The new restaurant – in the same shopping center as La Colombe – sports a new name, a warmer vibe and more familiar fare. Several tweaks earlier this year didn’t move the dial enough for Fiore Rosso, which closed for a month this summer.
Fiore Rosso, the much anticipated “red flower” successor to Enoteca Tredici that bloomed with promise a few summers ago only to wilt under a series of misfires, has finally been yanked at the roots.
The food was fine – better than fine – but the Main Line simply couldn’t cozy up to its sticker-shock prices, chilly vibe and inscrutable menu.
And where was Marc Vetri anyway? Wasn’t this supposed to be the celebrated chef’s first foray into our fair burbs? Oh wait, he was just an off-site consultant, the Main Line learned later. Hmmmph.
Time for a do-over.
Fiore Rosso closed for a month in mid-summer and just reopened with a new name – the simpler Il Fiore, a warmer look, and more relatable menu. Noticeably absent: the eye-popping prices.
Goodbye, Confusing Italian Steakhouse. Hello, Everyday Italian.
“We went through every guest review; these were such easy fixes,” says GM Gina Alfano, a Conestoga ’10 alum who took over after stints at the Moshulu, Brick & Brew in Malvern and City Works in KOP. (T/E folks may recall her mom, the veteran kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Alfano.)
The complaint: Guests called the high-ceilinged dining room strewn with contemporary art “cold” “condescending” and “too loud and echoey.”
The fix: Bring in Barbara Balongue, designer of White Dog/Rosalie/Wills and Bills, etc. She blacked out the cavernous white ceiling, anchored the lifeless dining room with a leafy, skyscraping tree and additional soft seating, and replaced most of the modern art with room-softening stylized murals of the Italian countryside. The lounge areas are better delineated and there’s a second TV at the bar.
Stilted and sterile has become warm and convivial.
The old Fiore Rosso (left) and its livelier incarnation as il Fiore.
The complaint: The menu is too precious, too unfamiliar and too darn pricey.
The fix: Ditch most of the steaks and unpronounceable dishes and add artisan 10-inch pizzas ($14 – $16); familiar apps like fried mozzarella, fried squid-and-shrimp, and tuna crudo ($14 – $20); pastas with recognizable names ($17 for an app-size Cacio e Pepe to $36 for shrimp scampi), a $29 chicken parm (not kidding; it’s here), and the inevitable $25 “Fiore” burger. Portions, on the whole, seem larger.
“Italian Classics with a modern twist” is how Alfano describes the new approach. Or “Everday Italian” if said Italians each day extruded their own pastas, dry-aged their own steaks and scratch-made every sauce and sorbet.
Split a few apps and a pizza with the girls on a weekday night, grab a burger and beer after a round with your golf buddies, or get gussied up and splurge on a Saturday. Il Fiore wants to be your place for every reason and season.
If Fiore’s tomato burrata ($18) is a fresh take on Panzanella salad and three recognizable apps (at right): fried squid/shrimp with lemon aioli ($19), tua crudo ($20) and fried mozzarella with marinara $14).
Most entrées are in the $30s and there’s a $57 filet and $68 sirloin. Going all out? Tailor-made for two lovebirds, the $180 “Bistecca Speciale” includes a 32 oz. bone-in ribeye to share, a chopped Caesar, two sides and a champagne toast. (Shhh! Th fizzy part is a surprise and not listed on the menu.) The same-size steak was once $150 with no salad, sides or bubbly. Not bad for an extra $30.
(For the record, we tried the misto fritto (fried seafood app), pizza du jour, the eggplant rotolo pasta and seared halibut. All were deelish. If you’re a mashed-potato person, order a steak. You’ll thank us later.)
The complaint: Unpronounceable, unfamiliar wines and craft cocktails with obscure ingredients.
The fix: Add a California Cabernet, a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and a Rosé or two. Mix up fresh takes on somewhat familiar cocktails like the Fumo Rosso, a fancy name for an exceptionally balanced strawberry mezcal margarita.
Ownership is the same – primary investor is Lower Merion H.S./Villanova alum Tom Gravina of Haverford – and yes, Vetri is out of the picture entirely.
Executive chef is Marie Lavizzo-Mourey, who earned her chops at Zahav and Starr restaurants and whose teenage version of strip steak and potatoes once earned a prize and a job offer from Michael Solomonov himself.
Fiore Rosso’s former executive chef Jesse Grossman has stayed on the Main Line. He now runs the kitchen at Rosalie at the Wayne Hotel.
Two young women run the show at Il Fiore: Execuive Chief Marie Lavizzo-Mourey who started as Fiore Rosso Sous Chef, and GM Gina Alfana, 32, a Conestoga alum who last worked for Fearless Restaurants.
Chef Marie personally recommends the king salmon, the halibut,the tomato burrata, the Fiore sausage app and the bolognese – but try them soon. The fall menu starts Oct. 1.
Chef tells us weekday lunch should begin in 2025. There are no plans for weekend brunch.
il Fiore, Bryn Mawr Village, is open Tues. – Sat. from 4:30, Sun. 4 to 7:30, Happy Hour in the bar and lounge Tues. – Fri. 4:30 to 6:30 (select $10 cocktails, $8 wines, $6 beers and $10 – $15 lite bites and pizzas).
Those prices are still outrageous.