Vetri Ristorante
1312 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
On
the best night of my life so far, I proposed to my fiancé in the city that we
love. She said yes, and I told her about my plans to take her to Vetri that
night for dinner. She was completely shocked because I had been acting like I
would not take her there for years because it was far too expensive. I had made
reservations as far in advance as I possibly could, and I could still only get
reservations for 8:45 on that Friday night. We walked in right on time, but we
had to wait quite a bit to be seated. We didn’t mind so much because we were
just so excited, and probably because they kept bringing us glasses of prosecco
while we waited. As we were sipping our champagne, my fiancé noticed that I kept
looking into the dining room. She asked why, and I explained to her that Marc
Vetri was in the building. He came out of the kitchen in his chef whites, and I
was in complete awe. Not only were we going to dine in one of the finest
restaurants in the country, but our food was going to be made by the man
himself.
I
wish we had been able to take pictures of the food, because it was show
stopping, but we didn’t feel right taking pictures in the middle of arguably
the best Italian restaurant in the U.S. Hopefully my descriptions will
give you a vivid picture of the experience that we shared. I won't go into too
much detail about the wines because I am not as well versed about them as I am
with food, but I will tell you that they were fantastic and I could not have
enjoyed them anymore. There was a perfect pairing with each and every course
and I was incredibly impressed.
From
the moment we were seated, we knew we were in for more than just a meal. Our
waiter, Brian I think was his name, was more than just a waiter. He was our
maestro for the evening. He was a pro, never at the table too long, giving us
just enough information about everything, and doing an exceptional job from
start to finish. He gave us the best piece of advice of the evening as well; take
your engagement picture, send it out to whomever you wish, and turn off your
phones so that you can enjoy yourselves. We did just that, and he asked us
if we had any preferences for our meal. We told him we are going to make his
job very easy, we are in the hands of the chef. He thanked us for trusting him,
and brought out the first of seven wines accompanied by an amuse bouche for us
to enjoy. The amuse bouche consisted of three different types of house made
salumis, as well as a crudités platter with a balsamic dipping sauce. It was a
very impressive start to our meal. The salumis were spectacular, with the
highlight being the pastrami spice foie gras. Incredible taste, and the texture. It
was simply divine.
For
our next course, we were brought out the asparagus flan and the sweet onion
crepe with truffle fondue, as well as our second glass of wine. I never thought
of the combination of asparagus in a flan or any kind of savory flan for that
matter. This flan was delicate and light, like a little cloud of green veggie
goodness. The sweet onion crepe was outstanding as well. The onions were
reduced down in such a way that they were sweet but they still packed that
strong onion flavor.
For
our third course, we were brought out the sweetbreads with faro crema and
rhubarb as well as the orata in a fava bisque. Again we were floored by the
quality of these dishes. The sweetbreads were fried perfectly, and the faro
crema and rhubarb combined to cut through the richness of the meaty
sweetbreads. The orata dish was expertly prepared as well, with the crispy skin
side facing up and floating in its broth of fava bean bisque. The fish was
crispy and flaky all in one, while the fava bisque was rich and hearty.
Next
up was the pasta course, which I could not have been more excited for. I had
heard that Marc Vetri was a pasta god and after tasting what he put in front of
me I can't disagree. Hands down the best pasta I have had anywhere…ever.
Spinach gnocchi with brown butter, almond tortellini with truffle sauce, and fettucini
with morel mushrooms each just as good as the other. It is hard to put into
words just how good this pasta was. Think of the most perfectly cooked,
perfectly seasoned and perfectly presented dish you have ever seen, and all of
these pastas would beat the pants off of it. The gnocchi in the brown butter
was just silly good. I mean brown butter is delicious on anything, but on a
light as can be gnocchi, it just seems unfair. Who would have thought to put an
almond filling in a tortellini? I guess Marc Vetri, because he did it so well.
It was a very rich pasta dish, but as always it was perfect and not at all over the top.
By
this point the full feeling was really starting to set in, but the meat course
was up and it was on point. The braised rabbit with swiss chard, potatoes and
capretto (milk fed baby goat) with stone milled polenta. I love rabbit and I
have had it at one of Marc Vetri's other restaurants, but this was again a
standout. It shows the difference between what his flagship is and where all
the other restaurants I have ever been to stand. This was my first experience
with goat, and I was equally impressed with it. It was incredibly tender and
paired perfectly with the deliciously creamy polenta. With this course, our
waiter provided us with a glass of wine from the premium wine pairing at no
extra cost because he told us it was a type of wine that everyone should try at
some point. It was a Parusso Barolo Riserva 2005. A delicious wine, as they all
were, but definitely something for you all to try if you are ever given the
chance.
As
a bit of a palate cleanser, we were served an Intermezzo course of a raspberry
orange sorbetto. Even that was mind blowingly tasty. I know you are probably
thinking how good could a sorbetto possibly be? Go to Vetri sometime and try it
so you can understand.
Dessert
was the topper of it all. We were pretty drunk at this point, and definitely
very full, but we didn’t want to miss the finale of our meal. We were borught
out a delicious glass of moscato called Elio Peronne Bigaro and two desserts; a
Paris-brest - crispy pastry layers with hazelnut cream and a Piccolo
Pasticceria of four mini cakes. While I
don’t remember each of the cakes, I will tell you that I do remember that I
liked them all, and I particularly liked two of them more so. I do vividly
remember the Paris-brest. It was layers of crispy pastry dough with hazelnut
cream in between and it was outstanding. It paired amazingly well with the ridiculously
good espresso that I had ordered. The espresso machine that had been firing up
throughout our meal in the middle of the restaurant was emitting an
intoxicating aroma the entire night. I couldn’t resist ordering one, and it was
just as good as it smelled.
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