Barbuzzo

Barbuzzo
110 S 13th St, Philadelphia, PA 19107 (215) 546-9300
Mediterranean Kitchen and Bar
Lunch Monday-Saturday 12-3pm
Dinner Daily, 5pm-12am

Barbuzzo bills itself as a Mediterranean style kitchen which means offerings consist of small plates (tapas). A typical meal might include 3-4 of these plates depending on how hungry you are. Barbuzzo is one of several restaurants owned and operated by Chef Marcie and Valerie Safran. Their other popular establishments include lolita, jamonera, grocery, verde, open house, little nonna's and marcie blaine chocolates.

We were able to sneak in for dinner around 8pm on a Sunday night where the dinner rush was under way.  We were seated promptly but I must say, while I appreciate economy of space, I was wedged between the wall and table. My dinner companion, inches away from the next table had the delight of enjoying their entire dinner conversation.

However, this is a blog about food, so space issues aside, let us begin.

SHEEPS MILK RICOTTA (10) extra virgin olive oil, vin cotto, herbs, sea salt, grilled country bread. Quite fantastic.  Very creamy ricotta and a nice blend of the olive oil herbs and vin cotto. Vincotto "cooked wine" or Sapa is a dark, sweet dense condiment produced artisanally in the Puglia/Apulia and Marche regions of Italy

CHEESE BOARD (17) with membrillo, roasted garlic mustard, toasted hazelnut honey, fig compote, baguette, crostini and marcona almonds ·
-chevre dargental, goat, france ·
-salva cremasco, cow, italy ·
-bianco sardo, sheep, italy ·
-mountain gorgonzola, cow, italy

BUTTERNUT SQUASH ARANCINI (9) crispy butternut squash risotto balls, walnut-basil pesto, pumpkin seeds and grana padano.  Fantastic offering here. I couldn't taste the butternut squash as much as I would have liked unfortunately, but this dish was still amazing.

BLACK AND WHITE CORZETTI (16) fresh gulf shrimp, spicy sausage, confit tomato (slow roasted tomato), french feta, pine nuts. Corzetti are a kind of fresh pasta typical of the Ligurian cuisine of north-west Italy, and traditional also in the area of Novi Ligure just across the border with Piedmont in the Province of Alessandria.

SPAGHETTI AND SUNCHOKES (14) trumpet mushroom, garlic, sunchokes, local greens, pecorino, pinenuts, lemon. Sunchoke (Jersualem artichoke) look a bit like a knobbly pink-skinned ginger root and have a sweet, nutty flavor, reminiscent of water chestnuts. Pecorino is the name of a family of hard Italian cheeses made from ewe's milk. The word derives from Italian pecora meaning ‘sheep’, which in turn is from the Latin pecus meaning livestock.

Of Note:

Earthy wooden tables and parchment paper, matte menus.

Crispen Cider. Crisp over ice. A classically styled, but untraditional hard apple cider. Fruit forward, with a fresh, crunchy appley nose and a deliciously refreshing, crisp mouth feel.

Lovely chandeliers over the bar area.

Chic place settings.

Sitting at the bar offers unique views of an open kitchen grill area.

Cheese plates come with handy labeling--great since seconds after the server spouts off the names of the cheeses, you don't remember a thing.

Crispin American Craft Ciders.  Puts me in the winter mood.