Winter Restaurant Week #2...Italian!

Spasso’s Italian Grill

34 South Front Street

Philadelphia, PA 19106

www.spassoitaliangrill.com/ 

My sister and her family moved back home a few months ago, so I invited her and her husband out with my girlfriend and I for restaurant week as a welcome home present. We had plans to go to Spasso’s Italian Grill in Olde City, so we met at the eighth and market train stop and walked down to the restaurant together. 

When we arrived we were seated right away. The restaurant is pretty cozy inside, and based on first look, the dining room seemed pretty small. However after walking to the bathroom, I realized there were three other smaller dining rooms like the room we were in and a bar. The place is huge! The restaurant week deal that they had going on was four courses for $35. You got the choice of an appetizer, penne pomodoro, a choice of an entrée and a dessert. We all started out with beers, and our waiter took our orders and brought us out some bread and an eggplant dip a lot like a baba ghanoush. We devoured the bread and dip because they were fantastic and waited for the rest of our meal.

I had ordered the arancini, which is a deep fried risotto ball, and my girlfriend had ordered the calamari. It was the first time I had delved into the awesomeness that is an arancini, and I have to say that I will be doing so every time that I see it on the menu from now on. I haven’t seen it on many menus, but it was so unbelievably good, that I will be eating it every chance I get. The crispy breading was only made better by the creamy and cheesy ball of rice inside. The calamari was pretty good as well. It had a really thin breading on it, and it was pretty crispy. I would have liked it a bit crispier, but overall it was very good.

The penne pomodoro was the mandatory course, and it was pretty good, but it didn’t really wow me. It was good pasta, and the sauce had some nice flavor, but it didn’t really do anything spectacular for me. It was however cooked perfectly al dente, so that was really nice.

Our entrees just continued to impress me. All of the pastas that came out were clearly handmade. I had ordered the crab ravioli with a pesto cream sauce, and my girlfriend had ordered the gnocchi Gorgonzola. Both dishes were absolutely phenomenal. My raviolis were huge, and the crab stuffing was wonderful. The pesto cream sauce paired amazingly well with the crab, and I was completely stuffed by the time I ate them all. The gnocchi Gorgonzola was delicious as well. It was some of the lightest gnocchi I have ever had, and the cheesy cream sauce was the perfect complement to it.

I think the best thing I had all night was the dessert I ordered, which was the cannoli. It was easily the best cannoli I have ever had, and I would honestly eat it every chance I got if I had it available to me more often. The cannoli cream was a little grainy, but totally in a good way. It was so amazing, and I savored each and every bite. Everyone that tasted it agreed that it was to die for.

I would love to take many more people out to Spasso’s. I had a great time there. The food was phenomenal, the price point was great, and the atmosphere was fantastic. Give it a try and I am sure you will love it! Cheers!