William Mulherin's Sons- Fishtown

We love Fishtown.  This old residential enclave recently underwent a Renaissance to make this neighborhood appealing to those who seek the trendy.  This is not the first neighborhood to pursue fine dining but some of the notable Philadelphia restauranteurs already made their mark on Frankford Ave. with Fette Sau and Frankford Hall.  A few blocks from the bustle of the Frankford and Girard corner is William Mulheron’s Sons, a 6-month old restaurant with Italian inspirations.  The restaurant is situated next to the el and right across from one of the best dive bars, El Bar.  There is quite the contrast between El Bar’s famous $3.50 whiskey shot with PBR can and the grappa selections of WMS that are upward of $20.  

First things first, this place has a cocktail special, which is something more places should apply, but the nightly cocktail menu is very interesting as well.  The servers are incredibly knowledgable about their libations, even knowing the specific quantity of liquor(s) poured into each drink. 

We kicked off our dinner with a few small shared plates which initiated with a hamachi crudo.  A solid, fresh, citrusy fare, there is nothing to boast or diminish about our raw fish appetizer.  

Next up were dates were stuffed with gorgonzola and wrapped in speck (Austria’s version of prosciutto). The speck gave it the meaty flavor and a nice texture. The flavors were okay but it begged for something extra-mint maybe? Sounds crazy, but it was the first thing that came to mind. 

The home made angel hair pasta with black trumpet mushrooms, garlic, fava beans, and parmesan was nothing short of amazing perfection. As the special pasta of the night, we could not pass it up. One of us got flavors of pierogies, the other of lipton pasta packets. You don’t have to think real hard on who came up with each.

Our main courses were a grilled lamb steak with waxed barlotti and roma bean salad.  The steak was relatively flat and reminiscent of a ham steak.  It was well seared and still exhibited the prototypical lamb flavor.  The steak was seasoned, perhaps too much, which gave it a very salty flavor overall. 

A real winner was the suckling pig.  The cut and preparation of the pig was reminiscent of a well prepared belly; nice crispy sear on the outside with some molten fat and tender meat in the middle.  Heirloom shell beans added some earthy hardiness and grappa braised peaches (which were amazing on their own) lent some sugary sweetness to the naturally salty meat.

Something must be said of the outstanding service here, being knowledgable, friendly, patient, and enthusiastic. Outdoor seating is loud with the el right there, but still nice on a warm night. The inside is well decorated and nicely done. A new brand of hand soap/lotion was discovered here (cowshed) that was nothing short of life changing for one of us who is obsessed with herbal and citrus scents. 

Pizzeria Manninos- Pitman, NJ

Having grown up in Pitman, NJ, I have long been accustomed to eateries and businesses opening and closing in Pitman’s famous and ‘historic’ downtown.  The turnover of restaurants in this town seem to be like the changing a calendar each year.  There was little room for success in this conservative dry town notorious for “rolling up the sidewalk” and ending business hours prior to 8PM.  Then, earlier this year the borough counsel approves for Pitman’s first Brewery, Kelly Green, due to a loophole in state laws.  Pitman was able to legally sell alcohol for the first time in its history and the brewery has so far taken off in popularity.  Subsequently a second brewery will open its doors about 30 feet up Broadway from Kelly Green.  To add to the sustenance and libation trends in the region, Pitman witnessed the opening of Pizzeria Manninos in a decades-old corner building on the edge of Broadway. They are piggy-backing on the success of the brewery, staying open on the weekends an hour later than the brewery.

Pizzeria Manninos utilized a wood-fire oven and ages its dough is a style very similar to accomplished and authentic pizzerias in Philadelphia and New York.  On our first visit to Manninos we opted for three selections on the menu:  pesto, boardwalk and rustica. The boardwalk seemed to be the group favorite, being a standard cheese pizza with the exception of cheddar cheese as well as mozzarella. The cheddar didn’t seem overly noticeable, but more of a texture thing. The sauce is the standout of this pizza being the perfect amount of sweet (I hate when a sauce is too sweet but also hate it when its too acidic). The pesto was a nice white pizza  with oven roasted tomatoes. The pesto was plentiful but didn’t take away from the cheese. The over roasted tomatoes had a nice meaty flavor to them that was surprising. The rustica was still good but the least favored of the 3. The ricotta was amazing but the italian sausage didn’t’ seem to mesh as well with the cheeses as the other pizzas did.

Top to bottom:  Pesto, Boardwalk, Rustica

The last thing worth mentioning is a nice gelato selection, including affegato, a combo of vanilla gelato and espresso (also known as dessert heaven). They have multiple selections of homemade flavors worth trying, including a pretty awesome hazelnut.

Overall, this is a great spot for Pitman. Good pizza with even better hours of business in a place where business fails because of poor hours. More importantly, gourmet pizza is not a thing renown to South Jersey, so this is a place to be proud of.