Chloe

Just like clockwork, my birthday comes every year at the end of March, and so does my friend’s. This means we usually share a birthday celebration. This year we were taken out to dinner at a location that remained a surprise until we crossed Market St. walking up 3rd. Yeah, at that point I guessed it. Chloe!

This was my first visit to the small, contemporary American BYOB in Old City that always appears on lists of romantic restaurants . They don’t take reservations or credit cards, so we ladies waited on the bench out front while the gents found an ATM. By the time they were back, we were in!

The inside is small, dimly lit, and kind of homey with knick knacks and a hand written specials board on the wall. It’s noisy, too. Small place packed with chattering people and it gets loud. Chloe is comfy and cozy, but I don’t know about romantic. Romance is overrated, anyway!

Low light; poor pictures. It's called "romantic."

A complimentary plate of hummus and bread came with our appetizers. No one at our table was fond of their hummus, which was subtly smoky, and as one person put it, tasted just like beans.

We started with two appetizers from the specials board. Everyone enjoyed the fried butternut squash and mushroom cakes. There were noticeable hunks of squash and mushrooms, and the flavors blended well.

The fish eater’s ordered the smoked trout appetizer with capers, watercress and red onion salad, and, I think, horseradish cream sauce. While I personally cannot report on the dish, everyone loved it.

Chloe has one vegetarian entrée on the menu – roasted pumpkin and ricotta ravioli with dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, and brown sage butter. By default, I had that! The filling was not cloyingly sweet as some pumpkin filled raviolis unfortunately are, but the brown sage butter sauce ruined the dish for me. The raviolis were swimming in a flavorless oil slick. Blech!

The boy ordered the grilled salmon fillet with crispy polenta, sweet and sour eggplant chutney, and parsley gremolata. He really loved this dish. I snuck a little eggplant chutney and it was nice!

Manners tell me not to molest other people’s food with my hands or camera, so I will tell you what the others ordered. The guy got the pan seared sea scallops with crispy potato pancake, watercress and red onion salad, and smoked chili and sour cream chili. He liked it a lot, as did his partner who normally doesn’t like scallops.

She ordered the sushi grade tuna seared rare with banana ginger soy broth, jasmine rice, seaweed salad, and crispy wonton chip. She was hesitant to order this dish because fish and banana did not sound like a great combination, but the server assured her that the banana was subtle. Turns out banana and tuna together, no matter how subtle, is not for her! She also did not like the tuna. She felt it should have been left raw instead of seared.

For dessert, I shared a slice of chocolate mouse pie with chocolate and raspberry drizzle and cream. Nothing special. It was what it was.

The other side of the table ordered the chocolate gateau and the warm banana bread pudding. Out of the three desserts, given a chance to do it again, I’d go with the banana bread pudding!

By some cruel twist of fate, the two birthday girls struck out and the boys hit gold. All in all, it was a lovely evening at a cozy restaurant that none of us had ever been to, but with only one vegetarian entrée that disagrees with me, I don’t’ see a need for my return.

Chloe
232 Arch St., Philadelphia, PA, 19106
215-629-2337
Wed.-Sat., 5 p.m-9:30 p.m.
BYOB, cash only, no reservations