Cutting Corners.

Since the nation is not in a good shape while taxes are going up as well as the unemployment, everyone is tightening the belt, even restaurants. But at what point does austerity become a pretext for deception?

Last night, I went to Riccardo's Ristorante on Roselle and Wise - an average priced eatery with a large selection of dishes: 17 appetizers ($4.99-$11.99), 55 dinner entrees ($9.99-$18.99), 22 wines ($16-$48) most of which are also served by the glass and 6 desserts including the $4.99 tiramisu.

First I ordered the fried mushroom appetizers ($4.99). The recipe is simple. You take cleaned mushroom caps, dip them in liquid egg, dip them in flour and fry them at 350 degrees. And they come out golden brown and crispy, but mine came out burnt and chewy-hard like stale croutons and smelt like old grease. They didn't smell, taste or looked right because the breading and the oil were past their prime, so I returned the dish.

Then I got a side salad that came as a side choice with most dinners. This one, the size of an eighth of an iceberg lettuce head, came with a tomato wedge, one olive sliced in three and stale croutons. The garlic dressing was actually some mayonnaise mixed with garlic. Skipping on ingredients and substituting for lower ingredients does not help business grow because the only person you are fooling is yourself.

The third disappointment came with the Bruschetta appetizers ($5.99). Everywhere else, this Italian dish, in the U.S., comes with diced tomatoes mixed with fresh cut basil and onions, topped with extra-virgin olive oil atop crostinis. And anyone who is Italian, or Greek or from the Mediterraneans, knows the taste of EVOO. Here with my diced tomatoes, the chef sprinkled some dry basil, poured some oil and baked the whole thing. This is a popular and widely available dish and people have come to know what it is supposed to taste like. Downgrading the basil and removing the onion won't build guest loyalty.

For dinner, I had the Mahi-Mahi Savatine ($15.99). For those not familiar with this fish, it is a tropical and sub-tropical fish mostly found in the Caribbean, the Pacific Ocean and the Arabian Sea. In culinary, it is an exceptionally versatile fish with a firm white flesh and delicate flavor. Here it came with a light lemon sauce on top with artichoke quarters. The fish was perfect - nicely done while being moist - which is a hard task with such a delicate flesh. But the canned vineragy artichokes overpowered the Mahi-Mahi to a point of being oppressive and distracting. Along with the acidity of the sauce, they knocked the promising fish out.

Luckily for me I had a good tiramisu. Its coffee flavor and the sweet creamy texture where welcomed to balance my palate shocked by the acidity overload.

It appears that this restaurant took a few shortcut with my appetizers and salad because ingredients were missing. These are hard times for customers too, which makes these dishes hard to swallow. Downgrading recipes only distract the guest from the service and the overall experience. There is nothing to gain from it.




Riccardo's Ristorante is located at 1170 S. Roselle Road, Schaumburg 60193. (847) 891-7777. Their hours of operation is 11:00 Am - 10:00 Pm Monday thru Thursday, 11:00 Am to 11:00 Pm on Friday and Saturday and, Noon to 10:00 Pm on Sunday.