Big Shrimp

A little restaurant with enormous appeal.

Langostino

100 Morris Street, 215-551-7709
Lunch: Daily, 12-3 p.m. Dinner: Daily from 4:30-10:30 p.m., 11:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, Sunday 4-10. Wheelchair access. Reservations suggested. Cash only. BYOB.



The title meal: Grilled langostino from the restaurant of the same name.

Sometimes, being a restaurant critic is like being in a 12-step program. Should you really share your secrets with the group?

So it is when you find, by chance, a simple, small, inexpensive restaurant. All kinds of selfishness and ill will start to surface. It’s too good, I want to keep it for myself, cries the inner child, while the mature adult replies, "Why shouldn’t my friends enjoy this as well?"

So I submit to you Langostino, a barebones, stark white little place on the eastern edge of South Philly, the beach block of Morris Street to be exact. The background music ranges from "Volare" to Louis Prima. Here, you find some local couples, and a few girls who look like they wandered in from the Bada Bing Club of Sopranos fame. The chef is Mario Hima; langostino is the large shrimp, which when grilled, head and all, is a glory of the Italian seacoast. This is the restaurant’s particular specialty; in fact, it’s a good idea to call ahead and find out if the dish is available the night you want to come.

If not, there are plenty of other good things, namely the house special Caesar salad ($4.50) that has no croutons and no anchovies, but a creamy, garlic-tinged dressing on crisp hearts of romaine lettuce. (By the way, what is this thing about no anchovies? Are they on some list of allergens, like nuts, that I don’t know about? Time was, a Caesar salad was based on anchovies — I wonder when exactly it morphed into a still-good-but-less-interesting preparation.)

The dense, firmly textured bread is recognizably Faragelli’s (13th & Reed), and it is good to dip into the bright green olive oil, or into the broth of white wine and garlic in which a good many fat and succulent mussels ($6) float. Or, as a pasta appetizer, there’s a gnocchi misto ($10) that features three different styles of the fluffy semolina dumplings. One little pile bears a tart tomato sauce, another an Aurora sauce which is a red sauce tinged with a little cream, and a third has a regular, creamy white Alfredo, with a bit of parmesan cheese. All three are tasty and, of course, may be had separately as well. The langostinos are available as an appetizer ($18 for three), but we chose to have them as an entrée ($32).

They are the most expensive items on the menu, but turn out to be truly delicious. The lightly grilled meat is sweet and tender, and if you don’t mind playing around with the heads, there’s more to be found there. The sauce on the side, though not necessary, is a wonderful almost-salsa of tomatoes, olives and garlic, all finely chopped and bound with lots of lemon juice. Not only is the sauce a nice touch with the langostino, it also accentuates the steamed asparagus that come with the dish.

There’s a bit of a disagreement about the other entrée, for I seldom ever find a veal scallopine ($14) that’s worthy, but my guest insists. So I find myself confronted with a large platter of perfect veal tenders. Not gummy, or pounded to a fare-thee-well as so many are, these are firm and, wonder of wonders, tossed with slivered fresh artichokes and mushrooms. It’s splendid, as are the broccoli and roasted potatoes on the side. And we have a lovely Barbera to complement everything.

All the desserts sound fairly mundane, except for a cannoli cake ($5) which seems to be a cake made of cannoli dough, layered with ricotta cheese, mixed with chocolate chips and strawberries. It’s as good, if not better, than a regular creamy and crisp cannoli.

It’s a very simple operation, Langostino is, but the thought behind it is rooted in the old traditions — the search for quality and freshness. There are no waiters running around with cheese grinders, no fuss at all. It feels very much like being in Italy, except for the maitre d’, who’s from El Salvador. Everyone is warm and friendly, and the food is so fresh it practically leaps off of the table.

You’ll like it here, but please — don’t tell your friends.

Shellfish pleasures…

A few weeks ago, at an event held at Sotto to introduce local chefs to some unusual and rare species of shellfish and seafood, I came across three things that made my week a little brighter. First, Ippolito’s Seafood was featuring fresh scallops on the half-shell with the roe attached, something I have never encountered in the States. After stuffing myself with them, I discovered the pleasures of fresh white anchovies at the booth that Dmitri Chimes was running. And then I got a taste of Plugra European-style butter, so rich and creamy that I contemplated a diet composed solely of bread and butter (perhaps with a few scallops thrown in). Anyway, I'm happy to tell you that all three things — the scallops, the anchovies and the Plugra (clarified butter and heavy cream as well) are all available at Ippolito's. Call their main location at 1300 Dickinson Street for information, 215-389-8906.