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After months of renovations, the lobby and restaurant in the Marriott hotel on Market Street is complete. I walked into the hotel three weeks ago and discovered a bright and cheery circular bar in the lobby, where a gentleman was making all sorts of sushi. I was told the new restaurant, Thirteen, just down the hall from the lobby bar, had been open for a few weeks.
I assumed the name was because the hotel is on 13th Street. "It’s called Thirteen in honor of the 13 original colonies," a bartender told me.
I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the large glass doors to Thirteen. It is a casual restaurant, brightly lit, with booths and tables and chairs. The long comfortable granite-topped bar was beginning to fill with patrons when Cousin Carl and I slid onto our high-backed seats.
Several flatscreens were tuned to CNN and the Phillies game. The combination of politics and sports was enjoyable, indeed. Wolf Blitzer and John King closed-captioned, along with Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and the rest of the team swinging for the fences was fun to watch.
I have never heard of Rowhouse beer, but since local breweries are popping up all over town it’s hard to keep track. Carl ordered a pint ($5) and we found it dark, but not as rich as Guinness.
The kitchen is under the direction of executive chef Armando Moterroso, with chef Judson Branch at the stove. Moterroso has devised two menus: An all-day bill of fare that lists soups, salads, appetizers, entrees and the like along with a bar menu available all day and night.
We started with hummus ($5), a generous mound of cool, creamy, whipped chickpeas accented with fresh chopped parsley. I thought it needed a bit more pep and a top of olive oil but I enjoyed it just the same. The platter came with ice cold crisp celery sticks and toasted flatbread.
I think the only place in town to get authentic onion soup is Le Bar Lyonnais and its sister restaurant, Brassier Perrier. Many places list it on the menu, but very few get it right. Moterroso’s version ($6) was made with dark canned beef stock that was a bit salty. The bread was mushy and lacked flavor. Provolone and Swiss were the cheeses of choice instead of classic Gruyére. I also thought it could have been hotter.
I love to tuck into an old-fashioned salad of iceberg lettuce with blue cheese. Iceberg has its place in the culinary world and this salad is one of my favorites, especially in steakhouses. The wedge ($7) consisted of a hefty half-head of cold, crisp, immaculately fresh lettuce topped with generous crumbles of blue cheese and a scattering of roasted grape tomatoes in a pool of buttermilk dressing. The lettuce’s outer leaves were a deep, dark green — a sign it is top quality. The use of buttermilk in the dressing gave it a tang I thought inventive. The portion was large enough to share.
Next up was a 10-ounce skirt steak ($21), which comes with a choice of sides. What we received seemed a bit small, but we ordered it rare and it arrived somewhere between that and medium-rare. The beef was sliced into two strips. I found it sweet. I think Moterroso uses tamari, which I did not care for. This is a matter of personal taste.
The side order of baked lobster mac and cheese, however, was astounding. The elbow macaroni was perfectly cooked and retained its bite. The cheeses were melted to a sublime finish with the right touch of milk and cream. The lobster meat tasted as though it never saw the inside of a can. Toasted bread crumbs topped the dish before it was run under the broiler. It remained piping hot throughout dinner because it was nestled inside a round cast-iron ramekin.
The dessert list needs a boost — or at least to be brought out of the 1980s (it features chocolate cake, cheesecake and carrot cake). We went for waffles and ice cream ($7), which took Carl and me back to our childhoods. We received a small, round Belgian-style waffle, which needed to be more crisp. It was topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate sauce. It was just OK.
Service was excellent even though the bar was filled during our dinner. It appeared that the majority of people dining at Thirteen were on business in the city.
The Marriott is a huge convention hotel. I would venture to guess most of the customers at the bar and in Thirteen are from out of town. Even if you live in the city, it’s worth a go.
Two tips of the toque to Thirteen.
Thirteen
13th and Market streets, inside the Marriott
215-625-6726
Credit cards accepted
