Summer Food 2005: BYOBs

MELOGRANO
2201 Spruce Street; 215-875-8116
Worth noting: No reservations.
Dinner for two: About $100.

Gianluca Demontis, born in Rome, works his magic in an open kitchen set in a dining room with a Real Simple aesthetic. The young chef’s updated Tuscan cuisine is beautifully presented, whether he’s topping a surprisingly light ricotta and spinach crepe with béchamel and tomato sauces, or draping white-fleshed sea bass fillets poached in tomato-sage broth over garlic mashed potatoes. My favorite dish of all is the shrimp, calamari and white bean “salad” with diced tomato and baby spinach leaves, gently warmed by a lemon/white wine/olive oil broth. Consider it Tuscan soup for the soul.

NUNZIO RISTORANTE RUSTICO
706 Haddon Avenue, Collingswood, 856-858-9840; nunzioristoranterustico.com
Worth noting: The best place to order whole fish.
Dinner for two: About $85.

Nunzio Patruno’s unfussy 120-seat BYOB has none of the grandeur of his former workplace, the Monte Carlo Living Room at 2nd and South. It’s much more easygoing, from the flattened-perspective murals and false windows that replicate a small-scale piazza to the pasta, chicken and veal entrées priced to encourage repeat business. Patruno’s feather-light fried calamari is a marvel, and in his capable hands, an earthy appetizer of veal sausage, broccoli rabe and creamy cannellini beans is rendered heavenly. He serves as many as 30 bronzino or Dover sole on busy nights, and staffers fillet them swiftly at tableside. Service overall is haphazard, which accounts for the two-bottle rating. The food would rate three, including such desserts, made by Patruno, as extraordinary panna cotta.

RADICCHIO
314 York Avenue (enter at 4th and Wood streets), 215-627-6850; radicchio-cafe.com
Worth noting: No reservations.
Dinner for two: About $75.

On balmy nights, with the windows open and the dining room filled to capacity, Radicchio feels as if it’s on a busy piazza, though it’s several blocks north of Old City’s nightlife scene. A scarcity of parking spaces doesn’t deter bargain-hunters who flock here for complimentary tomato-basil-garlic bruschetta; grilled portabella mushrooms with fresh or smoked mozzarella, diced tomatoes and arugula; grilled octopus with capers, lemon and olives; and a generous breaded veal chop.

RAVENNA
Center Point Shopping Center, 2960 Skippack Pike, Worcester, 610-584-5650; ravenna3pa.tripod.com
Worth noting: Outdoor patio.
Dinner for two: About $90.

A sunny spritz of lemon, a handful of meaty olives, a drizzle of fruity oil — these are the ingredients that make even the simplest Italian dishes sing. Of course, Shawn Sollberger must keep his signature crisp chicken livers with pine nuts and reduced balsamic vinegar on the menu, or customers would revolt, but summer at this Northern Italian restaurant is best defined by baby octopus salad with baby greens and lupini beans; by basil-mozzarella-tomato salads made with fat red Jerseys, or striped Green Zebras and pink heirlooms supplied by a Montgomery County farmer; and by grilled whole fish glossed with oil and lemon. Icy granitas made with white peaches and prosecco, or ripe melons, won’t jeopardize anyone’s silhouette in a Speedo. If that’s not an issue, consider the hazelnut semifreddo with
pine-nut-studded meringue cookies.