Summer Food 2005: BYOBs

Classics

DMITRI’S
795 South 3rd Street; 215-625-0556
Worth noting: No reservations; no credit cards.
Dinner for two: About $75.

Good value never goes out of style, but low prices only partly explain the enduring popularity of this cramped, convivial Greek restaurant. There’s a democratic vibe in the dining room, where college students sit down next to Society Hillers, and penny-pinching bohemians break pita bread next to fashionably disheveled dudes who’ve brought the craft beer of the moment. The excellent hummus, grilled octopus with tangy vinaigrette, and bluefish piled with onions, tomatoes and red bell peppers are easy to love, but at these low prices, the tables must turn, turn, turn, and you may feel hurried.

HAMILTON’S GRILL ROOM
8 Coryell Street, Lambertville, 609-397-4343; hamiltonsgrillroom.com
Worth noting: Outdoor dining under a white tent.
Dinner for two: About $115.

Stellar ingredients, simply prepared, with Mediterranean-inspired sauces and garnishes, are this restaurant’s particular niche. Start with a grilled Caesar salad with white anchovies, or huge grilled shrimp with anchovy butter, or North Atlantic oysters with mignonette. Follow with grilled whole striped bass, spit-roasted chicken, blackened tuna, or a thick rib-eye steak, sometimes topped with Pernod butter. Executive chef Mark Miller is mesmerizing as he orchestrates the action at the grill inside, though the patio tables are the ones everyone wants in fair weather.

OVERTURES
609 East Passyunk Avenue; 215-627-3455
Worth noting: $25 three-course prix fixe menu Tuesday through Thursday.
Dinner for two: About $115.

Cool soups and inspired salads take center stage during the summer months in Peter Lamlein’s romantic just-off-South-Street restaurant, an intimate nook with painted trompe l’oeil curtains as the backdrop. The chef thoughtfully cooks his gazpacho before chilling it, to make it more digestible; cream-free corn chowder, with red bell pepper and tomatoes, is served at room temperature so as not to blunt its layered flavors. The sautéed shrimp with mint-mango dressing is a nod toward the Caribbean. If it’s too darn hot for a cooked entrée, look to the cold sliced filet mignon, served with a Niçoise salad.

SPRING MILL CAFE
164 Barren Hill Road, Conshohocken, 610-828-2550; springmill.com
Worth noting: Meals are also served in the adjacent art gallery.
Dinner for two: About $110.

Lunch is served on weekdays, as well as brunch on Saturday and Sunday, but in this rustic setting, I like dinner best. The quaint main building, which has a few tables on its porch, once served as a general store and post office. Chef-proprietor Michèle Haines often displays photographs from her travels in an on-premises art gallery. Many of the same country French and Northern African dishes remain on the menu year-round, and I always order the same things: truffled chicken liver pâté, served with a baguette, then herbed rack of lamb, or lamb tagine with couscous and fiery harissa.