Dayan's Diva: European flair country Italian fare; high-class dining on CHicago's West loop

Dayan's Diva: European flair, country Italian fare

A man who makes no little plans, Dayan already is talking about opening many more restaurants. However, since he has not yet signed any leases for them, he would not divulge their concepts.Expedition leader Robert D. Ballard radioed the news back to Woods Hole and said the successful mission "was like landing on the moon.""This menu is for everybody,' Dayan said, noting that it contains hamburgers, sandwiches and pizza as well as more elaborate dishes. Country Italian cuisine is emphasized, drawing particularly on cooking styles of 18th-century Bologna, when most foods were grilled over charcoal with no sauces, he said.Photo: Owner Rene Dayan in the dining room of Diva in Chicago's West Loop area.The lawnmower-size robot, named Jason Jr., carries high-resolution color video and still cameras and is attached to the Alvin by a 250-foot electrical tether. Its propulsion system is guided by an operator in the three-person submarine. At a July 8 press conference in Woods Hole, Ballard said Jason Jr. will act as a "swimming eyeball" inside the Titanic.High-class dining on Chicago's West LoopAn automatic baby grand piano synthesizer system called a pianocorder provides unique musical accompaniment to Diva's dining.Owner Rene Dayan, who opened Pronto Ristorante in New York in 1975 and here in 1977, and Paris designer Slavik designed the 4,000-sq.-ft., 275-seat restaurant and cafe with high, mirrored ceilings, marble columns and floors and a black granite and marble bar. Two 10-ft. hand-blown Venetian crystal chandeliers add further elegance to the dining room. Even the open kitchen and the bathrooms contain floor-to-ceiling marble.Aimed primarily at the surrounding business community, Diva has telephones at every table and an LED jet screen that displays current market prices. A more casual cafe in the lobby and a take-out window are expected to appeal to diners in a hurry or on a budget.Dayan does not expect to do the volume here he did at his New York Pronto, where he said he served 1,000 meals a day and took reservations three weeks in advance. Volume at his Chicago Pronto also is high, drawing from its densely populated Gold Coast high-rise neighbors.The researchers hope to get in 12 days of diving before returning by the end of the month. Four hours of exploration are planned daily, sandwiched between the five hours it takes for Alvin to dive to the Titanic's remains and resurface.The impressive marble grandeur of the new Diva Ristorante has brought European sophistication to the restaurant scene in the burgeoning West Loop high-rise office district.Scientists at the Woods Hole (Mass.) Oceanographic Institution are delving deeper into the recently uncovered remains of the Titanic. This week they landed a small manned submarine, the Alvin, on the upper deck of the sunken luxury liner and sent a picture-taking robot down the grand staircase. The robot descended four levels and sent back views of the grand promenade deck and a nearby room containing a large chandelier still intact 74 years after the Titanic sank.Dayan claimed that the only other local restaurant that makes pasta the way his does is the Levy Organization's Spiaggia, which hired chef Anthony Mantuano away from Pronto."Everybody has pasta,' Dayan surmised, based on orders of 300 a day. "People can eat pasta every day of the week,' he said. Some of Diva's fresh pasta is made in full view of diners at a station next to the entrance.The average lunch check in the dining room, though, is reaching almost $13, Dayan said--above the $9 to $10 he projected. A lighter menu is offered in the cafe, featuring large salads for $4.95 to $7.95, 16 fresh pastas for $6.95 to $8.95; hamburgers for $4.95; small pizzas and Italian and deli-style sandwiches for $4.95 to $7.95.Take-out choices are limited to six salads, one soup, five pastas and a variety of sandwiches. Italian-style sandwiches are served on Italian bread and garnished with marinated onions, olives, tomatoes and peppers.

Photo: Owner Rene Dayan in the dining room of Diva in Chicago's West Loop area.

Author: Carolyn Walkup