Conscious Choice: Take flight at Volo

January 2007 | Conscious Dining

Take flight at Volo

By Tanya Fritz

It’s all about terroir; wine gains its spirit, its flavor through its terroir. That is what Chef Stephen Dunne explained to me the first time I savored a meal at Roscoe Village’s Volo restaurant. Chef Dunne, formerly of MK restaurant and Spago in Chicago and Postrio in San Francisco, has teamed up with Jon Young of Kitsch’n restaurant to create this neighborhood wine bar. Chef Dunne designed his seasonal menu of American cuisine small plates to encourage diners to try a variety of different dishes in order to recognize and appreciate the restaurant’s fantastic wine list. Savoring a wine flight—Volo means “flight” in Italian—with a variety of different dishes allows a diner to see why a Sauternes might work well with oysters and caviar while it won’t work quite as well with a Spanish Manchego cheese.

Volo’s small plate menu consists of lighter dishes such as the Truffle-scented Braised Escarole and Tuscan White Bean Soup ($8) and with the ever so slight truffle highlight still has a deep richness which is nicely balanced by the bitterness of the escarole. The pizza selection is small and each daily choice is excellent. The homemade crust is crisp and the ingredients are always seasonal and simple. The Herb Pesto, Sweet Onion, Potato Parmesan ($8) is a favorite. I tasted the Bubbly Flight with these dishes and was ecstatic to find a glass of Billecarte-Salmon on the menu. It’s challenging to find a bottle of this exceptional brut rosé champagne in most restaurants and I have yet to see it served by the glass. The desserts (all $8) by Pastry Chef Suzi Beu include an Apple Tart: free form apple pie with rum streusel and sour-cream ice cream which is an excellent twist on a classic winter dessert and is offered with the 2004 Saracco, Moscato d’Asti, Italy. Another favorite is the Chocolate Custard Tasting: a white chocolate rice pudding, milk chocolate pudding, dark chocolate ice cream, served with chocolate tuiles with a suggested wine pairing of NV Rotllan Torra, Moscatel from the Priorat region of Spain. Volo supports Chicago’s local coffee producer and only serves Intelligentsia coffee.

The restaurant is dimly lit with natural stone-topped tables, dark woods and richly colored banquettes. The window booths are customer favorites as is the snug darker booth which backs to the open kitchen. The natural feel to the restaurant’s decor, along with the local seasonal ingredients on the menu, meld well to create a calming yet vital atmosphere. The wine garden out back offers diners a choice of tables on the patio or wooden cabanas which can be draped and turned into a private dining area for guests who prefer privacy. In the fall and late spring, the cabanas are enclosed and heated to give diners a balmy retreat.

The restaurant offers enticing daily deals including Monday 50 percent off bottles of wine; Tuesday $25 design-your-own three course prix-fixe menu; Wednesday Flight Nights and a Thursday Tasting Night which offers guests a $10 food flight. Word in the kitchen is that Chef Dunne may have another venture that will grace Chicago early this year. We’ll look forward to it.

Volo Restaurant Wine Bar, 2008 West Roscoe, Chicago. Open Monday through Thursday 5pm to 12am. Friday and Saturday 5pm to 2am. Closed Sunday. 773-348-4600.

Tanya Fritz is a professionally trained chef, oenophile, slow food fanatic and yoga enthusiast. She has covered the restaurant scene in her former hometowns of New York, San Francisco, Dallas and Lyon, France.

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