In the bag

ALGONQUIN – There may be a baseball bat hanging over the register and caricatures of strong Italian hand gestures hanging on the walls, but the only thing that should feel intimidated by walking into the newly opened Mel & Mars Bistro To-Go in Algonquin is your hunger. Owner Chef Mario Arevalo will make that go away real quick with a menu of Italian and Mediterranean dishes that, Arevalo said, will remind native Chicagoans of their favorite Chi-Town classics.

Mel & Mars Owner Chef Mario Arevalo owned his first restaurant at 18, has worked at some of Chicago’s traditional and famous Italian establishments, and has been in the restaurant business for more than 20 years. With his versatile skill level in the kitchen and his love for making great Italian food, he promises guests they won’t find a taste quite like Mel & Mars anywhere else.

Of course, you don’t have to be from Chicago to be taken back by what Mel & Mars has to offer. Their menu features fine-dining taste at both the speed and price of regular takeout, with an average menu price of about $7.50 and cook time of about 12 to 15 minutes (a lot of times, even less), depending on the order. Moreover, all menu items are cooked from scratch and made-to-order.

Mel & Mars features fine-dining taste at the speed and price of takeout, as with their Pasta Pomodoro.

“We’re no fuss-muss,” Arevalo said. “It’s good food at a great price.”

Arevalo, who owned his first pasta joint called Pasta Fina (now a menu item) at 18, is classically French trained and has been in the restaurant business for more than 20 years, working for many popular Italian names in Chicago when they were still virtually unknown by the greater public. He said his idea for Mel & Mars was to not make food more complicated than it is, to bring back that classic taste people grew up with yet hold the food up to a high standard.

“We take pride in everything we do,” Arevalo said. “I take what I do seriously. You won’t taste this anywhere else.”

Which is seen by not only a menu that charts its own territory through a fine selection of pasta dinners, chicken and seafood dishes, apps, and sandwiches (like the traditional sausage or pepper-and-egg) but in his cook staff, too, who are all also classically French trained.

Mel & Mars also explores their versatility through regular menu items like Caribbean Chicken, which is a jerk-marinated chicken breast grilled and served with shaved lettuce, sliced tomato, and jerk mayo, and through their catering menu, which Arevalo said ranges from elegant, picturesque pieces to your simple sausage sandwiches.

“Pasta’s not for everybody. But we’re not only a pasta restaurant,” Arevalo said.

But whether it’s a traditional Italian dish or something miles away from the Mediterranean you’re after when you head into Mel & Mars Bistro To-Go, Arevalo will say the same thing about their menu:

“The flavors you’re going to taste here are something unique that you’re not going to taste anywhere else. Once you taste [our food],” Arevalo said, “you’ll understand.”

And if you don’t, you may be able to glean some perspective from an excerpt off Mel & Mars Missone:

“Now sit back, relax and enjoy your meal…Remember, you’re amongst family, but if you do feel the need to complain and before you do so…we know a guy you can talk to, who will come to your house during the late evening to early morning hours and explain your options.”

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