A Gee-rated fare to remember Girasole: great culinary music at new Symphony House
by LEN LEAR

Owner Franco Iovino and his daughter, Michele, run the one-month-old Girasole at 1410 Pine St., a part of the spectacular new Symphony House Condominium complex. Its $35 prix fixe dinner has been a huge hit with theatergoers. (Photos by Len Lear)

John Mariani of Esquire magazine, one of the nation’s most highly respected food critics, said recently that while Philadelphia is a great restaurant city, the one thing most lacking in our restaurant scene is “more good Italian restaurants.”

My first reaction was, “Sure, just like Beijing needs more Chinese restaurants.” After all, it appears sometimes as if City Council secretly passed a law several years ago requiring every block in South Philly to have at least one Italian restaurant, and for years Italian restaurants have also been opening in center city faster than I can write their names down.

But it turns out what Mariani meant was that we need more good mid-priced Italian restaurants that fit between the expensive icons like Vetri, Osteria, La Buca, La Famiglia and Le Castagne and the downscale staples like Ralph’s, Modo Mio and Vinny T’s.

Well, Mariani would be delighted, I’m sure, with Girasole Ristorante & Bar, which just opened last month at 1410 Pine St. as part of the spectacular new Symphony House Condominium complex. The mid-scale restaurant was opened by the Neapolitan Iovino family, which has been operating outstanding Italian restaurants for almost 20 years.

Now, you might wonder why on earth anyone in his/her right mind would be opening a high-rent restaurant in this near-Depression economy. The answer, however, is that restaurants are usually conceived years before they are born, and the gestation period can be more painful than that for a pregnant elephant.

In the case of Girasole (“sunflower” in Italian), e.g., the Iovino family opened another Girasole in 1990 at 1305 Locust St., where it had a successful run for 14 years. (The late opera star, Luciano Pavarotti, once told a reporter that it was his favorite Italian restaurant in Philadelphia.)

The beautifully presented homemade desserts taste as good as they look.

The family, which also opened a second Girasole in Atlantic City in 1992, where it is still flourishing (at 3108 Pacific Ave., between the Tropicana and Hilton Casino-Hotels), closed the Locust Street property with the intention of moving it two blocks south to the then-embryonic Symphony House Condominium complex. The usual delays in construction, however — due to weather, politics, zoning, financing, etc. — literally pushed back the opening of Girasole a full five years. (While waiting, owner Franco Iovino’s daughter, Michele, now 32, and her husband, Giuseppe, whom she met during a trip to Italy, owned and operated a small BYOB, Il Nido — “The Nest” — at 1540 W. Ritner St., from 2005 to 2007).

I hate to use clichés, but I’ll make an exception here and state unequivocally that the five-year wait was worth it (at least for their customers). Girasole at 1410 Pine St. only seats 50, but it has a sultry atmosphere and sexy, personality-filled vibe that could de-ice a windshield. Its tile floors, marble bar, modernistic black chairs and leather banquettes are appropriate for both casual pre-theater and serious, let’s-linger diners.

Interestingly, all five chefs in Girasole’s kitchen are Italian mothers — all trained at culinary schools in Italy — and they are clearly not frill-seekers. It’s been said that enthusiasm is a dish best served hot, and the enthusiasm here is incendiary. If food were music, they would own the orchestra. Their dishes are as well constructed as a Bach fugue.

Girasole is already hugely popular with the pre-theater crowd since it’s only about one block from the Wilma, Merriam and Suzanne Roberts Theaters, as well as the Academy of Music and Kimmel Center. And they offer a terrific three-course, prix-fixe, pre-theater dinner every Sunday through Friday for $35 per person (for those arriving by 6:30 p.m.). There are five appetizers and five entrees to choose from.

Dishes here are delicate and creatively executed. One of the most memorable dishes we had ever tasted was at Il Nido: the zephyr-light blue fin tuna carpaccio — razor-thin slices of tuna, colorfully and aesthetically presented in a mosaic with finely chopped sundried tomatoes, black olives, scallions and extra-virgin olive oil. This transcendent dish is on the menu at Girasole for $15, and it is worth a trip to center city all by itself, even if you don’t have theater tickets. (There are also six other carpaccios available on the menu — obviously a Girasole specialty.)

The pasta dishes, homemade daily, are also stars and priced under $20. The divinely light flavors linger like an aged wine from the sublime gnocchi with stracchino cheese and plum crushed tomatoes ($17.50) and the passatelli (like long gnocchi) with sausage and porcini mushrooms ($19). For us, the only joker in the deck was a selection of Italian cheeses that was pedestrian, not varied in flavors and overpriced at $16.50.

One of five daily specials was an unpretentious but perfectly seasoned filet mignon with mushrooms ($34). This was a delicious, refined staple that mated perfectly with the full-bodied, rich flavor of St. Francis Cabernet Sauvignon ($10). A great pre-dinner cocktail was the pomegranate martini that exploded with the flavors of several liqueurs and fruit juices ($12). Desserts ($8) are all made on the premises.

Parking is always a hassle in center city, of course, but customers may park in the Symphony House parking garage next door for a modest $10. Girasole may not be breaking any culinary ground, but its unwavering pursuit of perfection delivers way-above-the-curve Italian food that does not break the bank but which has customers breaking out in smiles.