Review: La Porta, Media PA (Revisit)

We made our second visit to La Porta, Peter McAndrews’ wonderful western outpost in Media (Edgemont) PA, on Rt. 352. The first trip was just pizza at lunch.  Here on a Sunday night for dinner, EPBAC (Eats Pizza But Avoids Cheese) and I decided to get one appetizer, one entrée, and one pizza for sharing.  Fresh off a recent trip to Italy that included a breeze through Tuscany, we were intrigued by the $28 Montepulciano red wine and ordered a bottle. It was the least expensive wine on the list (glasses of the house wine are $7.50) and very good for a wine in its price range.

Salsiccia slice. Click any pic to enlarge

We selected a seafood pasta Fra Diavlo from the specials that our server recited, and the "Salsiccia" pizza, with house made fennel sausage, plum tomato, fresh mozzarella, and rosemary for $12. The pies here are "personal" size but pretty big for one person. We learned that the menu has been tweaked, and we chose for our appetizer one of the new offerings -- "Dutch Fries."

Dutch Fries

What are Dutch Fries? Well, foodies may know that the "French Fry" is generally regarded as a Belgian invention, but the Netherlands have fries stands all over, where fresh fried potatoes are served in paper cones with (as in Belgium) mayo. The Dutch include other toppings, such as peanut satay that entered their culture during their colonization of Indonesia.

At La Porta, the Dutch Fries are beautiful golden-orange colored fries, cooked to a lovely crispiness, then topped with peanut satay, garlic aioli (mayo), siracha (Thai hot sauce), and (the real kicker) lightly toasted coconut. This dish was an absolute explosion of colors, textures, flavors. It was a grand slam home run. It was a generous mound, enough to feed four as an appetizer, yet the two of us demolished it. I don't want to know how many calories were in it, but for sure I'd order it again. It would also be a terrific Happy Hour snack.

Spaghetti Fra Diavlo

The Fra Diavlo spaghetti ($15) was another hit. Spiced to be piquant but not overpowering, the sauce set the tone. The pasta was perfectly al dente, and the seafood (shrimp, mussels, calamari) were fresh and succulent.

The Salsiccia pie

Naturally, the pizza is what motivated this return visit to La Porta. After our lunch there, (full review here) I noted "The crust was an absolute delight [with] some characteristics of a Neapolitan crust, but firm and crisp like a Trenton/Brooklyn slice. That crust was magical. Everything that topped that crust was a premiere ingredient, applied judiciously, and all in harmony." I was able to sample several different pies from lunch companions, and added "Everything I tried was wonderfully balanced; that sublime crust with a mix of tomato, cheese, and other savory toppings. This pie is art, the work of a great craftsman."

Salsiccia slice, side view

My sausage pie came out and looked beautiful, but as I pulled out the first slice, I was dismayed by its wet and soupy center. The first bite of each slice required knife and fork, because the crust was saturated by the excess moisture from the sauce and the fresh mozzarella. The pie improved with each bite closer to the cornicione. The fennel sausage was terrific, and the rosemary was a bold touch. Near the outer edge, the crust (with terrific char on the bottom) was again magical, with crunchy/chewy air pockets covered with delicious plum tomato sauce and cheese.

Great pie, soupy center

What went wrong? I don't think it was undercooked, because the underside and the edge were perfect. The problem, I'd say, is too much of the wet ingredients (sauce and cheese), especially in the center of the pie. It's heresy, but the more I eat fresh mozzarella on pizza, the more I appreciate the regular old dry stuff.

Beautiful char underneath

As before, the ambiance at La Porta was delightful; it's a cozy and comfortable space, with a casual rustic elegance. Service was again excellent. The pasta was superb, and the best $15 dish you can get this side of Italy. The decadent Dutch Fries were other-worldly. If you can occasionally embrace the "damn the calories" approach, be sure to try. The pizza, though flawed, was still wonderful and still the best in the western burbs. I'm wishing now that I had a slice left over. We'll be back, and often.

Review: La Porta Ristorante and Wine Bar, Media, PA (Edgemont)

In June of 2011, before we discovered Anthony’s Coal-Fired Pizza in Wayne as the first top-shelf pie anywhere near West Chester PA and Philly’s Main Line, we read about Peter McAndrew’s plan to open a bistro/pizzeria in Edgemont, PA in the site of the old Locust Tavern.  It’s been a long wait, but La Porta is finally open and a large group of us headed there for lunch on a summer Tuesday.

The interior of La Porta oozes with rustic charm. There are two small but airy dining rooms that look like a converted farmhouse, and a smallish but chic wine bar. Our friendly waitresses pushed together three table to accommodate our party of eight. The non-pizza menu looked fascinating, but we were on a mission; we ordered eight pizzas (personal size, but bigger than the typical personal pizza) for our crew of eight and a few salads/starters.

Carbonara pie. Click to enlarge!

Frequently, I ask wait staff about menu items and I get responses of varying utility. Here, when I inquired about the “Barolo” pie, I learned it was Barolo cheese, not wine, that was a pizza component. We quickly agreed that this wait staff knew something about the food, and that was a good omen. I had an especially difficult time selecting a pie, the choices were so compelling. Here are a few of them:

·         Margherita • mozzarella, plum tomato, basil $10

·         Malfatti • “badly made” half pizza/stromboli, prosciutto, sweet peppers, mozzarella, plum tomato $12

·         Bismarck • white pizza, gorgonzola, fried egg, roasted mushroom, truffled asparagus $13

·         Salsiccia • house made fennel sausage, plum tomato, mozzarella, rosemary $12

·         Salumi • artisan sopressatta, plum tomato, asiago, artichoke mostarda $12

·         Napolitano • anchovy, hot peppers, capers, plum tomato, mozzarella $11

·         Pepperoni • roasted peppers, pancetta, plum tomato, mozzarella, gorgonzola dolce, basil $12

·         Barolo • testun di Barolo, fig, caramelized onion, speck $13

·         Rocket • white pie, arugula, green olives, pistachio pesto, raisins $12

For an appetizer, I chose the Caprese salad. It had nice heirloom tomatoes, artistic drizzles of oil and balsamic vinegar, and the best buffalo mozzarella I have ever had. This tasty cheese is always good, but sometimes it can be wet, bland, or both. But this was luscious – creamy and fresh. The tomatoes were not quite as good as those in my back yard, but they were indeed fine specimens of summer. I cringe at the places who make Caprese salad with a pink Florida tomato.

"Malfatti" half-pizza, half-stromboli

I usually want a Margherita or sausage pie to best evaluate, but the “malfatti” was compelling. When it came out, I was delighted that it was not so much “half Stromboli” as the menu promised, but instead a round pizza where less than 25% of the crust was folded over on one edge. That did create a Stromboli-like pocket for some sweet peppers and plum tomatoes, but I’m guessing that the fold took place closer in time to the end of its baking, not at the beginning, because it was cooked delightfully inside and out. And, of course, it was not an overstuffed belly bomb that you’d get when you order the typical Stromboli.

The crust was an absolute delight. As I’ve found with other superb pies, it had some characteristics of a Neapolitan crust, but it was firm and crisp like a Trenton/Brooklyn slice. I have to go back soon and eat this pizza again, because that crust was magical. I think it can rival some of my all-time favorites. Everything that topped that crust was a premiere ingredient, applied judiciously, and all in harmony with the essence of that particular pie variety. 

If I were to quibble, the only change I’d make would be to cut back or replace the sweet peppers. But that truly is quibbling, because this is easily the best pie in any ‘burb west of Philly. In fact, it beats some of Philly’s stars, like Osteria and Stephen Starr’s Stella. I need to get into Tacconelli’s in Port Richmond (so far, I’ve had only the Moorestown NJ Tacconelli’s pie) so we can know who makes the best pizza in Pennsylvania.

Sausage pizza

Eight guys with eight pies presented some opportunities for trading slices. Everything I tried was wonderfully balanced; that sublime crust with a mix of tomato, cheese, and other savory toppings. Most memorable was the Carbonara, which was quite a lot better than the one I had at Stella. I can make this pie, and my flavors on top are almost as good, but I can’t touch that crust. This pie is art, the work of a great craftsman. It is gratifying to finally have world-class pizza without requiring a major road trip from my West Chester home.

Beautiful char on that crust

Worth mentioning is their happy hour, where the $10 Margherita pie is marked down to $6, and you can have a $2.50 Peroni with that. La Porta is the kind of place that every neighborhood should have.