Keeping It Close to Home...

C19

267 South 19^th Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103

c19philly.com/ 

As the weather has begun getting a little colder, I realized that my girlfriend and I were going to have to start picking places to eat a little closer to her apartment so that we wouldn’t have to walk so far in the cold or spend so much money on cabs. I had a free gift certificate that I had gotten for Cichiterria 19, which was the name of the restaurant before it rebranded its image, and that wasn’t too far from her place, so we decided to go there a few months ago.

I am always a little apprehensive about trying new Italian places because I have been so spoiled with the Italian places I have grown up eating at, but I went in with an open mind. We were seated as soon as we arrived. The restaurant is very small, a homey kind of Italian feel was felt as soon as you walk in the door. We decided to meet our requirement of at least a $100 check (the gift certificate gave us $50 off of $100 or more), we would order the 5 course tasting menu which is offered for $55. I thought it was a bit steep for the type of place that we were at, but we gave it a shot anyway. After having the meal, I am not positive it was worth the money, but the meal was pretty good nonetheless. 

We started with a simple salad of microgreens, tomatoes, red onion, and hearts of palm. It was quite tasty, and a light and simple start to the meal. I wish the bread had been served with butter or olive oil or something, but I used it to sop up some of the dressing from the salad and it worked out well.

Next up was the soup of the day, the lentil soup. I thought it was very tasty. The lentils were cooked perfectly, and the broth that they were in had absorbed a ton of the lentil flavor.

We were served a new dish that the kitchen was trying out that night for our third course. It was a sautéed octopus with a pequillo pepper puree, roasted brussel sprouts and fresh baby greens. It was salty and delicious, and the pequillo pepper sauce really brought it up to another level.

Our main course was the best in my opinion. They served us a normal portioned entrée which was great, and they served us one of the specials of the night which was cool because my girlfriend had really wanted to try it. It was a piece of panko breaded cod served over a bed of citrus risotto. The fish had an absolutely snaptastic crust on the outside of it, and it remained juicy on the inside. Each bite was a wonderful balance of texture and flavor. The citrus risotto was one of the best I have had. It wasn’t as creamy and heavy as other risottos I have had. It was much lighter, but still had the perfect al dente texture and it was still quite creamy in its own right.

For dessert they surprisingly brought us out two different ones. I had the tiramisu and my girlfriend had the bread pudding served in a cherry and wine reduction sauce. Both were very good, but nothing spectacular. The tiramisu would have been perfect if it wasn’t for the fact that the ladyfingers/cake part of it was over soaked with baileys. I like to be able to taste the baileys in the tiramisu, but it was too overpowering for me to enjoy it fully. However the marscapone filling was probably the best I have had. It was so creamy and light. The bread pudding was really dense, but it was warm and gooey with each bite. I wasn’t a huge fan of the wine reduction sauce it was served with. I was looking for it to be a bit sweeter than it was.

C19 is a good place to grab some good Italian food, and it seems that their re-branding has really worked out for them. I think they offer some authentic Italian dishes, but I am still not sure that the tasting menu was worth it. If you try it I would recommend ordering off the regular menu, but I am sure you will enjoy it. Cheers!