Meritage

In the past year, I've been to a handful of restaurants that have perfectly lovely food and atmosphere, but have let those experiences go without a writeup on the blog. I almost didn't bother to write about Meritage, the warm and cozy bar and restaurant serving small plates on the corner of Lombard and 20th St., but changed my mind for a couple of reasons.

For starters, I was very impressed with Meritage's bartender who was not only friendly and warm, but handled the drink end of his job, as well as all the food orders and questions from those dining at the bar without even the slightest bit of ire. Kudos to pleasant bartenders!

Also, even though the menu at Meritage is small, and has limited non-meaty dishes, you should know that the kitchen knows what's up with vegan (Meritage even used to do a Tuesday night vegan tasting menu), and has some vegan dishes on the menu even though they are not denoted.Meritage's chef, Anne Coll, likes to slip elements of Asian cuisine into her plates, and did so with a sweet, rice vinegar and ginger pickled vegetable plate (only $3!) composed of cucumbers, radish, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, baby carrots, pearl onion, beets, and red onion. If you like the pickled ginger on sushi platters, you'll love these faintly reminiscent pickles. There are two pieces of each vegetable, so this plate is perfect to share with a friend without fighting over the odd piece. The pickled beets, this time topped with salad of baby greens, make a repeat showing on the herbed goat cheese mousse and crostini plate. A simple and traditional bar snack perfect for sipping with wine, and, happily, the bread to cheese ratio was perfect. Hate running out of one before the other!During the month of March, Meritage is adding Asian-inspired street foods to the menu, so I snagged one of the vegetarian (also vegan!) offerings of Burmese fried lentil fritters with mint chutney. The crispy outside with bits of very crunchy lentils gave way to a fluffy, savory center. Funnily, besides the texture of crunchy lentils, these taste more like hushpuppies should (savory, not sweet!) than any of the hushpuppies I've had in Philly that have cropped up in the past year or so.The lemon pudding cake with pomegranate syrup, candied kumquat, citrus wedges and a sesame tuile is more of a airy mousse than a cake. Light and refreshing with citrus zing, this dessert is the perfect way to end a meal without weighing you down.
Need more heft? Can't go wrong with a hard-shelled, chocolate-covered peanut butter bomb with pomegranate glaze, and caramelized banana and whipped cream.

I couldn't find a single fault with any of my dishes, so maybe it's best I tell you about Meritage with it's dim, cozy atmosphere, and affordable, refined, small plates. Meritage would be a perfect date spot, or just a place to hang with friends when you want to class it up a notch.

Meritage
500 S. 20th St., Philadelphia PA 19103
215-985-1922
Tues-Thurs: 5-10 pm
Fri & Sat: 5-11 pm

Fish

This review of Fish will be about as useful to fish eaters as mainstream restaurant reviews are to me. Not very.

Fish is the bigger (but still small) and newer sister to Mike Stollenwerk's tiny (and currently closed due to building structure problems) Little Fish, a restaurant that got the whole town talking about Stollenwerk's simple but spectacular fish dishes. Bigwigs also took notice, as he's cooking up a meal this August at the James Beard House in New York, no less.

If you don't eat fish, like I do, you probably have no business eating at Fish, a restaurant with almost nothing but fish on the menu. But what if you have a loved one that adores Little Fish, never gets to eat there (because a certain someone doesn't eat fish), and has a birthday? You suck it up, and take them to Fish, the next best thing to Little Fish — and currently the only option if you want Stollenwerk's work.Complementary bread is dolled out by the piece from the waitstaff on an as-needed basis, and is accompanied by a tangy goat milk butter.

As a vegetarian, I could eat four things from the menu: a salad, and three of the four sides. I've seen worse at restaurants that were significantly lesser in quality, so I can't complain. And I'm not. I know where I was.

Even a simple salad of arugula, Feta and tomatoes dressed in a vinaigrette gets attention — each grape and cherry tomato half was of a different variety, making each mouthful interesting.For my main, I ordered the spaeztle side. The crispy, pan fried German egg noodles were perfectly salted and seasoned, and topped with musty slivers of white truffle. Not skimpy, but not large — it's a side, after all — the spaeztle left me with enough room for dessert.The bacon ice cream sounded fabulous, but I went with the thick, ganach-like chocolate tort with pretzel crust and salted caramel ice cream. After the sweet and only slightly salty ice cream was no longer around to balance the overwhelmingly rich tort, I put my fork down and called it an evening.

Even though I couldn't eat the main attraction at Fish, I could tell that everything was cooked and prepared with care and skill.

Each of the six varieties of oysters available were ordered by my partner, as well as some fish dish. He loved it all. Asked to compare Fish to Little Fish, he said they both were equally good, but Fish seemed more refined, and he preferred the more relaxed dishes of Little Fish. So there's that, if that is more helpful to fish eaters than my review

Fish
1708 Lombard St., Philadelphia, PA 19146
215-545-9600
Mon-Sun, 5pm-close

Parc

We dropped by Stephen Starr's newish French Bistro, Parc, on Rittenhouse Square one late afternoon before the dinner crowd filled the sidewalk tables, and easily snagged a seat front and center under the awnings and heat lamps.

I'm no Francophile, and have never been to Paris, so I can't comment on the oh-my-god-the-French-bistro-details-are-dead-on interior design of the establishment that has impressed so many. It's nice inside, if not a little too large so that the details are lost on non-Francophiles, or those with blurred vision.

Parc's menu is limited in terms of vegetarian options, and even those that seem vegetarian are not (mac and cheese is out). I really wanted a cup of cheesy onion soup, but was told it was not vegetarian. I asked for a run down of what was vegetarian, or could be made vegetarian. Our server pointed out the spinach ravioli, the onion tart, a couple of the salads (but not all salads), and a few vegetable sides (but not all sides) from the lunch and dinner menus that are or could be made vegetarian. Slim pickin's.Complimentary bread and butter.The beet salad comes with a mound of frissee dressed with a blue cheese and walnut vinaigrette corralled by beets. Simple and tasty.The tart was made vegetarian in the kitchen with the omission of anchovies that normally top this onion, goat cheese, and olive puff pastry appetizer. The sweet onions spread across the flaky pastry were caramelized to the point of jam, and was very good, but the olives seemed a bit out of place without their anchovies. Dishes often fall a little short, or have you scratching your head as to why that ingredient was included when altered to accommodate vegetarians. Not Parc's fault, but mine for altering the classic combination.The boy had the bronzino with fingerling potatoes and fennel salad. He enjoyed.For dessert, I had the profiteroles filled with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce. Mmm!The boy had the chocolate pot de creme instead of the chocolate mousse in an attempt to fill up, but later decided that the pot de creme was too rich and heavy to finish. Should have gotten the lighter mousse. He loved the bitter, chocolate wafer that accompanied the pot de creme.

Like all of Stephen Starr's restaurants, the food is good (at least what I can eat), but nothing earth shattering. Everything I ordered -- beet salad, onion tart, and profiteroles -- are foods that I really enjoy.

Food at Parc is on the small and expensive side, but nothing beyond similar high end restaurants in Philly. And the people watching is exceptional, if you can snag a street side or window table.

Seeing as how there are not a lot of veggie options at Parc for lunch and dinner, if I return it will probably be for dessert and a little peep peepin'. But, really, grabbing a pastry from a bakery and sitting in the park across the street is more my style. Cheaper, too.

Parc also serves breakfast during the week.

Parc
227 S. 18th St., Philadelphia, PA, 19103
215-545-2262