Collingswood, New Jersey still has hints of a Mob-led town where several authentic Italian restaurants serve up excellent fare. But Kitchen Consigliere goes a step further by incorporating the decor into the theme. Servers are in full-on Bugsy Malone outfits, the light fixtures are old revolvers and black and white Mafia films air during dinner.
All restaurants in Collingswood are BYO since the town is dry (another throwback) so the prices are slightly inflated to make up for the fact that no one is making money on alcohol. That said, service is also a little rushed so they can turn the tables faster. BUT, this place is still full every night because the food ranges from good to amazing.
We tried the Rice Balls to start - these were huge and very crispy. Pancetta was a nice touch. As suspected though, they did not live up to Marie's, another New Jersey establishment we loved last year.
I attempted to order a health(ier) entree and chose Chicken Sorrento which is sautéed chicken, mozzarella, grilled eggplant and fresh tomatoes. My healthy vision went out the window when I realized it also came in a white wine butter sauce. This did help mask the fact that the tomatoes were horribly out of season.
A better pick would have been the Sunday Gravy which my dining companions loved. The large, steaming hot sausage, meatballs, spare ribs and braciolo over rigatoni covered in a lovely marinara sauce would have done the trick. Or, alternatively, the house specialty eggplant parmesan is supposed to be amazing.
To make up for my poor entree choice, we chose the Pizzelle and Red Velvet Cake for dessert. Both were massive in size and huge on taste.
The next morning, we went from one extreme to the other, when we dined at Ponzio's, a local diner. I ordinarily wouldn't deem a diner like this blog-worthy had it not been for the scrapple.
I did not know what scrapple was and, truthfully, I would have preferred to keep it that way. For those of you who don't know though, it is (from Wikipedia): a mush of deep fried pork scraps and trimmings, combined with cornmeal, flour and spices. If there ever were a reason to become Kosher, this might be it. I'd stay away. But if you're intrigued the info is below.
Until our next Berger,
KLB
Kitchen Consigliere
700 Haddon Avenue
Collingsswood, NJ
856.854.2156
kitconcafe.com
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