Food and Drink: R2L

R2L
50 S 16th St, Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 564-5337
r2lrestaurant.com/

Arguably one of the best views in the city, R2L sits atop the 37th floor of Two Liberty Place, featuring garage and valet parking, a private entrance, and elevator to add to the "exclusivity" of the venue. R2L offers up what it calls "creative American cuisine" which include their signature dishes of: grilled truffle flatbread, lobster mac & cheese, steak tartare, variations of lamb and skate wing with fettuccine. We arrived there for dinner reservations around 830pm and were seated in the "lounge" area until a table opened up.

The lounge had some nice couches and chic tables where a nice mix of businessmen, yuppies after work, and other professionals had drinks, wine, beer--a full bar was available. The lounge offers gorgeous full panel glass overlooking the Philadelphia city skyline. A breathtaking view, and even more so later when the city is lit for the night.

This was a view of the Philly skyline from our table in the lounge area. The one huge plus this restaurant has going for it is the view. The entire restaurant is flanked by these huge floor to ceiling windows which offer amazing, quite romantic views of the city.

I started the meal with a cocktail. The cocktail: come on get happy: bombay sapphire east, pear liqueur, pear nectar, lemon juice, orange bitters + cardamom bitters. It certainly was appropriately named, and I daresay I had another.

Bread service was relatively uneventful. The bread does come in a wooden box, which is something, but the bread itself was just ok.

CRISP RISOTTO peas, smoked ham, young garlic aioli. This was certainly a unique was to do risotto. Traditionally, risotto is a north Italian rice dish cooked in a broth to a creamy consistency. The broth can be derived from meat, fish, or vegetable. Many types of risotto contain butter, wine and onion. In this case, the risotto is actually inside these fried balls that have been seasoned with the aioli sauce. Aioli or aïoli is a Provençal sauce made of garlic, olive oil, egg yolks, and lemon juice.

LOBSTER BISQUE vegetarian scrapple, lobster, pepper jelly + louis cream. To start the meal I had a bowel of their famous lobster bisque soup. It was creamy and full of flavor. The presentation was excellent and the tradition of pouring the soup in front of the patron never ceases to impress.

BUTCHER'S FILET braised short rib + steuben bean chili, potato + farm veg "slaw," basil

SMOKED PORK LOIN braised shank, crisp tête, whole grain risotto, radish + pickled ramps. The pork was cooked medium, perfectly prepared and the accouterments complemented nicely.