May 3–10, 2001

food

Counter Tops

A former luncheonette goes gourmet, with pleasing results.

by Maxine Keyser

Lauletta’s Grille

1703 S. 11th St., 215-755-5422

Lunch: Tue.-Fri.,10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Dinner: Tue.-Thu., 5-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 5-10:30 p.m.; Sun., 5-9 p.m. Wheelchair access. Reservations suggested. Cash only. BYOB.

A Good Grille-ing: Outside Lauletta’s Grille on S. 11th St. photo: Michael LeGrand

Once upon a time, it appears, there was a luncheonette at 1703 S. 11th St., in the heart of South Philly. There was a compact kitchen right up front, and a long counter where you could enjoy a meatball sandwich and schmooze with the cooks. Along comes Joe Lauletta, who aspires for a little place of his own after 10 years at Primavera on South Street, and so we get Lauletta’s Grille.

The stools at the counter have brightly striped fabric on them now, and that same fabric is repeated in the banquettes in the tiny rear dining room. The whole place has a spruced-up, ready-for-business feel about it (except for those tacky stenciled gold diamonds on one wall), and the neighborhood has responded. It’s doing a brisk business for a weeknight.

We set down our wine, the waiter brings out a carafe of oil, some olives and happily, Faragalli’s inimitable bread. Okay, Joe, let’s see what you can do — the menu reads more impressively than I would have thought. Grilled portobello mushrooms are almost a cliché these days, but this preparation ($4.95) tastes more like Italy than any I’ve encountered. Thickly sliced, and fanned about a mound of chopped tomatoes, they exude the earthy meatiness of a piece of good beef. The contrast between the warm mushrooms and the cool tomatoes makes the dish even more successful. Then we have a wonderful bowl of mussels and clams ($6.75), wherein the shellfish is tender and impeccably fresh, and the broth of white wine and garlic has been reduced to the thickness of a sauce, all the better for dunking.

Even grilled calamari ($6.50) is out of the ordinary. Five tender cylinders, like little alien pods, are arranged around a mound of vinegar-dashed tabbouleh studded with capers.

Next, we must have a pasta course — it’s all homemade — but we eschew farfalle with peas and prosciutto, and linguine with seafood, for ricotta gnocchi ($10.95) done with sauteed radicchio, butter and sage. The gnocchi, which can be made with semolina, potatoes, spinach or ricotta, are relatively light as gnocchi go, but interestingly, the classic butter and sage combo is completely overwhelmed by the bitter radicchio. Either way would have been fine, but together, they lose the subtle gloss of sage and butter. Radicchio is one of those vegetables that are fairly benign in the raw state, but become something darker and more alluring when cooked.

Entrées seldom live up to the promise of the appetizers. Is it the chef’s subconscious intent to hit you with all he’s got at first, or is it simply that appetizers have more interesting possibilities than the main course? Medallions of veal ($14.95) are not really medallions, but scallops, pounded to a fare-thee-well — too thin to absorb the flavors of marinated tomatoes and olive oil. Better to feast on the roasted potatoes, golden brown cubes with soft, yielding centers. They also come with the fish of the day, tilapia ($15.95). The presentation is elegantly simple — just a quick turn in a grill pan, and we get a crisp crust and moist, white flesh. A bit underseasoned, but stylish nevertheless. Then the star of the show comes out — a dish so spectacular that the others fade into the wings. Thick, pink slices of pork tenderloin ($17.95) are dynamite with fig onion relish that lends a tart/sweetness to the succulent meat. And the cannellini beans are so good that I don’t miss the potatoes.

In Italy, they do not make a big deal out of dessert — a perfect piece of fruit, a little gelati. Why then do Italian restaurants here feel that they have to load the menu with such heavy stuff: mousse cake, tiramisu, whipped cream and the like? A perfect finale for this meal are homemade chocolate chip biscotti ($3.95), dipped into an excellent double espresso ($3.10, $2.75 for a single).

So, in a part of the city studded with good little restaurants, another one has appeared. Joe Lauletta has fashioned a sweet spot with gentle prices and food that shows imagination and a real desire to please. Who knows what other ideas he has up his sleeve? A note: I got an e-mail from a reader, clearly from South Philly, who was pleased at the mention of restaurants in the far southern reaches. "We were beginning to think that people thought that South Philly ended at Washington Avenue," they wrote. Dear Reader: It certainly doesn’t.