Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio

At Monteverde, pasta-making is part of the dining room’s design. A raised pastificio behind the bar places the mixing, rolling, filling and shaping of dough in view, with a vintage mirror directing attention toward the handwork. Sarah Grueneberg and Meg Sahs opened the West Loop restaurant in 2015; Bailey Sullivan became executive chef in February 2025 after progressing through its kitchen. The restaurant’s Italian foundation leaves room for influences from travel, family history and Midwestern ingredients. That approach is most useful when understood through the different forms of pasta on the menu.

The current selection distinguishes hand-cut and filled pasta from shapes extruded through bronze dies. Sheep’s-milk ricotta tortelli carry cherry-tomato confit, olives, pecorino and mint-pistachio pesto. Chanterelle tortellacci introduce mushrooms, La Tur cheese, smoked pancetta and onion. Cacio Whey Pepe uses fusilloni, pecorino, lemon-ricotta whey and a blend of peppercorns. The familiar idea of cheese and pepper therefore takes a particular shape in this kitchen. Tomato spaghetti and gnocchetti with pesto provide other routes, allowing a table to compare filled pasta, an extruded shape and a more direct sauce without ordering the same style repeatedly.

The menu also gives vegetables and shared plates meaningful space, from Roman eggplant parm to chicken parm designed for the table. A separate gluten-free menu broadens the selection, although it is not a claim of an allergen-free kitchen. The house adds a four-percent surcharge, which guests may request to remove. Monteverde suits diners interested in the craft of pasta and the relationship between shape, filling and sauce. The visible pastificio supplies a concrete reason to choose it: the meal connects a plate of noodles with the work that made that particular form possible.

Sources: Monteverde: restaurant and contact · Monteverde: history, pastificio and team · Monteverde: current menus · Monteverde: current food menu · Monteverde: reservations and exceptional dinner closure · Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio: Google Maps listing