Michael Altenberg of Evanston’s Campagnola has a straightforward ingredient-driven approach to fine cooking: seek out the best, mess with it the least, and create a masterpiece. When he and partner Steve Schwartz opened their rustic Italian restaurant in 1996, they launched themselves on a fanatical quest for the best possible ingredients nationwide.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
When it comes to meat, Altenberg subscribes to the belief that flavor and humane practices go hand in hand. “Animals raised to graze rather than confined to overcrowded pens yield more tender, flavorful meat,” he says.
He has beef and lamb shipped in from Niman Ranch in Oakland, California, “the cleanest purveyor of meat in the country,” he says. (They also supply Chez Panisse in Berkeley, where renowned chef-owner Alice Waters pioneered a similar style of organic cooking.) Niman Ranch sheep and cattle are raised according to cruelty-free husbandry principles established by the D.C.-based Animal Welfare Institute. The animals graze freely, aren’t fed hormones or antibiotics (except for therapeutic purposes), and are, according to the Niman press kit, treated with dignity and respect. Until, of course, they’re slaughtered. Then the meat’s dry-aged in temperature- and moisture-regulated chambers rather than in cryovac wrapping, an inferior but more common shortcut used today. Just one bite of the grilled Umbrian-style New York strip supports Altenberg’s case–it has a slight sweetness and is almost fork-tender.
On any given Saturday morning during the warm season, Altenberg can be found at the Evanston farmers’ market, where he gets greens and arugula from Kinnikinnick Farm near Elgin and baby spinach, summer squash, and squash blossoms from Prairie Crossing in Grayslake. These go into composed salads like the fresh and simple chicory alla noci–radicchio and frisee lightly tossed in walnut oil then dotted with toasted walnuts and blood orange segments.
N.N. Smokehouse owner Larry Tucker plans to open N.N. Spice Islands, an Asian-fusion “stick barbecue” place offering a variety of grilled, skewered meats with mix-and-match sauces next month at 3314 W. Foster.
