Cafe Alessio

Going west on Street Road and then turning right onto Easton, it’s easy to get frustrated. The traffic’s crazy any side of rush hour. Strip mall and chain store/restaurant repetition repeats in a maddening, somewhat hilarious haze as you search for a place to eat.  

But if you eschew The Home Depot and the right turn option of its near Siamese twin, you can continue ahead with the surge of traffic to veer off onto the shoulder just as the sight of a quaint, roadside dining spot catches your eye. 

With wraparound brickwork, waist-high to ceiling windows, and overhanging foliage and twee light fixtures, you’re ensconced in the tiny space close to the open kitchen. The cars zoom by. You sip from a bottle you brought. The suns slowly sets a la a pause along the Pacific Coast Highway. Warrington?!   

But, Café Alessio is just that -- grounded, yet with hints of transcendence here and there. For a small place with such an extensive menu -- far more troubling than the outdoor bathroom (not a problem really, since old world bathroom usually equals old world grub) -- the fish was handled well, with the rock shrimp stepping to the fore (but okay, we’re not talking grouper here). Some of the dishes, however, call for sharper focus, a paring down of the endless options, while others speak of a much more able execution.   

The rollatini suffers from an identity crisis; bathed in a lifeless marinara and smothered in an albeit creamy provolone, it resembles eggplant parm. Unfortunately, the pairing of provolone and bread crumb coating were the best part of the dish. The eggplant was diffident; the ricotta dry and stiff. 

Although I expected something else with the “signature portabello mushrooms topped with shrimp and lobster meat,” the dish was stunning. Rather than a cap amongst sauce, thick strands of tender, marinated mushrooms sat adrift a sea of lush Madeira, surrounded by rich, moist rock shrimp, and tendrils of succulent lobster meat. The chef’s restraint here -- the dish only employed a light use of cream-- is appreciated amidst a menu containing crab bacon bisque and a plethora of heavy sauces.

As an appetizer, my only complaint lies with the inability to fully appreciate that amazing sauce -- either thick, crusty brick-oven kissed Italian bread is required, or the dish needs to be served over capellini.

As for bread, the heated, herb infused offering was far more refined than the oil that soiled it. Better to forgo the olive oil completely if you cannot put out the extra virgin variety. The same goes for the complimentary starter -- bread draped with half-melted provolone over that selfsame drab marinara. It was hardly an adequate way to welcome one’s guests or represent one’s restaurant.

The sentiment would have been appreciated much more if the requisite thought had been applied: diced onion, tomato, and chopped garlic mixed with fresh thyme and oregano and placed upon crusty bread to toast in the oven for 5 minutes. Benvenuto!

The Veal Marsala was decisively flat with a thin sauce. There was no wafting rich aroma of Marsala -- the wine was absent, with the color and lack of body being a clear giveaway.

While the staff was nice enough to take the dish back and finish with Marsala per my suggestion, this was hardly a perfect salve; with Marsala you take the browned veal out of your pan and then caramelize mushrooms and shallots (with a touch of garlic) in the oil that’s left in the pan. You then deglaze that pan with the Marsala wine and then put the veal back in and add stock. The sauce should be rich and aromatic (some chefs will add finely chopped flat leaf parsley) -- this one was not.

It was clear that the veal hadn’t been dredged in flour prior to browning-- it’s the flour that gives the sauce its glossy substance via the roux it helps create. And the veal itself was sub par-- chewy rather than tender and flavorful.

A much higher note was reached with the house special of rock shrimp and crab in a pink vodka sauce. Penne being a worn shoe after the veal Marsala, opting for the spaghetti here was beneficial in so many ways. It soaked up the light, creamy sauce, the rock shrimp coming through as ably as the essence of plum tomatoes coated with fresh herbs. The crab, while far from jumbo lump -- they used claw meat -- provided a decent flavor, while readily blending in with the sauce and mixing in with the pasta.     

The tiramisu was light and airy as it should be. The mascarpone was whipped to perfection and the lady fingers bore that sublime coffee/liquor synergy -- it was an experience perfect for the setting.

With a truncated menu, an emphasis on what the chef obviously knows, and a retooling of some other recipes, dealing with the traffic while getting in and out of Allessio’s parking lot could be much less of a hassle.

827 Easton Rd., Warrington, PA 18976. 215-918-0100.