Penne For Your Thoughts

Hannah, my 9-year-old granddaughter, is having a ball. She’s standing at the "Pasta Lab" at Penne, the restaurant in The Inn at Penn, and she’s making penne. How were we to know when we went in for our second dinner here that we would meet a blond, dimpled Madonna, pasta chef Roberta Adamo, and that she would happily engage Hannah in making pasta with her? Anyway, Hannah is turning the triangles of transparent dough around a thin rod and rolling the curl down a ridged paddle and pretty soon she has completed an entire portion of these delightful little tubes that she can take home with her.

Adamo is the star attraction at this restaurant, but there are many other things to recommend it. First, there's a cozy bar at the entrance, hung with end-of-day lamps, where there's a bar menu available throughout the day. There's the spacious dining room with the open kitchen, with mock stone walls and Roman busts and a nice mixture of booths and tables. Then there's the interesting wine list, full of Italian goodies at fair prices, and a recommendation for each dish.

Though the food of chef Ed Vadden is more than acceptable, it is the pasta that is the draw. On our first visit the waitress was faced with a table of seven women, none of whom could make up their minds. She helpfully balanced this confused group, but forgot the bread, which didn't arrive until halfway through the meal. She did bring, however, a platter of assorted bruschetta -- basil and tomato, white bean and black olive pesto, mushroom and goat cheese on warm, crusty bread that was immediately disposed of, and a beet and goat cheese salad with almonds and shaved fennel, dressed with a tart citrus dressing. The beets were like sweet rubies, perfect with the fennel, but there was no promised goat cheese. When we mentioned this, the waitress brought us an entire tub of goat cheese as recompense, and we went on eating.

We sailed though hearts of romaine with a Caesar-like Parmesan dressing, but I don't like to have to cut up my salad, so that lost points with me, no matter how fresh the lettuce or creamy the dressing. A salad of truly tender octopus with fingerling potatoes, olives and caper berries had beautiful ribbons of herbed pasta running through it, and was the most flavorful, imaginative appetizer we had. We drank a Salice de Salentino from Apulia, in the best stemware I've seen lately -- tall, thin and graceful, and perfect for this fruity light wine.

Adamo was not there that evening, but we did try the recommended pastas, and they were wonderful. The penne, cloaked with a dark, earthy mantle of mixed mushrooms in a porcini sauce, was light and tooth-resistant, and a touch of goat cheese made the sauce even creamier, with a tart edge. The whole wheat fettuccine, as smooth as silken ribbons, was sauced interestingly, with pancetta, Brussels sprouts and potatoes. The vegetables, especially the seldom-seen sprouts, were all the flavor that the sauce required -- not a speck of tomato to be seen. Plump little cavatelli with a simple, fresh tomato and basil sauce was the kind of pasta dish, honest and homey, that I always dream of.

We skipped the pizzas and did some business with meats -- a tender sirloin strip with goat cheese mashed potatoes, and a lovely filet that was almost eclipsed by the side order of ravioli filled with rich and luxuriously fatty short rib and foie gras. There was sautéed spinach as well as baby carrots and a brandy currant sauce, to cut the fat with sharp berry nuance. A pan-roasted Cornish hen was delicious, as was the airy potato gnocchi with broccoli rabe pesto that came along for the ride. A grilled lamb loin was enhanced by the vegetable mixture on the side, and by the cipollini onion broth and shaved Parmigiano that accented it. One woman was heard to moan softly over the sweet potato tortelloni with a classic sauce of Swiss chard, butter and sage that accompanied a big, meaty veal chop.

We could barely think of dessert after such a feast, but we ordered some anyway. Lemon tart, tiramisu, pear and almond tart, gelati and chocolate timballini -- a dome of varied mousses covered by smooth chocolate.

Penne can be many things to many people. It can serve as an enotecca for a flight of wine and some oysters and pasta. Or it can be a spot for a multicourse, high-end meal. Or you can have a lovely brunch there. Expect that the service will be eager but haphazard and that not every dish will come out as described, but you can also expect some nice surprises. And make sure that Adamo is there when you go.

Penne Restaurant and Wine Bar
Inn at Penn, 3611 Walnut St., 215-823-6222
Appetizers, $5-$12; entrees, $9-$25
Sun.-Sat., 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; Sun.-Thu., 5-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 5-11 p.m.
Wheelchair accessible. Smoking is permitted at the bar. Reservations suggested. All major credit cards.

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