Eat East Passyunk: Le Virtu’ Celebrates La Cottora
Fact: Penn students do not visit East Passyunk enough. How can a street in Philadelphia that is famous for its delicious restaurants go unnoticed by thousands of us food-loving University City residents?
I myself am a big fan of East Passyunk and go there as often as I can, not only for the food but also for its small-town community vibe. One big contributor to this feeling of community is the restaurant Le Virtu’, which showcases the little-known cuisine of Italy’s Abruzzo region.
Several times a year, the team at Le Virtu hosts traditional Abruzzese events that replicate festivals that occur back in the old country. This past Wednesday, I had the privilege of attending one of these events, called La Cottora, which is a traditional outdoor winter festival.
Though the weather was a little chilly, I was kept warm by the community spirit and the campfires scattered around the restaurant’s beautiful outdoor space. I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s true. Everyone there, from the chefs preparing the food to the people eating it, were open and willing to get to know each other, and it was a quite heart-warming change from the Penn competitive vibe.
The event featured delicious English pies from Stargazy, an English pie and mash shop on East Passyunk, barbecue from Taproom on 19th, and of course, Abruzzese cuisine from Joe Cicala, Le Virtu’s chef. All proceeds from the event were donated to Project H.O.M.E., which is a non-profit that helps homeless people not only find housing, but also get back on their feet with employment, health care, and education.
I started with the seven-bean-seven-pasta soup, or sagne e fasciul’, as they say in Abruzzo, which was a warm and rib-sticking beginning to the evening. It was comforting and savory, with a surprising depth of flavor developed by a long cooking time. The cover photo here features Chef Cicala stirring the huge pot of soup.
Also by Chef Cicala was some truly delicious polenta, which was creamy and cheesy, and should have been topped with some assuredly equally amazing meat sauce, but being a vegetarian I could not indulge. He was also offering porchetta, which looked incredible, but again, not a plant so…
Next, I tried a beet and goat cheese pie from Stargazy, which blew my mind. The pastry was flaky and light, and the tart creaminess of the goat cheese really came through without masking the earthy beet flavor. Stargazy’s creator and chef, Sam Jacobson, came over from England with the dream of opening his own pie and mash shop, and I highly recommend all of you to visit it when you come to East Passyunk!
After a bit of mingling with the other eaters (and having a lively discussion about GMO foods by a campfire), I moved on to the desserts, which featured tiny slices of an italian-style black forest cake, lemon-almond biscotti, and fantastic hazelnut torrone. I enjoyed all of these with a warm cup of apple cider to the sound of Italian bagpipes, which apparently exist and which, in my biased opinion, are far better than Scottish bagpipes (sorry not sorry). I even chatted with the bagpipe-ist, who is actually part of a traditional Abruzzese band that travels all over the world and performs.
This was exactly the sort of unconventional but very enjoyable evening that you can only have on East Passyunk. And just in case I didn’t give you enough reason to go, East Passyunk Restaurant Week is happening from Feb 21-27, so mark your calendars!
-Elena Crouch
Photos by Isabel Zapata