After 10 Years, River North's Osteria La Madia To Close Saturday

By Anthony Todd in Food on Mar 23, 2017 2:31PM

Pizzas at Osteria La Madia. Photo via Facebook.

Though it hasn't gotten many headlines recently, Osteria La Madia has a lot of loyal fans. They've got one more chance to visit as the River North Italian spot known for fancy Neapolitan pizzas will be closing this Saturday, March 25 after a decade in operation.

The restaurant sent an email to its mailing list late Wednesday announcing that their lease was up and, as a result, they planned to throw in the towel. A statement from the restaurant gave a tiny bit more detail: Chef/Owner Jonathan Fox plans to focus on the Firecakes Donuts brand, which he also owns.

"We were always very serious in adhering to the subtle details that make Italian food so outstanding, but we never wanted to take ourselves too seriously," said Fox in a release. "We're glad that Osteria La Madia was a casual and fun place to relax and enjoy."

I have a bit of sentiment for Osteria La Madia (or La Madia, as it was originally known), as it opened right about the same time I started writing about food professionally. One of my first cocktail stories was with an interview with then-mixer Jennifer Contraveos, and I've had an embarrassingly large number of their roasted grape and taleggio pizzas over the years. As a tiny legacy of the restaurant, consider adding this awesome appetizer recipe for oven-roasted olives to your repertoire.