2638 N. Lincoln Avenue (map)
(773) 529-0747
www.merlochicago.com
$$$

It all starts with Silvia Marani’s hand-written bible. As a teenager in Italy 40 years ago, she started writing down the knowledge, from her mother, grandmother, neighbors and friends. After all, she points out, “cooking is just something people do in Bologna.” Gradually her red notebook filled up with the homegrown recipes of Emilia-Romagna, organized meticulously by courses, ingredients, seasons, and holidays. Now it is the foundation of the restaurant she, her husband, and son started two years ago, bringing traditional and authentic Bolognese cuisine to Lincoln Park.

Husband Giampaolo Sassi and son Stefano run the front of the house with aplomb and an almost military-like precision. The dining room is a re-created salon from an Emiliana villa, filled with furniture brought over from their house in Italy. On the walls are exquisite watercolors painted by Silvia’s father, walls which themselves are painted the yellow ocher of stone baked by the Italian sun. “It’s the color of Bologna, the color I’ve lived with for 60 years,” she explains.

If Silvia’s red notebook is the New Testament, the Old Testament in her kitchen is a cookbook published in 1896, La Scienza in Cucina e L’Arte di Mangiare Bene, by Pellegrino Artusi. It’s a thick tome that tells the history of Italian cooking through story, culture, custom, and tradition, and sets the historical precedent for everything that she does now. Nothing is bought pre-made, everything is made from scratch, and “you can never scrimp when it comes to the quality of the ingredients, never, never.” The only problem is the difficulty of finding the same quality here, during a long Chicago winter, as back in Italy. This is where her masterful use of herbs and butter and mushrooms and cognac and flame works its magic on muted winter fruits and vegetables. And yes, while three-day old mozzarella di buffala may be a tragedy in Italy, it’s the best anyone can do with overnight deliveries from Campania, and in Silvia’s hand none of the flavors are allowed to suffer. The menu changes seasonally, nothing will disappoint, the streghe are addictive, and the rabbit ragù is very, very rich.