Philly area advice

My son graduates from college this May, and we would like to take him and a couple of his friends out to dinner. It needn’t be luxe, but someplace nice is in order. He is (and we will be) in Collegeville. I don’t mind going downtown (we have periodically throughout his 4 years), but if there is someplace suitable in Phoenixville or Valley Forge or environs would be even better (as would BYOB).

Thanks in advance for sharing your expertise!

I really enjoyed my evening at this place, Neal:

Closer to Valley Forge, Sola in Bryn Mawr has always been fairly reliable too, and there’s a restaurant I used to go to a lot with Alex Anthopoulos called Alba (I think in Malvern, or maybe Paoli) that was always good.

Mike

Alba is in Malvern and wonderful. They now have a liquor license so corkage fee is $20 I believe. Maybe Bob Hughes will check in with the correct number. Phoenixville has really changed and I hear it now has a lot of good places to eat. We don’t get that way often. I know Kevin Foley mentioned that his favorite pizza place is in Phoenixville and is BYOB. He may have other suggestions.

Have you tried:

www.majolicarestaurant.com

BYO and three bells (out of 4) from LaBan.

That looks great Ted. We will need to get there. Is it hard to get a reservation?

Neal–I consulted with my cousin who lives near there. She also strongly recommends Majolica in Phoenixville for both food and service. No corkage fee is a nice plus.
http://www.majolicarestaurant.com/

She also suggests the White Dog Cafe

http://www.whitedog.com/university-city.html

Thanks to you all. Great advice. I’ll let you know where we end up.

To be honest, I don’t recommend Sola or Majolica - both somewhat inconsistent (and I think Sola also changed ownership in the past two or three years). Food can be very good, and I think Majolica is better, but neither place rings the bell all the time.

I am a big fan of Alba - very good high-end Italian food. I will caveat this by saying I have known the owners for years, so I may no longer be fully objective, but I like it.

You mentioned Valley Forge - two exits down the Schuykill in Conshohocken is BlackFish - Chip Roman is a very talented chef, and another place I’ve been to many times.

Forgot about Blackfish, a +1 from me, thanks for that reminder Bob.

Birchrunville Store Café BYO no Corkage Cash only

Need to make reservations a few weeks in advance
From their site Please allow for 2-3 weeks to reserve a table for Friday and Saturday. Please note, we accept only one 6 person party per seating (Friday and Saturday). Unfortunately, due to the size of our restaurant, we cannot accept reservations larger than six.

I like Majolica but Birchrunville is better. Alba is very good but don’t know what their corkage fee is they have a license.

If you want to go into the city we all will have many more reccs.

What about Sips in Phoenixville? I’ve gotten a strong reco from someone I respect.

Suburbs: Blackfish
Downtown: Amada (tapas), Osteria (casual italian) or Vetri (tasting menu), also a few decent steakhouses (Barclay Prime or Butcher and Singer).
This list might be slightly dated since I haven’t been back to Philadelphia in a few months.

Reporting back

We had dinner at Blackfish and had a lovely time. The wine service was good, the staff was friendly and professional, and the experience as a whole was very fine.

The food was inconsistent. My first course – smoked Irish salmon wrapped around a (quail?) egg was outstanding. Sophisticated and flavorful and creative. The gnudi in brown butter was a little bland; it had a pleasingly sharp acidic bite but was lacking that additional dimension. The bouillabaisse was mediocre and that is being kind. Mono-dimensional and skimpy especially at the cost ($32?). Some of the fish was literally too tough to eat

We drank an absolutely exquisite 2002 Taittinger Comtes, a 2007 Benoit-Lahye Milliseme that had a big personality but is a long way from being ready, and a 1999 Pavie which was beautiful if you like the style. It still had some tannic bite, coming primarily from the oak, but it too had a lot of personality and I enjoyed it immensely.

Thanks to all who offered suggestions. I do appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge of the area

Your reaction to Blackfish mirrors my reaction to the place. Good; very expensive; inconsistent. Not great or memorable.

Shameless plug for a friend’s new restaurant Petruche et al on Walnut Street. I haven’t been since it opened, which was just recently, but did get to enjoy previews of many of the dishes. The team behind it are very close friends of my husband, so couldn’t hurt to mention you were referred by “Jonathan Read’s wife Sarah.”

They do have a full bar and wine program (still in development, but Tim, the somm, knows his stuff), and I’m not sure what their BYO policy will be, but I suspect it could be negotiated. I think it’s worth a look if you’re in the area.

Other than that, Sarah…what can you tell us about the place? Like who owns/runs it…and their previous places, stops, etc…

Yelp and their website are very vague about that…

Is it part of another, existing “mini-chain/empire”?

I was careful to leave it vague because, as I said, I haven’t actually eaten there. I’ve been in the kitchen as the brothers work (beautiful ingredients, especially vegetables), and they have cooked often with my husband at our house, including dishes they were playing with for the restaurant. It is small plates, mostly cooked in the wood-fired oven, focused on fresh ingredients, with an American/Italian feel to many of the dishes. The space is really attractive - another close friend made the tables - and I know they will continue to build their wine program.

Here’s the website…

The Petruche Brothers (in the kitchen) used to cook at Meme (I think - that was before my Philly connection) and Tim Kweeder (GM and wine director) was at aKitchen and before that on the retail side (I think Moore Brothers). It is not part of a chain or empire.

We have wood burning oven in our house, so before the restaurant was open, they tried out a lot of dishes there.

Sorry - I spent more time there before it was open than since, but the reports from mutual friends are that there are some growing pains, but the food is generally strong.

Thanks…it does sound interesting-- and pricey. (And. the wine list prices are scary, even for PA. )

I don’t live that far away, so I will put it on my list, though…

Finally made it to Petruche et al last night and really enjoyed the meal. I understand that it’s expensive by Philly standards, but I didn’t have any issue with what they were charging for the food we were served. Very well conceived dishes, with excellent balance of flavors (sweet, sour, meaty, salt etc) and quality ingredients. Execution was strong across the board as well. My husband and I found every dish, even the small ones, plenty large enough for sharing, and some were huge, like the excellent lasagna $16), which was finished in the wood burning oven to produce a great crispy crust. Texture is definitely an element they care about. Carrots were very strong, as was another salad of cucumbers and melon with fried chickpeas, and a small plate of hiramasa with fresh plums. And homemade bread done daily in the wood burner, then grilled, was excellent.

I can’t comment on the beverage list because we brought wine (perfect wine service), but I know it is still a work in progress.

Perhaps our experience was especially good because we’re friends of the house, but I would definitely recommend this place.