Craig LaBan visits the Pelican Restaurant, an Italian seafood BYO in Sewell, New Jersey. What he finds are well crafted Italian seafood favorites from Bill Fischer, former executive chef at Caffe Aldo Lamberti.

Wonderfully sweet and fresh Venezuelan lump crab finds its way into many of the menu’s highlights. Tossed by the fistful into a bright tomato-basil sauce (with a little clam stock), it makes a hearty plate of capellini sing. Sauteed with lemony beurre blanc, it adds another shine of luxury to an already decadent lobster tail francese. Into a creamy pedestal of crab imperial, Fischer folds his signature zucchini, capping the top and bottom with crispy panfried cakes of the squash, whose sweet and lacy vegetal snap is a natural match for the crustacean.

Two Bells – Very Good

Pelican Restaurant [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Pelican Restaurant [Official Site]

If Craig LaBan gave half-bells you know that he would have awarded at least 2 1/2 and maybe 2 3/4 bells to Mike Stollenwerk’s fish. In fact he holds a third bell out like a carrot to the Center City South seafood restaurant.

A cracker-skinned and flaky suzuki (Japanese bass) came over creamy orzo filled with tiny clams, crispy nuggets of house-cured bacon, and a spicy flicker of fresh fresno chiles threaded with preserved lemon. Pan-roasted monkfish were paired with an earthily exotic Madras curry of butternut squash, mussels and chewy couscous beads of fregola sarda. Crisply seared skate wing over spaetzle in parmesan broth practically fanned the aroma of shaved French truffles, the decadence was so intense. Red snapper with gigante white beans, piquillo peppers, and cuminy chorizo was evocative of a Spanish pantry.

Two simpler offerings – a Thai-curried mussel pot and a classic bowl of fines herbes-steamed littlenecks – proved familiar doesn’t equal dull. With attention to great ingredients (like those slightly larger but more flavorful wild littlenecks), these alone were worth returning for.

Fish [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Fish [Official Site]

Craig LaBan dismantles Chew Man Chu, leaving no question to his contempt for the “’50s-dull Chinese American fare” and contrary to our thought, you can really mess up dumplings.

The house-made dumplings, in general, were big disappointments. The unnaturally green chicken-spinach dumplings were doughy. The crispy pork pot-stickers were filled with errant gristle. And there was also something unexpectedly crunchy inside the rubbery pureed poultry centers of the crispy garlic chicken rolls. The oxtail dumplings were all pink and bouncy inside, with none of the tenderness I’d expect from a slow-braised meat. The deeply steeped dark gravy that pooled around them like deconstructed soup dumplings, meanwhile, was both intensely over-seasoned and jarringly sweet.

No Bells – Poor

Chew Man Chu [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Chew Man Chu [Official Site]

Craig LaBan discovers the heat is back in Giwa’s dol sot bibimbap.

Good Taste: Hot or Not Korean [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Craig LaBan will put Chew Man Chu under his critical microscope this weekend. How will Marty Grims’ Asian spot fare?

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It’s pure Portuguese soul at Northern Liberties’ Koo Zee Doo.

[T]his is the first kitchen I’ve experienced in the States to elevate the authentic flavors of Portugal to another level. Some dishes might be familiar to those who have explored the pork-and-clam pots of the Portuguese cantinas in Northeast Philly and Riverside.

But [Carla] Gonçalves’ husband and partner, chef David Gilberg, 30, who did decent enough work in previous posts at the Ugly American and the opening of Coquette, has clearly stepped up his game to a higher level of inspiration. An apt comparison, perhaps, is what Konstantinos Pitsillides has done for traditional Cypriot flavors at Kanella.

Three Bells – Excellent

Koo Zee Doo [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Koo Zee Doo [Official Site]

A commenter wondered how Stephen Starr’s stable of restaurants has fared in Craig LaBan’s eyes. After the jump are the ratings for the Starr spots we could easily look up. We’ll add others when we get EBSCO Host to do our bidding LaBan’s reviewed.

Update: Michael Klein has supplied us with the missing bells.

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Craig LaBan is a big fan of the pizzas coming out of the 800 degree oven at Pizzeria Stella.

Pizzaiolos must first be judged by their feel for pizza’s purest expressions – the simple reds – and it’s a measure by which Stella rises high. The margherita blends the brightness of raw San Marzano tomato sauce, milky sweet clouds of buffalo mozzarella, Sicilian sea salt, and plumes of basil, as good as any in town (OK . . . just shy of Osteria’s). My favorite, though, was a marinara that took me right back to the venerable Da Michele in Naples. It’s a cheeseless tomato round, but deceptively plain: The cooked sauce intensifies even further beneath a streak of olive oil that, in this oven’s supernova heat, adds a caramelizing effect, singeing the oregano leaves until they add an herbal pop, coaxing warm ambrosia from clove-sized fans of shaved garlic.

Three Bells – Excellent

Pizzeria Stella [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Pizzeria Stella [Official Site]

Craig LaBan bestows two bells on Brendan Hartranft and Leigh Maida’s Resurrection Ale House, the third offering from the prolific beer bar bar couple. LaBan finds the vegetarian options to be of particular note as well as the much-talked about fried chicken.

Resurrection’s twice-fried chicken thighs, meanwhile, are rightfully earning renown, the buttermilk-cornmeal crusts tingling with a pinch of sriracha heat beneath a drizzled honey glaze. I love it most, though, for its flourishes – the house-pickled okra that drips tartly onto the sweet and spice, and a German potato salad below warmed with molten schmaltz and crispy bits of chicken cracklins.

Resurrection Ale House [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Resurrection Ale House [Official Site]

Craig LaBan and Rick Nichols look back at the last ten years of the local dining scene, a vibrant and varied time. Among the bold text highlights:

• BYO Boom
• Beer
• Gastropubs
• Farm market revival
• Food bloggers
• New dining destinations
• Decline of fine dining and Walnut Street
• Steak-house explosion
• Changing of the guard
• Starr’s rise
• Garces and Vetri
• Comfort food

Changing Tastes [Philadelphia Inquirer]