Sunday was Judy’s birthday … she is, hmm, 39. In honor of this special day, we planned a fun outing in Philadelphia, beginning with a visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit, continuing with a cognac at the Ritz Carlton, and ending with a wonderful dinner at Mercato on Spruce Street.
Mercato
So what about Mercato? Well, we were actually planning to have dinner at Melograno, but after reading some very critical comments on a few foodie blogs, we decided to try Mercato instead. First off, this small BYOB accepts only early dining reservations (5:00 PM) and is cash only. It also gets very loud when the place fills. If you can handle those caveats, then you are in for a great dining experience. We arrived at 5:00 on Sunday and were the first persons to be seated. We immediately struck up a conversation with one of the wait persons who noticed we were still wearing our Museum of Art pins and wanted to know if we saw the Frida Kahlo exhibit. She used to work at the Museum and currently lives nearby, so she was anxious to hear how we liked it. She and two other wait staff were friendly, courteous, and professional, constantly surveying the room to see who needed more bread, silverware or water. If you crave a romantic setting, this is not the place, although it is pleasant and intimate, with an open kitchen, exposed brick walls and large storefront windows.
We opted for the 4 course chef tasting menu at $45 each. It’s a great deal if you have room for the enormous meal to follow. We started with the Mercato appetizer, a helping that was more than adequate for a party of three or maybe four. There were generous amounts of with salami, soppressato, and prosciutto, as well as mini-mozzarella, grilled vegetables, olives and two types of crostini. That was followed by the pasta course, half sized for the tasting menu … I’d like to see what a full serving looks like! Judy had the short ribs ragu with tiny ricotta gnocchi, broccoli rabe, succulent and tender de boned short ribs,covered with shaved locatelli cheese. I opted for the braised duck and chestnut papparadelle with roasted root vegetables and grana padano. Both were delicious. At this point we were both getting a little full, especially since we brought bottles of California bubbly and cabernet sauvignon. But we plodded on valiantly to the the next course, referred to “Culminare”. Judy, being the veal freak she is, went for the parmesan crusted veal cutlets in a white wine demi glace with fingerling potatoes and sauteed spinach. She loved the dish but couldn’t;t finish it all so it was wrapped for dinner the next day. I, on the other hand, made fast work of my pan seared diver scallops on a bed of wild mushroom and pea risotto. They were about the sweetest and tenderest scallops I have ever had. The risotto was a little to garlicky for my taste but prepared well nevertheless.
Now, as I said, we were getting full after the pasta course, but that didn’t stop us from digging into dessert. Judy went for the Maple syrup cheese cake, which was a lovely round of airy cheesiness with marscarpone cheese, and I tried the panna cotta, which again, was airy-light and delicious. All-in-all, a thoroughly satisfying experience. We would go back again if there weren’t so many other restaurants to sample before leaving the Philadelphia area sometime next year.
1216 Spruce Street, across the street from Valanni and a half block down from Vetri. http://www.mercatobyob.com/. 215.985.2962