Festa di Friulano at Osteria

As my pal Jeremy might say, mimetic desire kicked in big time last week. As much as I've been enjoying Jeremy's steady output of highlights from the sommelier and restaurateur junket to Friuli that he and Bobby Stuckey organized back in September, there's been one thing missing: actually getting to taste some of the Friulano vino e cibo of which Jar's been writing.

To the rescue last week came Stephen Wildy and Joe Campanale (pictured at left and right above, respectively), two of the members of the Parzen/Stuckey band of gypsies. I was jazzed when I first learned that Steve, who is the beverage director for the Marc Vetri restaurant group (Vetri, Osteria and Amis) here in Philadelphia, was along on Jeremy's trip, as it's always good to see a hometown boy getting the chance to unwind and spread his wings. And I was doubly jazzed when I heard that Joe Campanale, sommelier and owner of New York restaurants L'Artusi, Dell' Anima and Anfora, was making the two-hour trek down to Philly to team-up with Steve for a recounting of their adventures in Friuli.

Steve and Joe chose wines from some of the producers they visited on that September trip. On the docket for the evening were selections from Plozner, Scarbolo, Venica e Venica, La Castellada, and Livio Felluga, each poured to accompany a dish (or dishes!) inspired by traditional Friulano fare.

Osteria executive chef and co-owner Jeff Michaud put together a fantastic five course meal, all of it served family style. The duo of rambasicci (a Friulano specialty of pork-stuffed cabbage) and venison "muset" may just have been my favorite of the evening's courses. It was arguably one of Joe and Stephen's more challenging matches of the night but they rose to the occasion with a surprisingly fine pairing in the form of the 2009 Collio Sauvignon "Ronco del Cero" from Venica e Venica.

My shoddy picture doesn't do it justice but Chef Michaud's next dual course, gnocchi stuffed with prunes (top) and porcini cialzon, nipped closely at the heels of the previous course in the running for most memorable of the evening. I've always really enjoyed the pasta at Osteria — pizza and pasta definitely seem to be the sweet spots at Vetri's "middle" child — and tonight's iterations were no exception. I was a little less enthusiastic with my first pour of the wine that Stephen and Joe chose to pair with the dish, the 2004 Ribolla Gialla from La Castellada. I thought it was suffering from a very subtle case of cork taint. Steve, on the other hand, thought it was the wine, chalking up what I found to be muted, slightly stale/musty character to bottle variation, an omnipresent aspect of so-called orange wines — white wines fermented on their skins — like the '04 La Castellada. It's always fun when a couple of "wine guys" can agree to disagree, all the while respecting each others opinion... even though I was right! A second pour from a different bottle offered redemption and again worked very well with the food it was chosen to accompany.

Forza Friulano? From left to right, that's Joey Campanale; a certain un-photogenic, bespectacled wine blogger; Stephen Wildy; and Aaron Tallon, the sommelier and beverage manager at Osteria, who did a great job overseeing the wine service for the Friulano dinner.

Steve and Joe are both super sweet guys. Both of them had nothing but praise for the acumen, enthusiasm and scholarly depth of knowledge of Professore Parzen. The two of them good naturedly forced me into the above photo opportunity, citing it as a perfect moment of what Steven later called, in tribute to Jeremy, supercalifragalisticextrablogaliciousness (okay, the "ness" is mine). As much as the curmudgeon in me would like to have ducked out of the frame, there was nothing doing. Joe and Stephen's enthusiasm was infectious. As if hanging out with them wasn't pleasure enough, I even got to spend a little time with Joe's equally sweet mother, Karen Campanale, the PR-natural and micro-blogger extraordinaire known in some circles as Dellanimom. Like mother, like son....

Big kudos to Steve, Joe, Jeff and Aaron for a job well done. I think it's fair to say a good night was had by all in attendance.

Osteria
610 North Broad Street (at Wallace)
Philadelphia, PA 19130
215-763-0920

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Easteria III: The Return to Osteria

It’s become a tradition, accidental in origin but now quite intentional. For the third year running, my wife and I have dined at Osteria on Easter Sunday. (A good friend has dubbed it “Easteria.”) Neither of us celebrates the holiday but the large percentage of the population that does – and does so at home – makes it an easy day on which to nab a table at a spot that’s usually one of the tougher reservations in town. The last couple of years we’ve even taken friends along. Who knows, maybe the tradition will be catching.


Quite a while back now, I named Osteria as my pick for top new Philly restaurant of 2007. Two years on, they’re doing an admirable job of maintaining their early high standards. This Easter’s meal may not have been the best I’ve had there – the pizza lombarda wasn’t quite up to its usual snuff and Lady Mac wasn’t 100% enthused about her yellowtail crudo – but things still hit a very high overall level.



The marinated vegetable antipasti platter (photo at upper left), built for sharing, was one of the highlights of our meal. Beyond that, I was the only one to jump whole hog into the antipasto, primo, secondo pathway. Pictured clockwise from upper right: manila clams with san marzano tomatoes, green garlic and ciabatta; gemelli with sweetbreads, asparagus and parmiggiano; and veal breast “al latte” with carnaroli rice crema, roasted cipolline and sage.

All three of my course selections were on point. The clams tender and zesty, the breast of veal rich and rib sticking though still finessed, just as expected. The dish I really loved, though, was the gemelli with sweetbreads. I dug the way it took Osteria’s usual approach – elevate the everyday through top quality ingredients and thoughtful, creative preparation – and turned it on its head. Sweetbreads, which I expect most people think of as an ingredient usually reserved for haute cuisine, were brought down to earth via placement in a rustic, peasant style pasta dish, where tripe might have been a more traditional (if unexpected here in the US) condiment.

What to drink with all of that? I started with a glass of Verdicchio. As for something for everyone to share, most of the bottles on the relatively modest list that I’d really like to drink – like Movia’s Veliko Bianco or Paitin Barbaresco – are priced out of my reach, especially in these economically trying times. While I agree with the oft voiced criticism that wine pricing is on the high side at Osteria, I don’t believe their average markup is unfair (not that I wouldn’t like it to be lower). The level of service is high. The table is set with good quality stemware. Wine glasses are seasoned prior to first pour. But with the markup multiplier in PA starting from a full retail base rather than from wholesale as in free market states, the budget-conscious diner starts out at a disadvantage.

In that context, this wasn’t the first occasion on which I’ve appreciated the work that sommelier Bill McKinley does on the floor at Osteria. Though he’s not working with the deepest or most diverse list, he does a more than admirable job of understanding customers’ wishes and of recommending solid, good value bottles. The 2005 Sicilia IGT Nero d’Avola “Lamùri” from Tasca d’Almerita (Tenuta Regaliali) surpassed my expectations for a relatively large production Southern Italian wine – well balanced, surprisingly lively and more than companionable at the table.

We first met our dining companions, Mandy and Liz, at the beach last autumn. One of those weird coincidences where, 100 or more miles from home, you end up running into people who live in your own neighborhood. In this case, they also happen to share our passion for good food and wine.

Will we make it Easteria IV next year? I’m not generally one for planning that far in advance but, three years in a row having all been charms, I’d certainly say there’s a damn good chance.

Osteria 610 North Broad Street (at Wallace) Philadelphia, PA 19130 215-763-0920 A little more reading material from the MFWT archives: Easteria I Easteria II

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Another of my favorite Easter-time traditions? Paris-Roubaix. Live airing of this year’s edition overlapped with our dinner reservations. It took the better part of a week before I could finally catch up with the coverage (almost as long as it took me to write-up dinner…). Here’s footage of the deciding moments of the race. As so often in The Hell of the North, the winner was determined as much by the luck of the cobbles as by the strength of his legs. The video quality isn’t the greatest and the commentary isn’t in English but I think you’ll get the idea.

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Easter at Osteria Redux

Every tradition has to start somewhere. For my wife and I, this one started a year ago (in retrospect), with our first meal at Osteria, which just happened to be on Easter Sunday. So when Easter rolled around this year and we had none of the usual family plans, my wife suggested a repeat. And there you have it, a tradition in the making.


In the course of the last year, we made it back to Osteria on several occasions (including lunch just a couple of days prior to Easter), enough for me substantiate and build upon my original impressions. I felt strongly enough about the overall experience at Osteria to call it the best new restaurant in Philadelphia in my 2007 year-end roundup. I still feel that way. Apparently I’m not alone, as Philadelphia Magazine rated Osteria as number one in their first ever Philly Mag 50, while Craig LaBan of the Philadelphia Inquirer awarded it a solid three bells.

Our most recent visit clarified many of the strengths of Osteria, showing growth in some areas yet pointing out further room for improvement in others. Antipasti and primi, along with fantastic pizzas, are consistently the stars of the lineup.

Pancetta wrapped snail “spiedini” grilled with celery root purée and truffle parsley butter
My antipasto for the evening showcased the chef’s willingness to reflect pan-European influences. French-inspired snails, with a parsley butter and celeriac dipping sauce, were wrapped up in Italian cured pork. Skewering those little morsels of goodness and grilling them over a wood fire threw in a little tapas influence for good measure. The escargots were complemented rather than dominated by the salty goodness of the pancetta and the richness of the sauce. This would be a great dish to replicate for caterers in search of something more interesting to replace the ubiquitous bacon wrapped scallops.

Chicken liver rigatoni with cipolline onions and sage
The ragu of chicken livers and cipollini adorning my choice of primo epitomizes Osteria’s approach. Take a country-style dish – herbs from the garden, a quick homemade batch of pasta and an inexpensive cut/portion of meat – and elevate it to the sublime through spot-on execution. Large pipes of rigatoni were an inspired choice of pasta, allowing for tastes from the top of the bowl that just hinted at the creaminess of the sauce yet permitting one to dig deep for a hearty scoop of the liver and onion-rich sauce.

Rabbit “casalinga” with pancetta, sage, brown butter and soft polenta
Secondi seem to be the Achilles’ heel in Osteria’s trifecta, consistently falling short of their potential and stepping down rather than up a notch relative to the quality of the preceding courses. Case in point, although at the extreme end of the spectrum compared to previous experiences, was this house specialty (casalinga). Three small morsels of on-the-bone rabbit, braised in red wine and then roasted over the kitchen’s wood fire, were served on a bed of soft polenta spiked with little nuggets of pancetta. In the darker meat portions, the rabbit was juicy and flavorful; however, the leaner sections were dry and chewy. Intensely caramelized brown butter and reduced wine, combined with heavily smoked polenta and pancetta, imbued the dish with inconsistent flavor pockets. One bite was intoxicatingly sweet and smoky, the next too much so, hinting at the acrid scent of burnt rubber.

Goat cheese frittelle with chocolate, pistachio and tangerine curd
Osteria’s house-made dolci bring things right back on track. Goat cheese fritters, studded with shards of dark chocolate and pistachios, are deep fried to order and delivered piping hot on a sheet of butcher’s paper. Whether popped straight up or dipped into deliciously tangy tangerine curd, they were addictively good.

The wine program at Osteria has continued to evolve over the course of the year as well. The list remains rooted primarily in modestly priced whites and reds, with an appropriate focus, in keeping with the northern Italian bent of the restaurant, on wines from the top of the Italian boot. Markups seem to have crept up slightly since this time last year. However, the quality of wine service has improved; all glassware is seasoned, recommendations are offered thoughtfully and some earlier issues with serving temperature seem to have been addressed. Befitting the restaurant’s casual mission, the list is compact and selected with an eye toward food-friendliness rather than impressiveness. Actually, if there’s a shortcoming to the list, it is its rather limited and narrow offering of higher-end bottles.


Brda Ribolla, Movia 2005
I’ve been trying to delve a little deeper into northeastern Italian whites as of late, so when I saw Movia’s Ribolla Gialla on the list I jumped at it (in spite of the fact that it’s actually from Slovenia). Movia farms biodynamically, producing fruit of great concentration. In this case, winemaker Aleš Kristančič opts for new oak barrel fermentation. The concentration and firm, medium-acidity of the wine stood up to the oak treatment, showing the barrel influence aromatically and texturally yet not being weighted down by its presence. Its honeyed opening, mango and tangerine driven mid-palate and mineral finish made it a solid if slightly weighty pairing to most of our antipasti and primi.

Südtirol/Alto Adige Lagrein “Castel Turmhof,” Tiefenbrunner 2006
With secondi at the table ranging from game to fish and from poultry to vegetarian options, we needed a versatile red. We also wanted something interesting. After a little consultation with the sommelier on duty, we narrowed his recommendations down to Tiefenbrunner’s Lagrein, which he assured us was not as big and brash as Lagrein can often be. It certainly screamed deep purple, Lagrein’s typical shade, when poured. But our wine steward was right; it was medium-bodied and relatively food-friendly, with spicy, red berry fruit, gentle tannins and just enough acid to give it lift. A suggestion of rot and slightly baked fruit at the wine’s core kept it from being more exciting.

I can no longer touch the stuff after noon but the espresso at Osteria is the real deal.

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Without question, Osteria is making strong statements through the quality of its food, the style of its service and the ambience of its quarters. Strong statements – whether expressed in a person’s personality, through art or even in restaurants – tend to elicit strongly opinionated responses. Witness this anonymous letter to the editor that appears in the current issue of Philadelphia Magazine:

"In regards to “The Philly Mag 50” [February], what is the city’s infatuation with Osteria? How can my two favorite sources of dining establishments – Philly Mag and Craig LaBan – choose that place as the best restaurant in Philadelphia? I guess there’s nothing else to compare it to. Doesn’t anyone ever eat in Italian restaurants in New York?"
- Name withheld
(From “Mailbox,” Philadelphia Magazine, Vol. 99, No. 4, April 2008.)

Quality of the food aside, the writer’s comments about both New York and the lack of a peer group for Osteria bring up good points. In a city flooded with a wealth of casual Italian BYOBs and a handful of corporate, upscale Italian wannabes, Osteria stands out for its sparkling, almost clubby ambiance, its warm, casual aura and its mostly excellent food – more New York than Philly in impact. I think that easy upscale sense has been a strong contributor to the success of Marc Vetri and Jeff Benjamin’s joint venture, which works as a local hotspot and as a destination restaurant. However, Osteria does struggle with a bit of a personality conflict. Both high prices and high concept design seem a bit at odds with the very implication of the name “Osteria,” essentially a tavern, a casual meeting place oriented around friends, wine and simple food.

Perhaps it’s that very conflict that has gained Osteria so much notoriety. With just a few tweaks to its main dishes, Osteria should be able to comfortably live in the role – that it's already practicing – as one of the brightest stars in Philadelphia’s burgeoning dining scene.

Osteria 640 North Broad Street (at Wallace) Philadelphia, PA 19130 215-763-0920 Other visits to Osteria: Easter 2007 Easter 2009

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Beautiful Ugly, aka Friday in Philly

Beautiful: A Friday off, just to enjoy one's own town. Lunch at Osteria and an afternoon at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.


Beautiful: The sun streaming in through the windows at Osteria. And the elevation of the least interesting sounding dish on a menu, in this case "marinated vegetable antipasto," to an art form, a symphony of complementary and contrasting flavors. The porchetta tonnato was subtle in comparison yet equally lovely.


Beautiful ugly: I took it, so perhaps I'm biased, but I'm pretty happy with the composition in this photo of our lunch wine. On the down side, Tomasso Bussola's 2005 Valpolicella Classico did nothing to change my general displeasure with Valpo of late. Adequate as a pizza wine, I suppose, but otherwise flat, short and uninteresting, maybe even a tad heat-wacked.


Beautiful ugly: A joy to look at? Perhaps not, but then beauty, as the cliché goes, is in the eye of the beholder. The beauty couldn't be denied in the gullet, however. Osteria is well deserving of their rep for turning out some of the best pizza in town, from the simple perfection of the margherita to the robust, rustic decadence of the Lombarda (which is apparently their most popular pie).


Beautiful: A good restaurant that doesn't give up the ghost when it comes to dessert. Everything at Osteria is done in house, including their cannoli with torrone semifreddo and their "piccolo pasticceria," a delightful assortment of Italianate petit-fours. I'd happily take a box of that pistachio brittle to go.


Beautiful ugly: I'm still undecided on the "wine wall" at Osteria. It looks decent. The feel is rustic, in keeping with the spirit of the menu (rustic in content if not in price). And it complements the bar it abuts. However, the celebration of mostly high-end, luxury wines is a touch out of step with the relaxed intent of the restaurant. Perhaps it's just a visual manifestation of the casual vs. costly conundrum that Osteria presents. Don't let the prices scare you away from the experience.


Ugly: The current facade (this shot is of the rear entrance) of the PMA. I'm not sure the huge banner is any less of an eyesore than the scaffolding it's designed to hide. On the up-side, it does provide plenty of space for self-promotion.


Beautiful: Turn around, take a short walk down the hill and past the museum's construction zone. You'll find sure signs of the arrival of Spring.

Ugly: The crowds at the Kahlo exhibit (sorry, no photos allowed in the museum). Even with ticketed entrance, the attendees were packed in like sardines. All but a few of Kahlo's paintings are modest in scale. The photos, included in the exhibit to provide historical and biographical context to her works, even smaller. Patience is a must, and even then it was tough to get close enough for a good view of many of the pieces. It made me pine for the exhibition entitled "Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Twentieth-Century Mexican Art" held at New York's El Museu del Barrio in 2002. More paintings, less people.


Beautiful: The paintings themselves. In spite of the crowds, I found myself drawn into Kahlo's mixture of surrealism and naive realism. The autobiographical, symbolic and cultural elements of her major works are intensely compelling.


Beautiful ugly: The inspiration for this posting, Frida Kahlo's self-titled self-portrait, "Very Ugly." The eye of the beholder speaks, through her brush and through her works. There's undeniable beauty in Kahlo's face, in her spirit and in her art. And undeniable ugliness in the pain, misfortune and tempestuous relationships that followed her throughout her short life. Don't let the crowds keep you away from the experience.

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Easter at Osteria

The annual Philadelphia Film Festival is in full swing right now. We had tickets to a self-constructed double feature on Easter Sunday night so we figured, what better day to head for an early dinner at Marc Vetri’s new outpost, Osteria (640 N. Broad Street at Wallace). When calling for a reservation (which is essential) we were denied a table at 5:00 but offered one at 5:30. Knowing that the timing was an effort on the restaurant’s part to stagger tickets in the kitchen, we presumptuously arrived a few minutes after 5:00 as we didn’t want to have to rush through dinner to make our first screening. Greeted at the door by one, then two and finally three suit bound hosts and hostesses, we were told our reservation wasn’t actually until 5:45. After a few moments of deliberation though, we were graciously seated at a spacious two-top near the center of the room, adjacent to the lengthy chef’s bar.

Osteria is a big space, befitting of its setting in a rather wide open section of North Broad Street. High ceilings have been left unfinished, exposing duct work and lending a modern loft look which balances out the warm, rustic tones of the wooden tables and bars. Loads and loads of windows let in plenty of natural light and showcase panoramic views of the church next door – and of the Meineke shop across the street. Taking a page right out of Batali’s book at Babbo, pop music is cranked up fairly loudly. The twist here is that the music is pseudo-Italian. We heard covers of REM and U2 mixed in with some rather insipid Italipop. So much for the soundtrack – we hoped the food would prove to be worth the ear-sore.

The menu is classically Italian in structure, broken into sections for Antipasti, Primi, Secondi and Contorni. A pizza list adds a bow toward the casual intentions of Marc’s new enterprise. Here I must say Osteria is intended to be a more casual and less expensive alternative to Vetri Ristorante. It is. However, a look around at the décor and staff and a quick perusal of the menu make it clear that Osteria is not terribly casual and is quite expensive. Pizzas range from $15-24; antipasti from $10-16; primi are priced in the high teens; entrees land in the high $20s; and contorni at $8-10 a pop could quickly push the entrée ensemble into the $40 range. Do the math and the bill for a multi-course meal adds up fast.

As a saving grace, the modest wine list is, especially for Pennsylvania, quite reasonable. The most expensive bottle I noticed was a good deal at $81, the 2001 Barbaresco “Canova” from Cascina Vano. And most of the list comes in at under $50 per bottle. Though I didn’t ask, the numerous empty bottles of Sassicaia displayed around the room and the rear wall, which is decorated with wooden crate ends from high-end Italian juice, lead me to suspect that there may be a reserve list available for those looking to drop more coin. Of the handful of wines available by the glass, we settled for a couple of different whites – I for a glass of 2005 Pieropan Soave Classico and my wife Lori for some Prosecco – and got down to the business of deciding what to eat.

After listening to the fairly extensive list of daily specials, we opted to work mostly from the regular menu, though it was tough to pass up the Easter special of stuffed spring lamb. Lori opted for an Antipasto and Primo combination; I went with a Primo and Secondo. Here’s what we ordered:

• Wood grilled octopus, cured lemon, potato and chives (antipasto)
  
• Candele with wild boar bolognese (primo)
  
• Capon tortellini with sage brown butter (special primo)
  
• “Casoeula” braised pork ribs and sausage with cabbage and soft polenta (secondo)

The clear standout was the wood grilled octopus. Nearly whole (headless) baby octopi, incredibly tender and flavorful, were paired with well-chosen flavor enhancers: slivers of preserved lemon, perfectly firm little cubes of potato and quality olive oil. The boar Bolognese served over candele – long, extruded pasta (think of extraordinarily lengthy ziti) – was comforting and hearty, only lightly influenced by tomato, much more highly informed by slow cooking and mellow seasoning. If there was any disappointment to be found, it was in the slightly under-seasoned tortellini. The pasta component was supremely delicate, as was the mild, tender capon filling. The aroma of ample, rich butter rose from the plate but its color and flavors were still on the fresh side, lacking the nutty depth of a well-browned butter sauce. And for me, the sage element was just a little too subtle. The braised pork ribs, offering a perfect balance between the heartiness of braising and the slightly lighter ingredients of encroaching spring, were done to fall-off-the-bone perfection. The rustic sausage, like all of the cured meats on the menu save the Prosciutto di Parma, is made in-house.

To accompany everything, we selected a bottle of 2004 Langhe Nebbiolo “Perbacco” from Vietti, a large but very reliable producer of mostly estate bottled Piedmont wines. At $40 per bottle, it’s one of the best bargains on the list. Though served at too warm a temperature, it showed well – once it cooled down on the table – and worked admirably with most of the food. Warm red wine is one of my biggest restaurant service peeves. Though the bottles were not stored in the worst scenario – the kitchen – they were sitting out in service station shelving units around the room, exposed to the warming effects of sunlight on the back of the wood and computer screens below. I wasn’t kidding when I wrote that the wine actually cooled down once poured and left on the table. There is a wine room, presumably temperature controlled, in Osteria. Even if it means twenty extra steps for the service staff, the reds, not just the whites and beers, should be cellared. Luckily the whites were poured at a proper, slightly cool temperature, circumventing the all too common fate of being served ice cold.

Our early arrival had worked out well, leaving us just enough time to enjoy dessert and coffee before heading to the theatre. The desserts were perfectly acceptable if not memorable. The chocolate flan with pistachio gelato turned out to be nothing other than a well-executed version of the now ubiquitous molten chocolate cake. I absolutely love pistachio gelato when it’s done well; this one was just a little too heavy on the custard and, as a result, on the palate. Polenta budino with giandula delivered a predictably rustic, savory dessert. Its flavors were harmonious and satisfying. In retrospect though, I should have skipped dessert in favor of a pizza or antipasto at the beginning of the meal. Urged on by Rick Nichols’ recent write-up of Vetri’s coffee fetish, I couldn’t pass up topping everything off with a double espresso. I did need to stay awake through two movies after all. A good brew it was, hearty, with just the right bitter/sweet balance and an admirable crema.

With just a little work on some minor service issues and perhaps a rethinking of the music selections, Osteria could easily become one of Philly’s most attractive dining destinations. I’m looking forward to a revisit. The chef’s bar, the salumi plate and the pizza list are calling me now.

Osteria 610 North Broad Street (at Wallace) Philadelphia, PA 19130 215-763-0920 More recent visits to Osteria: Easter 2008 Easter 2009

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