FARMiCiA (Philadelphia, PA)

My husband and I went to FARMiCiA in Philadelphia for Restaurant Week.  The Prix Fix menu looked promising from a vegetarian perspective, but I should have compared it to their regular menu – I ended up spending more by going the Prix Fix route!  We went on a cold, snowy Sunday and had a treacherous walk because many places had not cleared the snow from their sidewalks.  We entered the bright, inviting, and warm restaurant.  There is a bar to the right side with some two-seaters and then larger tables to the left.  We were seated on the left in a two-seater, but there wasn’t a lot of room between our table and the one next to us (or the one behind us).  Kind of a tight fit in that particular part of the restaurant.

I started off the three-course meal with the FARMiCiA Salad.  It consisted of lettuce, garden vegetables (carrots and tomatoes), and croutons, and I ordered the herb vinaigrette on the side.  The veggies were all crisp and fresh and the herb vinaigrette was light and tasty.  I’m not sure which herbs were in it, but they worked well together – nothing overpowering anything else.

As my main dish, I ordered the Butternut Squash Risotto Croquettes.  I was excited for risotto as well as a vegetarian croquette.  The Croquettes were sitting atop a bed of sautéed spinach and topped with a walnut-sage pesto.  Some roasted cauliflower was on the side.  I’m not sure what the spinach was sautéed in, but it was the same thing the cauliflower was roasted in – it was a tad salty, but absolutely delicious.  I took bites of the croquette with the spinach and cauliflower and the crisp croquette worked nicely with the softer spinach.  The croquettes were pan fried and had a light crust to them.  The risotto was OK, but I think that a bit more pepper or other spice would have been good.  I did not like the walnut-sage pesto at all.  It was the same consistency of a regular pesto, but did not taste like one.  It was a tad too sweet for me.

For dessert, I had the Rich Bittersweet Flourless Chocolate Torte with chocolate ice cream & warm fudge sauce.  Talk about chocolate!  I was in overload mode!  It was good though, warm soft cake in each bite, paired with cold ice cream and hot fudge.  Oh my!  My mouth is watering just thinking about this delectable dish.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to eat the whole thing and my husband couldn’t help me because he was working on his own dessert.

I would like to go back to FARMiCiA sometime, and order off of their regular menu!