Jim and Nancy do not disclose the fact that they will review a restaurant before they attend, ensuring their reviews are unbiased and uninfluenced by their position with the Sun Day.
The Dining Duo was recently cruising in the “Fatmobile,” northbound on Route 31, when our eyes suddenly spotted a parking lot in front of Marzano’s Wood Fired Italian restaurant in McHenry that was overflowing with cars. We decided it was our duty to see what all the fuss was about.
Unlike the usual strip mall establishment frequented by us, this was elegance personified, resembling more of a large banquet hall instead of a restaurant. After opening the door, you find yourself in a huge, open foyer with a massive wood-fired copper pizza oven as a focal point. To the right is the bar area with some tables for dining. Behind the two-sided stone fireplace on the left is their main dining room with warm, rich-colored walls accented by dark-wood trim and leather seating.
Marzano’s Wood Fired Italian
1501 S. Route 31
McHenry 60050
(815)578-2000
marzanositalian.com
Directions: Take 47 North to Route 176 East to route 31, North to restaurant.
Estimated Travel Time: 30 minutes
After much interrogation, we discovered that their “pizzaiolo” (pizza maker) was trained in Naples, Italy for two months to learn how to cook pizzas in their thousand-degree, wood-fired oven that was manufactured in Napoli, Italy. How about that for in-depth reporting? Having a Neapolitan pizza is definitely on our wish list for our next visit.
For our appetizer this evening, we decided to try the Bruschetta ($7.95), which was plum tomatoes, fresh garlic, basil, olive oil, shaved Parmesan, and balsamic, accompanied by a sliced baguette. This was a deconstructed version, which means you are given a bowl of the topping and slices of the toasted bread on the side. This will satisfy everyone’s taste, since you could use as much or as little topping as you want.
Since Nancy likes to have it her way, she found the “create your own pasta ($11.95) section to be right up her alley. This enables you to pick from eight different pastas and eight different sauces. You also get to add your veggies, meats, or seafood for a slight up-charge. Nancy picked farfalle pasta with shrimp ($2.95 additional) for six medium shrimp with vodka sauce.
Jim thought “out of the box” and didn’t order his usual veal (a baby cow lives for another day). Instead, he tried the Farfalle al Diavolo ($15.95). This was farfalle pasta, sun dried tomatoes, sautéed chicken, and baby spinach in a spicy cream sauce.
All dinners come with soup or salad. I had the house salad, which wasn’t the usual lettuce thrown on a plate. Instead, it was a salad with kalamata olives, pepperoncini, carrots, and onions. Jim went with the Toscano soup, which was a spicy Italian sausage, bacon, and potato mixture.
Full Disclosure: There was a little service hiccup. Our entrees arrived before our soup and salad. We asked our waiter to take them back to the kitchen and keep them warm for us. After we finished our soup and salad, the manager came over to our table and said our entrees would arrive shortly because they re-fired them so that they would be fresh and hot. Because of this error, we received two complimentary desserts. Like the saying goes: Cost to the restaurant $13.90 (desserts) and two new entrees. Keeping the customer happy…priceless!
Since everyone knows that complimentary desserts have no calories, we had to have the banana tiramisu and profiteroles. So to sum it up, kudos to the manager. Our entrees were awesome and the appetizer was the best ever—and don’t pass up the banana tiramisu.
The cost for our night out was $46.01, with dessert on the house. Grazie!
FYI: Handicap accessible. Reservations are strongly suggested for Saturday nights.
Jim’s take: Another new dish, which was absolutely delicious. This was the best bruschetta I’ve ever had, and as for the banana tiramisu, “Try it, you’ll like it.”
Nancy’s take: I loved Jim’s dish; it was a little spicy, just like me! I have to agree with Jim (for once), the bruschetta was the best EVER, and the banana tiramisu was a definite keeper.
Have comments or restaurant suggestions for the Dining Duo? Send them an email at thediningduo@gmail.com
