Calendar Girls

by Lauren McCutcheon

Ah, the BYOB. If ever there were an antidote to the Stephen Starr-ification of the local restaurant scene, it would exist within the small, simple confines of a 30-seat restaurant with a one-page menu, a chef/owner doing the cooking and the open invitation to bring your own $10 bottles of Syrah. Let the masses crowd three-deep around martini bars, sipping signature cocktails and waiting hours for showy Saturday night dining. The rest of us are happy to get our theater in a theater, not in a restaurant.

Happily, our city seems to have an endless supply of entrepreneurial chefs willing to open places of their own--places that offer little more than a few good dishes, neighborhood atmosphere and very little drama. One such place is August, a BYOB that opened, despite its name, in mid-October.

August is on the corner of 13th and Wharton, across the street from Columbus Square park, knee-deep in South Philly. First-time restaurant owners Maria Vanni and MaryAnn Brancaccio turned the space--most recently a Thai restaurant--into a casual jewel box, with black waffle-weave tablecloths, votives on every table and a pristine open kitchen. They named their restaurant after the month they met.

Vanni, an amateur photographer, put her photographs on the menu jackets. She also puts her years of experience at Le Bec-Fin and Avenue B to work in the front of the house, while Brancaccio, a chef who worked in the former Frangelica and the Loews Hotel, runs the kitchen. Together, they turn out respectable fare they call "Italian fusion."

Italian fusion means Brancaccio has added French, Asian, even Mexican touches to familiar meat, fish and pasta dishes--which might not be revolutionary, but is a smart and timely move, especially for South Philly, where the BYOB scene is dominated by classic Italian joints like Tre Scalini, Pesto, L'Angolo and Mr. Martino's.

The neighborhood's changing. It's only fitting its most prominent style of food gets, in Vanni's words, "a little twist."

But it's a subtle twist--at times hardly perceptible. An appetizer of roasted red peppers, touched with garlic and barely-there anchovies, and topped with thick slices of sharp Asiago cheese, is served hot, a temperature that's a nice hearty change from the usual chilly preparation. Warmed too are tender artichoke hearts, bathed in rich olive oil and mixed with mild bits of leek and satisfyingly sweet and tangy sun-dried tomatoes and--twist--savory garbanzo beans.

Further along on the creativity scale are two homemade spring rolls, stuffed with a skein of al dente angel hair pasta and a julienne of tender veggies, and served with honey mustard. Although an inventive and satisfying blend of textures, this starter is less successful than the peppers or artichokes, most likely because its sweet dip overpowers the rolls' fragile flavors.

Brancaccio shows off more twisting talent by blanketing classic Italian ricotta-filled spinach tortellini in a rich alfredo made with France's herby boursin cheese and sweet peas. It's a delicious combination, though a tad heavy as a main dish, and might be better as a half-portion appetizer. A lighter touch goes to a tilapia filet in a very mild lime-cilantro marinade, flecked with black pepper and served atop an impressively turned out cloud of creamy scallion risotto.

Also mild are two generous pork chops, pounded tender and subtly seared with ginger and garlic, served with vaguely bitter leaf-green broccoli rabe, along with a pillow of not-too-sweet mashed sweet potatoes with maple syrup. The refined dish, while not earth-shattering, was welcome comfort food for a crisp autumn night.

Vanni and Brancaccio are proudest of their crab cake. The single patty--a couple inches thick, slightly smaller than a saucer--is lightly crisped and pure, with sweet white jumbo lump inside and no detectable filler.

Georges Perrier is famous for making crab cakes like these. He uses more egg, which can overwhelm the delicate meat.

August's version came on a yummy spray of bright yellow corn that the menu called creamed but wasn't typically mushy. Around the corn was a delicious basil cream sauce. On top was a dollop of sauteed spinach. It's hard to find crab cakes this good for $20, and that's what August charges for theirs.

Dessert is a simple wedge of rich, dense cheesecake--a recipe from Vanni's Aunt Lena--with a buttery crust that blends almost imperceptibly into its contents. Melt-in-the-mouth chocolate torte is another divinely uncomplex option, nearly as dense as fudge, but without fudge's overwhelming sugar content. Missing here are the spun sugar spires, sculptural chocolate tuile or any of those high-rising surprises that come with memory-making, gasp-inciting desserts served uptown.

A meal among friends at August isn't memorable for its bells, whistles or cosmo-swilling crowd. It's memorable for its good, reasonably priced food and its warm, inviting atmosphere. Which is just the way dinner ought to be--most of the time.