Villa Barolo

by Bob & Sue Gordon

Chef Lo doesn’t go slow. The guy navigates with some sort of cafe-dar: a mechanism, instinct, or what-have-you that allows him to simultaneously scope out everything that’s happening in his empire. One instant, you see Lo stopping a server to fine-tune a dish prior to presentation. The next minute he’s bantering with guests at a nearby table before politely excusing himself and bustling off to greet and seat a few newly arriving diners. “Hey, Chef Lo, how’s your family?” they shout. After a brief conversation, Lo hustles off to take a phone call at the hostess station in the lobby. He chuckles with the caller, hangs up, and scurries back to the kitchen—only to re-emerge ten minutes later to make another reconnaissance run.

“I’m here twenty four, seven; always working,” he smiles. He’s neither boasting nor whining. In all the years we’ve been writing about restaurants in Bucks County and beyond, we haven't found many chefs who devote themselves more completely to their craft. We’ve admired Chef Leung Lo’s skills for well over a decade, first discovering Lo when he was wowing Philly foodies and businessmen at La Veranda on the Delaware. During his tenure, the waterfront eatery became one of the hottest tables in town. Next, Lo set out for Elkins Park, where his homage to Italian cuisine, Marco Polo, quickly ascended to neighborhood-icon status. Lo’s successful run there ended eight years ago, when he bought the landmark building on Route 611 that once housed Vincent's Warrington Inn and later Marabella's. Lo called his new venture Villa Barolo.

The structure’s exterior, which is not particularly eye-catching or distinctive, belies the manorial interior. The attractive lobby features green-and-gold marble floors, polished wood paneling and accent columns atop marble bases. A handsome and intimate hideaway bar snakes through the adjoining room. Comfortable banquettes and linen-draped tables populate the spacious main dining room. Even the restrooms are noteworthy and feature attractive copper basins atop glass counters rippled with gold leaf.

Sure, these are decorous digs, but the real draw is Chef Lo’s cooking. Lo breeds staff loyalty—an art form that escapes many in his craft. Lo’s staff, almost in toto, has been with him for 15 years. That kind of loyalty is virtually absent in the nerve-fraying restaurant business. And loyalty pays tangible dividends. Because of its longevity, the kitchen staff can engage a more extensive menu and prepare it with more consistency than restaurants with a revolving door.

Chef Lo has no peer in preparing and serving fresh fish, including filleting it tableside [with a sole, so to speak, exception: Chef Sami at Chalfont’s Tutto Mario]. And on any given evening at Villa Barolo, your choices may include striped bass, Dover sole, black sea bass, St. Peter’s fish, scorfano, orata, red snapper, grouper, and turbot. A recent visit affirmed that Lo has lost none of his magic. A whole Orata, baked in a salt crust and filleted tableside, emerged succulent and alabaster from its white dome. No need for the chef to tamper with the fish – just dress it with extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. Its natural flavor is released, and made to sing. Orata was also available grilled and topped with jumbo lump crabmeat and sun-dried tomatoes in a pink Cognac sauce. However, I always prefer the sublime simplicity of fresh fish filleted tableside ...

To read the rest of this article see page 136 in the Summer 2012 issue of Bucks County Magazine.