With the accolades piling up, including the James Beard Foundation's Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic award, Marc Vetri could capitalize on his success. As of yet, he does not have his own TV show or a line of pasta sauces bearing his likeness on the label, and he still has not expanded his 35-seat townhouse-turned-restaurant in Center City (though he has opened a new venture, Osteria, on Broad Street). Vetri oversees the kitchen, while business partner and maitre d' Jeff Benjamin handles the wine pairings for Vetri's creations, which have many clamoring that this could be the best Italian restaurant in the country. Though menus change seasonally, and Saturday nights feature customized tasting menus for each table, Vetri is best known for its fresh pastas made with ingredients that are hand-selected by the chef and for the succulent pit-roasted goat. Full bar. Serving dinner Mon–Sat. Closed Sun.
Where the Locals Eat rating
Best Italian
Top 100 Restaurant, Philadelphia
"While Philadelphia's other dining hotspots are vast and opulent, Vetri is small and intimate. Servers attend to each diner with exceptional care in a calm, refined atmosphere. ‘People come to Vetri to be transported,' says host and sommelier Jeff Benjamin, ‘to forget the worries of the day, and to lose themselves in a tranquil evening of fine Italian food and wine.'
– Vetri website
"Mario Batali loves the place, and so does just about everyone else who's lucky enough to snag one of the 35 seats in this casual but rarefied room."
– Gourmet Magazine
"In a city already smothered in trattoria fever and retro red gravy, Marc Vetri's intimate townhouse dining room hovers above the rest with a magnetic vision for Italian cooking that melds rustic authenticity with a bold individual swagger."
– Craig LaBan, Phildelphia Inquirer
How others rate Vetri
James Beard Foundation
Best Mid-Atlantic Chef, 2005
Outstanding Service Award nominee (national), 2008-2009
Zagat 2009
27 food rating (extraordinary to perfection)
Philadelphia Inquirer
**** (superior)
Philadelphia magazine
No. 2 on Top 50 Restaurants list, 2009
Best Italian Restaurant, 2008
Best Chef: Marc Vetri, 2008