I took advantage of the last night of Restaurant Week with Chase on Friday, and we tried a little Italian restaurant in Rittenhouse Square called Porcini. There were a ton of reviews of Porcini all over OpenTable and Yelp, so I knew it had to be fairly popular. The reviews were confusing because people either loved the place and raved about the authentic food, or they wrote how rude the owner and his "chef brother" were. There were 2 or 3 reviews mentioning actual fistfights between the owner and patrons of the restaurant. Many people explained that you should never ever be late for your reservation because the owner would publicly humiliate you in front of the entire restaurant. I was intrigued.
Chase and I showed up at Porcini ten minutes early and found the tiny little dining room with no waiting area to be so crowded that they sent us upstairs to drink our wine (Porcini is a BYOB). Chasen and I joined about 15 other people in the upstairs room and stayed there for 40 minutes until our table was ready. The toothless Italian owner brought us some glasses and opened our wine while he assured us of our table in broken Italian. We smiled and thanked him repeatedly. Neither of us were looking for a fight!
When we were finally seated, our table was literally sandwiched between 2 other couples. Again, if the food was as good as rumored, I didn't mind the tight fit. Four courses were served:
Me
1. shrimp risotto
2. goat cheese and fig salad
3. veal medallions with eggplant and fresh mozzarella
4. tiramisu
Chase
1. grilled sweet Italian sausage over pumpkin polenta
2. Caesar salad
3. pan seared diver scallops
4. tiramisu
The food was amazing. My risotto was so good, I would go back for that alone. The best part of the night was before the dessert was served and Chasen beckoned to me that the table by the door was fighting with the waiter. I turned around, and sure enough the four person party had stood up and walked out of the restaurant while the waiter and one of the men yelled at each other. At one point the owner shoved the patron out of the dining room and towards the front door. I couldn't believe the reviews were true! After the group left, the Italian owner proceeded to rant and yell to his brother about how rude they were and how they complained about having to wait, but could only dish it out and not take it. Chase and I couldn't help but laugh, but we also left a generous tip at the risk of being confronted by the Italian brothers.
On Saturday, I woke up early to get to a pilates class and work off some of the dinner from the previous night. My efforts proved to be defeated by the sweetness of my husband who surprised me with breakfast when I returned. I'm a sucker for cinnamon buns!
In the afternoon, we had to make an impromptu trip to IKEA because our cheap Target bookshelf (purchased only a couple of months ago) shattered when we were out at dinner on Friday. We came home to find snapped shelves and office supplies strewn across the room. While Chase set up the new one, I cooked our second Italian dinner of the weekend. I used a highly rated epicurious recipe found here. It was so easy and SO delicious. I recommend adding some paste to thicken the sauce and doubling the cream and tomato measurements. I also baked some bread in the oven and made a simple balsamic/olive oil dip for the side.
Chase helping with the garlic
I'm off to watch the Superbowl! Go Patriots!
