June 23-29, 2005

food

Applied Art

ALBA'S CORE: Roasted halibut with shallot "jam," asparagus, overnight tomatoes and lemon vinaigrette, straight from Restaurant Alba's open kitchen. By: Mike Mergen

After Rose Tattoo, Sean Weinberg inks his style on Restaurant Alba.

by Maxine Keyser

"Spanish," I thought at first, remembering Goya and his duchess, and, indeed, there were a few Spanish touches at Restaurant Alba. But this new little BYOB takes its name from a Northern Italian town, and its menu is too eclectic to pin down to one cuisine. Deliciously conceived, however, is a fair description; the restaurant, smack in the center of Malvern, has given all the bobos in Chester County something to talk about besides Nectar.

Seated on tufted pale gray banquettes across from the open kitchen, we surveyed our surroundings as we sipped our wine. The walls alternate between salmon and gray, with wrought iron sconces and chandeliers shedding light. The backroom has a carpet and may be quieter, but we were fine, enjoying the murmur of the room. Excellent home-baked bread came with a dish of spicy olive oil. But, when an amuse bouche demitasse cup of white bean soup with rosemary and olive oil dribbled across it arrived, we knew we were in for a treat