Jerry wrote: >Looking for a good Italian restaurant in South Philly for this week-end. >Appreciate any help. I recently had a very nice meal at Asaggi. Smallish place. Their main gimmick is the "Pasta Assaggi," wherein the patron chooses three pasta/rissotto dishes to be put on the same plate. I was in a party of four, one of us chose this as a first course, and I chose it as my second. She had spaghetti putanesca (spicy red sauce), risotto with artichoke hearts, and penne with salmon and cream sauce. She reported the first as "sublime," the risotto as very good, and the penne somehwat disappointing, since it had been excellent on a previous visit. I had a simple but very tasty isalata di fagioli as a first course -- white beans marinated in olive oil, some sort of vinegar, and fresh herbs. For my Asaggi, I chose risotto ai funghi, with shitakes and criminis, the ravioli with red sauce that my father had had as a first course, and fettucine with more 'shrooms and a pink sauce. The two with mushrooms were really great (I'm a sucker for pink sauce), and the ravioli were very nice if not inspiring. Two others had veal dishes, and one person had a shrimp dish, which were all reported as good, but the highlight there is definitely the pasta and risotto. If I were to go back, I'd probably do salads and other stuff for apps and pasta for the main, and skip the meat dishes. The wine list is short, uncomplicated and fairly inexpensive, topping out around $30. We had a very good Barbera for $24. The pastas are around $7-8, salads $4-5, and the mains $13-17 as best I remember. Two other notes -- Felicia's was rather poor last time I was there (same dining companions, with mom instead of dad), and the Victor Cafe, which is where they have wonderful opera-singing waiters, was very good when I was there a little over a year ago, but generally has a reputation as being all about great atmosphere and not so hot on the cuisine.
Philadelphia, PA