FINE WINING

Enjoy Italian fare at Maple Park’s Acquaviva Winery

To track down the restaurant at Acquaviva Winery, diners must plan on straying from the beaten path. The place, which opened for lunch and dinner in the spring of 2010, is nestled in tiny Maple Park, a 17-mile hike west of St. Charles.

It’s directly across from a 40-acre vineyard planted a decade earlier by Vito Brandonisio, whose family continues a winemaking tradition started in southern Italy by his grandfather. Several grape varietals — Chardonel, Brianna, Frontenac and Prairie Star — are hand-picked and turned into wine that’s sold at the restaurant and its wine shop.

The restaurant’s Mediterranean-inspired, high-ceilinged, multi-windowed main dining room is light, airy and spacious. Its menu offers traditional Italian fare, including nine versions of Neopolitan- style pizza made in a woodfired brick oven.

Melanzane alla griglia proved a tasty salad, ideal for sharing. It featured grilled red peppers, zucchini and eggplant topped with a mix of goat and romano cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Caprese, bruschetta and fried or grilled calamari were among other starters.

Main courses, which range from $16 to $45, offer plenty of variety, from pasta (including homemade potato gnocchi) and chicken picatta to herbbaked Lake Superior whitefish and steak. The kitchen turns out Italian sausage sauteed

The chocolate confection is rolled in cocoa with a chocolate gelato-caramelized haze lnut flavor.

with garlic, onions, mushrooms and roasted peppers i in a white wine sauce, and serv ves six preparations of veal.

Acquaviva makes a commendable zuppa di mare. This rustic seafood stew was a recent Friday night special that our waitress suggested deserved a permanent place