Eating my way through Portland recently made me very aware that I
don’t know the food scene in my own neighborhood. Northeast Philadelphia is a
bit of a food and cultural desert. The area is industrial, the locals largely
Irish. I know six bars I could crawl home from, and they all have pretty much
the same menu. Now I love great wings and burgers just like the next gal, but then
last weekend an acquaintance asked me to dinner. And insisted I choose the venue. It gave me a perfect excuse to do a
little restaurant exploration in my own neck of the woods.
Set unobtrusively into a strip mall next to several offices and an
Asian restaurant, I almost missed Il Polpo the first time. That’s right, I’ve
been more than once. It is rare, indeed, that I visit a restaurant multiple
times before I review it. The premise of my column dictates that I judge the way
the “Average Jo” would, and subsequently restaurants get one shot with me
before I decide whether I want to make a second trip. It speaks volumes that I’ve
made two trips to Il Polpo in the span of a week. I simply couldn’t pop out a
review fast enough to beat my return.
The décor is understated and provides an atmosphere that’s easy to
spend time in. The walls are painted a muted-apricot, and hung with single
pieces of blue and white pottery in large brown frames. The room seats maybe
forty at its max, and the tables are set with true linens and an array of
glassware. The light is dim without being too dark to see the food – just the
right light for a romantic evening or sipping wine with a friend. My favorite
detail is the beautiful clear hinge-corked bottles of tap water are chilled. So
while adhering to the Italian belief that ice hurts the tummy, I still get to
drink my water cold.
I’ve had the pleasure of sampling many things at this point. The appetizer
special of Mussels and Clams is served in a red sauce, pureed smooth. It’s a
little salty, but perfect with a hunk of bread. A plate of house-made ricotta
spread on bread rounds with various toppings: prosciutto, smoked salmon,
cucumber, radish, and roasted peppers. The texture of the ricotta is perfect (as
a later slice of cheesecake would confirm), small grained and oh-so-creamy, and
the whole plate is a bargain at $6. The Braised Octopus is perfectly cooked –
tender and succulent, served over potatoes and white beans in citrus
vinaigrette – and at $9, is large enough to have sustained me as a light meal. 
Their salads, however, are not quite on the mark. A very pink
strawberry vinaigrette overpowered the pears of a mixed green salad with blue
cheese, while the creamy citrus vinaigrette of an arugula salad was a tad too
sweet. (I’ll cut the chef some slack: he’s new, and the majority of the menu
belonged to his predecessor.)
Entrees were dazzling: the Polpo Misto ($24)– jumbo shrimp,
calamari tubes and tentacles, octopus, and salmon, all done on the grill – had me
plotting my return, while a dorado special came to the table in whole form, brilliantly
flaky, accompanied by a sweet and salty orange and olive salsa and zesty lemon
dill sauce with the texture of a very smooth pesto.
The young Albanian chef, Arsen (“think of the fire,” he offers) is the most recent addition to the
restaurant, claiming a mere two weeks of the year they have been in business. On the
first visit I asked to speak to him for a moment, and he openly conversed about
food, plating, and what he’s playing with for the upcoming expanded menu. There’s
no ego there; just strength and confidence, and a genuine passion for making
beautiful and delicious dishes.
For the sake of tradition, “Would I come back here?” Yes. After my
first meal I asked myself, Am I so
excited because they are an oasis in a food desert? Can they hold their own if
you factor out the lack of competition? They can. My craving for that
seafood misto put me back in the restaurant not even a week after the first
bite I put in my mouth. And there are numerous other things on the menu that
speak to me: lamb kabobs (which our waiter raved about as the best thing on the
menu), a rib-eye steak with gorgonzola butter…and I haven’t even delved into
pasta yet.
When (and I say “when”, not “if”) you head for dinner here, make
sure to bring your own wine. (The restaurant is BYOB.) I want to see this place
do well, and not just because Northeast Philadelphia is lacking in small original
restaurants or because the food is good, but because the staff is friendly and the
ambiance is friendly and the chef is friendly…the restaurant has serious potential.
I’ll definitely be back.
Il Polpo
9825 Bustleton Avenue
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 677-2224 or (215) 609-6864
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