Cucina Pazzo

Cucina Pazzo
10th and Wolf streets
215-755-5400
Cash only
Not wheelchair-accessible
BYOB

One of the newest restaurants to join the BYOB explosion is Cucina Pazzo at 10th and Wolf. Longtime South Philly residents recall this corner as the site of Priori’s, which opened during the Depression. When Priori’s closed, chef Michael Moss, who once worked at the Union League, and his brother Jason took over the spot, and they hosted its grand opening just last weekend.

My husband and I toted along a bottle of Chianti Pietrafitta Reserva to enjoy with our dinner. A young man greeted us and showed us to a roomy table covered in crisp white linen and matching napkins. The Moss brothers have applied some cosmetic touchups to the small dining room. The stucco walls are now bright white and trimmed with lovely sconces. The old bar and thick brown vertical railings — both Priori’s leftovers — are intact, but Cucina Pazzo is still a restaurant in the making.

Two young men took very good care of us. Our waiter opened our wine and told us about three specials, albeit without prices. We received a loaf of warm semolina bread and a small dish of delicious olive oil laced with finely chopped black olives.

I began dinner with grilled calamari ($9), while Edward opted for a mixed green salad ($6). I received about a half-dozen thick squid, each about 2 inches long, which had been slightly grilled and were too chewy. The white bean salad that accompanied the calamari was, on the other hand, well done and tasty. Moss placed a small sampling of still-toothy cool white beans, added some chopped fresh radicchio and dressed the squid and salad in a light lemon vinaigrette.

Edward’s salad consisted of a mound of ordinary but fresh mixed greens, bits of roasted peppers, tangy black olives, tiny bits of provolone and tomato wedges. The salad was properly dressed in a red wine vinaigrette.

The four pastas on offer at Cucina Pazzo can be ordered as appetizers or entrées. I’ve been eating so much gnocchi in gorgonzola sauce lately that I wanted to sample something different, and I found it here — orecchiette ("little ears") with seafood and broccoli rabe ($17).

This dish was an absolute triumph, each ingredient in tasty balance with the other. Moss cooked the orecchiette al dente and placed them, steaming hot, in a large white bowl. He added bits of not-at-all-bitter broccoli rabe tossed in the right touch of Parmesan. Tiny, toothsome sweet rock shrimp were tossed with the pasta. Four littleneck clams, still in their shells, were placed on top. The dish was finished in a heavenly light white wine sauce. It was the best pasta dish I’ve had in recent memory. The portion was so large, we toted some home.

Chicken and veal dishes form the six entrées on Cucina Pazzo’s menu. Tuna was a special that evening, served over a tossed salad, but we were in a meat mood, so Edward ordered chicken and sausage and I decided on the veal cutlet (both $15). The menu states the veal cutlet is served over linguine, but I asked our accommodating waiter if I could have a vegetable instead. He had mentioned a special made with arugula, one of my favorite spicy greens, so I asked him if I could have some sautéed arugula with olive oil and garlic. He checked, returned and said some radicchio would even be added to the arugula.

The entrées we sampled were not as successful as that perfect plate of pasta. My dish contained a large piece of lightly breaded veal that was overcooked and topped with a tomato sauce that was too sweet for my taste. Thick slices of mozzarella topped the cutlet but had not melted because my dinner arrived cold. Instead of the arugula and radicchio, I received a nice-sized bowl of mixed greens tossed with slices of sautéed garlic and lightly dressed in vinaigrette.

Edward’s chicken was cooked just right but the dish lacked eye appeal. The chicken shared a plate with a mound of cool, lumpy mashed potatoes and a bit of overcooked zucchini. A sausage patty sat next to the chicken along with a scattering of kalamata olives. Each ingredient sat in a pool of thin tomato sauce that was described on the menu as a ragu, but a ragu sauce contains beef.

While we were dining, a couple arrived and so did a party of three. Each table received perfect service because our waiter and his assistant kept a watchful eye all evening. The wait for our entrées was about a half-hour.

When I mentioned Cucina Pazzo is a restaurant in the making, I was not just talking about the decor. Moss obviously is finding his way — the pasta was proof of that — and the restaurant has real potential in a neighborhood full of very good Italian eateries. I would love to see a salad of romaine, arugula, radicchio, baby spinach and endive, and sides of broccoli rabe, steamed asparagus or sautéed spinach with entrées.

Our waiter brought us the bill and told us there would be no charge for the veal cutlet. It was a pleasant surprise.

One-and-a-half tips of the toque to Cucina Pazzo.