"The natural comparisons here are Quartino and Osteria Via Stato, other big budget, River North claimants to "real" rustic Italian dining.

A MANO, from the folks at BIN 36- and tucked neatly underneath it in Maria City- may be the most promising of the three, but it's almost maddening. The gaint space doesn't feel especially Italian (unless you count meat hanging in the kitchen), and the handmade pasta disappointed across the board. But details like ample piles of fresh salumi served on a marble slab and thin pizza dotted with roasted clams still in the shell are spot-on. And the extensive menu holds plenty of wonderful surprises, such as meaty grilled quail appetizer with smokey poached pear and watercress in passito wine vinaigrette, and a rosemary-tinged, 16-ounce bone-in New York strip on a mound of warm arugula.

IT SHOULD BE MANDATORY
The construct -your-own anti-pesto plate, particulary when heaped with wild mushrooms, grilled baby octopus, roasted peppers, and Capra honey goat cheese.

REVELATION
"Mud & Grass," and interesting side dish of escarole and fava bean puree

BONUS
Executive Chef John Caputo was sent to Bologna to study at Carpagiani Gelato University and brought back intense flavors, as in puckery blood orange sorbet and mascarpone gelato."

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