Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
March 6–13, 1997
food|jim Quinn on food: Upstairs Downstairs — Rating the new two-restaurant team at the Rittenhouse.
Nicholas Nickolas
The Rittenhouse on Rittenhouse Square, 546-8440.
Nicholas (Second floor formal restaurant)
FOOD
Fresh fish and great steaks, retro recipes.
ATMOSPHERE
Booming acoustics; cheery gladhanding waiters; up-to-the-minute Middle American fashions.
PRICE
Expensive. Entrees $23 to $46.
THREE AND A HALF STARS
Excellent
The second floor dining room at the Rittenhouse Hotel — all glass facing the park, all cut white marble inside — is an ungainly triangle, broken up by big pillars. It's the new home of Nicholas, one of the two restaurants that make up Nicholas Nickolas (the other, on the lobby level, is called Nick's).
The park is always beautiful — on a rainy night in not-yet-spring, lights shine through bare branch tangles like new pennies buried in black pick-up sticks. But the marble amplifies every sound in the room. Used to be the pillars were painted white, amplifying the mausoleum effect. Nicholas has softened the lights and changed the pillars to soft brown (they look like the world's biggest toilet paper tubes). You still hear everything.
We got The Three Midwest Sisters: schoolteacher ("Thirty-eight girls pregnant! And half of them white! What's Ohio coming to?"); philosopher ("Gosh darn it! A woman's life is like fighting a downhill battle."); penny-pinching sybarite ("Waiter! Bum us another cigarette somewhere. And my rich sisters'll buy another round."). The waitstaff is relentlessly obliging, constantly bringing humble but thoughtful gifts. "I just got my third clean knife," said my dining partner, "and I'm only halfway through my appetizer!" Takes a while getting used to this hearty welcoming gang — my mouth hurt from smiling back — but it is good service.
Nicholas Nickolas started in Hawaii, and spread to the Midwest and South. Many menu items have not been seen in Philly for years. They're so good, they might start a '50s revival. Calamari Sarento ($7.50) was a huge serving of tiny tender squid, chopped bite-size and gently stewed in a mildly hot, buttery, tomato-ey soup. Extravagantly good. And — Philly restaurants please note — it cost less than one-third the entree price. Black & Blue Ahi ($8) was a chunk of sashimi-grade tuna, 4 inches long, 2 inches square, rolled in black pepper, seared only on its paper-thin outer edge, sliced and served raw on a reddish mustard sauce. An outstanding appetizer.
Most of the fish is old news in Philly: swordfish, salmon, striped bass, Dover sole (!) and tuna. I got cioppino ($26.50), a great California recipe obsoleted in the '60s by Spago cuisine. Even the name is a California invention. Linguists guess that it comes from taking the word "Chop" adding "ino" as in, "Hi Ho, Steverino," and then spelling it in Italian. Who could resist? A big bowl of tomato fish stock, curled mini-lobster tails, scallops, shrimp, tiny clams, slices of mild sausage, string beans and bell pepper. Delicious, and huge even for the price. Cowboy Steak ($33), 22 ounces, promised "Beans, Beans, Beans." It was a perfect medium rare, charred black, a big rib bone sticking out one side, on an over-salty beans and bacon mix too meager to hurt the meat. Real tender beef texture, just enough chew to keep you interested.
Key lime pie ($6.50) is certainly the best tasting lime filling ever, excellent crust, and excellent caramelled meringue. Chocolate hazelnut torte ($6) is extra-chocolatey, with crunchy nut texture, and real whipped cream.
