A dinner too epic not to share… also probably the most expensive dinner I’ve ever had so I need to make sure I can recall it for years to come, haha. Vetri= amazing. The whole dining experience there was definitely five star or whatever they say… everyone was professional and knowledgeable about the menu. Chef Vetri is a James Beard award winner and Vetri is also named one of the top 10 restaurants in Philly for 2015 (and many other years!). Pat and I are foodie geeks and get psyched about those types of prestigious awards so I figured I’d share… Anyways on to the food… FYI Sunday night was our 1st Anniversary and this is a recap our dinner celebration!
Next was bread and some sort of fancy olives in oil. I didn’t take a picture of this but I ate about 10 olives… they are so good and always remind me of Greece <3 I did a good job of only eating one small piece of bread to save room for all the deliciousness!
It’s a chef’s tasting menu that is customized…. Sort of a more individualized pre fix menu. You looked over the menu and shared preference (no red meat for me, I love fish, I have to try dish X, don’t give me dish Y) and the server reports this to the chef who customizes a menu just for you. I love this because you won’t get something you hate, but you still get to be a little surprised. Here is what I ate:
Third course we actually got the same 3 pasta small plates: spinach gnocchi with brown butter, almond tortellini with truffle sauce, and taleggio ravioli with vincotto. Pat’s favorite was the spinach gnocchi and announced it as his favorite way to eat spinach, haha. I think I liked the ravioli best but all the sauces were fantastic.
My first course was granchio in tiepido– king Alaskan crab with snail butter- something like that and it sounds really weird but it was fantastic… both one of mine and Pat’s favorites. I should note that Pat got different dishes from me since his preferences are more of the meaty variety, but we shared bites.
We started with a small tray of snacks from the chef: this included prosciutto, polento crusted veggie and herb tart, foie gras and shaved yellow tail. Well something like that anyways, it wasn’t on the menu and I didn’t take notes and of course there were fancy words, but this was basically what it was. Don’t hate me but foie gras is delicious. I never order it because I feel guilty/weird but I will have a bite if someone else does… it’s incredibly rich and creamy, if you ever get the chance to try it don’t be scared, go for it! Also with this was sliced veggies with a balsamic crema that was so amazing all I want to do is try to make it myself…
Second course was mushroom stuffed quail with sweet onion agrodolce very different from anything I’ve had before but I really really enjoyed it!
My entrée was the whole fish “secondo il mercato” which was branzino. Confession: I’ve actually always been intimidated to order a whole fish before so I was super excited this is what they brought me, especially cool because they bring you out the salt coated and herb stuffed whole fish before they filet it for you!! Once fileted it was served with charred Brussels sprouts which paired well with the fish and olive oil herb sauce.
Fourth course for me was the seppia spaghetti with manila clams. More pasta and seafood, two of my favorite things. This picture is really terrible because of restaurant lighting. There were also zucchini noodles with it which was nice to get some veggies in!
Pre-desssert (yes they served us pre-dessert) was petit fours and sorbet that I believe was strawberry with rhubarb. These pictures are super shadowy but the macaroon was stuffed with a chocolate ganache and that was probably my favorite.
Dessert for me was peanut butter flan with milk chocolate gelato. I kinda expected the flan to be cold but it was more like a lava cake and oozed peanut butter- so good. Pat was served the chocolate polento soufflé so we shared lots of bites!! They even added candles for our anniversary celebration.
Although pretty much every couple or group there was celebrating an anniversary or birthday so I didn’t feel super special…. But it is definitely a special occasion restaurant and was absolutely perfect for our 1st anniversary! I should note that we skipped out on the $90/person wine pairing (too expensive and too much vino for me) and each just enjoyed one glass of wine- we had to make sure something was moderated, haha. This was an extremely large, rich, and amazing meal and not something we indulge in very often. But remember it’s important to enjoy good food and not restrict yourself. Everything I ate was not the healthiest but I thoroughly and mindfully enjoyed every bite! It was a 3 hour dinner so it was really a true experience and not about stuffing your face. I like to share things like this because I’m human too and I don’t go out to eat and only order salads. That being said I was a little too full at the end of the meal (definitely got my money’s worth!) and did have a bit of stomach ache during the night… and it was difficult to get my wedding ring on Monday morning (too much salt!) but I wouldn’t change a thing. We set the bar high for our 1st anniversary and I can’t wait for continued adventures with my love!
