2012 Sansom St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 875-8116
The third time was the charm. After two failed attempts to get into Melograno, the highly-acclaimed BYOB that recently relocated to 21st and Sansom from its former Filter Square location, my husband and I decided we wouldn't take no for an answer. We packed up our favorite chianti, hopped on the bus and by 7:15 on a Saturday night had our name on the list, with just one hour to kill before our table was ready.
Though its new digs are much bigger than the former location, getting a table at the no-reservations Melograno can be a challenge. The kitchen closes at 9:45 pm and the stream of prospective diners is seemingly never-ending; getting there any later than around 8:00 pm means that there's a good chance you'll be wandering around Center City with your bottle of wine in search of another BYOB. Twice, we've stopped by at around 8:00 pm and been told that the list was done for the night. But this time, they took our phone number and promised to call when our table was ready. Our name securely written down, we headed to O'Shea's down the block for a quick beer while we waited for my phone to ring.
"Are you sure you can hear it? Do you want me to hold it? Why don't you put it on vibrate so you don't miss it." We spent a good part of our hour at O'Shea's staring at the phone sitting between us on the bar. There was no way we were missing this dinner.
I'm glad we didn't. Though our wait was closer to an hour and a half, it was worth it. The room is big, and if you block out the other diners, you feel like you're in the bright, open farmhouse kitchen of some fabulous friend in Tuscany (not that I have such a friend, but I aspire to someday...I hope his name is Paolo). Creamy walls, rustic-looking wainscoting, shabby-chic sideboards, and plenty of bright flowers mark the room, with some large black-and-white photos of happy-looking Italians lining the walls. There's an open kitchen at one end of the room, putting out beautiful looking and delicious-smelling dishes without pause.
Food-wise, we were glad we waited. The menu isn't huge, but there's enough variety to satisfy any kind of eater. It's upscale but simple Italian - handmade pastas and whole-roasted fish seemed to be the biggest sellers of the night. I settled on an appetizer of a smoky roasted artichoke and sea scallops, which left wanting to lick the lemony sauce from my plate. Keith's "Melograno salad" was simple (baby greens, tomato, some endive and radicchio), but had a deliciously tangy pomegranate-balsamic dressing that, well, made me want to lick the plate again (for the record, I didn't lick either plate). We split a pasta course of simple {spaghetti alla vongole}, with tiny, sweet littlenecks, diced tomatoes, and what I'm pretty sure was an entire head of roasted garlic in a perfect white wine sauce. This is the kind of dish that can be either very right or very wrong, and Melograno nailed it.
Keith's entree was pretty much his ideal meal: a perfectly crunchy, perfectly juicy breaded chicken cutlet, topped with a sort of de-constructed caprese salad: lightly-dressed arugula, prosciutto, sliced tomatoes, and some of the freshest mozzarella I've ever tasted. I had a pork special that was fantastic - a juicy pork loin cooked with prunes, served with sweet potatoes, and topped with a creamy gorgonzola sauce. Nothing to complain about at all.
Winding down on our wine and both stuffed, we couldn't pass up a spiced molten chocolate cake that was heady with warm spices and served with a scoop of vanilla gelato.
The nice thing was that even though the crowd at the door was steady and thick, we never felt rushed by our waiter or the chefs; it makes you appreciate them cutting off the waitlist. Now that we know the secrets of Melograno - get there early, be prepared to wait, and eat as much as you possibly can - we'll be back.
by Tara Pierson Hoey
[Photos: Wendy Ng]