Tre Famiglia Ristorante
Fresh off our slightly disappointing visit to Haddonfield’s new Christina’s restaurant (see review below), Judy and I had good vibes about another new Haddonfield eatery, Tre Famiglia, 403 North Haddon Avenue and former site of Little Tuna and Food for Thought. As is our custom, we arrived early Thursday evening without reservations and were seated immediately. It was around 5:45 PM and there were few diners present. But by 6:30 PM, the place was packed except for one lonely table behind us.
Our waitress, Cindy, was a member of tre Cippalone families, of whom 12 were present that evening. It turns out that this Washington Township family, headed a 74 year old patriarch who still leads the kitchen staff, has been in the food business for a while, notably with Chip’s restaurant in South Philadelphia that closed in the late 80s.
We were immediately served some fresh and crusty Italian bread accompanied by roasted garlic in olive oil and hot roasted peppers. Ymmm! But leave room for what’s to come. We started with one of their appetizer specials, lollipop lamb chops in red red demi-glaze and pesto sauce over mixed greens. Though normally three chops are served, the kitchen gave us four and split the appetizer when we noted we would share it. At $13 for two, it was a luscious bargain … sweet, tasty and grilled to pink perfection. Everything is ala carte at Tre, so we opted again for a salad we could split. Our waitress blessed our choice of Chip’s Salad, an old family favorite based on grandma’s special vinaigrette dressing and chock full of tuna, cheese, peepers, and anchovies mixed with greens. At $6.50 for two, another delicious bargain.
The pasta special was homemade spinach gnocchi with a white cream sauce, sun dried tomatoes, and lump crab meat. I generally prefer lighter sauces and asked if it could be done in a pink vodka sauce minus the sun drieds, which was no problem for this accommodating kitchen. Judy chose veal parmigiano, the standard by which she judges all Italian restaurants. Her dish was accompanied by a lovely risotto and green beans, both beautifully al dente and the rice creamy as risotto should be. Where did the veal rank? Just below Radicchio in Old City and Nunzio’s in Collingswood … but not by much. I compared the gnocchi favorably to the pillows I have at places like Max’s in Pennsauken (smaller and a tad lighter) and Mezza Luna in S. Philly (larger and richer).
We passed on desserts because they offer the standard Bindi desserts with the exception of their own Tiramisu. We suggested they might want to consider getting desserts from the many fine bakeries in the area, one of which, Sweetie Pie, is a few stores south on Haddon Avenue. With that small caveat, we pronounced this first time visit to Tre Familigia a success and vowed to return soon. Total bill? $56.70 minus tip. Tre Famiglia, 856-429-1447, BYOB, open for lunch daily except Saturday and Sunday, closed Monday.