ulterior epicure Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 Alrighty, I stepped on the scale this morning and I've finally lost the extra pounds that Philly packed on me! It has been a long, hard run. :hmmm: Here is a *LONG* excerpt from my blog post at the the ulterior epicure: Vetri is the kinder, gentler Babbo. Though, other than having incredible pasta programs (and being located in a retrofitted townhouse), the two are little alike, I found myself comparing these two restaurants almost immediately, and continuously. Neither Vetri’s food nor its service brandished the aggressive edges that Batali does. Vetri’s got curves, gilded with French flourishes (haunted by the former tenant?) – fondue instead of fondutta, sabyon instead of zabaglione, and crépe instead of crespelle – and softened by a mostly female wait staff. Whereas Vetri’s food is more playful and moors slightly farther from Italy, Batali’s seems set in stone – perhaps from having the benefit (or curse) of more media and chatter and more years of developing a menu of rotating “signatures” – Batali feels more dogmatic. Whereas I wouldn’t miss having a knife at Vetri, I’d never think of eating a meal at Babbo without one. This is not to say Vetri’s food isn’t hearty, rustic, or bold. What I had was immensely so. But this is Italian food with one pinky raised. There are a number of ways to enjoy Marc Vetri’s cooking. On weeknights, you have a choice of ordering á la carte, the “Tasting Menu” ($115) or the “Grand Tasting Menu” ($135), the latter of which is a progression of antipasti (a flurry of snacks followed by one or two composed plates), primi (two per person – with us, they even brought out a third for each of the two courses for us to share), secondi (fish or meat), a intermezzo (or, pre-dessert), and dolci (dessert). On the tasting, the staff first consults with the table: preferences, allergies, dislikes are discussed. The first evening, the “Grand Tasting” presented (Click here to see all of the photos from this meal): Antipasti Marinated Zucchini Sticks Wrapped in prosciutto Rosemary Foccacia Local chevre with pickled wax beans Savory Beignet Filled with plum and wrapped in lardo Pizza Tomato, bacon, and basil Pastrami Foie Gras Brioche and rhubarb mostarda Loredan Gasparini, Prosecco NV, Veneto Supplement House-made Salumi Bresaolo, pancetta, coppa, calabresa, soppressata, black pepper-cured sausage. Crispy brussels sprouts, fried fennel, and pickled cucumbers First Courses Crispy Sweetbreads Almonds and cherry agro dolce Fluke Crudo Plums, arugula, and olive oil Burrata Eggplant caponata and gnocchi friti Proprieta Sperino, Rosa del Rosa 2007, Piedmont (Paired with the Burrata) Second Course Golden Sweet Onion Crêpe Truffled Parmesan fondue, Parmesan gratinee Bastianich, Sauvignon 2007 “SB,” Friuli Third Courses Spinach Gnocchi Smoked shaved ricotta salata and brown butter sauce Almond Tortellini White truffle sauce Bolognani, Teroldego 2006 “Armilo,” Trentino Fourth Courses Tomino Ravioli Green beans and potato Fazzoletti with Duck Ragu Black olives Cantina Santadi, Shardana 2001, Sardegna Fifth Course Capretto Mesquite-smoked baby goat with soft polenta Tenuta di Capezzana, Carmignano 2004 “Villa di Capezzana” Intermezzo Blueberry Sorbetto Dolci “Strawberry Shortcake” Black pepper gelato Chocolate Polenta Budino Vanilla gelato Local Honey Ice Cream Blueberry granita, currants, and mint Domaine Cazes, Rivesaltes 1988 “Tuilé,” Roussillon (Paired with the Chocolate Polenta Budino) Petits Four On Fridays/Saturdays (depending on the season – Fridays in the spring/summer and Saturdays in autumn/winter), the restaurant only offers the “Degustazione” ($135), a tasting menu that, as I learned on my second evening at Vetri, is essentially the same format as the “Grand Tasting Menu” that we had a few nights before. The only difference between the “Grand Tasting” and the Degustazione, as we were told, is that the Degustazione is supposedly a culmination of the chef’s weekly whim. As described on the website: “To fully experience Vetri restaurant, you must reserve a table for the chef’s menu on Saturday night. On these special evenings, Marc Vetri creates new dishes inspired by the freshest seasonal ingredients from local food producers. The chef then hand-paints an original menu for each table in the restaurant. These beautiful menus lead Vetri’s guests on a culinary journey known in Italy as “degustazione” … or, simply, tasting.” But this is misleading. Or, at least it was in my experience; the Degustazione menu was comprised almost entirely of Vetri’s signature dishes. There were also afew from the regular a la carte menu. The other confusing thing about the Degustazione, for which there is a specially hand-painted and written menu, is that the menu lists twelve dishes: three each in four different sets: antipasti, primi, secondi, and dolci. But, you don’t get all twelve on the menu, like you would on most printed tasting menus. Not unlike our “Grand Tasting” earlier in the week, preferences, dislikes and allergies are discussed first. This is also where special requests are appropriately addressed. And, not unlike our “Grand Tasting,” diners may receive different dishes for any given course, so, given a larger party, it is possible that one might see all twelve dishes on the menu at their table. As a result, our “Grand Tasting” ended up being more of a “chef’s whim” degustazione (as described) – there was more of a surprise element (you had no idea what you were getting) than for the Degustazione, which was largely spelled out on the specially printed menu. Having returned to Vetri for the Degustazione on the assurance that we would be able to experience an entirely different set of dishes than our “Grand Tasting Menu,” the staff happily accommodated our requests for changes and substitutions – even going off-menu for one in our party – which landed our table with a whole salt-baked branzino. Our Degustazione presented (Click here to see all of the photos from this meal.): Antipasti Arugula Salad Parmesan, artichoke heart, and extra virgin olive oil Fluke Crudo Plum, arugula Pizza Tomato, fresh mozzarella Loredan Gasparini, Prosecco NV First Course Stuffed Zucchini Blossom Cheese-stuffed zucchini with tomato and basil. Second Course Aparagus Flan Quail egg yolk, Parmesan and truffle cream sauce Pojer e Sandri, Muller Thurgau 2006 “Palai” Third Course Basil Tagliatelle Hen ragu & plum San Alejandro, Garnacha 2005 “Las Rocas” Fourth Course Sweet Corn Agnolotti Les Cretes Chardonnay, 2007 Fifth Course Salt-crusted Whole Branzino Cantina Terlano, Nova Domus Riserva 2003 Supplement Capretto Soft polenta Formaggio Ubriaco al Prosecco (Veneto) Testun al Barolo (Piedmont) Muffato (Veneto) Brescianella Staglonata (Lombardia) Giovanni Avanzi, Tocai Friulano 2001 “Notorious” Intermezzo Lemon Sorbetto Limoncello Dolce Washington State Berries Warm sabayon Local Peach Tart Vanilla gelato Castello Banfi Brachetto D’Acqui 2007 “Rose Ragale” Petits Four So, what’s this business about a perfect plate of pasta? Vetri speaks my kind of lingua pasta. In my opinion, not all pasta should be al dente. As a general rule, I prefer my stuffed pastas softer and smoother (perhaps that’s why I liked the lasagna at insieme so much). Sauced pastas - those without fillings – are usually most enjoyable when they protest with a slight resistance, have more bounce, and, given the right sauce, hew with a bit of heft. And so it goes with Marc Vetri, who makes perfect tortellini. And to think we might have missed it: we were each brought out a bowl of Vetri’s signature Spinach Gnocchi with brown butter and shaved smoked ricotta salata, and the server dropped off a bowl of the Almond Tortellini for us to share. Whether it was an afterthought, a gift, or a part of the meal, I will never know – and I really don’t care. Unlike most tortellini (see my gripe here - scroll down to the bit about the sweet corn tortellini), which are tough and meager, these soft pockets filled with a creamy risotto of Carnaroli rice (I’m almost positive the risotto was bolstered by an aged cheese) and dusted with crunchy bits of toasted almonds, were fat and happy. These tortellini, lightly bathed in a pungent white truffle sauce, were made even more thrilling by the wine pairing (Bolognani, Teroldego 2006 “Armilo,” Trentino), which, though intended for the spinach gnocchi, married better with the tortellini. The dark red juice, slightly earthy and spicy, picked up the toastiness in the nuts and cheese in an electrifying storm of flavor. This course, especially with the wine, was a good stone’s throw ahead of any other dishes I had at Vetri. The Tomino Ravioli, which followed on the heels of tortellini and gnocchi, were every bit as perfect. The pasta was soft and silky, and gave way to a creamy, smooth filling of bright, tangy Tomino di Talucco (a goat and cow-milk cheese from the Piedmont), all of which was offset by meaty dices of potatoes and crunchy segments of green beans that were scattered on top of the pasta pillows. Sweet Corn Agnolotti presented supple rectangular thimbles filled with a sweet corn puree and coated with a simple sweet corn sauce vierge (I’m injecting French because I don’t know how to describe it) – a slightly chunky puree of sweet corn. Rusticity found its home in Basil Tagliatelle, a tangle of bright green ribbons laden with a chunky hen ragu so rich and flavorful it could have doubled for bolognese, and Fazzoletti, frilly-edged squares – the angled cousin of the round corzetti - glistening with duck ragu with salty black olives and torn planks of dark duck meat tucked throughout. Both were good, but lagged behind the filled-pastas. What made both of these dishes stand out were their respective wine pairings - San Alejandro Garnacha 2005 ‘Los Rocas’ for the Basil Taglietelle and Cantina Santadi, Shardana 2001 from Sardegna for the Fazzoletti. By itself, that Garnacha was my favorite wine of the fourteen I tried over the course of my two visits to Vetri. Two things about the Spinach Gnocchi struck me as odd: first, they were soggy and mushy (two words that aren’t in my pasta lexicon); second, they large and round – more spinach balls than gnocchi. Upon further inquiry, I discovered that these “gnocchi” weren’t pasta at all. I asked the server what the binding agent was – Ricotta? Potato? Flour? Assolutamente niente: just spinach puree and a touch of egg. That explained the texture, which even after the explanation, I’m not sure I could get over enough to enjoy the otherwise brilliant marriage of flavors. As for the rest of the food, it was all very good, but as always, some appealed more than others. Here were the highlights: House-cured Salumi: I always get excited when I see salumi. We ordered this as a supplement to our Grand Tasting. A wooden paddle bore an accomplished assortment of bresaolo, soppressata, coppa, prosciutto, calabrasa, and black pepper-cured salami, these thinly sliced meats were accompanied with fried fennel, roasted Brussels sprouts, and pickled cucumbers. Capretto: It was love from first read. I had to have it, and thankfully, my companions didn’t object. The pulled pieces of grilled goat, smoky with Mesquite, which helped temper the natural muskiness (which, I love but beyond what most can tolerate) of the meat, sat on a bed of soft polenta. I enjoyed it so much the first night that I asked for it supplemented into my degustazione the following night. I suspect they grill and entire goat since the first night, I had wedges of interior meat and at the second meal, I got part of the rib rack and plenty of crackling. Crispy Sweetbreads: This was exciting even though the result didn’t live up to its name. These nuggets were molten and creamy on the inside, but what flaky crust had encased the sweetbreads had been sauced with a sweet and sour cherry agro dolce, which I fell in love with. Think sweet and sour pork done with cherries and lamb. Formaggio: The puny cheese cart sits, awkwardly, in the dark entryway to the restaurant. But don’t let its situation or size deter you from ordering the cheese at Vetri. Vetri demonstrates that you don’t have to have a well-stocked trolley to make a success out of a cheese course. A small but interesting selection will always impress me more than a large one with mostly usual suspects. All four of the cheese we had at the Vetri were artisanal and imported from Italy. Not surprisingly, my favorite of the four was the stinky Brascianella Stagionata, a wash rind cow’s milk that was buttery, slightly sweet, and very pungent. As a friend of mine once put it, it’s a cheese that keeps on giving. The Testun al Barolo, a sheep’s (sometimes goat) milk cheese whose coating of pressed Nebbiolo grapes (whence Barolo wine) perfumed the creamy interior with a grape-like sweetness, was also memorable. Foie Gras Pastrami: An antipasti on our first meal, this wedge of silken foie gras pâté, served on toasted brioche, tasted *just like pastrami.* It was topped with a tart and spicy rhubarb mostarda. Golden Sweet Onion Crêpe: This, perhaps more than any of the pastas, is Vetri’s best known dish. I can certainly see why. It was amazing. It’s not a crêpe in the traditional sense. Caramelized sweet onions are stuffed into a rolled crêpe, sliced, topped with grated cheese, and baked (I’m supposing it’s baked). The gratinee round is plated on top of a creamy truffled fondue. It’s salty, it’s sweet, it’s creamy, it’s soft, and it’s crispy. It’s intense. Asparagus Flan: This is another one of Vetri’s signature dishes. I mention it as a highlight only because it was perfectly executed and because anything with a runny egg yolk tucked inside deserves a spotlight. The liquid gold gushed out, mingling with the rich Parmesan truffle cream sauce on the plate, as soon as my fork broached the impossibly fluffy green dome almost too delicate to hold its own weight. Visually seductive and dramatic, it was otherwise rather forgettable. The asparagus in the flan would have been completely overwhelmed by all of the other elements had it not been rescued by an intensely flavored swatch of asparagus puree. Although Jeffrey Benjamin is listed as the wine director, I’m fairly certain that he’s gone off to oversee Vetri’s newest restaurant, Osteria, which Vetri co-owns with Benjamin and Jeff Michaud. (Osteria was nominated this year (2008) for Best New Restaurant). While Vetri has yet to name a new wine director on its website, I will nominate Steve Wildly, who served us both evenings. His wine pairings were excellent. Most of his couplings were weighty. Wildly’s approach goes for the throat: bold, gutsy and aggressive on their own, these were the type of wines that wrap themselves around the food its paired with. Save gelato, which I was getting more than my fair share of at Capogiro, Italian desserts, for the most part, have always struck me as slightly less exciting versions of desserts from other cultures. That’s probably not a fair statement, given that I’m not exactly an Italian food scholar. But I’ve rarely encountered an Italian dessert for which there is not a cultural counterpart that I don’t like better (geez, if that’s *not* a grammatical nightmare). Vetri excels at simplicity, and for the most part, the desserts that we saw were simple, and therefore tended to be good. But none were thrilling. Fresh Washington State Berries smothered with a velvety blanket of warm sabayon heady with alcohol, ladled table-sided, was particularly memorable. So was the Local Honey Ice Cream, which featured two scoops nested in a tall martini glass topped with grainy blueberry granita and a garnish of fresh mint and tart red currants. But the rest of our desserts - “Strawberry Shortcake” (notable only for its black pepper gelato which didn’t taste very peppery), “Chocolate Polenta Budino“; (your standard-issue molten chocolate cake colored Italian with a gritty polenta crumb), and a “Local Peach Tart” - all very good but not particularly special. However, the silver dish of “Piccola Pasticceria” (small sweets - mignardises) were truly wonderful - an assortment of pâtés des fruits, cannelés, polenta cookies, and wonderfully decadent layered dark chocolate cakes that were the love child of tiramisu and opera cake. Judging by our service, Vetri was deserving of its nomination this year (2008) for the James Beard Award for Outstanding Service Award. The staff was warm and gracious. They fit together so comfortably and were so coordinated, that Vetri felt like a family operation. We were never in want of anything. Vetri is not the first top toque to inhabit 1312 Spruce. This narrow townhouse was the original situs of Georges Perrier’s fabled Le Bec Fin, which moved a few blocks over and up. The restaurant is textbook cozy – a little too much to be comfortably American. Two tops can be tight, although both of our four tops had plenty of elbow room and ear cushion. But the butter yellow walls, dark wooden floor boards, and simple austere slat-back chairs all could have walked straight out of an Italian home – a far cry from the restaurant’s frilly and pink predecessor. Marc Vetri strikes me as the type of chef who keeps his head down and works. It shows and pays off. Vetri Ristorante was everything I hoped it would be. It’s self-assured. It’s stable. It’s imbued with personality. The experience creates a dialogue. It has a soul: the setting, place, and food. And the execution is spotless. Like so many of the restaurants that I’m blessed to be able visit, Vetri is one that I’ll look forward to returning to. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GordonCooks Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Well….I may have had a different meal given the fact my girlfriend is a Pescetarian and I ordered appropriately. But, given those parameters in an Italian restaurant – Pizza, Pasta, and vegetables? the meal still left me lacking. Pizza wise, we had the Pannochia with allegedly charred scallions, corn, bufala mozz, and the idea of black truffle and along with Melanzana with eggplant, provolone, pine nuts raisin, and basil. I’m not sure if it this always the case but the crusts were extremely thin, wet in the middle, and under cooked. The edges were blond, not dark tan or brown and tasting a little too much or bench flour. The Pannochia was ok at best, the corn was excellent and the cheese as well but there scallions were few, uncharred and I did not detect any black truffle visually or olfactorially. The Melanzana was better (albeit the crust was still the same) but the toppings were as noted and balanced in taste and texture. Starters, the tricolore salad was ok, the Culton Farm summer vegetable crudo was quite good but at 12.00 for literally a forkful of vegetables – I would pass next time. Pasta wise, the Robiola Francobolli with royal trumpet mushrooms was fine….just fine. Texturally and visually, an average dish. The wood grilled grouper was very good, probably the best dish of the night but that’s not saying much. The wine list was overpriced and I didn’t see much in the way of interesting. Looking at the whites, The ‘typical” headlining Jermann Tunina at 175.00 and a Bastianich Vespa Bianco were showcased. Prices are out of wack using the typical formulaic core of 1.5x the entrée pricing. I started with a bottle DeForville Chard that was young at 55ish and then had a Coppo Costebianche that was tired at 70ish. Desserts, the polenta budino was good and the chocolate molten something was good but the pistachio gelato was excellent. Maybe a meal of a lot Salumi and red wine or the suckling pig was the way to go, but I probably wouldn’t revisit any of the food or wines I experienced. Someone tell me where I went wrong PS - I forgot to mention the oysters with cucumber and raspberries. The oysters were good but the sweet raspberries were too much of a prominent sweetness for me taking away the savory character of the dish. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cinghiale Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Gordon, I believe you ate at Osteria, Vetri's more "casual" restaurant. His eponymous restaurant on Spruce is a completely different animal. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rail Paul Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Jeff Benjamin, the general manager at Vetri's management company, was recently interviewed on the Radio Times program. He oversees the six properties under the Vetri umbrella. He and Marc Vetri founded the company. Work continuously on service, make sure the comp for runners / busboys etc fully engages them in the restaurant. A daily pre-service meeting is on the clock, and reviews changes, problems with earlier days, assignments, etc. As a server, Benjamin was buffeted by abusive customers. It's well known that the Vetri properties don't allow abusive customers. And that staff has health insurance, 401k plan, etc. We treat our people well, and we expect our guests will treat our staff with decorum and respect. Taking orders. "We spend a lot time working with servers to look customers in the eye, and remember who ordered what. It's been a success" iPad ordering. We're still skeptical, we think customers prefer to speak their order to the server. But they will often prefer to have a reservation on which they can rely. OpenTable is good, but we like to have the verbal handshake with a reservationist. No-shows. OpenTable helps a lot with this. We'll follow up if we need to, but we've been able to hold the no-show rate to under 10%. If a party is more than 10 minutes late, their reservation is at risk. 5.30 seating. We enjoy the first tables of the night. The place isn't crowded, we can go an extra way toward making their experience even better. When the place is full, and the kitchen is going full blast, everybody focuses on the plate in front of them. https://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2015/05/25/a-conversation-with-jeff-benjamin-of-the-vetri-family-of-restaurants-2/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LiquidNY Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 I somehow missed this bit of news, but chef de cuisine Adam Leonti has left Vetri to run a new restaurant in the Williamsburg Hotel, slated to open late this year. I'm not sure how this will affect Vetri, but he was a pretty great chef... At least we'll have him in NYC, though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LiquidNY Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Hi Rich, did you hear about this? I just read about it. Chef Adam Leonti (the chef de cuisine at Vetri) just left Vetri to open a restaurant in the new Williamsburg Hotel! Kind of a bummer since I thought Vetri was amazing under him... Hopefully they find someone good to fill his shoes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 If Vetri isn't the best Italian restaurant in America, I want to eat in the one that's better. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 My capretto was so tender, but so flavorful, I think it must have been marinating since 2008 when UE had that dish. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 And -- responding to UE across the decade -- you inevitably compare Vetri to Babbo because, for all the differences in ambiance (advantage clearly Vetri's), the food concept is quite similar. And Vetri is better than Babbo was at any stage. Maybe Classic Babbo slightly won on the pastas. But the secondi at Vetri (always a big falling off at Babbo) are SOOOOOOOOO much better. (And Classic Babbo doesn't win so big on the pastas: Vetri's are fucking GREAT.) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Behemoth Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 I am pretty sure the last time I ate at Vetri was 2008. I still remember the goat. Maybe time to give it another go. For a "second tier" city, Philly has such a great restaurant scene... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
joethefoodie Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 If Vetri isn't the best Italian restaurant in America, I want to eat in the one that's better. Have you eaten at Che Fico, San Francisco? (Ingredients gotta be better!) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 No. Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Sent a GF, celebrating A Significant Birthday in Philadelphia, to Vetri. Boy did she and her Mom love it. After all these years, still great. (I'm talking about Vetri, not the Significantly Birthdayed GF.) (And neither of them ordered the goat!) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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