Mac
Moonstruck restaurant
By Frank Quattrone
I never thought I’d find a restaurant that could make gnocchi as tasty as my dear departed nonna’s. But I was wrong. It happened during our most recent visit to Moonstruck, the elegant upscale Italian that’s been setting standards and inspiring changes in the local dining scene ever since it opened as Ristorante DiLullo in Fox Chase more than 37 years ago.
Lactose intolerant, my wife Eve and I had just a taste of Moonstruck’s delicate house-made dumplings in a creamy gorgonzola sage sauce (lovely) but simply reveled in the spinach gnocchi kissed by a traditional light tomato sauce. Amazing!
But it’s what we’ve come to expect from Moonstruck and its visionary hosts, Toto Schiavone and Claire DiLullo, the happily married restaurateurs who have been creating great food together for years. Moonstruck, like the multiple Academy Award-winning 1987 film that inspired its name, exudes romance — from the stately brick and black tablecloths of its private dining rooms to the classy glass dividers that create a sense of intimacy while connecting guests to the vibrant tables beyond their own.
And then there’s the menu. Emanating from the restaurant’s first consultant, beloved world-famous chef and cookbook author Marcella Hazan, tweaked by Moonstruck’s first chef Aliza Green, another acclaimed, prolific cookbook author and Elkins Park’s own culinary queen, and driven by the passionate soul of Toto, whose upbringing on a farm in Calabria has taught him more about the freshness of foods than most people will ever know, Moonstruck features classic Italian cuisine lovingly prepared and presented.
Although you couldn’t find Calamari Fritti, a mainstay on most menus these days, on more than a handful of Italian menus in 1979, Ristorante DiLullo was already serving it to its appreciative guests. Today Moonstruck has refined that staple into its Calamaretti appetizer, a plate of sautéed tender squid served in a seafood tomato broth with fingerling potatoes and fresh peas.
But you must begin your meal at Moonstruck with Salumi, the great antipasti dish that Toto calls “the centerpiece of the Italian table,” a grand array of capocolla, house-made and house-cured soppressata, prosciutto, and speck (zesty smoked prosciutto—an Italian delicacy), and adorned with olives and caramelized figs. “On the farms in Italy,” Toto recalls, “we served guests what we made there ourselves, and they loved it.”
Other home-grown treats at Moonstruck are, in summer, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and many herbs from Claire and Toto’s own garden, and they make their own sun-dried tomatoes and even—this is Claire’s specialty, served complimentary to anyone of age who so desires—limoncello, the popular southern Italian lemon liqueur, low in sugar and kissed by vodka.
Again, because the selections were so enticing, we ordered tasting portions of many items. These smaller plates, called cicchetti in Italy and tapas elsewhere, were also popularized here and in Claire and Toto’s DiLullo Centro (later renamed Toto), across from the Academy of Music — a now-closed restaurant that held sway during Philadelphia’s vaunted restaurant boom.
So we tasted a trio of seafood dishes—so plentiful along the shores of Calabria, in the Italian boot—and a wonderful veal entrée. Our cozze (or mussels), served in a white wine broth with Sardinian couscous, were among the most tender we’ve ever eaten. The special della giornata, or fish of the day, merluzzo (cod), was pan-seared in white wine over petite potatoes and escarole. But the star of the seafood that evening was Moonstruck’s understandably top-selling entrée —pan-seared Cappe Sante, better known as sea scallops served in a sweet corn broth with pesto risotto and topped with a sail of mini onion rings. Again, one of the best seafood dishes we’ve enjoyed in years!
Our final entrée, also available on Moonstruck’s $35 Pre-Fixe Dinner (more on that later), was a divine Vitello alla Sorrentina, tender sautéed veal medallions, topped with strips of mozzarella and mushrooms in a tomato wine sauce. Although usually complemented with linguine, we skipped the pasta to leave room for dessert.
Eve had the Zuppa Inglese, an Italian sponge cake soaked in rum and surrounded by tiny raspberries and thin strips of chocolate. I enjoyed the Warm Apple Crisp with vanilla gelato, accompanied by the limoncello balanced with a bracing double espresso.
The Pre-Fixe Dinner features your choice of appetizer (including Arancini, risotto croquette filled with peas, asparagus and gorgonzola), entrée (like the Vitello alla Sorrentino) and dessert from a rotating group of daily selections.
When asked why Moonstruck has been successful for so many years — they also own Joseph’s Pizzeria next door, a neighborhood standout for 50 years!—Toto and Claire said, “We listen to our customers, we’re open to our staff’s suggestions, and we cater to our customers’ dietary needs. And our staff has been with us forever—like General Manager Kathy Mahoney [26 years], and our cooks, Guy Jean Baptiste [28 years] and Matt Appice [18 years]. We feel fortunate to have such loyal staff and customers.”.
Moonstruck Restaurant is located at 7955 Oxford Avenue, Philadelphia
[Fox Chase], PA 19111; 215-725-6000; www.moonstruckrestaurant.com.
Open for dinner only, Monday-Thursday, 5–9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5–10 p.m.; and Sunday, 4:30–8 p.m. Reservations requested. Available for catering, private parties.