Il Pittore

La Spinetta Wine Dinner at Il Pittore

Posted by Alex Tewfik on April 30th, 2013

Surrender yourself to a night of opulence.

You’ll feel good about it, I promise, and you’ll feel it the moment you walk in. It might, at first, feel like it’s too much; the hostesses are too pretty, the lighting is too perfect, it smells too good. But then you’ll stop and remember the days you dreamt of being where you were at this exact moment, in one of the best restaurants in the city, drinking some of the best wines in the world. That’s when the word “too” goes up for interpretation.

On Tuesday, May 7th, Giorgio Rivetti, of world-renown La Spinetta winery, will be joining chef Chris Painter for a night of Italian splendor. The wines are rare—some you won’t find anywhere in Pennsylvania, and others you won’t find anywhere in the country. And just as rare are occasions such as these, and while each seat is $225, there are only 40 seats left. Call to reserve.

The Menu»

About Saturday Night: Chip Roman Debuts New Candy Line and Jen Carroll Helps Out

Posted by Foobooz on March 25th, 2013

Saturday Night was ACHIEVEability’s Food for Thought charity event, where more than thirty local restaurants prepared tasting plates for guests of the event.

HughE Dillon was there and in this photo captured just about all the news to be had at the charity event. Chip Roman, owner of Blackfish, Mica and Ela was on hand showing off his new line of Bluestone candies. Jen Carroll was helping out Phoebe Esmon as Esmon served a couple of different punches for the assembled, but Carroll couldn’t help but come to the aid of Karl Isaiah, of Cake Boulangerie, who was serving solo next to Esmon’s cocktail stand.

Our favorite dishes »

Serpico On Serpico: Some News On His Forthcoming Restaurant

Posted by Jason Sheehan on February 22nd, 2013

Hey, check it out! Some asshole New York writer made the long trek to the wilds of Philadelphia to check out the Peter Serpico/Chris Painter collaboration dinner at Il Pittore and get an interview with Serpico–in which he behaved like an asshole New Yorker.

If you can get past all the references to us being a bunch of dimwitted, white bread, big-box-restaurant-loving yokels with our mouths stuffed full of Buddakan potstickers, there’s actually some interesting stuff in there about what Serpico has planned for the new restaurant.

Read on…

Serpico’s Second Act [Bon Appetit]

Peter Serpico at Il Pittore

Posted by Jason Sheehan on February 21st, 2013

We dispatched photographer Kate Van Vleck to Il Pittore on Tuesday night to snap some shots of the Peter Serpico, Chris Painter collaboration dinner at Il Pittore. For those of you who don’t recall the hysteria that attended the announcement in September that Stephen Starr had apparently sold another piece of his soul to the devil in order to woo David Chang’s right-hand-man, Peter Serpico, away from his position in the Momofuku empire, let me assure you that it was a very big deal. Funny thing is, September was a long time ago, and since the announcement Serpico hasn’t really done…anything. Or at least nothing that really had his name attached to it.

This Painter/Serpico mashup at Il Pittore was really Serpico’s first public appearance in Philly. His coming out party, as it were. And from the looks of things, it went pretty well.

Check out the photos »

Painter and Serpico, Together for One Night at Il Pittore

Posted by Alex Tewfik on January 22nd, 2013

The similarities between the two chefs count little to none. Chef Chris Painter, a Pottsville, PA native, stands on eurocentric culinary grounds, masterfully crafting creative takes on modern Northern Italian cuisine at his namesake restaurant on Sansom Street. This, of course, being a relatively new venture after stepping away from his post as culinary director of Starr Restaurant Group.

Peter Serpico, on the other hand, was the culinary director for a different empire. He was the taste buds and visionary for the asian-inspired, edgy-yet-sophisticated menus spewing from David Chang’s Momofoku empire—an empire that has dotted the culinary map of New York, Sydney, and Toronto. So what do they have in common besides once being culinary directors for successful restaurant groups?

Tasting Menu Launches at Il Pittore

Posted by Alex Tewfik on November 14th, 2012

Chef Chris Painter has put together a six-course tasting menu option for his Sansom Street restaurant, Il Pittore. Although the regular menu is designed in a way that you can “create your own tasting menu”, the six-course option will feature seasonally inspired ingredients and dishes. The menu is $100 and the chef asks that all members of the table participate in the tasting.

The full menu after the jump »

Six Pack: Suckling Pig In Philadelphia

Posted by Alex Tewfik on October 9th, 2012

Editor’s Note: This week, we’re going to be introducing our new army of interns to you, the Foobooz readership. And it occurred to us that what better way for you to get to know them a little then for them to tell you all about something they loved to eat. Thus, we set them each to assembling their own Foobooz Six Pack, focusing on something they loved.

Our first submission came from Alex Tewfik, a student at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA. As a food and restaurant enthusiast, Alex spends every waking moment of his day inventing new ways to keep himself eating while hiding how fat he actually is from the rest of the world.

Take it away, Alex…

Matyson’s Suckling Pig Sundays are no more. They have moved on to bigger things. Fortunately, the rest of the city hasn’t. So if you need to satiate your suckling pig cravings, there are plenty of places in and around the city that know how to cook that piglet just right. So with that in mind, here it is: The best places to get suckling pig in Philadelphia.

Slow Roasted Suckling Pig at Il Pittore

Chef Chris Painter’s claim to fame at his semi-eponymous restaurant, Il Pittore, takes three whole days to perfect, and that’s exactly what it ends up being: perfect. Cured in salt, sugar, and herbs for 15 hours, it’s then slow roasted for 12 hours, then buried in pig fat, then portioned and pressed over night. The slow-roasted meat sits on a bed of whole baby carrots and sautéed cavalo nero, swimming in a rich guanciale jus. Crowned with sweet pear mostarda, this pig is a real beauty.

Il Pittore (Rittenhouse)
2025 Sansom Street
215-391-4900

More suckling pig this way…

Three Stars for Il Pittore

Posted by Foobooz on January 31st, 2012

Trey Popp’s second review in this months Philadelphia magazine has praise for Chris Painter, who lays it on the line at Il Pittore.

Painter’s slow-cooked meats are all the silkiness you need. There are veal cheeks here with buttered beef marrow, blood-orange marmalade melting into them in a dance of citric tang and sweetness—the best I’ve ever had. So, too, the four-day suckling pig: cured, basted, boned, pressed flat under weights, and finally coaxed to a crisp-skinned perfection. No two ways about it: The guy has a way with baby mammals.

Three Stars – Excellent

Il Pittore – The Hard Sell [Philadelphia magazine]
Il Pittore [Official Site]

Three Bells for Il Pittore

Posted by Foobooz on January 23rd, 2012

Chris Painter finally has a stage to call his own and Craig LaBan likes what he sees at Il Pittore.

The octopus was both tender and delicately crisped over arugula puree and the zesty pickle of baby peppers. The meaty orata fillet with minced olives and fregola sarda was like tasting the Mediterranean. The rosemary-scented lamb shank came over mashed potatoes tweaked with subtle hazelnut warmth. But the other braised meats were the real showstoppers: amazingly tender veal cheeks over earthy buckwheat polenta topped with marrow butter and blood-orange marmalade; and a slow-cooked suckling pig and Tuscan kale and pear mostarda, the meat practically melting beneath its cracker-crisp skin and eliciting an actual “wow.”

Three Bells – Excellent

Il Pittore [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Il Pittore [Official Site]

Food Struggles to Justify the Tally at Il Pittore

Posted by Foobooz on December 22nd, 2011

Adam Erace visits Il Pittore to try Chris Painter’s food at his own restaurant (the Starr director of menu development finally has a place of his own). Erace laments the slip-ups and the lack of value.

Painter gives octopus-and-potato salad, the classic found in Italian port cities, an inspired twist. Tentacles get simmered in white wine, cooked sous-vide for 10 hours and crisped in a blazing cast-iron pan before rendezvousing with buttery poached fingerlings and pickled bell peppers in a column that rises from a pool of zippy arugula purée. Crunchy and soft, smoky and bright, rich and austere, this antipasto packs multiple flavor and texture contradictions, and I loved it.

I also loved the savory spin on the classic Christmas cookies, pizzelles. Speckled with rosemary, parsley and thyme, the thin, emerald-tinted waffle crisps were effective crostini for Painter’s custardy foie gras mousse served with spice-warmed lambrusco and apple-Prosecco jellies.

A Fresh Coat [City Paper]
Il Pittore [Official Site]

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