While Italian restaurants are seemingly a dime a dozen, Il Portico quietly makes a statement with its classic dishes. The restaurant has a perfect balance of Italian staples - olive oil, cheese, bread, herbs, dim lighting and love songs - that blend together to create an excellent dining experience.
Il Portico has an austere ambience. Oil paintings in gilded frames hang from dark walls. Huge chandeliers light the room. A Palladian window overlooks Walnut, and music plays softly in the background.
Soon after we were seated, a waiter, dressed in formal attire, brought a trio of bread and a shallow plate of olive oil to the table. All three types of bread were very good: Crisp and buttery, they were finished off with a hint of garlic and rosemary. The herb blend worked perfectly with the robust, flavorful olive oil. As we discovered throughout the meal, "balance" is a key to the dishes prepared at Il Portico: While all the flavors were rich, none overpowered any other the others in the dish, making every bite exciting.
For an appetizer, I chose the special, the Caprese salad, while my friend chose the tuna carpaccio ($10.95). Though "salad" is a bit misleading - my dish was creamy mozzarella topped with roasted peppers, basil and olive oil - my appetizer was certainly delicious. The mildness of the cheese was complemented well with the kick offered by the peppers and oil. The tuna carpaccio was zesty and perfectly chilled, and, as my friend put it, was "unbelievably good."
For the main course, I again chose the nightly special, a fettuccini with pesto and grilled shrimp. The shrimp was grilled without becoming tough or dry. While the pasta was also done well, it became a vehicle for the pesto - the standout element of the dish. The different ingredients in the pesto blended together perfectly, and the taste lingered a deliciously long time.
Though sorely tempted by the risotto selection ($12.95-$15.95), my friend finally settled on the lamp chop ($19.95), and was definitely pleased. They were served simply, fanned across the plate with grilled vegetables. Seasoned with the familiar combination of olive oil, garlic, rosemary and thyme, they were tender and succulent. Here, too, the seasoning and the natural flavors of the lamb balanced. The dish, classic and basic, was comforting and pleasing.
Choosing one dessert would have been agonizing. Luckily, we were able to select the dolce misto, a sampling of several desserts. The night we visited, the plate had tiramisu, profiterole, toscanella, Amaretto cheesecake and marsala zabaglione. The tiramisu was superb - each ingredient was strong and rich. The profiterole was rich and creamy, and was just sweet enough. The toscanella's pastry was sweet and not soggy, and had decadent filling. The zabaglione was sweet and smooth, but bland compared to the first three. Both of us were slightly let down by the cheesecake, which, we felt, was not creamy enough.
Leaving the restaurant, stuffed and content, both of us agreed that Il Portico had been a good choice.
