C19

What kind of place can make me wish I ordered the fish over a delicious NY Strip? C19.

There's so much to like about this place.  It has a great atmosphere; there's something intangible about C19 that really makes you feel like they care about their food and the entire dining experience.

I like to take pictures of my food; but I had no chance at C19. I was too busy eating it.

To start, the service was a little slow.  But once we had our orders placed, there weren't any problems.  I highly recommend the wine flights.  The sommelier comes out and chooses several different wines to pair with the food and gives tasting notes on each wine.  He really put effort into explaining and arranging, and not because it was his job; but because he really loves wine and wants to share that.

For starters, I ordered the snails, Nutzle had the beet salad, and we both enjoyed these starters.  She then got the special, local black bass.  It was amazing. I'm salivating just thinking about it.  The NY strip I had was good; a nice dry rub, thick cut served medium rare.  But I wouldn't rave about it.

The only potential downside is that for the portions, the food is a little pricey.  But because of the location in the city, as well as the focus on fresh, local, sustainable ingredients, the prices are warranted.  I will be back soon.

PS, there's a tiny TV in the corner of the bar, so if it's playoff time and you've promised to take someone out for a nice meal, this is the perfect spot!

http://c19philly.com/
267 S 19th St
Reservations via Opentable.com

Osteria

Does Osteria have the best pizza in Philly? I think so.

I'm so glad I waited to visit this place until my Mom and sisters were in town. Not only are they a blast to go out with, but this place in certainly best experienced with a group of four to eight. The menu is set up to encourage sharing, and there's so many mouth watering entrees on the menu that it is difficult to settle on just one or two choices.

We only had wine, but Osteria boasts an incredible beer list as well. There are several Italian craft beers on tap; you won't find them anywhere else in the city, or even the state. It's not cheap though, most bottles of wine are $45-65 or more.

The way the menu is set up is a bit confusing. There are the pizzas, a large list of appetizers, first (pasta) courses, and then entrees. We wanted to try a lot of different things, and ended up with two pizzas, one app, two first courses and two entrees.

The pizzas came out first. The margherita is a simple pleasure. The thin crust, sweet sauce, melted mozzarella topped with basil leaf is a delight; it's the definition of thin crust brick oven pizza. While I liked this, the toppings on all of the pizzas are well thought out, and out other choice had fig, prosciutto, and Gorgonzola. This pizza was pretty incredible, and combination of toppings shows that Osteria crafts pizza, they don't simple "make" them.

Our appetizer was the "mozzarella is carrozza," which Craig LeBan hailed as the reinvention of fried cheese. But no one at our table was buying that moniker. Yes, it's the restaurants take on mozzarella sticks, but it most closely resembled stuffed french toast. It was the low point of the meal.

Pasta dishes came out just as we were finishing the pizzas. One was stuffed with sausage, which was a favorite with the girls, and the other with cauliflower. This second one was excellent, my fav, and is a strong case for anyone who thinks they don't like the vegetable.

The first main was rabbit "casalinga" with pancetta, sage, brown butter and soft polenta. Rabbit is delicious, and this was a great dish that was a hit with everyone. We also ordered cod, which was served on a bed of greens and topped with braised pork belly. I'm a big fan of pork belly, and this dish perfectly paired it with seafood. Our entrees, like seemingly everything at Osteria, were put together with care and expertise. But I think I enjoyed getting to this point more than I did eating it.

The service is what you would expect of a place in the price range. I like the atmosphere too. We were seated out on the patio extension, which is a glass-room extension with a great view of the adjacent church. I love the touch of one of the walls covered in old wine crates. My only complaint is that we weren't given the reservation we wanted when we called in, although the restaurant didn't ever come close to capacity all night.

Bottom Line: This is a top notch dining experience. It's authentic northern Italian food, and the brick oven pizza is simply delicious. While the price can be prohibitive, I'm looking forward to my next visit, even if I'm sitting alone at the bar and dropping around $50 for a pizza and some craft Italian beer.

La Locanda Del Ghiottone

In a rare mood Friday night, I suggested and Italian dinner. When I saw how excited Emily got, I couldn't turn it down. Somehow, La Locando wound up on my short list of places to try out, and so we were off.

La Locanda Del Ghiottone is a cozy little BYO in Olde City. It's a plus that there's a good wine store only a few blocks away at 2nd and Market. The atmosphere is the most noticeable aspect of dining. It's small, loud, and and inviting. The tables are crammed together in a fashion that if you don't talk to the people next to you at least politely at some point, it's more awkward than ignoring them. The servers all work together and are excellent and almost nonstop. The servers also like to joke around, give you a hard time, and yell at the top of their lungs. If you're not in the mood, it could be annoying, but it's really all in good fun. When taking too long to order, the waiter asked me if I was "waiting for the executioner to come."

We started out with mussels as the appetizer. They claim to use a "14 year old secret sauce." It's no secret that it could use some improvement. White wine is the best base for mussels, and although we were severed delicious mussels, the red tomato sauce just doesn't cut it. These were, however, well cooked and sizable. It was a good amount for $9.

A regiment of specials compliment the regular menu, and they seem to be a great place to start looking for dinner. I remember hearing that he gnocchi here was excellent, so I chose that with Gorgonzola tomato sauce. The gnocchi is made from ricotta, and it truly is probably the best gnocchi I've ever had. It's rich and creamy, and the sauce was excellent; it complimented the pasta without overpowering it. The portion was perfectly sized. Emily was excited about the spaghetti carbonara. She order it sans bacon, and her dish was also great. Well prepared and tasty with a good mix of the ingredients. By the end of the meal, we were too full to take on dessert. I did see it from the table next to us, and it looked great.

Bottom Line: This place is a lot of fun. The food here is great, too, so it's not like you're just coming for the atmosphere. You definitely have to be in a particular mood to enjoy dinner. It's a great little BYO, and it has excellent prices for where it's located in the city and what you get.

Essential:

130 N 3rd St (3rd and Race)

215-829-1465

Avg Ent: 14-20

Cash Only: Yes

Reservations: Required

BYOB: Yes, no cork fee

Spasso Italian Grill

This is part three of my four part restaurant week/birthday celebration. Delicious.

Italian food is not my jam. I'm almost never going to pick out an Italian spot. That's why it was great when Quinn and I went out last week, and she insisted upon this spot. I would have never picked it on my own.

I have to get the atmosphere out of the way. This place is big and open, with booths and tables. The layout is weird. It feels a bit corporate. There were large groups of Italian families inside. Loud children were right next to us, too. It definitely doesn't feel like a nicer restaurant. This distracted from the meal a bit. Our server was clearly Italian. I like it when my server is an expert in the food being served. We had good service throughout the meal.

Spasso had an awesome special going for restaurant week. $35 brought four courses to the table. Quinn and I ate so much food, I honestly don't think my appetite came back for 24 hours. To start off, I went with the fried calamari. I love this dish, and this was an average rendition. I wasn't impressed, but it wasn't bad either. Quinn went with a fried crab cake. It was a large crab cake that was seasoned interestingly. I can't put my finger on what it was, but it was a nice experiment with a dish that can easily be bland.

Our next course was the house pasta dish. It was offered as part of the special, and they picked the pasta and sauce. We were served penne with a simple red sauce. It was nice, but in reality, I probably didn't need it before the main course.

For my main, I ordered gnocchi with asiago and asparagus. Quinn went with spinach ravioli stuff with four different cheeses. The presentation on both of our dishes was good, and my portions were great too. I though that Quinn's was a bit small, with five large ravioli's making up the whole dish. The gnocchi was great; perfectly cooked. The white wine sauce was well balanced. The asiago and asparagus additions completed the dish well.

For dessert, Quinn took the chocolate mousse cake. It was awesome. It was so rich, that we didn't finish it between the two of us. It was a great piece of cake. When our server told us that profiterole was available, I had to jump at the chance (because of "Look Around You." If you

haven't seen this video, you really need to take 2 minutes and check it out). Unfortunately, my dessert was simply a dollop of ice cream between two hard, bland biscuits.

Bottom Line: Spasso's tag line is "comfort food from Italy," and I think they success in this department. I may not ht up this spot again, but especially considering their restaurant week offering, I think this is a nice spot. If you want simple, good Italian food, this is a viable option.

Essentials:

34 S Front St (Front and Chestnut)

215) 592-7661

Avg Ent: 15-22

Cash only: No

Reservations: Yes

BYOB: No

Spaghetti Warehouse

It wasn't until about a year ago that I started to get into the really great food and drink scene here in Philadelphia. So as a young college student, it seemed like a good idea to hit up the Spaghetti Warehouse: Mom was passing through town and wanted to grab dinner with me somewhere close to campus. I wanted to get off of Temple's domain, but knew we didn't have too much time, so my mind instantly gravitated toward the Spaghetti Warehouse. It's pretty close and I knew right where it was, because it's impossible to miss.

True to name, this place is a big open spot and has a warehouse/cheap italian restaurant feel. you know, with plastic checkered red and white tablecloths. I guess that could be fun.

To be honest, I don't remember a whole lot about my meal here, everything was average, and in no way memorable. I do know one thing: I haven't had the slightest desire to go back here in the last four years. It's a big chain restaurant that somehow maintains business. I save seen there banner advertising a $5 lunch special, if you really feel the need to visit, lunch is the time to do so.

Bottom Line: The best part about this place is that there website is meatballs.com. Don't go here. There are a lot of better, Italian places. I've never been to Bistro Juliana or Il Cantuccio, I'm just going to guarantee they are better. On a side note, I need to check out those places.