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Eternal Summer at Positano Coast
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Eternal Summer at Positano Coast
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| Black Cod with fennel, lemon and tomato confit and parsley pesto. |
| Photo l Michael Persico |
The white-framed terrace of Positano Coast perches above Walnut Street, just as the villages of Amalfi cling to the mountainous seaside for which the restaurant is named. Siblings Pippo (chef) and Rosita Lamberti (GM) run the Philadelphia outpost of dad Aldo Lamberti's restaurant empire, which counts 12 locations in the tri-state area. Staffed by a seemingly endless supply of Euro cousins with sexy accents, Lamberti eateries run the gamut from elegant Milanese ristorante to a casual pizzeria.
Positano's focus is on seafood, and the Italian take on raw fish known as crudo. A recent menu overhaul features all sustainably sourced fish, avoiding endangered yet popular fishes like Chilean sea bass and bluefin tuna. More than certain types of fish, said chef Pippo, consumers should seek out fish that were individually caught on a hook and line. The common type of fishing called benthic trawling — fishing by dragging a net over the bottom of the ocean behind one or more boats — decimates fish populations and destroys the ocean floor ecosystem. Studies have shown that bottom trawling does significant damage to sponges, corals and other ocean life, as well as fish.
Line-caught sablefish (also called black cod) and branzino are two of chef's favorite fish to prepare, as well as octopus and wild striped bass. He cautions against turning to farm-raised fish as the main alternative to wild fish caught by damaging methods. Fish farms, with their dense populations of individuals confined to a small area, are extremely destructive to their ecosystem. Lamberti points out that shrimp farmers in South America will wipe out acres of rainforest to create their huge shrimp pools. Since the shrimp will only eat in the daytime, lights are erected over the pools and kept on 24 hours a day to encourage accelerated consumption, and fast growth as a result. Need we even discuss the flavor of creatures who live out their days swimming in hundreds of tons of concentrated fish poop?
Seafood eaters can take heart, however, for there are alternatives to our same old farm-raised salmon and endangered bluefin tuna. The black cod dear to Lamberti's heart (and menu) is a firm-fleshed white fish with a wonderfully velvety texture. The crisped skin on his dish is the product of fearless searing, first on the stove in neutral-flavored oil, then flipped and popped into the oven to be cooked through. Dumping the oil from the pan, chef replaces it with new, cold oil and a generous lump of butter. As the butter melts, he rapidly bastes the fish to keep it moist and add flavor. Simply adorned with fennel, lemon and tomato confit and dressed with a fresh parsley pesto, the fresh fish and breezy white interior of the restaurant transport the diner to the lemony eternal summer of the Positano Coast.
Positano Coast by Aldo Lamberti, 212 Walnut St., 2nd Floor, 215-238-0499
[...] Meal Ticket highlights the line-caught black cod at Positano Coast. [Meal Ticket] [...]
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