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| - Who would have thought that I'd pick a place in Champaign for my 600th review!... Well, Bacaro certainly deserves it: I finally went there for dinner last night (after wanting to go for several months), and I was wowed. I'm still salivating thinking about it.
I went there with pretty high expectations (I'd heard great things about it from several friends and coworkers): that's usually not a good thing as it makes it easier to be disappointed, but Bacaro did not disappoint. In fact, I'm happy to say that my dinner there was on a par with my best dining experiences in NYC.
First and foremost: the food. My boyfriend and I decided to share a bunch of dishes. For appetizers, we ordered the fresh mozzarella with heirloom tomatoes and pesto, as well as the roasted suckling pig with homemade sauerkraut: they were both absolutely delicious (don't miss the suckling pig!). We then shared one entree: we got the braised pork shank, which came with sauteed spinach, mushrooms, bacon, and fig sauce: soooo good! The portions are not huge, but two appetizers and one entree turned out to be enough food. For dessert, we got the panna cotta with fresh fruit: simple but just as outstanding. That was some seriously great food!!
As Bacaro is also a wine lounge, their wine selection is quite extensive. We got a sampler of three wines by the glass for $14, all of which were pretty good. Not to forget the 10yo port we got with our dessert (very generous pour...), which was good also.
Service was great, ambiance was great (although it's a shame that the place was so empty)... it was really a great dinner (sure, it was not cheap, but entirely worth it!). By far the restaurant in Champaign, in my opinion. I'll definitely be back.
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