Modo Mio

[KatieLoeb]

Great minds think alike.

I forgot to mention my dining partner and I shared those beets as a side dish. They were on par with the rest of the meal - excellent.

We also brought a small bottle of Katie Limoncello to share after dinner. I'd heard about the Sambuca give-away after dinner, but I can't stand the stuff. The very smell of it makes me retch.

[TarteTatin]

Thinking back on the other night, I wish it were more of a neighborhood, good food place rather than a trendy place.

It was the Rittenhouse Square/Main Line trendy people we saw the other night.

The reason I say that, is; one of the other people we were with, works for very wealthy people in an artistic way. He said hello to two separate parties, and I deduced that they were "slumming it" in Northern Liberties/Fishtown. He said these are people that could easily afford to eat at the Four Seasons every night, and yet, they were at Modo Mio.

Granted, I'm sure they are there for the very good food. I guess I'm just selfishly wanting it to be for ME.

The restaurant was also full of what seemed to be a lot older people than we were.

Maybe I just still see myself as 35.

[mrbigjas]

Thinking back on the other night, I wish it were more of a neighborhood, good food place rather than a trendy place.

It was the Rittenhouse Square/Main Line trendy people we saw the other night.

The reason I say that, is; one of the other people we were with, works for very wealthy people in an artistic way. He said hello to two separate parties, and I deduced that they were "slumming it" in Northern Liberties/Fishtown. He said these are people that could easily afford to eat at the Four Seasons every night, and yet, they were at Modo Mio.

Granted, I'm sure they are there for the very good food. I guess I'm just selfishly wanting it to be for ME.

the laban review is only about a month and a half old -- still recent enough that they could be laban followers, but the ones who aren't so adamant about getting there the next week. in the past when i used to actually be able to go out relatively often, you could see the laban influence for about two months after a review.

[KatieLoeb]

All of the older clientele I saw at Modo Mio were the sort with deep wine cellars that had clearly driven in from the Main Line. I could tell from what was on the tables and the license plates on the cars parked outside...

The ones "slumming it" were the younger downtown types drinking shitty mass produced wine. Pity that. There's better stuff for the same price in the Chairman's Selections. I guess they haven't been reading the "PLCB finds" thread.

[I_call_the_duck]

We were there last night and it was primarily the Main Line crowd, as well as the hipsters. Can’t comment on their wine selections, but one table of women looked like they were on their way to be seriously drunk by the end of the night. As for us, we brought a bottle of 2002 Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona Brunello di Montalcino, which went very well with most of the dishes.

New menu, as of last week.

Amuse:

Tuna on a little piece of toast

Antipasti:

Crab and potato cake

Beef carpaccio with truffled egg

Primi:

Bucatini carbonara with scallops, guanciale, radiccio.

Risotto with frogs’ legs

Secondi:

Veal cheeks

Duck

Dolci:

Budino

Pumpkin ginger panna cotta

The hostess was pleased that we ordered the risotto, since nobody else seemed to be ordering it. For some strange reason it freaked out most of the clientele. (“Frog legs?! You mean I’m eating Kermit?!”) Heh. Suckers don’t know what they were missing. That stuff rocked. OK, for once I didn’t call the duck. It was calling, but veal cheeks were louder last night. Oh man, so tender, so rich. Everything was delicious.

$30 is such a steal.

[PhillyBon]

My husband and I were also visiting on Thursday and would have ordered the risotto if it had been offered to us. We were told there were no specials (around 8...) by our waitress. That may explain the unpopularity of the dish.

Otherwise, it was a delicious first visit for us. Highlights were the fried porcini appetizer and duck w/ orange-y sauce and braised fennel on the side. Their bread is also fantastic, served with olive oil and fresh ricotta.

- Bonnie

>>The hostess was pleased that we ordered the risotto, since nobody else seemed to be ordering it.  For some strange reason it freaked out most of the clientele. (“Frog legs?! You mean I’m eating Kermit?!”) Heh.  Suckers don’t know what they were missing.  That stuff rocked.  OK, for once I didn’t call the duck.  It was calling, but veal cheeks were louder last night.  Oh man, so tender, so rich.    Everything was delicious.

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[jelly]

I want to preface this by saying that I love Modo Mio and will continue to go often. I do have a question about the service, however, and was wondering if someone here has an answer. Last week was our fourth visit. Food was wonderful as usual, service was a little confused. On our last two visits we were brought food that wasn't ours. No big deal, but last time I was given a fig bruschetta when I had ordered the salad with figs. The waitress looked at it and insisted that was the way they do the salad, asking if I would like some greens added. I have had this salad there before and that definitely wasn't it. It was the bruschetta described on the menu. Fine, I ate it anyway and it was good. My question is this: why is the staff always different every time we go. Granted the first few visits were about a month apart each but last weekend's visited followed the previous by only two weeks. Everyone had changed, from hostess to servers. Since the chef/owner is a nice guy, I'm wondering why the quick staff turnover. BTW, all visits were on weekends -- either a Friday or a Saturday night. Anyone know?

[johnb102]

I don't know about the turnover, but we were there last Saturday night for our 2nd visit and everything was great. We didn't have any service issues, but we had the owner as our primary server, so maybe they were short handed? We took our kids (8 and 11) and they both loved everything.

[hazardnc]

I will be in Philly nest weekend (22nd of Feb) and would like to take my daughter to dinner here. On previous visits, we have been to Amada and Alma de Cuba for more upscale, Villa di Roma for "red gravy" Italian, Lourdas and Mediterranean Grill in Bryn Mawr.

I only have a couple of nights and not the big bucks for a Morimoto experience - I'm paying college tuition!

Is Modo Mio worth the effort of getting there? I'm staying near Fairmount Park/Manayunk and will have a car, but am unfamiliar with driving in the city. We could take a cab too.

Anyone have a better suggestion?

Edited February 13, 2008 by hazardnc (log)

[Capaneus]

I will be in Philly nest weekend (22nd of Feb) and would like to take my daughter to dinner here. On previous visits, we have been to Amada and Alma de Cuba for more upscale, Villa di Roma for "red gravy" Italian, Lourdas and Mediterranean Grill in Bryn Mawr.

I only have a couple of nights and not the big bucks for a Morimoto experience - I'm paying college tuition!

Is Modo Mio worth the effort of getting there?  I'm staying near Fairmount Park/Manayunk and will have a car, but am unfamiliar with driving in the city.  We could take a cab too.

Anyone have a better suggestion?

←

Easy-peasy drive, and great food, most of the time. Great value as well. If you can get a reservation, there's very little downside.

[Tim Dolan]

Wow... just... wow. I can't post details right now because I'm running out, but I just wanted to say that it was one of the best meals I've had in a LONG time. Can't wait to go back and try to work my way through everything on the menu.

[hazardnc]

Looking forward to your review, as I have to say all I have seen so far is great food - horrible service.

That said - I imagine it is unlikely I will be able to get a reservation at this late date..

[Tim Dolan]

Ok I went on Friday night with my gf for a belated Valentine's day dinner. We could only get 9:15 reservations and we were seated as soon as we walked in. The place was basically full and stayed that way until we left almost an hour and a half later. I thought our service was great. As soon as we sat down, the host opened up our bottles of wine, chatted for a bit and turned things over to our server. I believe her name was Marie (?) and she was friendly and enthusiastic without trying too hard or being cheesy.

Started out with an amuse of toasted bread made in house, gorgonzola, soppressata and aged balsamic. For whatever reason my gf seemed borderline miserable early in the evening, like she just wasn't up for going out or doing anything. After she had this her face lit up and whatever seemed to be wrong with her just melted away. I might start carrying this stuff around with me and throwing her one every time she gets out of line . Needless to say, it was a good start.

Our bread was brought to the table after our amuse and came with a dollop of ricotta cheese and olive oil, lemon zest and cracked pepper. Bread service isn't really a make-or-break part of dinner for me, but this really added something to the whole meal. The bread was cut from a huge main loaf that was at the front of the restaurant, which gave the place a nice sense of community since each table was receiving their bread from the same loaf. The bread and ricotta/olive oil tasted clean and incredibly fresh. It was great.

My app was the beef carpaccio, which came with arugala, capers, shaved parmesan and some lemaon juice. Very simple, very tasty. The closer I got to finishing it, the smaller bites I was taking because I didn't want it to be gone.

For my pasta I had the agnolotti filled with, iirc, some mixture of squash, artichoke and cheese, served with brown butter and toasted almonds. I don't know what else to say besides that it was great. Perfect texture and excellent flavor. I had wanted to get the gnocchi which I've heard so much about, but unfortunately they were out. If the ravioli were this good, then I can't WAIT to try the gnocchi.

My third course was the hangar steak. This was pretty standard but executed very well. Beautiful medium rare goodness with porcini mushrooms in a red wine sauce. My dessert was tiramisu very light and very tasty. At the end of everything we were also offered some shots of sambuca, which was slightly sweet and mellow and will erase any bad memories of downing too many shots of disgusting Romana. Not that I would know anything about that.

We did encounter some of the crunchy pasta that has been mention before, as my gf's plate of shrimp bucatini was a bit too al dente, but this was the only misstep of the night. I was so wrapped up in my dinner that I barely paid attention to what my gf had (except for the pasta) so I just emailed her to jog my memory. Her quote:

"I got the mussles for the app and the fried eggplant. The mussles were

huge, tender and delicious and the fried eggplant was amazing, not dried out, perfect. And the cheesecake for dessert which was the creamiest slice of heaven I've ever had."

To sum things up, I don't have the techincal knowledge to know if things could've been any better than they were (save for the pasta), I only know what I think is good. And the true measure of a meal for me is when I take a bite, and my shoulders relax and I think to myself "damn, this is really good". It usually only happens when I have a really great piece of steak, but it happened with almost every bite I had of this meal. AND to top things off, as many people have mentioned, the check came to a grand total of $64 and change. It was almost laughable. I'll be back as soon as possible.

[Jeff L]

Bumping this thread up..has anyone been lately and care to check in?

I'm thinking of taking my two way hipper than me daughters next Wednesday and would like to hear recent reviews. Everything I've read had been somewhat dated. Are they still doing the tourista thing and is it still $30 for 4 courses or has it gone to $300 by now?

[jelly]

Bumping this thread up..has anyone been lately and care to check in?

I'm thinking of taking my two way hipper than me daughters next Wednesday and would like to hear recent reviews. Everything I've read had been somewhat dated. Are they still doing the tourista thing and is it still $30 for 4 courses or has it gone to $300 by now?

←

It's only gone up to $32. Four of us were there Saturday night and it's still terrific. Can't remember every course, but someone had an octopus app that he loved, I had steak with anchovy butter and a fried egg (wonderful), there was also a delicious tuna, etc. etc. We go every few weeks and have never been disappointed. The couple with us rarely leave the suburbs and they thought the trip well worth while, and can't wait to return. Yes, it's still as good as ever. I wonder why they keep their price so low, but I'm not complaining.

[shacke]

I had steak with anchovy butter and a fried egg (wonderful)

Gadzooks - that's all I needed to hear to put this place on my radar. Gild that lily baby....

[Vadouvan]

Gadzooks - that's all I needed to hear to put this place on my radar. Gild that lily baby....

Evan

I know you and I know your flavor expectations, I predict you will find Modo Mio highly overrated.

I would not saddle the horses quite yet.

The food is simply OK but price driven to create value, after 3 trips, it really is not very good.

Some have described it as Osteria at a lower price point.

It's like saying a VW bug is a 911 turbo at a lower price point.

It isnt great, it's just comparatively inexpensive.

[shacke]

Gadzooks - that's all I needed to hear to put this place on my radar. Gild that lily baby....

Evan

I know you and I know your flavor expectations, I predict you will find Modo Mio highly overrated.

I would not saddle the horses quite yet.

←

Thanks - your opinion is appreciated pardn'r

[Jeff L]

We had an early dinner tonight and all things considered, it was quite good. Let me concur with Vadouvan in that this is definitely not Osteria on the cheap in any way shape or form. I think it is a very good example of simply and well prepared food with fresh ingredients at a favorable price point. It is not fine dining although Peter McAndrews was gracious enough to send me and my daughter several nice things not on the menu and not ordered after chatting briefly with him before diner service.

I asked my waiter to have the chef select things on the traditional tourista tasting menu and he did not disappoint overall. I started with the Bruschetta which tonight was nicely charred homemade tuscan bread and anchovy, basil, capers, olive oil and pine nuts, excellent. Next came a really good gnocchi course which my daughter and I both enjoyed. Note: My daughter never had gnocchi before and she really liked these. Per their menu they were "Potato dumplings, porcini, cream and gorgonzola " Very light and very savory. Next came my main which was the lamb special over a mixed green salad that had (I think) fennel and some other things I have forgotten. It was good, not great. Lamb could have been less stingy but it was flavorful. My daughter ordered the lasagna and I almost laughed when it came out because it was such a small portion. it's a good thing chef sent out two nice complimentary dishes in betwen consisting of the Tagliatelle made with chestnut pasta, cabbage & taleggio cream & fresh nutmeg...very tasty. Also sent out was a very nice dish of roasted beets, toasted almond & ricotta which worked very well together.

Finally, desserts were a homemade crepe with bananas and walnuts and I forget what I had but I liked it. All in all, a nice meal at a nice price point with a healthy shot of just ok Amaretto to end the meal, and my double espresso.

All told, $58 bucks before tip, pretty good value indeed. I'll go back.

PS: Peter happened to mention that both Georges Perrier and Matthew Levin (Lacroix) along with some other heavy hitters just dined there the other night. Chef brought them out a 6 course meal and someone asked "What, no veal sweetbreads", whereupon chef rustled them all up some. Pretty cool for a space that can barely seat 40 tightly and has a tattoo parlor just 3 doors down.

Edited May 22, 2008 by Jeff L (log)

[zeffer81]

Dined there Friday night. Great food, awful service. In fact, service was so poor that I would hesitate to go back, regardless of the food. We waited half an hour for our reservation, which can be out of their control and would be forgiven.

My mom ordered calf's liver rare. She cut into it and said that it was medium to medium well. They took it back to cook another one without an apology. Then the (I think) owner who was one of the many people waiting on us came back out to argue with her about what was and was not rare--" we cut into it in the kitchen and it looked rare. Maybe you need some more light." Seriously? Was she supposed to say "OK, fine, I'll take the original piece of liver that you were all examining in the back there." They ended up bringing out the rare piece of liver, as ordered, and she reported that it was delicious. In fact, despite the entire evening, Mom loved all of her food!

That was the most egregious display of poor service. Others include getting the yummy olive oil with ricotta for bread dipping after we were finished with the bread. When out dessert was delivered, they made a mistake with the order (nothing major, just brought out the wrong thing) and again argued that we must have been wrong. Wow, we must have been a group of really uninformed diners. AND, for the icing on the proverbial cake, it was my sister's 21st birthday and they did not include the candles I asked for.

None of these would have been a major problem on its own, but they all added up for an unpleasant experience for my entire family.

However, food was good. We all got the turista menu and highlights included my agnolotti (with a gorgonzola cream, maybe? my frustration clouded the memory of the food); frog's legs (as reported by mom); mom's 2nd order of liver and dad's mussels. I enjoyed my tuna after switching with my sister because they confused our orders--mine rare with no pancetta in the green beans, hers medium with pancetta. The two pieces of tuna were completely different sizes and I was less than happy that I had pancetta in my beans, but didn't want to bother/argue with the waiter and ate it silently.

Sorry for the rant, but this experience has been simmering inside of me since Friday and I felt the need to report back. If nothing else, the experience has taught me that I shall never again (repeat, NEVER AGAIN) leave South Philly for a good Italian meal.

[Andrew Fenton]

Big bump up, as I finally made it to MM last night. $32 is a crazy price, no doubt, for what was at times very good food. The downside- and why it's only $32, I guess- is the lack of precision. There were all kinds of mild irritations and slip-ups in our meal. Nothing that ruined a very nice meal, just little things: several misspelled Italian words on the menu, a server who wasn't able to accurately describe the specials, undercooked beans in the octopus salad, having to nag to get the waitress to bring out our dessert wine. That sort of thing.

Still, some of the dishes- the pasta, in particular- were very good. Vincigrassi was as decadent as you could ask, gnocchi with a boar ragu was a nice contrast between a rich sauce and light dumplings, and the bite of truffle agnolotti made me wish I'd ordered them. The butterfish secondo (a substitution from the skate wing) was a little fishier-tasting than when I've had it before, something that makes me leery; but the sweetbreads were nicely crispy/creamy. Desserts were very good.

I'll give MM one further props: they didn't try to rush us out of there. There were fairly long pauses between courses: a good thing! There's enough time to sit and enjoy the evening, something important that too few American restaurants understand.

[philadining]

After much too long of a pause, we made it back to Modo Mio recently. They've been pretty consistently busy, and so it's been almost impossible to stroll in on short notice. But we managed to get a table fairly late one night, and soon were berating ourselves for not coming here more often.

We had no problems with the service, in fact they were very accommodating. The food was very good across the board, much of it excellent.

They indicated that the menu is about to change, so I'm not sure that the specifics of what we ordered will be helpful for long, but the consistent quality throughout should be reassuring.

The cotechino starter was not especially lovely to look at, but it was absolutely delicious. A softly-fried egg was draped over a puck of hearty, subtly-spiced sausage, comfort food at its best. We also tried the Lingua, which was almost opposite in terms of sensation, but no less delicious. Thin slices of cold tongue were mingled with beets, goat cheese and a bright, sharp dressing.

They had just changed the gnocchi from the version Andrew mentioned above, which was disappointing until we tasted the replacement. The small, light, pillowy dumplings are now accompanied by wild mushrooms and gorgonzola to excellent effect. I've always enjoyed the gnocchi here, no matter the preparation.

Agnolotti were filled with lamb and rabbit, and while quite good, they paled in comparison to the gnocchi.

Secondi were strikingly good. The porchetta was just crazy, tender and juicy, seated in a pool of intense jus. I suspect roasting-off pigs for the sandwich shop across the street has helped them perfect this, and really makes me want a sandwich too...

A shortrib special brought a piece of meat about the size of a standard masonry brick. Thankfully the resemblance ended at its dimensions. It was falling-apart tender, and intensely flavored, from a long braise in red wine. A bed of rabe made a pleasing contrast.

A nice-looking skirt steak got hoovered-up by my dining companions before I managed to steal a taste, but I think that counts as a thumbs-up.

Desserts were decent, but not quite as thrilling as the rest of the meal.

As noted several times, the $32 "tourista" menu remains an insane bargain, but even at higher prices the meal we had would be easy to recommend. I'm planning on getting back there sooner than later...

Edited March 6, 2009 by philadining (log)

[lfabio2007]

We went here yesterday evening, after getting fairly stuffed at Chick's. Due to the stuffedness, we didn't spring for the turista menu and only did pasta + second. I had the 'caramellos', pasta filled with potato and bolognese ragout (not quite...) both inside and outside as a sauce, my GF had the linguine with the vongole. The pasta was very good - I wonder if they make it themselves - with additional praise going to the vongole in the linguine, which were good even by venetian standard - possibly the best I've had stateside.

After that, I had the 'costine', boneless pork ribs stewed in red wine with a pickled fennel and arugula arrangement, on top of a SIGNIFICANTLY oversalted panata. The costine were good - I particularly liked the fennel, which is not a frequent ingredient to be seen - but let's say that if one had not been stuffed from Chick's, the value really is in the turista menu, because the quantity of meat was quite minimal. GF had the animelle, which 'were not the best sweetbreads' and the lemon confit with them was somewhat harsh and heavy handed.

A final note to strongly suggest eating outside, as we did - inside the noise was comparable to the Summit Point track paddock with Gruppe N cars on both tracks - and to just as strongly suggest avoiding the coffee. There is a big rant coming on that topic some other day, but I shall say this: the machines are the same, the coffee is often even better here, so I can't understand WHY the espresso range from vile to moderately awful more or less everywhere. Here, the fact that the machine had last been cleaned in 1631 didn't help.

My final verdict is, the turista menu should really be selected and is a good bargain, whereas I can't say as much for the $44pp after tax and tip last night. The restaurant is good, but it certainly is not osteria at a lower pricepoint, Vaudovan is entirely correct. We shall return, however, a review after one try is a bit unfair.

Edited May 31, 2009 by lfabio2007 (log)

[Andrew Fenton]

The pasta was very good - I wonder if they make it themselves - with additional praise going to the vongole in the linguine, which were good even by venetian standard - possibly the best I've had stateside.

High praise, and a reminder that I need to head back to MM soon! Especially now that the weather is getting warm, I'm missing Italian vongole something fierce. There are times I'd consider selling my firstborn for a bowl of really good vongole veraci...

[philadining]

A few of us dropped by Modo Mio again recently, and had one of those classic modo Mio experiences: a combination of awe and frustration at how incredibly delicious some of the dishes were, and how clumsily careless some of the others were.

Their famous bread was simultaneously burned around the crust and wet and gummy inside. The really weird part is that it was kind of tasty nonetheless.

What they called Roman-Style Tripe got rave reviews all around, I think I liked it as much as a similar preparation I'd had at Osteria, and I loved that one.

Porchetta Tonnata was pleasant enough, but not as vividly-flavored as we'd expected. The thin slices of pork were fine, but not given much of a flavor boost from what was supposed to be tuna-spiked mayo.

Three of our pastas were heartily doused in lemon, sadly not just a touch of acid to brighten the flavors, but so much that it made them puckeringly sour and overall kind of weird. This is a special shame because the pastas are so often transcendently great here. A couple other pastas at the table did not suffer that fate, but were not especially noteworthy either.

A secondo of Cotechino with Sweetbreads was absolutely delicious: the cured spiciness of the sausage offsetting the creamy crunchiness of the perfectly fried sweetbreads. A Bistecca Fiorentina garnered similar raves. Duck sausage was also very good. Some found the pork belly dish to be too sweet, but I actually liked it quite a lot, at least for the few bites that I stole.

Desserts were strong all the way around, although the blueberry granita was clearly a mix of berries, and only good, as was the tiramusu, but the panna cotta, and zabaglione were both quite excellent.

Our server was very friendly and helpful, if a little strong-willed about which dishes went best together... we had a couple of glitches over a special request, but it's not entirely clear if it was the waiter or the kitchen that forgot about it. Repeatedly...

So, all in all, a pretty typical Modo Mio meal in our experience: head-spinningly delicious food, head-scratchingly odd mistakes. And still a bargain, so it's hard to get too upset if one element comes up a little short.

I'll be going back, I'm OK with taking my chances...