Pairs Well with Others
Celebrating the opening of Tria dos.
How often do you get a chance to taste a Japanese wine made entirely from grapes? If you shop in Pennsylvania — or just about any other state, for that matter — the answer is almost certainly never. Sake and plum wine, sure. But an actual dry white wine, derived from a vitis vinifera species no less? From what I can tell, there's only a single example available in the United States. And Tria was pouring it for a scant $4 a glass on a recent Sunday evening.
If there were no other reason to celebrate the opening of Jon Myerow's second location, in a handsome spot at the corner of 12th and Spruce, moves like that would be justification enough. But the truth is that there are plenty of reasons to welcome a new Tria.
The first is that "Sunday school" classes just doubled their enrollment. For well over a year, the original Tria has enticed drinkers and diners into its Rittenhouse digs by offering a different wine, cheese and beer at half-price every Sunday. Sometimes, the producers themselves drop by to chat with curious customers. The selections are always eccentric, and the prices make it easy for folks with conservative palates to venture outside their comfort zones a tad.
Another is that even at full fare, Tria packs a lot of value into its dishes. How many other high-quality eateries impose a $10 ceiling on all their food offerings? It's no newsflash that small plates can add up quickly, but Tria is a bargain next to some of its competitors. The dishes aren't quite as finely wrought as those at a place like Amada or Tinto, but the margin isn't huge and the execution rarely fails. Crab-stuffed piquillo peppers run $6.50 at Tria; Amada charges $12. No wonder my party of four could sate our appetites at the new location for a shade above $100 on Sunday — including six glasses of wine, a beer, a bottle of Perrier and the tip.
The new spot is about as big as the original one. Including sidewalk seating, it can hold about 55 people. Half of those chairs are pulled up to the bar or arrayed around bar-height tables, giving the place a lively vibe familiar to devotees of the Rittenhouse location. Much of one wall can be opened up to embrace 12th Street, providing an escape route for excess noise in good weather, but during my visit the music was thumping a lot louder than it usually does at the original.
The menu is identical, but it's still big enough — and perhaps changes with enough regularity — that several items were new to me. Parmesan olive oil potato chips had that perfect kettle-cooked crunch, and a grilled artichoke sandwich with roasted red peppers and a pungent Bulgarian feta was bursting with richness. Throw in a cold glass of Japanese Koshu — crisp as a sauvignon blanc and carrying a 10 percent alcohol content that seemed custom-made for a sweaty August — and there's really no way to go wrong.
1137 Spruce St.
215-629-9200
Open daily, 4 p.m.-mid.
Small plates and sandwiches, $2.50-$10
No reservations accepted.
Wheelchair accessible.
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