Apr 21, 2007 11:59 am US/Central
Italian Village Still Going Strong After 80 Years
71 W. Monroe St.
(312) 332-7005
by Vince Gerasole
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Italian Village on Monroe Street downtown is a Chicago classic, and it's celebrating a milestone – 80 years in business.
CBS 2's Vince Gerasole shared a Table for 2 at Italian Village, which is now the oldest restaurant in the Loop.
If it takes a village to raise a child, then the Italian Village has helped three generations of the founding Capitanini family soar.
"My biggest word is passion," said Frank Capitanini, the son of the restaurant's founder. "If you have the feeling and the passion for the business, you are going to succeed."
The creamy oven-baked cannelloni is among the delicacies on the menu at the now historic restaurant, which serves northern Italian cuisine.
"Without the people of Chicago, we wouldn't have been here for 80 years," said Frank's son, Al Capitanini.
From Frank Sinatra to Julie Andrews and Luciano Pavarotti, the rich and famous have dined at Italian Village. So have the rest of us, settling in under the village's starlit sky, or inside the private booth, recreating the founder's hometown in Tuscany.
It was all dreamed up by founder Alfredo Capitanini in 1927.
"He had this idea to create this sort of Disneyland in a restaurant," Frank Capitanini said.
The main ingredient to success was family of all ages.
"When I was eight years old, my Dad, on a Sunday, brought me in to cook breakfast," Al Capitanini said.
"My brothers got kind of the undesirable jobs of sweeping and peeling potatoes and cleaning shrimp, whereas I got the glorious job up in the office answering phones and filing," said Gina Capitanini, Frank's daughter.
The Italian Village is also the birthplace of a sizzling Chicago original – Chicken Vesuvio. Frank said he was about 14 1/2 when he learned to make it.
The recipe combines roast chicken, garlic, and steak-fried potatoes. Imitators have tried to add peas, but Frank says, "Not in my restaurant."
"If I put peas on it, my dad would probably shoot me," Al said.
The Capitaninis admit a family business has its challenges, but also delicious rewards.
"It has its ups and downs," Al said. "We yell a lot, we scream a lot. But at the end of the day, we're having a nice glass of wine together."
The Italian Village complex actually includes three restaurant operations. In addition to the main restaurant, called the Village, complex also includes La Cantina, an Italian steak and seafood house on the lower level with traditional favorites from across Italy, and Vivere, a contemporary Italian restaurant with new regional Italian delights.
When you drop by the Italian Village, be sure to say hi to the Capitaninis yourself.
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