Sam Buca's: Reliably first-rate

By Chuck Ingwersen
Southland Savvy

My wife and I found our way to Sam Buca's shortly after it opened in the summer of 2003, and we immediately became fans. First-rate service, a casually elegant dining room, reasonable prices and an excellent menu of traditional southern Italian cuisine make Sam Buca's worth revisiting regularly.

Located in a strip mall along Harlem Avenue in Palos Heights, Sam Buca's features the main restaurant, an adjacent small bar area and a larger “Buca Bar.” Added last summer was a roof-top deck for outdoor dining and drinking during warm-weather months. 

Our most recent was on a Saturday, at about 8 p.m. We hadn't made reservations, and we were surprised to find the dining room full at that hour. We were told the wait would be about 20 minutes, so we settled in at the small bar situated between the dining room and the larger bar. There are a handful of tables and a couple of TVs in the small bar area, but we were content to have a glass of wine while waiting for a table in the main dining room.

We were seated in the dining room in less than 10 minutes, with menus at the ready. I had decided on my entree before we even walked into the restaurant. I find Sam Buca's chicken marsala irresistible — two good-sized boneless chicken breasts covered in a sweet marsala sauce and a generous helping of mushrooms. As much as I've enjoyed every entree I've tried at Sam Buca's, I have a hard time ordering anything other than the chicken marsala — even if I have to endure some mocking from my wife.

My wife ordered chicken tetrazzini — strips of chicken sauteed with olive oil, mushrooms, onions and garlic in a light Parmesan cream sauce.

A choice of soup or salad comes with the meals, and we each enjoyed a salad, along with bread and olive oil. If you are a fan of creamy garlic dressing, as we are, you need to try the Sam Buca's variety. I don't know if I've had any better. (Maybe at Aurelio's … but it's a close call.)

My chicken marsala, which came with a side of mostaccioli. was superb. It took all my willpower to save enough for take-home. My wife enjoyed the chicken tetrazzini, but probably would order one of her other favorites, such as chicken vesuvio, on our next visit. Yes, we're partial to chicken dishes, despite the many menu choices of pastas, veal, steak, chicken and seafood.

The full menu, including appetizers and desserts, can be viewed online.

Our waitress was friendly and attentive. Even though the room was crowded — one large group, many couples, a mom with two young children — it wasn't at all noisy, so conversation was no problem. Of course, much of the conversation included my repeated words: “This is darn good marsala.”

Savvy rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars
Sam Buca's Restaurant and Bar
12231 South Harlem Ave., Palos Heights, IL
(708) 361-1226

Reservations: Not required; recommended weekends
Cuisine: Italian
Parking: Strip mall parking in front and in rear of the restaurant.
Bar: Separate bar area with plenty of TVs; rooftop bar open during warm-weather months.
Restaurant website: http://www.sambucasrestaurant.com/
Bar website: http://www.sambucasbar.com

OMG Cafe, a new Frankfort restaurant caters to people with celiac disease

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

For Julie Scianna, necessity was not only the mother of invention it was the only way she could find to eat out.

Scianna (pictured with chef Andrew Hebda), of Frankfort, suffers from celiac disease, which prevents her from digesting gluten, and gluten is found in anything made from wheat, barley and rye. It also is used as a stabilizing agent in otherwise gluten-free products such as ice cream and ketchup.

Scianna says she learned she had the disease four years ago after being misdiagnosed as having among other things irritable bowel syndrome and ovarian cancer.

“One in 100 people have celiac disease,” she says. “Most people diagnose themselves because doctors don’t know that much about the disease. It’s estimated that 97 percent of the people with celiac disease don’t even know they have it.”

Gluten also damages the lining of the small intestine, which makes celiac patients more susceptible to ulcers and cancers later in life.

“But the silver lining,” says Scianna. “Is that celiac disease is easily controlled through a gluten-free diet.”

Unfortunately, few restaurants offer gluten-free choices. Scianna has changed that by opening the OMG It’s Gluten Free Café at 19810 S. Harlem Ave. in Frankfort.

“I didn’t have anywhere to go out to eat,” says Scianna, who started cooking gluten-free meals at her home three years. That soon expanded into a food fest with eight friends who would cook and share gluten-free meals.
That’s where OMG Café comes in. Scianna started the eatery to give people like her a place to go.

“Our goal is to produce good, delicious food. We just take the wheat out.”
OMG Café opened March 20 and business has been brisk. Scianna attributes the early success to her chef Andrew Hebda. She also says she’s expanding the menu next week.

“We are going to start offering four or five dairy-free items next week because of requests,” she says.

“We also started Tasty Tuesdays this week. Every Tuesday, we’ll feature a special dish. We also are going to start serving sandwiches served on our gluten-free bread that is baked here daily.”

Scianna says she and partner Eileen Greenawalt eventually want to get into distribution and shipping of their foods.

“If we do that, we’ll have to expand our kitchen,” she says. “But I’ll always keep the café because of the smiles on the kids faces when they come in and see they can eat cookies or pizza.”

OMG Café is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and closed on Sunday.

For more information, call 708-469-4900 or visit http://omgitsglutenfree.com/ OMG It’s Gluten Free also has a fan page on Facebook.

Evergreen Park, Homewood mourn firefighter killed in the line of duty

By Southland Savvy

Evergreen Park and Homewood are mourning the death of Homewood firefighter Brian Carey, 28, who was killed Tuesday night while trying to rescue a wheelchair-bound resident from a burning house in Homewood.

Carey, who his father said had wanted to be a fireman since he was a child, had been a full-time firefighter/paramedic since December.


Carey, who lived at home in Evergreen Park, was a 1999 graduate of Brother Rice High School on Chicago’s Southwest Side.

Homewood Fire Chief Bob Grabowski said Wednesday that Carey was the first firefighter killed in the line of duty in the village.

Wendell Elias, 84, a World War II veteran, was the man Carey was trying to save. He also died in the fire in his home at 17622 Lincoln Ave. His wife, Bertha, 89, escaped the blaze and is in stable condition at South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest.

A second firefighter, Karra Kopas, 21, was injured in the fire and is in stable condition at the University of Chicago Burn Center.

Firefighters from 24 fire departments assisted Homewood firefighters as did police from five neighboring communities.

Homewood firefighter dies in fire