Chick’s Café & Wine Bar
Opened in its current incarnation on April 13, 2007, Chick’s Café & Wine Bar brings Philadelphia an exciting wine list and fabulous European cuisine. Just off of South Street, at South 7th and Kater Streets, the restaurant seats 50 with al fresco dining and is capable of handling small parties. Not to worry, though, as Chick’s is planning to expand in the near future. Chick’s is a non-smoking establishment.
Chick’s Café & Wine Bar features a selection of approximately 40 European wines from Spain, Italy, and France that have been chosen based upon the varietals involved, the fact that they are not your everyday finds, and because they are more exciting than your usual wines. There are also roughly five dessert wines available. All of these wines are available by the glass, as well as by the bottle. Finally, a small reserve list is available by the bottle only. Chick’s wine expert/bartender, Tomás Oliver, points out that he tries to ensure that the wines he selects are exclusive within a six-block radius. This adds to the allure of Chick’s Café & Wine Bar’s allure to the oenophile in you.
Co-owner/Executive Chef James Piano took the time to speak with me about what has helped to make Chick’s Café & Wine Bar an overnight success. Formally trained at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA,) he is fulfilling a dream to chef that he has held sine he was 15 years old. “Cooking is what I enjoy doing. It’s what I was born to do,” he says. In
addition, James is responsible for the creation of the menu and the concept development of Chick’s Café & Wine Bar.
Having learned the fundamentals at the CIA, James has spent time honing his culinary skills in such fine dining establishments as Coco Pazzo (Philadelphia, PA,) Trattoria (Park City, UT,) and Bridget Foy’s (Philadelphia, PA.) With this rich background, he has learned to adapt to the ingredients that are available, those things that are seasonal. “I wouldn’t call myself a recipe chef,” he points out. One look at the exciting menu at Chick’s verifies his creative genius.
Chick’s Café & Wine Bar’s menu is an exciting mixture of foods and flavors. The appetizers offer small plates. These are a great value to share. With these, James suggests experiencing wines by the glass in order to taste something different, try something new. Larger plates are available as entrees for one, or again for sharing. This provides another chance to enjoy a wine suitable for the course. With 40 to choose from, you are sure to find a winner.
With a menu of desserts, all made in-house, there is no excuse not to order a sweet before leaving. And with the dessert wines, Cognacs, Scotches, and Ports available from the full-service bar, there is no reason not to augment your after dinner delicacy with a marvelous quaff. Go ahead. Enjoy life a little….
Just be sure to pace yourself during dinner. Always drink responsibly. Always have a designated driver, and never, ever drink and drive. Please
Chick’s resident wine expert is Tomás Oliver. Born on Long Island, New York, Tomás developed his interest in wines while working as a bar-back in college at Albany. There, he also learned the necessary skills to become a bartender extraordinaire, a second skill he brought 
with him to Chick’s Café & Wine Bar.
Obviously, Tomás’s abilities did not magically appear overnight. He tended bar for 10 years and worked with wines for 7 years. His wine training has come at the hands of some very savvy wine connoisseurs. “I have worked with sommeliers and restaurant managers over the years. They found that I showed interest and they took me under their wings and taught me….I’m not a sommelier—yet, but I hope to start taking the courses in the near future.”
When my girlfriend and I first dined at Chick’s Café & Wine Bar, we asked for Tomás’s expert advice in choosing wines to pair with each of our courses. We took his suggestions and were thrilled with the results. I ask Tomás how he has developed his ability to pair wines with foods. “Personal experience. In a week, I’ll buy 9 to 12 bottles of wine and write notes and constantly develop verbiage. With that, cooking, so I’m constantly marrying food and wine together. I always revisit my notes and wines since wine is so multi-faceted. You never fully understand a glass of wine. Each glass and bottle is different. You develop a palate. It’s like a vocabulary. You are always looking for different ways to say something when you are drinking. It is a fun hobby, like playing an instrument. Here, though, you’re training your palate to speak for the wine,” he explains.
I note that Tomás has a very well developed palate and nose. What has he done to fine-tune these for his passion? “Every time you test a glass and if you have a well developed vocabulary with a well developed
palate, you look to see what is different. To train yourself, you build off of experiences and talk about it. Use multiple descriptors,” he tells me, illustrating that wine is a sensuous experience. “This way, the last word I say when I describe a wine is the last thing to go down a drinker’s throat. If you’ve never experienced a smell or taste, find it and experience it. Same thing if you haven’t experienced it for a long time and can’t recall what it is like. You get a rush—WOW! You get a prickly sensation of the first time.”
Tomás points out that he does not have a favorite wine or type of wine. He enjoys every bottle. “I haven’t had enough wines to have developed a favorite. The playing field is so vast…,” he smiles.
There are so many wines at Chick’s Café and Wine Bar; I wonder how Tomás goes about procuring them. “I have six outside sources and can honestly say that I don’t have any wines that are available at any state store. Our wines are exclusive in a six block radius. I like to keep our wine list exciting, new, and original. That is what impresses me about wines—originality,” he notes with a gesture to the wines lined up behind the bar.
For the inexperienced wine drinker who would like to pair a wine with his meal when dining out, what would Tomás suggest? The “Golden Rules” for reds and whites? Or consultation with restaurant staff? “Consult. You always want to invite outside information. The red/white rule is the ‘layman’s term’ for wine pairing. Even I consult because I might get new information. Tasting anything is an opinionated subject,” he says knowingly.
But what should someone do when pairing a dish containing two main, opposing ingredients? “This depends since one contrasts the other flavor. You must consider that you may lose one of the flavors. I personally
like to brighten the flavors, so I contrast acids. Have it become fun because you’re starting to play around with the wines. I catch myself starting to play around sometimes for variety,” he points out.
It would be a crime not to finish a magical meal at Chick’s Café & Wine Bar with one of their amazing desserts. What dessert wines are available to an adventurous palate, and with what sorts of desserts might they be paired? Then again, perhaps these phenomenal drinks should be enjoyed on their own. “In this restaurant, it could go both ways. For the more adventurous palate, we have Sauternes. This may be a little much for people, but it can be enjoyed on its own or with biscotti or cake. Malmsey Madeira is for someone familiar with a fortified wine, and is definitely chocolate friendly, perhaps with a tart or the crème Brule. When trying dessert wine, I always think about menu offerings. Brachetto (d’Acqui) has an apricot flavor and matches desserts. Blanco Chianti and Vin Santo are also great for pairing. More and more I see people matching cheese plates with dessert wines. This is probably because cheeses have a better pairing with the dessert wines; cheese enhances the flavors rather than fighting them,” he lets me know.
Tomás bartended for Chick’s Café & Wine Bar since it opened in April 2007 and is the man responsible for designing the original wine lists. With 
this in mind, I ask if the majority of wines are chosen to accompany the menu choices, or if they are selected for their own merits. He rubs his chin before answering, “Because we are locked into an Old/New World cuisine, the wines are not bought to match the menu. We were built around wines to begin with. Still, I must consider, ‘Do I want wines that overlap others?’ I don’t want too many dry whites or sweet reds. How many styles and representations do we want? We want to satisfy our customers first and foremost.”
Though Tomás can no longer be found behind the bar at Chick’s Café & Wine Bar, he still assists Jim in the selection of fine wines to be offered to the customers. His influence on Chick’s continuing success will last long into the future.
Katie Loeb now fills the roles of wine guru and bartender extraordinaire at Chick’s Café and Wine Bar. Her knowledge
of wines seem limitless, and her skills behind the bar are classic. Already, one of her cocktail creations has been featured in a
I asked Katie how she has developed her skills as a wine professional. “With lots of practice and lots of classes to develop my nose and palate. I worked at Moore Brothers Wine Shop, read glass buffer, so that I could take the classes and learn about wines and the proper way to drink and appreciate wines. I have had great mentors and teachers. I read and drink voraciously. I go to wine tastings. The Internet is a wonderful resource to learn about obscure wines,” she informs me. This last point is a particularly good bit of information to note given the vast number of wines on the market that may not reach local markets.
She is gradually making additions to Chick’s wine list. Her first choice? Domaine de la Courtade l’Alycastre Rosé. This Grenache, Tibouren, Mourvedre blend from
She tells me that cocktail designing is a relatively new passion. “I love to cook at home. I started thinking like a chef. What flavors do I like together? And I began combining them to see what they’d taste like. I’m very interested in old school cocktail recipes and I do them with a twist. For instance, I do a rhubarb daiquiri with pink grapefruit in it and call it a Rhuby Daiquiri. It is a twist on a classic cocktail called a Hemmingway Daiquiri.”
“I love working in a wine bar with the chance to pair something with each course by the glass…This place is like a playground for me. Wines by the glass. People who ask for wines to pair with foods. It’s too much fun! It should be fun. People ask why I do this. I like to talk to people. It gives me somewhere to channel that,” she smiles warmly.
The Experience
My girlfriend and I arrive at Chick’s Café & Wine Bar right on time for our reservation. There is al fresco seating for those who wish to enjoy the early evening sunshine. We, however, choose to sit inside where it is air conditioned. A large, beautiful, dark, wooden bar dominates the space to your left as you enter the front door. Arrayed behind the bar are a variety of wines and spirits that are sure to complement any meal. Along the wall to the right are wooden tables, and in the back are some faux granite tables. There is copious natural light from the windows along the right-hand wall, and soft overhead lighting from period fixtures as well.
We are led to one of the tables by the windows along the wall toward the back of the restaurant; very romantic. We are handed menus as we are seated. Almost immediately, our waiter brings us glasses of water and asks if we would like to begin the evening with anything else to drink, perhaps a glass of wine. We decline for now.
Chick’s Café and Wine Bar’s menu is quite interesting. At the top of the center in the tri-fold, you will find a list of “Small Plates.” These are appetizer-sized dishes that are intended to be shared. The Small Plates allow you to order more items and, in so doing, sample more from the menu.
In the middle-center of the menu is a list of cheeses and appropriate wine pairings. The cheeses can be ordered in varying quantities and with single or multiple glasses of wine (flights.) The cheese can be used as an appetizer, an entrée, or even a dessert. Wine and cheese is a natural combination and allows you to try your hand at pairing without great expense.
The entrees can be found at the bottom-center left of the menu. These dishes are large enough to feed a single person, or could be shared by two people if you are so inclined. Doing so, again, allows you to try a variety of dishes.
To the right at the bottom-center are the desserts. All desserts are made in-house. Although these are large enough to share, you will probably want your own.
On the left and right sides of the tri-fold, you will find the wine list. The wines are all listed with prices by the glass and by the bottle. This is a very nice feature, allowing you the opportunity to taste from the whole of Chick’s wine cellar. The wines are presented with marvelously concrete verbiage, providing a taste of what is to come.
My girlfriend and I examine the menu for some time and decide to be a bit bold in our ordering tonight, selecting four small plates to begin, each with a markedly different flavor. Our waiter returns and we order: Roasted Beets with goat cheese and mache lettuce; Seared Tuna with Haricot Verts, sliced olives, roasted red peppers, red onions, and fingerling potatoes; Valdeón stuffed dates wrapped in bacon; Pan-seared chicken served with celeriac Yukon puree, and port reduction, topped with a poached egg. We ask the waiter to serve these in whichever order he deems most fitting.
The waiter asks if we would like to have any wine with our small plates. We request that he and the bartender select a wine or two that would be most fitting for the group. He accepts the challenge and heads to the bar.
Quickly, our waiter returns to the table with two glasses and a bottle of VMV Cotes du Ventoux, Rosé. I find the big red fruit and spicy garrigue pleasant and choose to keep this selection. The nose speaks of the flavors rather well. I also pick up a hint of berry in the bouquet. The wine is a light raspberry in color, fading to almost clear at the rim. The finish is medium-dry, with no evident tannins.
The first dish to be served is the Roasted Beets. We are surprised to receive golden beets in this dish. The goat cheese looks as soft as whipped cream; and the mache presents a nice color contrast to the rest of the dish.
I take my first bite. The beets are sweet and cold; the goat cheese is creamy, soft, and satisfying; and the mache is delicate and fresh. The flavor combination is astounding. Each ingredient, on its own, would make a fantastic appetizer in and of itself. Together, they create an image in my mind of a country salad fashioned in a villa-style restaurant in France where you will be fed the true fare of the people of Provence. This, my friends, is what Old World cuisine is all about.
I taste my rosé. The flavors intermingle marvelously. The spice that I had detected in the wine is intensified against the goat cheese and beets in a most pleasant way. The big red fruit and the beets pair in such a way as to intensify the sweetness of the beets, while downplaying the dryness and lengthening the finish.
Next, we are served the Valdeón stuffed dates wrapped in bacon. We receive five of these served on miniature skewers. The dates are large; the bacon is not greasy. We are able to see the Valdeón cheese oozing slightly from the ends of the dates. The sweet, salty aroma of the dish wafts up to our anxious nostrils, causing our mouths to water.
I pick up my first skewer and taste the succulent morsel. I am not sure if I am eating a candy or an appetizer. The combination of salty bacon and sweet date with the rich, creamy, intense blue flavor of the Valdeón, the saltiness of which adds to the effect. Chef Piano’s cheese selection for this dish is magnificent. The date is chewy, but not so much so that it sticks to my teeth. The Valdeón melts in my mouth. The bacon melts into the date; it barely tastes like it is even there except for a slight nuance and the saltiness.
I take a sip of my wine to see how well the two pair with one another. The VMV Cotes du Ventoux, Rosé, and the Valdeón stuffed dates fit hand in glove. The slight saltiness of the dish works with the garrigue, and the sweetness of the dates are a magnificent pairing with the big red fruit. Indeed, the wine seems to become drier against the sweetness of the dates in a most enjoyable way. The Rosé and the Valdeón work as a natural match, with the intense blue cheese playing off against the combined flavors in the wine in such a way that both become more noticeable on palate. This, in turn, brings to light the finer nuances in the date. In all, a great wine choice for both this dish and the beets.
As we are finishing the dates, our waiter brings us the Seared Tuna served atop Haricot Verts, sliced olives, roasted red peppers, red onions, and fingerling potatoes and mixed baby greens in a light olive oil and lemon juice dressing.
First, I taste the vegetable mixture. The olive oil and lemon juice dressing is quite zesty and provides a pleasant backdrop to the fresh vegetables. The French green beans are crisp, tender, and complex in flavor. The olives are fresh and have been sliced thinly. The roasted red peppers are sweet and julienned. The red onions have been diced. The fingerling potatoes are thickly cut in strips, are sweet, starchy, and firm. The mixed greens provide color, texture, and a springtime freshness to the salad. Taken together, these are a very nice mixture of Old and New World flavors.
I taste my wine. The lemon in the dressing is far too acidic and bitter to go with the wine, bringing out the acidity in the rosé. I am unable to distinguish any other feature of either the wine or the salad as a result. Perhaps the tuna will have a different effect.
The seared tuna has a slightly salty flavor to it. It has been seared to a medium rare, with the center a brilliant, juicy pink. It cuts easily with a fork. I take my first bite. Quite delicious. The sea salt that has been sprinkled on the tuna prior to searing has created a slight crust. This has intensified the fish’s flavor. The center is, as predicted, sweet and rare, as it should be.
I sip my wine. The sea salt and the spiciness of the wine combine in a subtle way, unlike the salt from the bacon earlier. Here, my palate is more interested in the effects of the tuna’s bold flavors and the herbaceous garrigue and large red grape of the rosé. Although not as powerful as, say, a Pinot Noir, the red fruit of the VMV is able to accompany the tuna and complement its taste palette well. The finish to the wine becomes a bit drier and longer; the mouth fuller.
Now, I must sample the tuna with the salad mixture. These two elements were obviously designed for one another. The tuna’s flavors meld
seamlessly with those of the salad. The lemon and olive oil both caress the tuna in such a way that I can think of few other things that would do the tuna justice. With the greens and vegetables, the tuna is able to show itself for the magnificent fish that it truly is. The crispness of the Haricot Verts and the texture of the mixed greens against the tuna create a magnificent juxtaposition against one another.
I wonder if the wine will go better with the salad now that the tuna has been introduced to the mix. I sip. No, there is really no change. The lemon is still too bitter for the wine to work with this dish properly. The acidity increases too much, and my tongue senses only bitterness.
Last, we are served the pan-seared chicken with celeriac Yukon puree and port reduction, topped with a poached egg. The presentation is gorgeous. The plate is pooled with the port reduction. In the center sits a large mound of the celeriac Yukon puree. Perched atop of this is the pan-seared chicken breast and upper portion of the wing. It appears as though the chicken is sitting on a pillow of potatoes. On top of the whole is a poached egg that has been shaped by a circular mold. The presentation is a work of modern art.
First I taste the celeriac Yukon puree with the port reduction. The port reduction is heavy in caramelized raisin flavors. It is sweet without being sugary. The puree carries a classic mashed potato taste, very smooth and creamy. I can detect no lumps. The port reduction sweetens the potatoes without candying them.
I taste my wine and find that the combination is stupendous. The potatoes and port work extremely well with the big red grape of the VMV Cotes du Ventoux, Rosé. The garrigue is no longer noticeable, and the caramelized raisin sweetness of the port has marginalized the dryness of the wine.
Next, I take a bite of the chicken with the port reduction. For those of you who are diehard KFC fans, you have been misled for a very long time. Fried chicken is the wrong way to go; you must have it pan seared with Chef Piano’s port reduction. This sensual combination of flavors approaches the erotic. “Caramelized raisins and chicken?” you ask. That is right. And when you add a bit of the celeriac Yukon puree, I swear you will see heaven from there. The chicken has a lightly salted skin, but no evident fat. The white meat is moist, tender, and succulent.
I sip my wine. Again, the combination of flavors is magnificent. The salt on the chicken is very light, so it does not have a detrimental effect on the wine. The chicken’s taste has been sealed in with the pan-searing, so I have a full spectrum of flavors in my mouth now—big red fruit, caramelized raisins, the bold chicken flavor, and the potatoes. None of the flavors contrasts any of the others. Indeed, the complementary nature of each with the others is swimmingly pleasant. The wine’s finish remains medium dry, the wine full in the mouth. With the addition of the chicken, the spicy garrigue has returned as just more than a nuance.
Finally, I add a bite of the poached egg to my fork. As an addition, the egg is pleasant, but not a major player. I am more aware of the albumen than of the yolk, which has been cooked almost hard. In total, the egg becomes a supporting character when combined with all of the other elements thus without fading into the background entirely. A larger piece of egg would, undoubtedly, provide more flavor; however, I can only take so large a bite.
The egg does not effect the pairing with the wine either positively or negatively. I am able to taste the egg a bit more prominently when I have sipped the wine, though. The yolk gains boldness of flavor with the rosé.
Quite interestingly, our waiter and the bartender have managed to select a wine that complemented three out of four of our small plates extremely well. This is an impressive feat, especially given that these four small plates featured such varying and contrasting flavors. My compliments to the two of them.
As our waiter clears our dishes, we order a pair of entrees: Spinach and Prosciutto Gnudi, a naked ravioli made of ricotta and pecorino cheeses; and Wild Mushroom Flatbread made with Taleggio and Fontina cheeses. We ask him to select a wine to accompany our selections, given how well he did with the small plates’ wine.
We watch our waiter approach the bartender and ask her for some help with the wine selection. She scratches her head and scans the wines for a moment. Now rubbing her chin, she examines a few wines more closely. Finally, she chooses a wine with confidence, and hands it to our waiter with two red wine glasses.
Our waiter returns to our table and pours my girlfriend and me each a taste of Pinot Noir, Lurton, “Les Salices,” 2005. This is a wonderful light drinking wine from Vin de Pays d'Oc, in Southern France. The pinot noir is medium ruby-red, traveling from a deep crimson at the center of the glass to an almost transparent crimson at the rim.
The nose is full of crushed ripe red fruits and cherries, red currants, red flowers, and the nuance of fruit-driven minerals. I am also aware of more subtle notes of cranberry, red plums, violets, mixed berries, and stewed red fruit. This pinot is light-bodied, but tastes more extracted than the Burgundy pinots that I have had the opportunity to drink. My palate is picking up multiple layers of flavors—the crushed ripe cherries that I detected in the nose, along with the red plums, and mixed berries. There is a deeper core of tastes focused around the cranberry and currant, with nuances of the minerality and a hint of arak. The wine has great balance between the sweet fruit, the round, malleable tannins, and the acidity. On the finish, I am grabbed by a concentration of cranberry, and nuanced cherry liqueur, minerals, and arak. The Les Salices Pinot Noir is a fine wine for 2007; however, another year or two in the cellar should not do it any harm. I cannot wait to taste this with our two entrees.
Shortly, we are served the Wild Mushroom Flatbread. The flatbread is thin and crisp, topped with a variety of wild mushrooms and Taleggio and Fontina cheeses. This resembles a crisp-crusted white mushroom pizza, but tastes nothing like a pizza. The flatbread is, as I mentioned, crispy. The next flavor I taste is the savoriness of the wild mushrooms. Finally, my palate is awash in the creaminess of the two cheeses—the Taleggio, a slightly salty, mild, buttery Italian brie; and the Fontina, savory and nutty, with a mild honey-like taste to complement its sweet, smooth, creamy, buttery character. The fascinating bit about this dish is that I can differentiate each of these flavors—flatbread, mushrooms, cheese—from one another in every bite. I am also able to experience them together as a whole. I feel like Remy in “Ratatouille.”
I take a swallow of wine. The pinot noir pairs with the cheeses magnificently. The bread is a neutral and would match any wine in any cellar given that it is an unseasoned starch. The mushrooms are savory and, as such, match the wine extremely well. The multiple layers in the wine each have a chance to play with the mushrooms and the cheeses on their own and in concert. I am very aware of the cherries, berries, and currants working with the cheeses. The mushrooms are working with the tannins and the minerals, as well as the cherries again. The flatbread has brought into play the whole of the wine. In the pairing experience, I have lost the nuance of the arak completely. The finish remains strongly cranberry with nuances of cherry and minerals, but now I have found a longer finish.
Soon, we are greeted by the Spinach and Prosciutto Gnudi. These come to us in a very interesting presentation, something quite unexpected. The ravioli are, indeed, made of ricotta and pecorino cheeses, rather than of a semolina flour dough. Piled on top of the ravioli are the sautéed spinach and the prosciutto! I fully expected that these would be the ravioli filling. I love surprises!
I taste a ravioli. The ricotta-pecorino combination is delicious. The distinctly mild flavor of the cheeses, with their smooth, creamy textures, and a slightly herbal accompanying fragrance make for a wonderful pasta.
The ravioli goes extremely well with the pinot noir. The big red fruit layers of the wine are a natural fit for the cheeses of the ravioli. With no evident salt in the cheeses, there is nothing to detract from the bold flavors in the wine. The wine retains its balance, and I am reminded of the symbiotic relationship between cheese and wine. No marked changes are noticed in the flavors of either the pinot or the ravioli when pairing the two.
Next, I add some spinach and some prosciutto to my fork with the ravioli. The spinach has been sautéed just enough to bring out the natural flavors of the vegetable without actually cooking it. The prosciutto has been cooked in a pan to extract some of the oils, in which the spinach was probably sautéed. At this point of preparation, both are mouth watering. With the ravioli, they create a triumvirate of taste like no other. The cheeses meld with the salted ham and the spinach to create the singular flavor of a grand ravioli filling; a Florentine ravioli, if you will, sans the semolina.
I must sip my wine to complete the experience. Oh, joy of joys! The pinot noir makes my taste buds dance! The crushed ripe cherries and red plums flood my mouth and tickle my tongue with their sweetness. The salt of the ham fades into the background. The spinach plays with the minerals. The cranberry, currant, and crushed ripe cherries work well with the cheeses of the ravioli. Gone is the arak. The finish is dry, despite the sweetness on my tongue. The tannins remain round and malleable. The pinot has maintained its marvelous balance. Many thanks to our bartender!
Chick’s Café & Wine Bar has become rather well known for its Dark Chocolate Crème Brulee. Rumor has it that diners request a cigarette when they finish this decadent treat, it is so good. With that in mind, my girlfriend and I each order one, not daring to attempt sharing just one. (Relationships have ended over less, I understand.) We ask our waiter to have a meeting of the minds with the bartender and to select a dessert wine for us.
In a few moments, the Crème Brulees appear. The bartender sends over two glasses of Pedro Ximénez Sherry, Bodegas Dios Baco, SL, immediately following. First, I taste the sherry. This sweet quaff reminds me
that the Spanish have found the secret of producing a most fabulous and yet under appreciated wine. The PX variety of sherry will tickle your nose with its raisiny aroma and thrill your palate with its sweet viscosity. The Pedro Ximénez, Bodegas Dios Baco, SL, fills your mouth with a rich melody of almonds and roasted chestnuts. This is evenly balanced with rich hazelnut, vanilla, soft cacao, and a nuance of cedar. The mouth feel is full and lasting. The flavors linger on the palate. The finish is clean and wonderful. I detect no alcohol, making this a magnificent sipping wine. This wine would also be very delightful served over vanilla ice cream, as can be said about many very fine sherries
I taste the Dark Chocolate Crème Brulee next. On top of the dessert are two quarters of a caramelized banana. These have a burnt crispy coating and are soft and sweet inside. The Crème Brulee, like the banana, has a hard, sugar shell created when the dessert has been exposed to a blow torch. (I love any dessert involving a blow torch!) Beneath the shell, I find a dark, decadent, creamy chocolate delight designed to send me into gastronomic orbit. My tongue is coated in a firm cocoa pudding, my palate awash in chocolate stars. Now, I take a taste of the Crème Brulee with the bananas. Oh, mouthgasm! This is a case of, “Taste this….Now taste this….Now put them together….” I am now Emile in “Ratatouille”! (If you haven’t seen the film, I highly suggest it.)
I taste the sherry. The powerful flavors of the Bodegas Dios Baco, SL, were made to pair with this dessert. The nuts that play on the palate in the sherry combine with the chocolate and banana in the Crème Brulee perfectly, as you can well imagine. The raisin flavors, as well, are a magnificent match. (Can you say “Raisinets”?) Once again, the bartender has come through in spades.
Atmosphere: 10 Chick's is romantic, cozy, clean, and intimate. This is the perfect place to take a date, meet for drinks, or go with friends for dinner. The atmosphere gives itself to great conversation and long glances over a bottle of wine.
Service: 10 Our waiter was excellent. When he needed help selecting wines to complement our food, he did not hesitate to confer with the bartender. The bartender obviously knows her wines and has learned the wine cellar at Chick's in a very short time. Our waiter was attentive, helpful, and knew the menu extremely well, displaying a working knowledge of the flavors. He even knew how the kitchen worked so that he could guide the sequence of our order.
Presentation: 10 Absolutely everything was as delicious to feast my eyes on as it was to feed my mouth. The colors, the arrangement, even the plates created eye appeal. Chef Piano even employed different platter shapes to complement the dishes in his quest to satisfy his diners' appetites. Excellent job.
Taste: 10 I hope you have taken the time to read the review and have not just skipped to the end, because there I have described in great detail the magnifent flavors of this meal. Chef Piano has managed to combine some very intriguing flavors in creations all his own. As he has stated, he is not a recipe chef. He takes the time to play in the kitchen to find just the right tastes in his dishes to cause fireworks in his guests' palates. He is an artist, not merely a chef.
Value: 8.5 The menu selections were priced very fairly. The service was tremendous. The presentation and taste were out of this world. The wines, however, are a bit overpriced. Granted, I expect restaurants to show a considerable mark-up on their alcohol; however, Chick's mark-up on the wines that I enjoyed for this review was rather extreme.
BUSINESS HOURS:Monday through Sunday 5:00 PM to CLOSE
Reservations Strongly Suggested
Chick’s Café & Wine Bar |
614 S. 7th Street | Corner of 7th & Kater |
Philadelphia, PA | PH 215.625.3700
14 August 2007