Philadelphia: Vetri (December 2011)

My spouse and I dined at Vetri on New Year’s Eve (December 2011), so my review is a few months late. We live equidistant between Philadelphia and New York City, but because it is easier to travel to NYC (less traffic), we generally choose that NYC over Philly, except on New Year’s Eve, when traveling to New York becomes nearly impossible. Marc Vetri’s flagship restaurant (he also owns the more casual Osteria and has interest in two others) is thought to be the best restaurant in Philadelphia (we agree!), so it made the top of our list for our special holiday dinner. We liked that the restaurant offered its regular $135 per person prix-fixe tasting menu (note that the price will be raised to $155 in September 2012) rather than a special holiday menu. (When a restaurant offers a special holiday menu, we generally find that the quality and variety suffer while the prices are raised. This wasn’t the case with Vetri.) Both a wine pairing and a beer pairing are available at an additional cost. My spouse liked the beer pairing – something we haven’t been offered ever before. 

The staff worked unbelievably well together in their smallish space on the first-floor of a townhouse in Center City. 

There is a public parking lot directly next door to the restaurant. The restaurant has no bar area, so you don’t want to arrive earlier than your reservation. The mood was really festive, from both the diners and the staff. The staff was completing their last shift of work before the restaurant closed for the first week of January; staff members were traveling abroad to learn more about food and cooking. Who isn’t in a great mood on the last day of work before vacation? 

The food was fantastic, from the homemade pasta (spinach gnocchi, almond-ricotta tortellini) to the roasted and crispy capretto (baby goat). I think we each received 6+ dishes, and we each received a different dish for every course (so because we shared, we each sampled 12+ different items). 

We would love to be fortunate enough to dine here again! It will be hard to choose another Philly restaurant over this one.

Deerfield Beach Florida (December 2011)

New York City: Bar Masa (December 2011)

My spouse and I dined for lunch at Bar Masa in early December 2011. We took a quick trip into the city to dine after our Global Entry interviews at Newark International Airport. From there, we emailed our passports to get our visas for Brazil and Argentina. The sushi was amazingly fresh! Masa is located on the fourth floor of the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle. The restaurant was opened by Chef Masa Takayama in 2004 and is considered one of the most expensive restaurants in the world, as well as the most expensive restaurant in New York City. Located next door to the restaurant is Bar Masa, a more accessible dining experience offering an a la carte menu.