Modo Mio is a beloved BYOB in fishtown. I don’t really know anyone who hasn’t liked the place. It’s been open for a few years, and I have no idea why I waited so long to go. It was worth all the hype. [Apologies in advance for the worse than usual photos, but the lighting in there is terrible for non-flash photos!]

Since it was a BYOB, M made us some pre-dinner gin cocktails. We b’d plenty of our own b’s. We even offered a drink to one of the waitresses, but she refused! We all decided to do the turista menu, which allows you to pick anything from the antipasti, pasta, secondi, and dessert menus.

The bread was unbelievable. It’s served with a porcini olio, which was also beyond delicious. The bread is incredibly dense and wet and chewy on the inside. Things were starting off well.

Before the food started coming out, we got a little amuse bouche, which was a bruschetta with tuna puree. The bread was a bit too salty on the crust, but overall, it was a great little taste.

For the antipasti, a few of us got the cervello, the fried calves’ brains with walnuts and pickled fennel. Who knew fried brains would be so good?

I ordered the Polpo, the balsamic grilled octopus, crispy potato cake, with arugula pesto. Wow. Just wow. The octopus was tender and delicious, and the crispy potato cake, although not crispy, was so surprisingly good. People are afraid that octopus could possibly be rubbery. This octopus was the furthest from rubbery as anything possibly could be.

For the pasta, M got the Caramelli, fresh pasta candies (look how cute they are!) stuffed with buffalo milk Taleggio and hazelnut brown butter. The cheese was super creamy and delicious in here. So rich!

R and I both picked the Mlinzi, toasted fresh pasta with a rustic rabbit ragu. So good! The pasta was extremely firm, I guess that comes from the toasting. The ragu was made with sweet peppers so it had a surprising sweetness.

F’s lamb dish, the Agnello. It’s typically a braised lamb chops dish, but this night, it was a giant lamb ball, served with porcini and apple fritters.

Three of us got the Guancè, the veal cheek served chef’s choice style. The menu says “trust him”. It’s a good idea to do so. Delicious! Again, this is a bit on the sweet side. I think E would have preferred that it was less sweet. The cheek itself was nice and tender.

I was in the mood for something on the lighter side for my entree, so I went with a fish dish and picked the Razze, seared skate wing with apricot brown butter, almonds, capers, and lemon. It was exactly what I wanted! The fish was perfectly cooked and the whole dish was light. I don’t like capers so I ate around them, but I loved everything else. The apricot chunks were a really nice touch.

For desserts, the options included tiramisu, a flourless chocolate something, an italian style crepe with nutella, and I forget what else. A few went with just cappuccino or espresso. Because I’m into fruits in my desserts, I got the apple pastry. It was somewhat like an apple pie, but one that had shavings of cheese on top. It was nice and light and a perfect way to end this meal. Really, the entire meal and experience exceeded all of my expectations. The service was also good, provided by our very actorly waiter, Steve. The place is small, and you’re all definitely squeezed in. It’s also quite loud, so don’t expect a quiet and serene place that is romantic. It’s boisterous! But the food is some of the best I’ve ever had. I implore everyone to visit! I’ll definitely be back!

Every major city has some sort of restaurant week, and Philadelphia is no exception. It happens several times a year, and enclaves within the city even have their own versions of it. I don’t participate in it too often as the menus can be very limiting and not worth the value. But sometimes, once in awhile, I partake. So for this last go-round, we went to Mercato. I’ve always wanted to go here. It’s a teeny little byob in midtown village that is always packed. And there’s certainly many reasons why.
The place is so small and the tables are densely packed in. You literally have to squeeze yourself into your seat. But it’s not a big deal. Since it was restaurant week, we pretty much got our pick of the menu and got to select one app, one entree, and one dessert.  Only the cioppino was excluded from the menu and the antipasti had to be shared between two as the app. Otherwise, it was all fair game. I appreciated that. Some complimentary bread with a flavored butter. Just wonderful.
M’s roasted portabella and arugula puff pastry with pecorino, pine nuts, and thyme citronette. Delicious!

Whole grilled artichoke with a extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and a zesty citrus aioli. Again, delicious! And I don’t even like artichokes. It looked so good that I had to try it. Even if I don’t traditionally like artichokes. I’m trying actively to expand my horizons. It was so smoky and great. And we fell in love with this aioli. I could have drank it.
The crispy skin striped bass with caramelized cipollini onions, artichokes and pancetta crisp, in a chianti reduction aioli.  Ooh baby. If I wasn’t such a scallop freak, I would have ordered this. In fact, next time, I will!
So as for me, with very little surprise, I ordered the pan seared diver scallops with a wild mushroom and english pea risotto, parmesan crisp, and drizzled with truffle oil. I’m a sucker for scallops and I’m a sucker for this dish. So perfect. The risotto was creamy and dreamy and super flavorful. I love anything with peas in it! I could have licked the plate. And were it not for all the other patrons within an eyelash of me, I would have.
For dessert I got the panna cotta with cinnamon apples. Loved this too. Loved every damn thing about this place. I can see why this place is packed all the time and gets rave reviews. It deserves all of its lauds. Service was pretty good considering there were only 3 servers for the whole joint and the place was mobbed. It’s cozy but not quiet. Because you’re so tightly packed together it’s busy and loud and bustling. But it’s still adorable. And the food is lovely. I want to taste every dish!

I had to head down to nowheresville, MD for work, so I did a little research (of course), and stopped at Restaurant Sabor for dinner. Located in a random strip mall, Sabor boasts a puerto rican chef and a varied menu with latin american and mediterranean flavors. It is a BYOB, and not only does it have an open kitchen (which I love), it also has a community table. It’s a lovely place, a bit on the fancier side, but not snooty.

The complimentary amuse bouche of a venison ragout served over a sweet plantain puree. Man, seeing as how good this was, I knew I was in for a great meal. They also give you complimentary bread. Instead of boring regular flour bread, they give you housemade corn bread. And the best part is that they give you whipped honey butter to eat with it. Oh dear lord, there’s nothing better than corn bread slathered with whipped honey butter!

I love beets, so I got the beet salad. It was hunks of red and golden beets served over grilled chickory, with citrus segments, goat cheese, some greens, and crushed pistachios, in a xerez vinaigrette. This was a lovely salad. The beets were fresh and definitely not from a can! I wasn’t sure if I liked goat cheese, but I soon learned that I don’t like it. It was fine though, I just ate my way around it. I didn’t like the chickory either, so I also left that on the plate. But I fully enjoyed everything else.

For my entree, I wasn’t exactly sure what to get. I thought about the fish options but wasn’t convinced. The champagne sauce for the turbot didn’t strike me and neither did the hazelnut dressing on the trout. They also had a daily special of beef bourgignon but I wasn’t convinced about that either. So eventually, I picked the red wine braised beef ribs. This was a ginormous portion of bone in rib. It was super tender and the meat just fell off the bone with very little effort. I liked this a lot, but it wasn’t the greatest. I felt like it could have used a bit more flavor. The rib was served on top of a potato/parsnip puree seasoned with horseradish. The horseradish was pretty much undetectable. It was ok, but I would have preferred plain mash. The parsnip taste didn’t do it for me. There were also some zesty pickled shallots and the seasonal veggies which were grilled spaghetti squash and brussel sprouts. I enjoyed this other veg very much. All in all, it was a good entree, but not great. It was tons of food too, so there was plenty left over. It was also a bit on the pricey side. I wouldn’t have minded if it was a bit less food, and a bit less dollars.

I was beyond stuffed to even consider dessert, but that was ok because nothing from the dessert menu really screamed out my name. The service was excellent, for the most part. Up until I got my check, everything was great. After my server gave me my check, he pretty much disappeared. It took him way too long to pick it back up. But that was just a minor glitch in an otherwise lovely dinner. So for those of you in this neighborhood, definitely stop by.