So, on my second night in Philadelphia, I got the chance to squeeze in a dinner at Striped Bass, one of the new Starr restaurants, and perhaps one of the more upscale.
The space is rather gorgeous, in an old-school-Wall-Street-bank sort of way -- cavernous ceilings, muted colors, staff in conservative darks. The only things giving it away as a place that's actually not TOO serious are the open kitchen and enormous sculpture of a striped bass that's suspended over it.
Now, before I can speak to the food, I really need to address service here. Because it really kind of sucked. R, A and I all wanted to take our time ordering, so just got started with raw bar items and a chilled soup. We told our waiter we'd "start with these" -- he took that to mean that we were only have appetizers, and he gave us a look that made me want to get up off my chair and smack him. Fortunately, I do have a LITTLE more decorum than that, and decided to let it roll off my back.
Unfortunately, that was only the start of the problem. Because our waiter didn't seem interested in our table, one of our courses was delivered incorrectly, and we actually had to swap plates ourselves. One of my guests is pregnant, so mentioned that she'd be drinking water all evening. Our waiter kept bringing fresh bottles of Fiji, causing us to think, "oh, how nice, a restaurant that doesn't nickle-and-dime on water". Apparently not -- there was a $21 charge on the bill for 3 bottles.
Speaking of bottles, I saw a Tokay Friuliano on the wine glass by the list at a VERY reasonable $8/glass.Since R & I both like the grape, I asked if it was available by the bottle, and was told, "of course!"
I went ahead and ordered that, thinking that, even with a hefty dose of price-gouging, it would be $50... you do the math. Yea, think again -- $75 on the bill, and of course it was listed as a wholly different bottle. To add insult to injury, the wine was served so icy cold, it was hardly drinkable for the first 20 minutes.
So by now I'm sure you're wondering if the food made up for all this. Well, yes and no. Several of our dishes were stunning.Wild Striped Bass Ceviche/Summer Melons, Pistachio Nuts, Speck Ham, Avocado ($17) was superb -- the melons, nuts and speck brought a dimension to the dish that was wholly unexpected for a ceviche.
My Roasted Diver Sea Scallops, Sweet Summer Corn, Green Asparagus, Arabica Coffee, Toasted Almond Foam ($18) was one of the most unique things I've eaten all year. The scallops were cooked beautifully, with a coffee-bean crust that was somehow slightly bitter and sweet at the same time. The corn, asparagus and almond foam rounded the dish out nicely.
A mid-course of Slow-roasted Prawns, Sliced Lomo, Spanish Olives, Smoked Paprika, Cockle Broth ($19) sounded and looked amazing, but the prawns were mealy and overcooked, while the broth was far too salty for even my salt-loving palate.
Entrees were slightly less successful, generally speaking. They suffered from over-salting and sometimes underwhelming flavors. The best dish was the one we were most trepidatious about, Parmesan Crusted Nova Scotia Halibut, Tomato Chutney, Toasted Pine Nuts, Farmed Basil, Baby Artichokes, White Wine Artichoke Broth ($36). It came together beautifully, even with some very disparate and difficult to pair flavors.
We debated skipping dessert in lieu of a stop at Capogiro Gelateria, but decided to give Striped Bass a try.
The Jersey Blueberry Panna Cotta ($10), was abysmal. The flavor was fine, but the cream had been cooked far too long, or with far too much gelatin. It was dense, and not the least bit delicate.
Taste of Caramel, a trio of small caramel desserts, left me hanging except for the coconut creme caramel, which was tiny and exquisite and silky. The millefueille-style cake with dozens of fine layers of toffee cream and caramel cake could have been wonderful, had it not tasted slightly freezer-burned.
Perhaps the one standout of dessert was the Blueberry Sorbet, with a flavor so deep and rich that I wanted to lick the whole bowl clean. We simply don't get blueberry flavor that intense on the west coast, and I was smitten.
By now you can tell that there was some nice damage done to the corporate card here. But sadly, Striped Bass left me feeling as though I should really have gone back to Pod for dinner. From the warm service to the exceptionally good food, and generally more "fun" atmosphere, Pod was the better value in both time and money spent.
Striped Bass Restaurant
1500 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA
215.732.4444
Tags: Philadelphia, Stephen Starr, Restaurant Review, San Francisco, Food & Drink
Powered by Qumana
