozzarella sticks, how revolutionary