July 28-August 3, 2005

food

CATCH OF THE DAY: Mercato's kitchen serves up crispy citrus striped bass with caramelized cipollini onions, artichokes and Chianti reduction. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

Market Value

Mercato backs up its stylish surface with impressive substance.

by Elisa Ludwig

The recipe is familiar, predictable even. Take over a defunct retail space, then renovate the interior with furniture catalog simplicity. Combine a highly reputed chef, an open kitchen and attractive waitstaff. Name the new restaurant after the building's former occupant. Add a modicum of anticipation. Stir.

But while they have become easily identifiable signifiers of a specific and locally fashionable type of eating experience, these ingredients alone do not guarantee success. You need the goods to back it up. In less sophisticated hands Mercato might have turned into a tiresome retread of so many trendy BYOs before it. It's not the stainless steel but the sheer strength of its open kitchen that makes this gayborhood gem seem like an entirely new idea.

Mercato, which opened in May in a onetime grocery at Spruce and Camac, certainly has the look part down. Spare but not sterile, its pressed tin ceiling and yolk-colored walls are accented by crisp white wainscoting and red glass votives. An open window onto the street resolves the noise issues that beset so many similarly sized restaurants, while a few sidewalk tables offer a sample of authentic Philly humidity.

The urbane flair extends to the details. Napkins are wrapped in brown grocery paper. Tap water arrives in a chilled bottle. Rolls come with small square plates of extra green extra virgin olive oil and a dish of cured olives. The scent of white truffle oil wafts from nearby tables, a kind of signature perfume. And the service is pleasantly knowledgeable, efficient and poised.

A longtime fan of Valanni, I was pleased to see that its former executive chef R. Evan Turney is now doing similar magic in Mercato's kitchen. (He is co-owner of Mercato, along with Valanni's owner George Anni.) The flavor is Italian, but the menu has a contemporary scope that allows for improvisation: precise, dependably delicious inventions that balance intense and subtle ingredients.

It's by this approach that Turney transforms a roasted portobello mushroom into something far more delicate and divine. It's pounded thin, wrapped in crisp puff pastry and adorned with lemony arugula and shaved pecorino romano cheese. A salad of crabmeat, cucumber and mint is molded into a sweet-mild cake; grapefruit sections and a drizzle of pepperoncini citrus aioli give it a tart bite. In the market salad, mixed greens support the salty tang of prosciutto and gorgonzola and the honeyed sweetness of fresh figs and pears.

The seafood dishes are wholly remarkable. Crispy skinned striped bass crowned with chive tendrils is served in a dense, violet-tinged Chianti bath of artichokes, spongy porcini mushrooms, shards of crispy pancetta and slick caramelized cipollini onions. With a lighter but no less accurate touch, red pepper-flecked linguine with oil and garlic is tossed with flakes of crabmeat and clams on the shell. The showstopper here is the pan-seared diver scallops. Browned to a salty crust, they break open with a touch of the fork to reveal a milky white and almost creamy interior. They arrive on a bed of the mildest wild mushrooms and English pea risotto tinged with white truffle oil.

Some selections seem slightly heavy for a seasonally changing menu in the summertime, though I would venture to guess they'd taste good any time of year.The mojo short ribs are braised into tender oblivion along with a ragout of beans and mushrooms. Traditional and hearty, orecchiette are little noodly vessels for meatballs and nuggets of sweet sausage in tomato sauce with broccoli rabe. Richest of all is the veal porterhouse steak, encased in a crust of prosciutto and fontina cheese, surrounded by grilled scallions and artichokes. It's pungent, sharp and as you'd expect from a side of meat topped with a layer of cured meat, decadent.

Dessert includes gelatos and sorbets from Capogiro, an espresso hazelnut torrone and a slice of lemon curd tart on a buttery almond crust with honey marscapone cream. The cheese plate is a marvel of modern fermentation. Creamy truffled goat cheese, luxuriant soft gorgonzola and flaky Tuscan sheep's milk pecorino are presented with toasted salt bread and a trio of aptly matched sweets: a pressed dried fig, rosemary cherries and champagne honey with crushed hazelnuts. With inspiration even a regular old cheese plate can seem like a new concept. And with this degree of skill and consistency, an old market can become something utterly fresh.

Mercato 1216 Spruce St. 215-985-BYOB

• Hours: Mon.-Thu. 5 p.m.-10:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 5 p.m.- 11 p.m.; Sun., 5 p.m.-10 p.m.
• Appetizers, $7-$10; entrees; $16-$23
• BYO.
• Cash only.
• No cell phones.