Bellini Grill
220 South 16th Street
Philadelphia, PA
19102
My girlfriend’s cousin and her boyfriend came into town a
few months ago to visit for the weekend. Unfortunately it was during tax season
and I had to work on Saturday, so I didn’t get to see them as much as I would
have liked, but we did go out to dinner on Friday night and spend some time
together. We went to a BYOB near my girlfriend’s apartment called Bellini
Grill. We were a bit late in getting there, so we had to wait a few minutes to
sit down, but once we were seated we delved into the bottles of wine that we
brought and enjoyed each others’ company.
One of my friends had told me to order the escargot when I
finally went to Bellini Grill, so I took her recommendation and we ordered it.
I was very skeptical because I had only had escargot in French restaurants
before going to Bellini, and I didn’t even know anyone else cooked escargot
besides the French. That being said we all dug into them when they were served
to us. I wasn’t impressed with them to be honest. They were a little tough, and
I didn’t think they really had a whole lot of flavor. I am used to them being
super tender and packed with garlic punch, and these weren’t. Plus they were
served in a brown sauce that was very visually unappealing. O well, we tried
it, I didn’t like it, we moved on.
We also ordered some bruschetta to try for the table, and
that was much more satisfying than the escargot had been. The tomato topping
was fresh, and the bread was super crunchy.
I was so torn when I was ordering my main course that I
wound up ordering something I really didn’t want. I ordered the lamb chops that
came with a sweet potato puree, tomatoes, and broccoli rabe, however I think I
really wanted pasta of some sort and I just couldn’t make up my mind. That
being said, my lamb chops were perfectly cooked, and the sweet potato puree was
mighty tasty. They were sweet and creamy, and a very nice accompaniment to the
lamb. The broccoli rabe was cooked perfectly as I have come to expect it to be
from most Italian restaurants. It is such a versatile green, and I absolutely
love the taste of it when it is sautéed with just a little bit of garlic and
olive oil.
For dessert my girlfriend ordered a tartufo, which is an
Italian dessert of ice cream, usually with a cherry in the middle, and a hard
chocolate shell on the outside. It was good, but I don’t really like the
traditional tartufo, I much prefer the peanut butter tartufo that I usually get
on Long Beach Island. at Roberto's. The thing about it that I really don’t like is the cherry
in the middle. It tastes a bit like cough medicine, and I think it ruins the
ice cream around the middle.
I liked the food at Bellini Grill, but I wasn’t blown away
by it. I think it’s a nice neighborhood BYOB that you can get a decent meal at
for a decent price, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go there when I have a
hankering for some Italian food because there are definitely some better
options out there. Give it a try for sure though so you can see for yourself,
‘cause lord knows my opinions are simply that…mine! Cheers!
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