Garlic Dishes

Breath of Life

by Margaret Battistelli

This Manayunk eatery roasts garlic in olive oil with herbs and sea salt, mashes it and slathers it on cracker-thin dough, and then flash-bakes the whole thing at 800 degrees on a stone hearth. To sweeten the pot, the treat comes complimentary with every entree.

When you debone a small chicken, baste it with chicken-liver butter and pair it with a Meyer lemon reduction, serving it alongside a dreary pile of mashed potatoes would be sacrilege. M pairs its poussin with individually molded bread puddings made from baguette or brioche, eggs, herbs and slow-roasted garlic that's blanched in milk. The dish comes with crispy fried garlic chips.

Any dish that starts with five cloves of fried garlic sounds good to us. For the Cazuela, Xochitl head chef Dionicio Jimenez sautées them with squid and splashes of lemon and tequila; adds dried, chopped guajillo pepper for a smoky touch; cooks it all up in a hot pot; and then serves it over rice topped with even more fried garlic.

In what is easily one of Philly's more unusual uses of garlic, London Grill tops an olive oil gelato with a heavenly sweet, caramelized iteration of the fragrant bulb. The garlic-kissed gelato is a creamy, dreamy—and yes, olive oily—version of the trendy Italian ice.

Plantains, in and of themselves, aren't all that amazing. But bake 'em twice and serve 'em with a mash of creamy, caramelized roasted garlic like they do at Cuba Libre and, damn. You can also order the garlic mojo as a side for the Old City mainstay's steamed yucca. Diners can find both on the platitos, or side dish, menu.