Nicky Fischer’s Restaurant and Bar

Fine dining, fine bargains from new kid on the block

By Len Lear

For 15 years Alfio Gaglianese owned and operated Alfio’s, an Italian restaurant at 17 Limekiln Pike in Glenside, one mile from Arcadia University (formerly Beaver College) and about five or 10 minutes from Chestnut Hill. Alfio, who once told me he was able to take only one vacation in the entire 15 years (and he had to close the restaurant for three weeks that one time while he went to Italy), was best known for his tuxedo, his magic tricks (he made everything disappear but your check), his peppery banter with customers and the Caesar salad and specialty coffee he prepared at tableside.

But you might say that Caesar, due to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, had to withdraw his troops from the battlefield. Alfio’s once-charming act had become as old-fashioned as a rotary telephone, so he pulled the curtain down more than two years ago. The property then sat as vacant as a kosher delicatessen in Saudi Arabia.

But along came Nicky Fischer, 50, a native of Willow Grove who had worked mostly as a bartender — at a hotel near Sea World in Florida so long ago that Sea World had mostly guppies in its pools; then at the Willow Inn in Willow Grove for 17 years and then Tomatoes in Doylestown for 13 years.

“For 10 years I had been thinking seriously about getting into the food industry,” explained Fischer, a large man with a smile as bright as a sunbeam. “It’s only natural that after so many years of working for other people, I would now want to work for myself. For years I was looking for the right location for a restaurant, but I could not find one that was both affordable and close enough to my home (in Willow Grove) until I looked into the Alfio property.

“It already had a liquor license, which was a big plus, and I liked the fact that there is a rear parking lot with spaces for 42 cars. And this area has definitely lacked a decent restaurant. You have to drive a few miles to find one. Even the big national chains have looked into this area and passed it up.”

Nicky and his wife, Linda, opened the completely renovated Nicky Fischer’s Restaurant and Bar in April of this year. Nicky clearly has an all-new playbook for the property. The only thing in the dining room that looks the same is the exposed brick wall across from the big picture window that faces Limekiln Pike. Linda, who worked for Bloomingdale’s for 22 years, has introduced a “Southwest Asian decor.”

You might call the food eclectic, with lots of classic dishes as well as contemporary combinations of culinary influences, particularly Southern regional cooking, Cajun and Kansas City barbecue. The executive chef is Charles Drew, who graduated at the head of his cooking school at Opportunities Industrialization Center and who has worked at Striped Bass, J.B. Winberie in Chestnut Hill (predecessor to Chestnut Grill), Goat Hollow in Mt. Airy, Catfish Cafe in East Falls, Summer Kitchen in Bucks County and Willow Inn.

“We make everything from scratch here,” stated Drew, who said he has picked up invaluable tips from different ethnic chefs at every place he has worked. “For example, I brine our pork chops, and I brine our chickens for two days and then rub them and pre-roast them, which makes them really moist.”

“I know from my restaurant experience,” added Fischer, “that many restaurateurs will buy their foods from vendors, who bring them to the restaurant. This saves time, of course, but you have to take what they give you, and some will throw in anything. So I go out and buy everything myself. I squeeze the melons (so far no melons have charged him with harassment), and I pick out tomatoes like I’m picking out false teeth. I definitely do not bury my head in the sand. The only sand around here is when people tell me to pound it.” (Said with a sly grin.)

Nicky Fischer’s Restaurant can seat 60 in the main dining room, 18 in a private room and 12 at the bar. (At this bar you will not find anyone who looks like a reject from Willie Nelson’s road crew.) The menu goes from upscale (weekend specials — and sometimes on weeknights — of filet mignon or strip steak, duck and fresh seafood entrees like tuna and halibut) to comfort food.

On Monday and Tuesday nights, for example, there are several entire dinners (comfort food like meat loaf; turkey with mashed sweet potatoes, green beans and baby carrots; or grilled ham steak with macaroni and cheese and stewed tomatoes) for $12. On Wednesday nights there are complete pasta dinners for $15. And this is not just spaghetti and meat balls; for example, you may have ravioli and chicken with a horseradish cream sauce; or pasta with artichoke hearts, Kalamata olives and chicken or sausage. Thursday night is Trivia Night in the lounge, starting at 7:30. (One trivia question might be: “What does a person do who has an alkaline problem?” Answer: “He goes to AA meetings.”)

On Friday night Chestnut Hill’s venerable pianist Milt Bugay plays in the lounge, starting at 7:30 p.m. Milt, who also had a jewelry store on the Hill with his wife, plays personal requests and pretty much knows every song by heart that’s been recorded since the first Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. If you request a song he does not know, Milt will come to your house and clean out the tool shed. (Just kidding. I will actually do it, not Milt.)

There is a very impressive Sunday brunch for $13 per adult and $6.50 for each child under 12. The buffet includes scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, cream-chipped beef, home fries, smoked salmon, poached salmon with dill cream sauce, smoked white fish salad, lots of pastries and more. Also available are omelets, eggs Benedict, eggs Florentine, hot cakes, French toast, waffles, etc.

According to Nicky, the best-selling entrees at night have been pan-seared sea scallops and shrimp with fettucine in a lobster broth; Spanish paella (seafood/chicken stew) and a blackened rib-eye steak with garlic mash and sauteed spinach. We very much enjoyed the huge salads that come with the entrees and the ambrosial homemade buttermilk ranch dressing.

Another home run was the fork-tender grilled filet with maytag bleu cheese and a caramelized onion demi-glaze. Some other options are the Kansas City chicken, half of a semi-boneless broiler chicken, roasted and blanketed with a sweet and smoky barbecue sauce ($16); buttermilk-dipped trout with rice pilaf and steamed baby carrots and broccoli ($17); Asian pork, a thick rib chop marinated, grilled and clothed with port wine ginger caramelized onions, accompanied by garlic mash and stir-fry vegetables ($18); and Carolina crab cakes with lemon dill aioli, rice pilaf and sauteed spinach ($23). There is a small but affordable wine list. Desserts include key lime pie, raspberry cheesecake and chocolate cake with caramel buttercream.

Nicky Fischer’s has already been voted by customers on-line to be in the Zagat Restaurant Guide for Philadelphia, 2004-2005, an honor that usually takes two or three years to achieve, if at all. “I was really overcome when the Zagat people contacted me to tell me this,” said Nicky. “I know it’s a great honor, and I never expected it, at least not this soon.”

Nicky Fischer’s is open for lunch and dinner daily. Reservations are recommended for weekend evenings. For more information, call 215-887-6465.