Chef’s perfectionism leads to Bliss for customers

By LEN LEAR

Even among the professional cooking fraternity, where relentless labor and perfectionism are as essential for survival as oxygen, Francesco Martorella stands out. If you’ve eaten at any of Philadelphia’s finest restaurants in recent years, you’ve probably tasted his food, even if his name is not familiar to you.

The South Philadelphia native, who spent his summers growing up in Italy’s Abruzzi region, watching his grandfather make fresh pasta and olive oil, has been a chef at the Four Seasons Hotel, Ciboulette, Brasserie Perrier, Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Stephen Starr’s Pod and Avenue B.

“He is a very demanding boss,” said Angela Shapiro, co-owner (with husband, Ken) of Maya Bella, Conshohocken’s hottest new restaurant, who worked for Francesco at Brasserie Perrier. “Once when I was still new, I did something wrong, and he was so tough on me, he made me cry. Eventually, though, I realized that in order to become a great chef, you cannot accept anything less than perfection, and that’s why his food is so outstanding. Now that I know what it takes to run a restaurant and get all the details right, I have the utmost respect for Francesco.”

After plying his trade for so many employers, Martorella finally opened his own restaurant, Bliss, at 220-224 S. Broad St., last November. Coincidentally, the restaurant is located next to the Bellevue Hotel, where Francesco’s father, who died two years ago, was once a chef.

Martorella, whose cuisine was described by Gourmet magazine as “a cookery course in a capsule,” marries Asian, Italian, American and French ingredients and techniques. For example, an Italian preparation of carpaccio is combined with Asian ingredients such as ginger, seaweed salad and bluefin tuna for a very appetizing appetizer. Or he will roast a Maine lobster with a Chinese five-spice blend and glaze it with Merlot wine for a sublime entree.

We were especially blown away by an appetizer of four feather-light ginger shrimp dumplings with baby shiitake mushrooms and a coconut/ginger sauce and by a Swiss chocolate fondue dessert with banana, pineapple, kiwi, figs and a chocolate brownie. Entrees range in price from $10 to $19 for lunch and $18 to $29 for dinner. A bar menu offers a selection of dishes such as tiger shrimp spring rolls and crispy risotto cheese beignets, from $7 to $24.

The contemporary design of Bliss starts with an all-glass exterior that makes pedestrians feel almost like voyeurs. The two-level restaurant seats 72 indoors and 20 more at outdoor tables. While the exterior fills Bliss with sunlight by day, a backlit rear wall bearing an image of water illuminates the restaurant like a jewel box by night. Visual references to water are evoked throughout the property. Flanking the bar, two open windows provide guests with a view into the kitchen, whose enticing aromas waft into the bar area.

Many center city restaurants are practically dying in the summertime, but during our recent Thursday night visit to Bliss, by 8 p.m. every outdoor table and first floor indoor table was occupied, as well as every seat at the bar. For more information, call 215-731-1100 or visit www.bliss-restaurant.com

(Interestingly, I ran into Chestnut Hill restaurateur Paul Roller last Friday when I was returning a rented car to Magarity Ford, and I asked him if he had been to Bliss yet. I can always count on Paul for a brutally frank opinion about another chef or restaurant. “Yes. We were there recently,” said Paul. “I am very familiar with Francesco’s food. When he opened Brasserie Perrier, the food was sensational, but after a while it went down. I wondered what had happened to Francesco or even if he was still in the kitchen there. The food was very ordinary. But now that I’ve been to Bliss, there is no doubt that Francesco is back. Everything was imaginative and absolutely wonderful. I’m anxious to go back again.”)