Dover Sole in downtown Philly

dover soleMy old friend Calogero met me at Philly’s 30th st station and drove about ten minutes to a resto called Rigoletto on Wood St. No idea where it is except that it’s in the shadow of an expressway in a newly gentrified industrial area. Couldn’t find it on google either.

Rigoletto, a charming airy place,  is BYOB.  Scanning the gloomy sky, Calogero had tucked a red under his arm. The menu was trad Italian, lotsa pasta. But I’m on a low carb diet. What are the specials? The server, who may have been the owner, said “Branzino and Dover Sole.”

“Dover Sole?” I was amazed. “real Dover Sole?” He was a bit miffed “Of course.”

The Sole arrived grilled and then the server whisked it away deboned it and returned the fish perfectly reassembled. I haven’t seen that done since I had lunch at Bofinger in Paris a while ago.

It was sensational. Price too was sensational: a mere $24.

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About Gina Mallet

Gina Mallet is the author of Last Chance to Eat, The Fate of Taste in a Fast Food World, which won the 2005 James Beard Award for writing on food, an account of the lost world of eating. She is a former theatre critic, and now the restaurant critic for the National Post of Canada.
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