Del Friscos

Del Friscos
http://delfriscos.com/
1426 Chestnut St Ste 28, Philadelphia, PA 19102 (215) 246-0533

Del Friscos Philadelphia is one of 12 locations spread throughout the country. Famous for their steaks, I would say the Del Friscos in Philadelphia is also famous for its atmosphere. It is located in a huge building right in downtown Philadelphia a minute's walk from City Hall.  The building was a former bank and displays lovely Corinthian columns and carved ceilings with an imposing wine elevator in the center of the restaurant.
Certainly not for people dining on a budget, this is a special occasion or date type of restaurant.  Dinner for two can be expected to run around $180, conservatively.

The shrimp cocktail to start was good, not the best I have tasted but good. I will say, Del Friscos needs to match up the presentation of their dishes to the prices.  For such an immaculate and grand atmosphere and setting, you would expect the food to be dressed a bit nicer.

Lamb (2 Double Cut 8 oz. Chops).  I order it medium and it came out a bit more rare than medium.  Still palatable though.  The cut of meat itself was very good and the teriyaki type sauce with it was nice.  Again, not much in terms of presentation, but taste was very good.

The sides are served family style so everyone at the table can share. These were Sauteed Mushrooms.  Again tasty, but nothing to rave about.

Potatoes Au Gratin. Potatoes Au Gratin is ultimate French comfort food. It involves layering thinly sliced potatoes with heavy cream (a lot of it!) and grated cheese in a gratin dish.  These were tasty as well, again presentation suffered tremendously, but the taste was good.

A well executed creme brulee for dessert.

Chocolate mousse for dessert.
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MEDITERRA

MEDITERRA RESTAURANT
29 HULFISH STREET, PRINCETON, NJ 08542
609-252-9680
Lunch Mon-Sat 11:30am-4pm Sun noon-4pm
Dinner Mon-Thu 5pm-10pm Fri-Sat 5pm-11pm Sun 4pm-9pm

Per their website: "Tap into the extraordinary cuisine of the nearly 2 dozen cultures surrounding the Mediterranean… add extra emphasis to Italian and Spanish… pair our largely locally sourced ingredients with an ever-changing but always superb collection of fine and affordable wine.."  I was in town for the day due to a ballroom competition and decided to give this place a try. It is situated on Hulfish St about 15 minutes from the actual university.  Not walk-able from campus, but a short drive away.
The entrance immediately sets the place off as a place of pretentiousness and fru fru, but inside people were dressed casually and it did not have the feel of a white table cloth, white glove affair. I would put it at the mid-range on the "fanciness" scale.

My dance partner started with the Falafel: chick pea fritter & tzatziki sauce.  I tried a small piece and am happy to report the tzatziki sauce was superb. Tzatziki is a Greek sauce served with grilled meats or as a dip. Tzatziki is made of strained yogurt mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil, lemon juice or red wine vinegar, and sometimes dill, mint, or parsley.

This was the soup of the day which was quite good.  Had a slight bacon aftertaste.  Roasted Brussels sprout and bacon soup.

For my starter, I had the Butternut Squash Soup which was very good. It was not particularly spectacular but perfectly palatable and certainly a good start to the meal. In comparison to other restaurants however, it was not a stand-out feature.

We also indulged in a cheese board. Artisanal Cheese Plate: hand-crafted local & imported cheese.  The waiter did not describe the cheeses so our best guess was some cranberry raisin bread with gout, cheddar and blue cheese.  It was served with grapes and an accompanying strawberry jelly.

Griggstown Farm Za ‘atar Spiced Chicken: organic red quinoa, roasted fennel & plums.  Chicken was tender and cooked well. It was served with plums which was a nice contrast to the chicken.  Quinoa was nice as well.  Excellent dish.

Garganelli: spicy sausage, broccoli rabe, roasted tomatoes & Parmigiano Reggiano. Not a bad choice.  My dance partner said it was not too spicy and overall was a nice dish.

Grilled Wagyu Flank Steak: baba ganoush, roasted heirloom carrots, roasted mushrooms and port wine reduction. Nicely presented and executed.

At that point we were pretty full but they did have a nice selection of breads that is worth showcasing.

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