The Fitzwater Café

The Fitzwater Café
Seventh and Fitzwater streets
215-629-0428
Cash-only BYOB
Free parking
Bathroom on ground floor
Open for dinner Monday-Friday, 5-9:30 p.m.

Weeknights are the best nights to dine out. Chefs and their staff truly appreciate your patronage, service is rarely rushed, there are no noisy crowds hankering for a table and dinner turns into a leisurely meal.

It is perhaps for these reasons that Richard Santore, who owns The Saloon, decided to serve dinner Monday through Friday at The Fitzwater Café, his delightful neighborhood restaurant. I knew The Fitzwater Café had been keeping Queen Village and Bella Vista residents quite content for breakfast and lunch. So for nights when you just can’t bring yourself to face the stove, select a bottle of wine and enjoy.

The Fitzwater Café seats 32 but it is a large, open restaurant, equipped with perfect lighting, comfortable tables with linen napkins and an engaging staff. It reminds me of an ice cream parlor, probably because of the inviting fountain-like bar with high chairs in the front room. A display case of sweets greets you at the door. Just beyond is the open kitchen.

My husband and I were shown to a table for four and our server opened our Côte du Rhône, which warmed us up on a brutally cold night. A young man brought us a loaf of bread — which could have been warmed in the oven a bit — and dishes of homemade red roasted peppers and extra-virgin olive oil.

Oscar Reyes is the chef in charge at The Fitzwater Café. I always enjoyed his cucina when he cooked at Ristorante Primavera, one of my favorite spots. He has put together a marvelous menu, with an emphasis on fresh seafood. It is true Italian fare chock full of surprises. You won’t find fried calamari, Caesar salad, flounder stuffed with crabmeat, crab cakes, chicken or veal Marsala and more of the usual run-of-the-mill dishes found in the majority of Italian restaurants. No weird combinations of ingredients are tossed together and served on a plate; only simple fare prepared with fine ingredients.

Edward began dinner with a large bowl of piping hot white bean soup ($4), brimming with chunks of carrots, celery and onions. The broth was tasty and free of salt. This soup was the quintessential nonna‘s homemade.

I first tasted the classic shrimp and white bean antipasto at Tre Scalini many years ago. Reyes’ version ($8) consisted of a large mound of white beans, several perfectly grilled good-sized shrimp, and slightly bitter radicchio leaves that were sautéed in olive oil with the right touch of garlic. I especially enjoyed the smoky flavor of the grilled shrimp. But I found the beans to be a bit mushy.

Seven pastas are on offer at The Fitzwater Café. Edward and I decided to share the pasta misto ($14), a combination plate of gnocchi and ravioli. Ever since Maria Forte offered her homemade versions at her various restaurants, chefs have included gnocchi on their menus. Sometimes they come straight from a bag and are presented hard as rocks, sometimes chefs attempt to make them. It’s difficult to find perfect gnocchi; they must be light and melt in your mouth.

Reyes’ gnocchi were light, dreamy little pillows of potato enhanced by a simple tomato basil sauce. The ravioli, also homemade, were filled with minced shrimp and crab. Although the ravioli dough was silky, I thought these dumplings could have used a few more minutes of cooking time because the seafood was a bit dry. Still, Edward and I finished them off with ease.

Unless you have been living deep in the Australian Outback, you know bronzino has become the fish of choice in Italian and seafood restaurants. This farm-raised fish has a light flavor and meaty texture. I’ve tasted it in a number of restaurants where it was grilled and filleted tableside. Reyes came up with an inspiring alternative ($20): He baked the fish in parchment.

The meaty fillet was placed in parchment paper along with crabmeat, shrimp, mussels and littleneck clams, all prepared in a light marinara broth to keep the fish moist and flavorful, then sealed and baked. This dish was just heavenly in taste and texture. I have not seen ingredients baked in parchment on restaurant menus for years. This method keeps the ingredients hot, and care must be taken when you open the package.

Fresh red snapper ($17) was another inspired choice. I received two perfectly cooked fillets of flavorful red snapper, which were quickly seared and placed in a pool of sauce made with fish stock, fresh lemon juice and saffron. Reyes added steamed littleneck clams and several meaty sautéed shrimp to my dinner. The sauce was downright delicious, brimming with flavor, and didn’t congeal on the plate like so many sauces do. Both entrées arrived with piping hot small cubes of crisp roasted potatoes and a generous helping of pencil-thin asparagus that retained a bit of crunch.

Obviously the dinner menu at The Fitzwater Café was carefully planned before the first order was taken. I wish more neighborhood restaurants would follow Reyes’ lead. He runs a fine kitchen, knows his ingredients and works with a staff who took good care of us and the other patrons during our dinner.

The surprise ending to our meal was a complimentary glass of homemade grappa, served in a pretty pony glass, and a plate of homemade almond cookies dusted with superfine sugar that were so deliciously decadent, we bought a bag to go home with us.

Two-and-a-half tips of the toque to The Fitzwater Café.