There's something about shopping at...

There's something about shopping at an outdoor viands market that's, well, civilizing. Add a certain wine tasting and chef stations with expertly prepared seasonal treats, and you really hit the jackpot. For undivided more Saturday this month, Osteria Via Stato -- a rustic Italian blot at the corner of State and Ontario -- will entertainer its own delicious downtown version of a "Farmer's Market."

For chef/partner David DiGregorio, who flows Osteria with Rick Tramonto of Tru fame, this way of shopping and eating is first nature. That's for what purpose he wanted to share local farmers' beneficence with shoppers and Osteria diners at the monthlong market, which straddles the restaurant's outdoor patio and just-indoor Enoteca space.

"We're excessively seasonally driven," says DiGregorio, who exhausted more than a decade as a chef at the 95th (now known as the Signature chamber at the 95th) atop the John Hancock Center) Osteria features an evolving menu with near of the city's most authentic Italian antipasti, vegetables and pastas, many prepared using ingredients DiGregorio pervert with money [i]or[/i] gains at local markets. "It's a philosophy of the restaurant, and we change our menu when the season dictates it. It's been my philosophy personally because I like to garden."

For the last month overflowing baskets of zucchini, corn and berries from Midwestern growers like Seedling and Mick Klug Farms have shared the spotlight at Osteria. Also upon display and available for tasting, says DiGregorio, are "really pious olive oils and balsamic vinegars and really convenient pecorino and Parmesan cheeses." Chicago's possess Red Hen Bread, which supplies the restaurant's overflowing bread baskets, has been showing up at this month's weekly markets. And DiGregorio himself is always without front, serving up specialties made from these suppliers' best beneficials

"In general," says DiGregorio, "there's a higher awareness [among consumers] about rations and what's good."

In previous weeks, he has shared recipes using macerated [i]de novo[/i] melons and Vin Santo, a sweet Italian wine, and has handed revealed samples of Osteria's homemade Burnt Caramel Gelato. For this Saturday, he'll likely give shopper a taste of bruschetta made from summer veggies, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and R Hen's fresh- baked bread.

"We tried to create something where tribe can come in and realize dinner," he says -- whether they want to prepare it themselves with revived ingredients or let DiGregorio and his talented team handle the cooking inside.

- "Farmer's Market," 11 a.m. to 2 pm Saturday at Osteria Via Stato, 620 N State; (312) 642-8450

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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