A Good Start

The Bread, My Sweet: Sfizzioâs brick oven and the crusty bread it produces.

Sfizzio’s appetizers and salads are a lunch treat.

by Debra Auspitz

Sfizzio

237 St. James Place, 215-925-1802
Appetizers $4.95-$6.95; salads $2.95-$7.95; lunch entrees $4.95-$7.95
Mon-Fri., 11:30 a.m.- 11 p.m.; Sat. 11:30-midnight, Sun., 2-10 p.m.
Wheelchair accessible. Smoking at the bar. All major credit cards. Reservations recommended.

Once upon a time, on the top of a hill, was a dark little restaurant called the Copper Penny. Once you climbed its rickety wooden stairs you were greeted by dark leather banquettes and the best chocolate mousse cake in the city.

In May 1998, Copper Penny became Sfizzio, a brightly colored open space with non-rickety stairs. Sfizzio, with its huge windows flanking the large dining room, perches on the hill by the Society Hill Towers and offers brick-oven pizza as well as Italian dishes. The lunch menu consists of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, pizza and pasta dishes, while dinner has a more extensive selection of pasta and meat dishes. But, of course, this is the Lunch Bunch, so our group headed over there on a sunny day in May to try the fare.

The main room had about a dozen other diners in it during our meal, though the room is so spacious that it still seemed empty. The five of us sat at a round table, and each person had a different colored pastel napkin, giving the table settings a festive feel. Our waitress was very attentive and didn't even seem to get frustrated when we asked a million questions about the Napolitano-based menu.

We started off with the Zuppetta di Mare, a delicious assortment of enormous New Zealand mussels, smaller but still scrumptious Maine mussels, and clams sauteed in a delightfully tangy garlic sauce (generous chunks of bread sat soaking in the dish, ready for us to savor the broth when the seafood had been eaten). Speaking of bread, we all enjoyed the crispy, garlic-crusted baked pita that filled our bread basket (which was constantly refilled throughout the meal).

We also tried the Calamari and Carciofo Fritti, fried calamari and artichoke hearts. "The artichokes were a nice addition to this classic dish," noted Daniel Brook. "The light batter was perfect with a squeeze of lemon. The spicy tomato sauce came with a hearty sprinkling of red pepper on top ... easily removable for those who can't take the heat, but not pandering to wimpy American taste buds."

We also sampled two salads, the Insalata Verde, a large but simple salad of mixed greens, olives and a vinaigrette, and the Insalata Sfizzio. This house salad could have easily been a whole lunch for one person, with mixed greens, olives, warmed goat cheese and shaved Reggiano Parmigiano. The goat cheese was thick and scrumptious with the crisp greens.

Before moving on to our main lunch courses, we sampled a daily special, the seafood ravioli "extravaganza," as our waitress called it. And, as Lori Hill put it, "it was as extravagant as its name." Four different kinds of ravioli: lobster, shrimp, clam and spinach with ricotta cheese melted in our mouths under the gentle touch of a perfect "pink" sauce (marinara and heavy cream) with sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms. The sauce would "fit right in at a fine Italian restaurant far beyond the Lunch Bunch budget," Brook said.

Unfortunately, few of our main courses lived up to the excellent appetizers we had just been spoiled with. Hill and Patrick Rapa went for the focaccia sandwiches, one with grilled filet mignon, arugula and tomatoes in a balsamic vinaigrette, and the other with grilled chicken, eggplant, roasted peppers and fontina cheese, also in a balsamic vinaigrette. (The latter we ordered without the cheese for those in our group who couldn't eat dairy; "all of the desserts, and much of the menu in general was lactose dependent," pointed out Rapa). The sandwiches got mixed reviews -- Rapa called his "chewy and satisfying," and Hill noted that her filet was dry and somewhat bland, but she enjoyed the spinach in the balsamic vinaigrette. The sandwiches were served with a sprinkling of french fries.

Brook went for the brick-oven pizza, the Melanzana with eggplant, Romano and mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce. Ample enough for two or maybe three people to share, the pizza was somewhat underdone. "The wood-fired oven that could produce such scrumptious pita garlic bread should have been able to do more with pizza," Brook noted. Howard Altman did add that "the eggplant, cheese and the wonderful house marinara worked well together."

Altman himself went with another daily special, a grilled piece of swordfish. The fish was paper-thin and, according to Altman, "was a tad overcooked, although, interestingly enough, not uniformly, as some portions of the cut were appropriately moist while others were a bit dry and chewy."

I chose a simple pasta dish in a marinara with mixed vegetables, which was a very satisfying lunch. The sauce was tangy but not overpowering, and there was a nice selection of mushrooms and veggies mixed in with the penne.

Desserts followed the same trend, falling somewhat in quality from the rest of the meal. The tiramisu was quite good, managing the fine line between richness of flavor and lightness of texture. But a cannoli drew ire from the group. "The worst I'd ever encountered," Altman said. "Vaguely medicinal" was Brook's assessment of the filling. "It tasted like it was stuffed last week." Hill's chocolate cake was a bit hard, though she enjoyed her coffee, and my cappuccino was full of foamy goodness. Altman called his fruit tart "excellent."

All in all, Sfizzio's lunch menu isn't quite up to par with its fine dinner selection. The restaurant's innovative use of fresh ingredients and succulent flavors was in evidence with the appetizers and salads, most of which would make a fine lunch on their own. Sfizzio has made a name for itself with its pasta dishes and more elaborate offerings, and it seems that that's what you should stick to when dining there.




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