On arrival in Philadelphia, I discovered it was restaurant week and every restaurant in town seemed to be offering a $35 special for 2 weeks in the middle of September.
We in Washington do this for a week in January in a week in August and often many restaurants extend that, but it is definitely what we call an off season event to encourage dining out. Philadelphia seems to take a different approach and every place was jammed especially with the warm weather.
I had chosen to go to space Finch months earlier because I knew chef Jennifer Carroll and her fiance Billy Riddle opened this restaurant, so I specifically decided to stay at the Warwick which the restaurant is in!
I arrived and told my server Dylan as well as the generous manager, Jess, that I really wanted to eat a lot of small plates and tastes and not really have large portions. I discovered that both chefs were out of town indefinitely which led me to suspect that they might be on an upcoming TV show... But everything was perfectly timed and served in my evening out.
I started with a drink called Rest in Pete's, a mix of vodka and prosecco with preserved lemon and served in a champagne glass with a mix of spice made from turmeric, sumac and saffron down the side of the glass. As always photos are available on Facebook. It was a delicious drink and the spice really made it fun to take a lick between sips. Sparkling water served here is St. Anio from Catalonia and Spain and is quite good but a little too gassy for me.
The space is made up of mosaic tile tables with ceramic and wooden floors as well as a large square bar at the center surrounded by stools. There are multiple rooms and the noise levels are high but not unbearable; I sat right next to a huge window that opened out on to the passers by and 17th street. There were these adorable little pots attached to the wall with succulents all over the place indicating that while this was a Mediterranean restaurant, it was mostly South and West of the Mediterranean as opposed to Italian or Greek or Spanish.
A huge selection of starters arrived including some of the best grape leaves I've ever had in my life stuffed with Farro, fennel, apricots and served on lemon yogurt. The farro gave the grape leaves and almost meat like texture which was truly delicious.
There were crudites of all types of vegetables, a beet borani made with feta and za'atar, garlic yogurt made with herbs, Aleppo pepper and Olive oil which was for the vegetables or the magnificent Berebere crisps, magnificently spiced grilled pita.
The next course was Turkish spiced tuna loin which was seared but raw inside and spiced to perfection. There were Marconi almonds that gave it a magnificent crunch as well as gooseberries, preserved lemon and pepper all served on the yellow pepper puree with cilantro, onion and tomato on top. According to the menu the dish is usually served with pineapple but I guess the chef in the kitchen had decided gooseberries would be more appropriate since I was asking for everything very differently than most of the guests doing the restaurant week menu.
A monstrous plate of broccoli tabbouleh made with quinoa, tomato and garlic tahini arrived as did another huge plate of blistered shishito red and green peppers with tahini and harissa! Both plates were so huge I offered half of them to the couple sitting next to me who seemed thrilled to have a little extra to dine on.
I had moved on to a crisp white Vermentino from Poggia dei Goreiri in Liguria, Italy and then switched to a red Rhone Grenache from Ondins which was paired deliciously with the intensely rich lamb ribs that arrived and I could no way eat more than 2 small ones myself. The rest were packed up for my new friends at the enxt table! They were crusted with Apple radish and roasted garlic and topped with a charmoula.
I settled in with a very plummy delicious glass of Iuli Barbera... and asked Dylan to bring me one single date truffle from the dessert menu which was made of pomegranate and covered with a cashew streusel and torn herbs, The perfect ending to a delicious night as I headed up to my room and to sleep. Great food, great fun and a great start in Philly!
