Food and Drink: Bistro 7

Bistro 7 - Philadelphia
www.bistro7restaurant.com/
7 N 3rd St, Philadelphia, PA 19106 (215) 931-1560

A true hidden pearl of the Penn's Landing area, Bistro 7 needs to be on every Philadelphian's bucket list. Nestled just off of Market St on North 3rd, this home-converted-to-restaurant is an intimate space with seating for roughly 30 on the main first floor area. There is an upstairs banquet room available for groups up to 35. Dinner is served Tuesdays through Saturdays with the first seating at 530 and the last at 930. A late seating at 1030 is offered on Friday and Saturdays. This is a BYOB restaurant, so a nice bottle of Cabernet (or your choice beverage) will do swimmingly.

These people have the right idea. Moving along.

crunchy salad: organic celery, fennel, green apples, frisee, spiced walnuts, blue cheese, sherry vinaigrette. Pretty good. Nice start to the meal. Little FYI: Frisee is a member of the endive/chicory family with finely curled leaves and a slightly bitter flavor. You can see a large piece of it on the right of the above picture (it is touching the edge of the photo).

poached farm egg, parmesan cream, black truffle, toasted quinoa, brown butter hollandaise. This was absolutely fantastic. Probably horrible for the arteries, but I practically inhaled it.

free-form goat milk ricotta and spinach lasagna, n’duja ragout, toasted almond pesto, burrata. Nduja is a soft, spicy hot, spreadable salami considered one of the most famous, if not the most famous, of typical calabrian (Southern Italian) foods. Burrata is a fresh Italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream.

Parisian-style gnocchi, butternut squash, spiced walnuts, green apples, sage, garlic, brown butter. This is hailed as the signature dish of Bistro 7, and for good reason. As soon as that hit the table, I was practically drooling. Mouth watering squash, the sweetness of the brown butter, and the mixture of gnocchi, walnuts, sage, and garlic. Ugh. Need to go back.