Roberto Cafe

[sockii]

Not that this city necessarily needs another Italian BYOB, but last night three of us tried this new addition to the crowded market, which just opened a week or two ago at 2108 South Street. The place may be new but it was already almost full by 7:30...guess there's a demand in the neighborhood for something other than bar food!

I was worried that such a new place might not be able to efficiently handle a packed house, but service was quite good, if a few little details were off (no oil provided for bread without asking it, some tables got ice buckets for their wines, not all). The room is small but warm, with exposed brick and open kitchen. Nothing fancy decor-wise but pleasant (though it got HOT inside until the front door and large windows were opened, allowing a cross-breeze through the first floor).

The menu is fairly short and simple, with an emphasis on seafood (though a steak special was announced, and there are a few veal, chicken and vegetarian selections as well). We started with three appetizers: a grilled octopus special served on arugula with tomatos, capers, and olive oil; Gamberi E Fagioli (grilled shrimp, asparagus and cannellini with lemon and olive oil); Mozzarella Affumicata (grilled smoked mozzarella topped with sauted radicchio, shitake mushrooms in light balsamic vinaigrette). All were very good, the mozzarella in particular was outstanding and unlike anything I've had before, smokey and lightly dressed, terrific with the shitake. The octopus felt tough to the fork but somehow were still perfectly tender in the mouth, with perfectly ripe tomatoes, great olives...all in all an excellent combination.

For entrees, I had the Bronzino special (standard grilled preparation with lemon & oil); my companions had the Spaghetti Tarantini (calamari, mussels & claims in oil and garlic) and Veal Saltimbocca (sauted with garlic and white whine, topped with prosciutto and sage). The Bronzino had excellent flavor, though our server perhaps needs to perfect his tableside filleting skills a bit (personally I would have just rather dived into the whole fish myself, bones and head and all, but I wasn't going to fuss). The Spaghetti had a nice delicate flavor, though my companion said she would have liked more clams & less mussels. What I tasted of the veal was quite good as well.

We were too full to try desserts and just finished off with some very good coffee. Bill was $110 with tip. I will definitely be back, though it looks already like the weekends will be a tough table to get. They are doing lunch service as well, Monday - Friday. All in all, worth a try if you're in the neighborhood and not worn out on Italian BYOBs yet...it's a nice choice to have so close by as it's just about impossible to get into our other nearby but tiny West South Street BYOB, Pumpkin. Maybe we'll see some more choices around here popping up in the future...

[mrbigjas]

it's run by the folks from radicchio, i'm pretty sure.

[Diann]

it's run by the folks from radicchio, i'm pretty sure.

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A little birdie told me that my info was wrong (I thought it was owned by the Radicchio people) -- the birdie says that a couple of the Radicchio waiters defected to open up their own place.

The menu is the EXACT SAME. That made sense to me when I thought the two places were under the same ownership, but now I'm wondering, isn't there some kind of legal issue here? Veal saltimbocca isn't exactly intellectual property, but...

Anyways, here's my post about my dinner there: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...dpost&p=1232546

Edited to add: I could eat almost anything if you topped it with livornese sauce. Mmm, olives.

Edited July 17, 2006 by Diann (log)

[mrbigjas]

it's run by the folks from radicchio, i'm pretty sure.

←

A little birdie told me that my info was wrong (I thought it was owned by the Radicchio people) -- the birdie says that a couple of the Radicchio waiters defected to open up their own place.

i thought i'd heard that from someone else besides you--must be several people misinterpreting things....

[Vadouvan]

No affiliation with Radicchio.

Radicchio is affiliated with La Cena.

I am so over Italian BYOB's but I guess they fill a need.

They all serve the same food and people are willing to pay for the food because they can bring wine even though they are being gouged. A whole Branzino cost 3 bucks but with lemon and oil, it becomes $21.

I wonder how Vetri's new place will do as the first NON byo Italian in a long time.

[herbacidal]

If I recall what a certain chef told me correctly, Radicchio is owned by the owners of Laceno in Voorhees.

[KatieLoeb]

If I recall what a certain chef told me correctly, Radicchio is owned by the owners of Laceno in Voorhees.

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True 'dis.

[jelly]

Marc Vetri is opening a new restaurant?

[herbacidal]

In one of the buildings being converted to condos on North Broad.

Lofts at 640, I think.

[jelly]

Thanks.

[Neuronix]

The combination of hearing how good Raddichio's is, hearing that they just opened a new place down on South St, AND having a Barolo sitting around that needed drinking, compelled me to Roberto Cafe tonight with my date. Now, I am from an Italian family on one side, so I have very high standards when it comes to Italian food. I know better than to go out to eat Italian, but once and awhile I do it anyways. I get more and more stuck with it since I moved to west Center City, where it seems like the only things around are overpriced and mediocre Italian and Sushi restaurants (?!).

In any case, when we arrived, I noticed that even on this hot/humid night there's no air conditioning inside. There were fans, but I really didn't think it was any cooler than outside. So, I got them to move us to the little outdoor area out back

Antipasti

Arugala salad with pine nuts and goat cheese - Simple but tasty. The wamed goat cheese added an excellent touch to the dish.

Primi

Seafood salad - A mix of excellently cooked and fresh calamari, shrimp, scallop, and crab meat. The sauce it was in was a bit fishy after all of that, but the tender pieces of seafood made another simple and tasty dish.

Secondi

For me: Breaded veal chop, fried with arugala and diced tomatoes. Again, basic. Forgive me for saying this, but it reminded me of a slight improvement on shake and bake pork chops as a child.

For her: Risotto with smoked mozzarella and sausage. It lacked the creaminess I come to expect from risotto at some of the other restaurants in town. My date thought the sauce was even a bit watery, and could have used something a bit more. That being said, when you did get a bite of the mozzarella or the spicy Italian sausage, it brought a little smile to your mouth.

Dolci

We got the sampler platter, which included two scoops of gelato, two pieces of tiramisu, and a cannoli cut in half for $20. I was tempted into this by the table next to us, who had it for 4. The cannoli was a bit too sweet (vanilla with lots of baking sugar on it), the tiramisu decent, and also the gelato decent. I wished it was good as capogiro gelato, but really just wasn't as rich or dense.

One thing irked me at the end. I was looking forward to a nice glass of limoncello after some of the reviewers here and on PhillyBlog mentioned their treats at the end of their dishes. This desire was bolstered by the fact that the next table over also had their bright yellow glasses with dessert. Alas, I don't know if it's that I don't speak Italian like the girl at the next table over did or that we had a little wine left when dessert came or that I just wasn't sweet enough to the servers, but no limoncello. That's ok, I keep some in my freezer for just such an occasion!

In the end the damage was $76 after tax. I have to think it just wasn't worth it. For $40 or even $50, maybe, but it reminded me of why I don't go out for Italian. Nothing on the menu was that intricate or difficult that an amateur chef like me couldn't make it themselves for a quarter of the price.