Barbuzzo, Chef Joe Bergen's Mediterranean at S. 13th and Sansom Street in Midtown Village

[thetrain]

Ate at the new Barbuzzo twice recently, its a great choice if you are staying near City Center. The Uovo pizza was really rich and really good - toppings (egg, truffle, brussel sprouts, guanciale, caciocavallo, fior di latte and a 'special' white sauce) being the best part and the crust a serviceable cross between liberty tavern and orso/pupatella. Had two regular dishes; bone marrow and a pork pasta dish, both were on the larger side for tapas portions. I liked both, but probably would order something else if I went again...nearly everything on the menu sounded interesting.

Pretty crowded both times, don't expect to walk in and sit...unless you are a party of two and willing to sit at the bar or counter in front of the kitchen (which is pretty entertaining), and even then a wait is likely.

[DonRocks]

[These paragraphs were copied from The Mother Thread as part of larger posts.

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Thursday Dinner- My buddy Ant and I used his manager discount at Barbuzzo. This was my second time and I was far more impressed this go around. The sheep's milk ricotta was sublime--texture was perfectly creamy and the vin cotto had just enough bite (mouth is currently salivating). The cheese and charcuterie was interesting and varied--the homemade apricot mustard was a great touch. Salame Toscano and the young honey goat's cheese were definite standouts. Next up was wood roasted Portugese sardines and pacherra pasta. These were slightly better as read on the menu, but pleasing items nonetheless. The sardines were touch too crispy but the classic combo of preserved lemon, fennel and olives worked well. The pacherra was light on the pork ragout but as good a homemade pasta I've had in a long time. And finally the flight of victory beers I had--braumeister pils, headwaters pale ale, scarlet fire rauchbier, and st. boisterous hellerbock--were fantastic. Hellerbock=carbonated campfire in mouth.

From the NY Times's "Heathens Outside of NYC Finally Have a Decent Restaurant or Two" File - Philly Edition.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/travel/23choice-philadelphia.html?ref=dining

mini reviews of Supper, Barbuzzo, JG Domestic, Fish.

[astrid]

We had brunch at Barbuzzo and really enjoyed it.  The prices are a notch lower than the other restaurants we visited on our latest Philly trip, and it shows in the youth of the diners.  The service was good and I liked the dark wood decor, it was stylish and minimalist and didn't feel oppressive.  The food was all quite good and relatively large portions.   The generous antipasta plate paired great with the tasty charcouterie plate.  The meatballs here are big and pretty darn great.  The pizza crusts lacked  the cracker crispness of Ghibellina or Osteria, but were otherwise on par with the best of DC for crust and toppings.  The slight letdown would be the pasta - another tomato-less ragu that was a bit too thin for our liking, and the pasta itself not quite perfectly supple and silky.