Perched in the middle of a quiet neighborhood in Belmont Hills, Cotoletta, with its modern décor and attentive valet and staff, looks and feels like the kind of casually chic Italian restaurant you would find in the city.
Chef and owner Beth Amadio specializes in seafood and homemade Italian comfort food utilizing sustainable and seasonal local produce. The result is familiar dishes that will exceed your expectations.
The Milan Salad ($12) is perfect for summer: creamy and cool with fresh ingredients like shrimp, bacon, chopped eggs and Cotoletta’s wonderfully zesty house dressing. The special the evening we went was soft shell crab ($15 for one, $30 for two) over pasta. The crab was the perfect vehicle for the bright and citrusy olive oil-based sauce that dressed the dish.
“Cotoletta” is Italian for cutlet or chop, so part of Cotoletta’s menu is dedicated to cutlets sliced thin and pounded to the perfect level of tenderness. You can choose between chicken ($18-$19) or veal ($24-$25), either breaded and fried or sautéed. We had the breaded and pan-fried veal Parmesan coated in provolone cheese and marinara ($24) and it was perfection. The veal was light, crispy and just the right consistency. The sauce was flavorful and robust and the dish as a whole, with the pasta and the cheese, rang like a Sunday feast at the home of an Italian-American family.
Of course you can’t leave without dessert, each item of which is temptingly paraded in front of you instead of on a menu. Our sweet Kryptonite of the evening was the crème brûlé cheesecake. The generous portion was pillowy soft and pleasantly restrained in its sweetness, ending the meal in fine fashion.
If you are looking for a place that takes spot-on classic Italian dishes to new heights, literally, explore the winding road and hills of Belmont Hills and seek out Cotoletta.