Evanston has a new haven of Italian haute cuisine, named after one of Verdi’s most moving arias, “Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate” (“Go, my thought, on golden wings”) from Nabucco. The opera recounts how the Hebrews, prisoners in Babylon, helped restore Nebuchadnezzar to the throne and then returned to their homeland. A chorus of captives on the banks of the Euphrates sings “Va, pensiero . . .” a haunting lament by those deeply homesick for their native soil.
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The restaurant Va Pensiero, down a short flight of stairs from street level, is housed in an apartment building on Evanston’s northwest side, in a pleasant, leafy residential area. Despite the biblical aura thrown over it by its name, the restaurant has a decor that conjures up Julius Caesar–ancient Rome rather than Babylon. White columns trisect a large, square room, forming a corridor down the center with booths and tables on either side. A mirror at one end of the corridor reflects the room back again, creating a feeling of spaciousness. A tile walkway, Roman benches with lion’s feet, concrete planters resembling small Roman sarcophagi set into bay windows–all suggest a modern interpretation of a classical interior. Peach walls both offset and emphasize the stark whiteness of the columns, the molded ceiling, and the napery. The room radiates an understated urbanity and civilized ease, something to be treasured in this era of power meals and dining a la disco.
Two soups of the day ($2.95) were offered on our last visit: cream of spinach with fennel and minestrone with pesto sauce. The minestrone, a large bowl of garlicky beef stock brimming over with white beans, corn kernels, and tiny, still-firm cubes of carrot, celery, and potato, was marred only slightly by tough, diminutive meat strands. They were, however, easy to set aside.
The 25-item wine list presents an interesting selection of medium-priced Italian vintages, beginning at $9 for a Bonfio II Poggiolo Chianti Riserva ’83 and going up to $32.50 for Castello di Neive Barbaresco Santo Stefano ’82. We can recommend Avignonesi, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano ’85 ($19.50), a moderately full-bodied, well-balanced, fruity libation that goes well with just about everything but especially meat and poultry. Several house wines are also available by the glass. Service is eager and enthusiastic.
