The Return of the Blog

Thursday 8 January 2009
Victor’s Opera Cafe
After an interminable four days apart, Holt and Barbara got back together in Philadelphia, City of Romance. Does it count as a dirty weekend if you're married? Oh, yes, yes it does.
Our dear friend Helene took us to Victor's Opera Café ("The Music Lovers' Rendezvous"). http://www.victorcafe.com/

Some places should never change. We used to go to Victor's back when Barbara was teaching in Philadelphia, and her Mom would come down from New York to visit. Florry would enter Victor's and greet every dusty signed photograph as an old friend. When the records (yes, youth, they had records then) played, she could "Name That Voice" within ten seconds. (Short pause to praise America. Is this a great country, or what, where a poor Jewish girl from Brooklyn could develop a life-long love of opera and an encyclopedic knowledge of the same, from the Texaco radio broadcasts, standing room tickets, and public TV and public libraries?)
The old photos are still there, the waiters and waitresses (usually young students at Curtis) still belt out an aria on the half hour, and the menu is unaltered since Caruso was a pup—a hundentenor—and a good thing too. The only change was that the elderly banks of 78s have been retired to a rest home somewhere upstate to make way for a few more tables.

For starters, we had crispy calamari and Victor's odd but tasty "crespelle," where the wrapper is prosciutto and the filling is of crabmeat. Then Vitello Picante Licia Albanese (veal sautéed with asparagus and fresh baby artichokes in white wine, lemon, butter and garlic), and Saltimbocca Baron Scarpia (with prosciutto, pineapple sage, and wild mushrooms in marsala). Victor's was the place where we first learned about putting a shot of lemon vodka in a cream sauce, for Pasta Prince Igor.
And now a short scientific digression. First, it turns out that all the alcohol does not burn away in cooking (yeah!). Second, there's a good reason for the booze in certain sauces, since some flavors are more soluble in alcohol. So that glug of brandy or whatever not only contributes its own trace elements but brings out complex tastes that would otherwise be lost. And don't try to tell us any different.
For dessert we shared the pistachio creme brulee. Thanks, Helene, for treating us to a classic favorite!