By Brian Freedman
ON THE SURFACE, THE logic is flawless: Why would a Center City dweller leave town for a meal when there are more than enough great restaurants right here, a mere walk or cab ride away? Why fight half an hour of traffic on the Expressway when a quick hop to any neighborhood in the city is no more than a few minutes away? For the most part, this argument holds up: From Philadelphia’s grandest temples of gastronomy to its quaintest neighborhood BYOBs, downtown has it all. With one exception, of course: We don’t have Savona.
In the words of the esteemed Michelin Guide, Savona has always been one of those rare restaurants that is “worth the drive,” the famously finicky guide’s highest level of three-star praise. I’ve visited the Gulph Mills stalwart several times over the past few years, but hadn’t been there in nearly two. Earlier last month, I decided that the time had come to take a look at how it was doing. The timing was just right: Savona will be closed now until Mother’s Day for a renovation and a partial reconcepting (more on that later), and they had recently brought on one of the top sommeliers in the region, Melissa Monosoff, to handle their wine program.
This visit, then, was a chance to experience one of our region’s great restaurants on the cusp of a new and exciting time in its existence. Service, as always, was impeccable. Indeed, Savona is one of the few restaurants in the area — Le Bec-Fin and Lacroix also immediately come to mind — that manages to find that difficult middle ground between proper European hospitality and quintessentially American inclusiveness. Stepping through the doors, for example, it is made abundantly clear that you’re in for an experience and not just a meal; but, at the same time, the warmth and enthusiasm of the staff immediately melts away any fears of stuffiness. This is a tough trick to pull off, and one that Savona excels at every night. Then again, how could the staff not be excited about providing the experience they do? Chef Andrew Masciangelo’s food is as inventive, exuberant, and, yes, precise as always, and Monosoff ’s wine philosophy pairs perfectly.
An appetizer like escargots “osso bucco” encapsulates the Savona experience, and acts as a sort of in situ embodiment of what to expect from an evening there. The flavors on the dish ran the gamut from the perfectly earthy (snails, veal jus) to the hauntingly and ever-so-subtly sweet (leeks) to the surprising (the unexpected marrow bone in the middle). And the presentation — it mimicked a traditional osso bucco — possessed enough whimsy to make even the most dour gastronome smile. Other dishes were more straightforward in conception, and managed to shine by virtue of their richness of flavor. A pappardelle appetizer, for example, was nothing short of a study of the range of mushroom textures and aromas.
Exquisitely cooked pasta was folded with cipollini, porcini, and black truffles, all of them given both further depth and an unexpected tang from a hit of smoked pecorino. The balance here was fabulously calibrated. Even less expected — or, rather, less familiar — combinations came off as seamless. Muscovy duck breast with nutty faro, beets, bright radish, endive, and vaguely exotic preserved lemon seemed like the most natural preparation in the world even though I’d never had that particular combination of ingredients before.