For many, Oak Park’s reputation was built largely on its literary and architectural icons — Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie style homes and Ernest Hemingway’s boyhood streets. A dry town until the 1970s, it hardly seems the place for serious wine drinking. Yet today, this Chicago suburb hides a handful of thoughtful outposts for oenophiles, both curious newcomers and devotees alike.
If there’s one place that inevitably comes up when wine lovers talk about Oak Park, it’s Anfora. The Italian-focused bottle shop and wine bar, opened in 2020 by veteran sommelier Adrian Weisell, has quickly become a neighborhood anchor.
Born and raised in Italy to American parents, Weisell grew up surrounded by vineyards outside Rome.
“I grew up around wine; it was just part of life,” he says.
His professional interest, however, developed later in New York City, where he attended graduate school and spent a decade “down the rabbit hole of Italian indigenous grapes” as he rose through the ranks of restaurants such as Barbuto and Il Buco.
When Weisell and his family relocated to Oak Park, he spotted an opening.
“There were all these independent bookstores and nice boutiques,” he says, “but nowhere to buy a good bottle of wine.”
The idea for Anfora followed naturally, though its debut coincided with the pandemic.
“We’d already signed the lease, so there was no turning back,” he says.
With in-person shopping suspended, Weisell was forced to introduce Anfora through online orders and curbside pickup, supplementing with virtual tastings on Zoom.
“It created this unlikely community out of necessity,” he says. “But years later, people still tell me those classes helped them through the pandemic.”
Italian wine remains the backbone of Anfora’s wine selection, with a focus on small producers, organic viticulture and lesser-known native grapes. But the shop has expanded to include a small selection of wines from France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and beyond. What unites them, Weisell says, is a sense of authenticity.
“The idea is preserving traditional viticulture in modern times,” he says. “That’s at the heart of what we do.”
Today, modeled after an Italian enoteca, Anfora is “a place where you can taste, learn and linger a bit,” Weisell says. Guests can buy bottles to take home or enjoy a glass of wine and a selection of snacks, such as charcuterie or cheese. For a $25 corkage fee, purchased bottles can be enjoyed on the corner patio that wraps around the shop.
Over the years, Anfora has developed an informal partnership with Carnivore, a neighborhood fixture for quality meats, seafood and casual fare located in the same building. In the summer, they team up for an oyster collaboration, but the connection extends year-round. For a $5 per person plating fee, customers can order anything from Carnivore to enjoy with their wine at Anfora.
“They do a great burger, and really great sandwiches,” Weisell says, “but you can even get a ribeye sent over.”
Diners aren’t limited to Carnivore — Weisell welcomes takeout from anywhere in Oak Park.
Oak Park is also a part-time home for Emily Wines, the master sommelier and vice president of wine and beverage experiences for Cooper’s Hawk, the Illinois-based chain of winery-themed restaurants. Although Wines lives primarily in California, she commutes to Chicago frequently and keeps an apartment in Oak Park.
“The neighborhood is near and dear to me,” she says. “There’s an incredible diversity here — not just ethnically, but it’s both youthful and really established too,” says Wines. “And with all these beautiful homes, the Hemingway house and all the Frank Lloyd Wright homes, it’s just an extremely charming, walkable place.”
For those new to wine, Cooper’s Hawk offers an inviting way to taste and explore, Wines says. The Napa Valley-style tasting room features guided flights and the chance to sample more than 60 wines produced under the Cooper’s Hawk private label, from California cabernet and Spanish Rioja to seasonal fruit wines and prosecco.
“The tasting room especially is incredibly convivial,” Wines says. “You’ll see friends meeting for tastings or dinner and bartenders who know everyone at the bar. Over time, guests get to know each other too — they become their own community within ours.”
A highlight of Cooper’s Hawk’s offerings is the Camille series, created by Wines herself, each conceptualized as a tribute to the strength and resilience of women, she explains. Current releases include Camille Magnificent, a Super-Tuscan-style red blend, and Camille Brilliant, a Champagne produced in collaboration with Champagne Gruet in France for the holiday season.
In Oak Park, another of Wines’ go-to spots is Citrine Café. Stefan Palikuca runs the restaurant with his father, Branko, who emigrated from Serbia, and the menu honors that heritage. While Mediterranean in focus, it nods to stories of the former Yugoslavia, countries such as Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Slovenia, Palikuca explains.
Their house-made lamb sausage is a riff on ćevapi, a popular Serbian street food, but Citrine serves it with tzatziki and harissa. Lepinja bread is baked in a wood-fired oven and served with whipped goat cheese and ajvar, the smoky red pepper and eggplant spread found throughout the Balkans. Citrine is particularly known for its Lake Superior whitefish with fregola sarda or their cold-smoked, slow-braised pork shank “that’s perfect for fall and winter,” Palikuca says.
Citrine’s wine list is notable for its value and sense of discovery. Palikuca and his father enjoy hunting for “hidden gems,” he says, “boutique-y” wines from smaller, family-run estates with a unique story to tell. Wine devotees are likely to find a smattering of familiar favorites, including some well-priced nebbiolo from Piedmont and sharp picks from California, Spain or France. But its real distinction lies in their selection of Balkan wines — regional touchstones from Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia that rarely appear on American lists.
“It’s a unique niche,” Palikuca says, “but they’ve really taken off with our guests.”
Throughout the year, Citrine hosts special wine dinners, including an upcoming spotlight on the Croatian winemaker Duško Jokić, who will lead a five-course pairing dinner Nov. 6. The restaurant also keeps a neighborly touch — as an incentive for families, Tuesday through Friday, from 4:30 to 6 p.m., kids 12 and under eat free with the purchase of an adult entree.
For a dose of French nostalgia, Hemmingway’s Bistro, named for Oak Park’s most famous native son, but with an extra “m” for distinction, delivers all the bistro classics — an excellent raw bar, pâté, trout almondine and steak frites. Its well-priced wine list leans heavily on French staples, particularly Burgundy and the Rhône Valley, but with a thoughtful addition of wines from California and Oregon too.
And though technically in Berwyn, it would be remiss not to mention Autre Monde Cafe & Spirits — a favorite of both Wines and Palikuca — where sommelier John Aranza oversees a compact but characterful wine menu. It’s an eclectic mix that balances classics with the unexpected, California zinfandel alongside its Croatian cousin, plavac mali, for example. You’ll find familiar French Sancerre (both red and white) but also txakoli, the spine-tingling, spritzy wines of Spain’s Basque Country. Autre Monde’s cuisine mirrors this range too, spanning the Mediterranean, with influences from France and Spain to Italy, Greece and beyond.
Anfora Wine Merchants, 128 S. Marion St., Oak Park, 708-613-5388, anforawinemerchants.com
Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant, 950 Lake St., Oak Park, 708-613-2999, chwinery.com
Citrine, 100 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, 708-948-7328, citrinecafe.com
Hemmingway’s Bistro, 211 N. Oak Park Ave, Oak Park, 708-524-0806, hemmingwaysbistro.com
Autre Monde Cafe & Spirits, 6727 W. Roosevelt Road, Berwyn, 708-775-8122, autremondecafe.net
Anna Lee Iijima is a freelance writer.
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