LaBella

La Bella is the farfalline of Italian restaurants in Oak Park: popular, stylish and in miniature. Its cozy space on South Boulevard, the new facade three years, used to be the private party room for the 15 years that La Bella was around the corner on S. Marion.

The tiniest of the village’s Italian restaurants is also its oldest. River Forest resident Michael Pace opened La Bella in May 1991. He’s proud of his restaurant’s longevity in Oak Park and that La Bella isn’t just Italian, it’s Chicago Italian.

If you want the dish Frank Sinatra used to order when he came into the city, this is the place that will serve it to you. And if simultaneously the four meats in the Sinatra Giambotta are too much for you — filet mignon, veal, chicken breast and Italian sausage — take comfort: Chicken Vesuvio’s on this menu, too. It’s the headliner under house specials. Sinatra Giambotta is an occasional special, but if you know what to ask for, you and your rat pack can get it anytime.

Lighter fare still is old-school: a fish salad of calamari, octopus and coddlefish; the Insalata di Marco, a caprese spin with eggplant; and, for simplicity and impact, meatball salad. Here, you can’t highlight enough basics. Italian wedding soup is always on the menu.

On your birthday:

The candleholder is house-made tiramisu.