The restaurant is located just north of spring garden next door to Marc Ventri's other eatery Alla Spina. They feature a large dining room and a large covered outside seating area which is great since the location of the restaurant is not in the best part of town.
The bread course arrived with a generous and varied selection and fresh olive oil. Every piece I had was light and fluffy and the right amount of texture and toughness in the crust. There were also bread sticks which we had fun playing with before our entire party arrived. This was a special dinner because it was to celebrate a new job for one of my foodie friends who was moving away. Buy oh boy what a way for a sendoff.
Our table shared three appetizers to start. The burrata stuffed squash blossoms were lightly fried with alabama blue crab and basil maionese were delicately fried without any hint of being heavy or greasy. This was the first time that I ever had burrata and the soft texture and mild flavor went very well with the sweetness of the blossom and the crab meat. The basil maionese is just that little bit of extra heavy flavor you need to give it some more savory notes.
The pork belly with the summer melons, purslane, and chili salt was equally awesome. Again something you'd imagine might be heavy was treated very well with elements of freshness on the plate such as the purslane and melons really helped to cut the richness and strikes the right balance between sweet ans savory. The skin of the pork belly was nice and tender just as it should be and overall excellent presentation and great taste.
The final appetizer was a smoked fish course with figs and toasted nuts not on the regular menu. The fish was cold smoked as our waiter explained and had a very low level of smokiness which basically preserved the natural flavor without intensifying it too much as smoked fish often can be. I should know I am married to a Russian I've had a lot of smoked fish in my day. To sum up every item on the appetizer had some element of sweet and some element of savory which shows how well the owner Marc Vetri and his staff really understand how to create a perfect dish to give you just enough of what you want.
With the excellent appetizer making a comfortable home in our bellies we got ready to tackle the entrees. The robiola francobolli with royal trumpet mushrooms and thyme our friend ordered was absolutely amazing. I had never had pasta that was so delicate that it literally started to melt in my mouth as soon as I put it in but it still managed to stay whole on the plate. This is probably the best pasta dish I have had anywhere. We attribute the texture and taste to copious amounts of butter perhaps but again I did not feel like the dish was heavy at all.
My wife got the lamb dish, which was severed with some beans and cooked to a medium I'd say. This was a very unique dish in that it's not your typical lamb chop but rather sliced thinly form another part of the animal of course. Personally I thought it had a little more of the gamey flavor but I personally don't mind that and judging by my wife's expressions she did not mind it either. A very solid lamb dish but I don't think it stands out too much.
Something funny happened before I order my entree which I think describes my philosophy with food. While looking at the menu the halibut caught my eye since I had just had pasta last week and did not want to do pasta again. However I realized after reading the description that the dish contained a pistachio cream so I casually mentioned to the table something to the effect of "oh I can't have that since I had a pistachio sauce last week":-) Which was absolutely true I had had the rabbit ravioli at Fork about 10 days ago. The table laughed and I realized damn, I am such a food snob:-) Oh well on to my entree which was also absolutely divine.
For my entree I opted for the pork special that they had on the menu. Here the pork was served two different ways with an extra special item on top. Crispy skin!!!. The two different ways included a rib and a shoulder piece. Both was just fall off the bone tender and so packed with flavor that even though the meat looked white and unassuming it was perfectly layered with a variety of spices that I couldn't name. And the addition of the crispy skin gave it a rich smokiness that you can basically have as much or as little as you want with each bite of your dish. And the contrasting texture made for a great combination.
We did have desert and drinks which are not pictured and they were both very good. Of particular note for me was the drink. We shared a pitcher of lemoncello spiked lemonade which contained some mint leaves. It was almost like a mojito but it wasn't as strong and it had a great refreshing flavor perfect for our meal. I highly recommend it as something to have in the summer time. The dessert we had gelato which was good but not as good as say Capogiro:-) Sorry I'm really partial to that place.
All in all, the restaurant was damn near perfect!! Everything from the atmosphere to the service to the food taste itself I can not find a single thing to be picky about. I would give this restaurant a very enthusiastic 10/10. If you are a local of philly and you've done the BYO thing and want something different you must dine here. If you are celebrating a special event or just in town as a tourist you must dine here. This is a must visit for food lovers. Dinner is ~50/person before tax and tip but worth every penny.
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