Post Kitchen Nightmares Chiarella’s

The decidedly old-school Chiarella’s on East Passyunk recently survived a visit from Gordon Ramsay and his Kitchen Nightmares crew. How does that sort of thing change a place? Trey Popp finds out in this month’s revisit.

The menu, to be sure, is better attuned to the times—at least in its length, which has been trimmed by a good three-quarters. The exhaustive listing of veal done a dozen ways, pork in a dozen similar ones, etc., has been replaced with a more streamlined range of offerings. There’s also at least one addition that qualifies as trendy: diminutive arancini that were flawlessly executed, even if the dots of smoked paprika aioli were too small to register.

Restaurant Review: Chiarella’s Revisited [Philadelphia magazine]
Chiarella’s [Official Site]