The format of Vetri's menu is instantly revealing. On the first page are about 10 permanent fixtures and on the second, a few more temporary ones contingent to season and to chef Mark Vetri's whims. There are no ostentatious blurbs, only fabulous offerings like "chestnut fettucine with wild boar ragu." Unfortunately, the bread, which crackled with mediocrity, gave me a short-lived fright. But commitment to the integrity of the ingredients, as I would soon discover, is the boon of this restaurant.
To start, I had both corn ravioli in truffle cream and a sweet onion crepe. Portions are small, but if 'quality not quantity' means anything to you, this will be instantly forgiven. The onions were caramelized beyond recognition and the crepe was both sweet and savory. Were it not for the bold pungency of a white truffle reduction, which balanced the dish perfectly, it could probably have been served as a dessert. As for the ravioli, the corn was well integrated into the pasta, and impressively trumped the truffle as the salient flavor of the dish.
My companion ordered a phenomenal spinach gnocchi with brown butter. The plump gnocchi pillars, packed with more spinach than all the cans Popeye ever chugged, were topped with shaved ricotta. Everything was perfect, down to the coarseness of the shavings; the cheese adjacent to the gnocchi was disintegrating into molten strands, but the rest was still bouncily bursting with whey. The richness of the butter compensated for the smallness of the dish, and enveloped the gnocchi without threatening its flavor.
The main course was salt-crusted sea bass for two, served with the much-maligned Brussels sprouts and yet another truffle concoction (I'm not complaining). In this era of Starr and "fusion" ubiquity, a bass that is not caked and decorated like a Japanese geisha is rare. Vetri lets the chastity of the fish speak for itself, and to stunning effect. The milky black truffle sauce enriched the sea bass without getting in its way. The sprouts, a little burnt, played a disappointing supporting role but were unobtrusive.
Vetri is the most memorable restaurant I have been to in Philly, and my only regret is that I wasn't able to stay for dessert, cheese, coffee or anything else they would be willing to serve me. Others such as Le Bec-Fin and the Fountain are sanitized and 'perfect' like a Stepford wife, but lack the intangible wow-factor of Vetri. Nearly everything that touched my lips over the course of the meal was superb. You may not be stuffed after dinner, and your wallet certainly won't be, but you will be edified in a much deeper way.
