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RoSal's
By Phil Vettel, Chicaog Tribune Restaurant Critic

If someone wanted to set a movie in a small, family Italian restaurant, they could hardly choose a better spot for principal photography than 13-year-old RoSal's. There's old-world charm in every nook of this 40-seat restaurant, from the white Christmas lights strung about the room to the mismatched photos along the east wall, to the vintage flooring that owner Salvatore Perry salvaged from a house auction and installed himself. If this means the chairs might wobble (and they often do), well, that's part of the appeal.

Salvatore is the "Sal" of the restaurant's name; the "Ro" belongs to his wife, Roseanne, who still works in the kitchen every day, though the chef is Anival Chavez, who started at RoSal's as a busboy 13 years ago and learned at Roseanne's side.

The menu is light on appetizers, though a couple of specials generally boost the selection. Basic and good describe most of the offerings, including an eggplant-ricotta rotolo in a sprightly tomato sauce, an enormous stuffed artichoke and a hefty plate of stuffed peppers.

A couple of the appetizers are poor values. Mussels marinara was a special one night, but we were shocked when our $6.95 plate arrived with exactly six mussels on it. A $10 plate of grilled calamari was similarly scrawny.

Entrees, by contrast, tend to be gutbusters. In two visits and six entrees I didn't find one that I could finish.

Baccala, or salt cod, is close to a signature entree, available with lemon-garlic sauce or a Sicilian tomato-olive sauce. One night the latter version was offered as a special that also included rigatoni pasta--a bit of an overkill, but pretty tasty nonetheless. Veal marsala has a nice peppery presence, countered by the underlying sweetness of the sauce; chicken piccata, another classic, includes two hefty chicken breasts sauteed in a white wine, lemon and caper sauce. Both come with pasta sides.

The kitchen loves cooking things Vesuvio style, which for them involves a 24-hour marinade before cooking with peas, roasted potatoes and tons of garlic. You'll find fine chicken Vesuvio on the menu (listed as chicken RoSal), and the specials will often include salmon Vesuvio (the salmon with artichoke hearts on the menu is better) and even steak Vesuvio, a butterflied strip steak that's surprisingly good.

There are a half-dozen desserts, three of them made in house. The tiramisu, whipped to a frenzy, is lighter than most versions. The cannoli is fine. White chocolate mousse with strawberry sauce, served in a fluted glass lined with a waffle cone, is the best of the bunch.

Service is chummy and informal. On one visit our waitress had been slammed with three simultaneously seated tables, ours among them, but she managed.

One of the restaurant's recurring features is its monthly "Big Night" dinner, in which the kitchen re-creates the 10-course meal that is the central event of the film. RoSal's hosts these dinners the last Tuesday of each month, and other times by special arrangement (in the private-party room upstairs). At $55 per person, wine included, it's a good deal.

Phil Vettel is the Chicago Tribune restaurant critic.