Big Gulp

Swallow's finally here. And you need to go.

by Trey Popp

Michael T. Regan SWIMFAN: Swallow does one hell of a rainbow trout, dressing up the head-on fish with browned butter, almonds and green beans. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

For the longest time it seemed like Swallow, which finally joined Philadelphia's roster of pun-named restaurants in March, would more aptly be referred to as Hiccup. First it was going to open last July, then the word was August, and before you could say Labor Day, it had been postponed to mid-December. That proved to be a false start, too. Winter came and went. But now, at long last, Liberties Walk has another dinnertime tenant to join Bar Ferdinand and A Full Plate Café.

As you might be able to tell from the sign hanging over the door, Jason and Cindy Caminos named their bistro after a bird. What's better than a double entendre? Well, how about a triple — the interior is dolled up to resemble a bordello. (Gulp.) Purplish wallpaper and magenta chandeliers give the almost-too-spacious layout a quasi-louche vibe meant to reference the neighborhood's past as a red-light district.

Of course there's nothing really seedy about Bart Blatstein's handsome, pedestrian-friendly Northern Liberties development, and Swallow's restroom breaks with the theme in an explosion of ultramarine wall tiles and pebbled cement that could have been lifted from the pool house of an upscale Acapulco resort. But that's OK. Whether you're a hooker or a cabana boy or just vaguely confused by the empty black frames on the walls, odds are that the kitchen's fried frog legs will refocus your attention in all the right ways.

Although they would have worked better as an appetizer than an entrée — where the cucumber salad accompaniment came off as a skimpy side dish — the frog legs themselves were as divine as amphibian meat can hope to be. Crisp, golden, laid out in bow-kneed triplicate with their clenched butts in the air, they were so succulent that you hardly needed the aioli dip. When our meal ended with a choice of three desserts, my foursome came within a hair of silencing another three ribbets.

Overall, the menu falls squarely into bistro terrain. The choices change nightly, bouncing around the classic repertoire and only occasionally reaching a little further afield. The entrée course outshined the others for me, which ought to bode well for a neighborhood spot. Yet even during the prime Friday dinner hour, the place doesn't seem to be drawing much of a crowd — which is doubly strange considering the very fair prices.

The most interesting appetizer, if not the best-loved one I tried, was a salad of raw mushrooms and fennel, sliced almost as thinly as the shaved Parmesan that filled out the bowl. Its simple flavors and cool temperature could be a tonic on a hot night, but a zestier dressing would have been a welcome improvement. The same went for an otherwise lovely salad studded with watermelon and feta, which needed something more to tie everything together.

That wasn't a problem for the impeccably fresh grilled sardines, which went on toast with roasted red peppers and garlic cooked to the consistency of butter. The creamy pleasure of goat cheese bruschetta got a perfectly bitter counterpoint from a tall mound of gorgeous arugula. Best was a trio of giant prawns, heads attached, whose flesh was still redolent of grill flames. It came with a Thai-style salad of shredded unripe papaya that made me think the kitchen should look beyond the traditional French stuff more frequently.

After the frog legs, the nicest surprise on the entrée list was a whole rainbow trout, lovingly plated with its twin fillets butterflied open next to the upright head. Dripping with browned butter, fragrant with almonds, piled with slender green beans — the kitchen did right by this fish.

Even skinnier than those green beans were the perfect shoestring frites mounded beside a serious bone-in pork loin bursting with the flavors of pepper and mustard, a bargain at $18. The only real disappointment in the main course came in half-measure with a duck leg confit, which was flavorful throughout, but too dry on one side. That fried quail egg on top sure was fetching, though — don't care how trendy it's gotten.

Dessert needs a little work at Swallow. A warm crème brülée hit the mark — the vanilla custard subtle and not too sugared. And even though it was hard to share, a parfait of mascarpone and strawberries was pretty good considering we're still a good ways from summer strawberries that don't need their flavor boosted artificially. But an ice-cream-filled puff pastry was dressed disappointingly in what tasted like Hershey's syrup, and there was no real chocolate option in the offing. Next time I may have to walk across the way to fetch an after-dinner sweet from Brown Betty Dessert Boutique.

Especially if Swallow runs out of frogs.

(t_popp@citypaper.net)

Swallow

Liberties Walk, 1030 N. American St., 215-238-1399

Tue.-Sat., 6-10 p.m.

Appetizers, $7-$14; Entrées, $14-$20

BYOB

Reservations accepted

Most major credit cards accepted