As we were seated, one of the dining room managers came by to fill our waters. Picky knew a friend of a friend was one of the managers here. He took a stab at his name and he hit. We joked about our mutual friend for a bit and talked about what looked good on the tantalizing menu before he had to get back to his duties and mingling with his guests. We put in our order with our server and before long, a stream of antipasti and bruschetta flowed forth from the open kitchen steps to our table. But it was much more than we had ordered. Our new friend had sent along a few extras.

Imported bufala ricotta and black pepper [$8] and mortadella mousse [$6].

Sal's old school meatballs with tomato potato [$8]. Little bite-sized irregularly-shaped meatballs were supple and juicy. We had to take them down in two-bite portions to savor them just a little bit more.

Coppa with hazelnut honey [$8]. Fact: hazelnuts make just about anything better.

Polenta with brown butter [$5]

Fried lambs tongue with salsa rossa [$7] (pickled red onion). The lamb wasn't overly lamb-y which can be a problem for many. The the acid from pickled red onion draped across the row of tongue would help play down the lamb-y flavor for those who are lamb-averse.

Grilled smoked mozzarella with pickled vegetables [$8]

Bucatini alla "matriciana" with pork jowl, chili flake and pecorino [$14]. For Picky, this was the star antipasti for the night. A springy al dente sprinkled with clouds of finely grated pecorino was the perfect vessel to gather the hunks of hearty jowl with little bits of arrabiata kick from the chili flakes.

Gnocchi alla romana with oxtail ragu [$14]. Picky is a real oxtail lover. It's in many Korean dishes which he loved eating growing up. This was, sadly, just not as flavorful as he hoped it would be. It got a little lost amidst the other wonderful plates.

Bufala ricotta ravioli with spring asparagus [$14]. Similar to the doppio ravioli from Vetri's largest outpost, Osteria which we enjoyed two years ago. Messy, who did not partake in the meatier offerings of the evening, ate almost all of this by herself. It was absolutely delectable, but a little rich for one person. Next time she won't be so greedy!

"Tartufo al bacio" chocolate and hazelnut semifreddo with amarena cherries [$10]. This hard-shelled dessert was attacked and destroyed by the three of us. We didn't hold back as it tried to keep its delicious contents from our forks. Picky stabbed it once through the dome and we were rightfully rewarded with a near-dreadfully rich chocolate hazelnut mixture that made you think Nutell-wha? for a moment before digging in to find the small, sour amarena cherries blissfully floating throughout.

Vetri's tiramisu. Perhaps Picky's biggest pet peeve when it comes to food is messing with the classics. Vetri, it seems, feels the same way. This tiramisu was probably the best tiramisu Picky has ever had in his life. Growing up just outside of NYC, he was fortunate to have sampled many a fine tiramisu, but this one rules them all. The biscuits were moist and dense like a great cupcake, not the heavy density of a pound cake. Heaps of cocoa powder drizzled off the heaping marscapone to the plate awaiting sly improper finger-to-plate manners. This was Messy's favorite dessert of the three, and she wished she had been greedy in this instance — next time, she'll order one all for herself!

Head chef's [Brad Spence] grandma's rice pudding w/balsamic — a 100 year-old recipe. Messy and her friend both enjoyed this one tremendously, although Messy found it less enticing than the tiramisu. Picky passed on this one; he's never been a fan of rice pudding and even this delectable couldn't sway him.

A shot of the open kitchen at Amis from our table. The feel of the space is lively. It's loud, but the kind of loud that makes you feel alive, not the shouting-at-your-tablemates kind of loud. The larger tables on the Waverly Street side fill up with large groups and after a few bottles, they contribute a lot to the soundscape of the place, but it's not unwelcome. While the space doesn't have that homey feel of Osteria, it does have a wonderfully laid back trattoria feel, which is was Vetri and Co. were going for after their pilgrimage to The Boot. With their Monday industry late night events, this space will garner a strong following. With it's approachability, it's already gaining cult-like neighborhoodie approval. And hopefully it'll stay just enough under the radar of the out-of-towner crew (in Picky's NYC, they were called B&T, bridge & tunnel), and you'll be able to get a spot in here without too much trouble.

Amis
412 S. 13th Street & Waverly
Philadelphia, PA 19147
215-732-AMIS (2647)
dinner
M-Th: 5pm-11:30pm | Late night menu: 11:30pm-1am
F & Sa: 5pm-12:00am | Late night menu: 12:00am 1am
Su: 5pm-10:30pm | Late night menu: 10:30pm-12am
lunch
M-F: 11:30am-2pm
No lunch on Saturdays
brunch
Su: 10am-2pm

The first stop was at Fair Food Farmstand, Picky's day job. Fair Food's new General Manager, Kristin Mulvenna (left), took the group through a quick history of Fair Food (it started off as a single folding table in the back of Reading Terminal about eight years ago) and the plates of goodies she had in front of her. We had sliced super crispy heirloom York apples from Beechwood Orchards with some spring wildflower honey from Two Gander Farms, Sylvia's granola topped with Pequea Valley maple yogurt and a hunk of challah from Four Worlds Bakery out in West Philly.

Here's a look at the year-old newish space for Fair Food which is about 3x the size of the old space in the back of the Terminal. Lots of seasonal everything available 7 days a week as long as the Terminal is open. If you're looking to buy a great, locally and naturally-raised bird for Thanksgiving, Fair Food is your spot and you can order one here. If you want one of the prized heritage red bourbon turkeys, Monday the 15th [today!] is your last day to reserve one.

Here's Eric talking in front of Salumeria, one of two dedicated cheese shops in the terminal. Salumeria prepared a selection of local cheeses for us to enjoy.

We had (clockwise from the left): a very peppery Peppercorn Jack and sharply salty Misty Lovely (a ricotta salata), two goat cheeses from Misty Creek Dairy in Leola, PA. They gave us a feel of the range of goat cheese available in the area. Cherry Grove Farm's cousin-to-cheddar Herdsman was up next to cool off our palates. (Picky is a huge fan of Herdsman cheddar — see this post from earlier this year.) To finish, we had hunks of God's Country Creamery's Country Blue, a mild-mannered blue.

We headed out of the Terminal, down 12th Street, to Tweed Restaurant. There's Mme. Fromage toting a big bag of DiBruno Bros. goodies.

Our little heard of local munchers filing into Tweed.

Chef David Cunningham came out from behind the kitchen doors to walk us through the tasting plate and give us a little history on Tweed. Chef Cunningham regularly visits farms in the area — he's stood by the rivers where his trout comes from and seen his hogs up close and personal. As he told us, for him, "local food is not a fad." It's a way of life. Above, Chef Cunnignham takes a glance at the plate in front of Art from Foobooz.

Up front is the pork tenderloin with sauteed onion and apple. To the right, trout served atop a delectable sauce of brown butter, honey, capers and chopped walnuts. To the left, a beet salad with frisee, walnuts, French breakfast radishes and a hunk of chèvre.

The final stop on our journey was Capogiro on 13th Street for a blind taste test of six offerings.

Here's a closeup of each flavor. Given the time of year, you can probably guess the first flavor by sight alone, but the rest were tougher. At least one person from our group guessed correctly on each flavor. (Sadly, Messy guessed wrong pretty much every time.) Since Capigiro's offerings change daily, we're not too concerned with giving away what we had, but we'll leave it up to you to find out. Select the redacted text to see the answers. From the top: pumpkin, sesame (Picky's favorite), fig, pineapple mint, pear, apple. These treats were a great way to polish off the afternoon!

A City Food Tour is a terrific way to get a nice feel of the different food options available in town, interact with local foodies, and learn a little history. Their five permanent tours are available year round. Reservations are required, but you can call as late as one hour before tour time to reserve a spot. Tours are limited to 15 each, but you can book a private tour of up to 150. This Philly Homegrown Tour will be offered on 3 Saturdays between now and Christmas, so place your reservations before they're all sold out.

We haven't written about it much here, but a few months ago, Messy was diagnosed with a plethora of food allergies — and it's made eating out (and eating in general) more difficult. The City Food Tours folks were so incredibly accommodating, making sure that Messy never accidentally ingested any potential allergens. In fact, they were so on the ball, they actually had to remind Messy of her allergy when she forgot and tried to indulge in one delicious-looking treat that happened to contain egg. So, if you have food allergies or other dietary restrictions, don't let it stop you from going on a City Food Tour. They are more than happy to take care of you without making it a big deal.

Here's a video from Philly Homegrown about the local food scene

Our friendly host immediately seated us in an almost empty dining room where we were greeted by some freakishly long silverware. Pesce's dining room decor is all over the place: large stone slab fragment frescoes, mixed texture seating, wooden slat screens and opaque blue water glasses which servers couldn't possibly be able to see through and tell whether or not a diner needs a refill. Our server passed our table over at least eight times through the course of our dinner leaving Picky quite annoyed (he drinks a lot of water).

Pesce is on the higher end of mid-range restaurants with entrees topping out just under $29, with some market price items and daily specials sure to push the ceiling up a bit more. Picky was intrigued at the "market price" listing of lamb chops – he'd never seen that before.

Messy's large mozzarella and tomato stack ($10) was a nice and generous portion. From the menu:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fresh Basil Drizzle & Balsamic Reduction

It was generous, and the pesto dressing was tasty, but the tomatoes and mozzarella just weren't that great. Granted, tomatoes are not in season, and that could account for some of their mealiness, but you can great mouth-watering mozzarella at Claudio's year-round, so there is really no excuse for the overall blandness of this appetizer.

Picky's sausage and broccoli rabe ($18) plate was a nice enough portion served in a gracefully bending rectangular dish. From the menu:

Sweet Sausage & Broccoli Rabe Sautéed in Olive Oil & Garlic tossed with Cavatelli Pasta

The dish was dusted with Parmesan with no extra in sight. Unfortunately, the flavor didn't match the size of the dish. The sausage tasted more like simple breakfast links and the whole dish was underwhelming and dry. The dryness of the dish was only compounded by the servers repeatedly walking past our table without refilling our water glasses. Picky didn't bother asking for extra Parm.

While there were a good amount of non-fish options for Picky to choose from, there were no vegetarian options listed further than the salad section of the menu. Yes, we realize we went to a restaurant specializing in fish dishes, but we've gone to similar eateries and come away with wonderful experiences; see, for example: Kisso and Morimoto.

We finished off our meal with a splurge of two desserts to share. On the left is a chocolate lava cake and at right, a tiramisu. If these two items are on a dessert list, it's a safe bet to say we're going to get them. These were pretty yummy — nothing to write home about, but not disappointing, either.

We're obviously not Joe Pesce's target demographic. But we gave the eatery a shot and they didn't seem to want our palate there. Such is life.

Messy *1/2
Picky * 1/2

The final word: You'll probably want to order the fish.

Joe Pesce Restaurant
1113 Walnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 829-4400
Mon – Thur 4pm-10pm
Fri Sat: 4pm-11pm
Sun: 3pm-9pm