bacio

bacio
311 west mt. pleasant avenue
philadelphia, pa
(215) 248 2740

type of cuisine: italian
culinary excellence: 8
vegan friendliness: 8
*recommended*

the first time i went to bacio, i still lived on the main line. johanna took me there for my 30th birthday and it was a frustrating experience. although the restaurant was charming and served home made eggless pastas with plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, i was bummed that we didn't think to bring any wine, bummed that they didn't have vegan gnocchi on that particular night, and bummed that i was totally full from bread dipped in olive oil after a 70 minute wait for our food:



i realize now that the wait was due to them making me vegan ravioli from scratch. and it wasn't even good! sadly, the chefs are unschooled in the fine art of tofu ricotta (you need nutritional yeast, people!) and cheese-free pesto (again, it's all about the nooch). here's the thing though - don't order some special vegan dish just because they say they can do it. order the following: pasta e broccoli.



this is possibly the most delicious pasta dish i've ever had. the pasta itself is fantastic and the combination of broccoli, olives and capers in white wine sauce is a dream come true. their salty pasta puttanesca is also delectable, but of the two i prefer the broccoli. plus sometimes they add eggplant to the puttanesca and that's just not ok to add eggplant to a dish that doesn't list eggplant as an ingredient.

now luca and i live 5 minutes from bacio and we go there so much that they know who we are. or at least they know who luca is. apparently he has a more memorable face than i do. other items we have tried include the vegan rollatini (not nearly as good as the recipe from veganomicon), bruschetta (excellent - just ask them to hold the cheese), tomato, basil and tofu mozzarella (this is not on the menu, but we were offered it as a compliment one night and it was quite good - i think the "mozzarella" was just nicely prepared soft tofu with salt and other spices - very satisfying), sweet potato gnocchi (so disappointing! the gnocchi's themselves were bland and tasted of nutmeg and the maranara sauce did nothing to enhance it), beet salad (wonderful, an excellent starter), egg-free ceasar (fantastic!) and vegan cannoli's (hella awesome and served with the most delicious chocolate i've ever had). here is an example of a complimentary dish offered to compensate for a long wait time:



so go to bacio. bring wine. bring wine in a cute little wine cozy. it will make you feel better.