Chicago's Loop has a new place to lunch. This week Fabio Viviani's Mercato, a fast casual restaurant with some menu items similar to Siena Tavern opened, and I was invited to check it out. Just one of many lunch options at nestled below the Chase Tower at Urban Market, Mercato serves a great variety of salads, sandwiches, pizzas, and pastas. Urban Market is a bit of a hidden gem, and if you work in the loop you need to check it out since it has so many lunch options - including Tortas Frontera.
My friend Anne (of ASquared) and I tried several samplings from the menu. Anne was especially excited to see the Kale Caesar Salad, her favorite salad from Siena Tavern's menu, at Mercato. I had not tried it before, and was skeptical because I am not a huge fan of kale. Anne described the salad perfectly, the dressing is generous and bold enough not to be overwhelmed by the kale. The hearty croutons and sun dried tomatoes help too. This is certainly something that I would order again. Both side salads and entree sizes are available at Mercato.
After we finished off the salad, we tried the gnocchi, which is something Siena Tavern is famous for. Diners have their choice of three sauces for their gnocchi or house made pasta: four cheese, bolognese, and pork sauce. We chose the bolognese sauce which had nice big chunks of meat. The gnocchi almost melted in my mouth. I can say that the gnocchi tastes just like it does at Siena Tavern, just with different sauces.
Next we needed to try the pizzas. Mercato serves both squares of pizza that are ready to go after being reheated, and round made to order pizzas. I particularly loved the square classic pepperoni pizza. The thick crust was just the right combination of crisp and doughy, and the pepperoni was the best I have had.
I also really enjoyed the pizza with pulled pork with white beans, and avocado. This pizza has just a sprinkle of parmesan, and the avocado lent a nice creaminess to the pizza. The pork and white beans made this a filling pizza, that seemed almost like an open-faced sandwich. I thought that it was a creative way of using bold ingredients in a way so that they didn't overpower each other. This fun pizza is something you should taste.
Each of Fabio's restaurants use a dough recipe specific to that restaurant that is based on the humidity of the space. The crust on the pizzas was quite good, which must be due to the scientific exactness of the dough preparation, paired with the fact that the pizza bakes in an ultra hot (and fast) fire burning pizza oven.
One thing that we didn't try - the meatball sub which looks like the ultimate Italian lunch. This is something I will need to try next time I dine at Mercato.
Urban Market, and Mercato is located at 21 South Clark Street in the heart of the Loop. There is seating outside so you can enjoy your lunch in the sun.
