Valentino's: Not Designer Italian Food But Still Delicious

BROOMALL–Whenever I hear Valentino I think of the famous Italian designer with the ridiculously gorgeous and pricey clothes that are often seen on the well-heeled set. in Broomall shares nothing with the clothes except they are all Italian. The food here is simple and moderately priced.

We went for dinner on a recent weeknight and the Flyers were playing on the 50-inch screen (great for sports) and there was a sprinkling of customers throughout the dining room. We sat down and pored over the extensive menu. 

We started with the mussels marinara (you can opt for white sauce if you'd like) which were tender and delightful. The tomato sauce was flavorful and good enough to be sopped up with the delicious garlic bread. The sauce was redder in color than the typical ones I've seen. Regardless, the garlic bread was crisp, well-seasoned and made an ideal accompaniment to the red sauce.

My dining companion and I each ordered entrees which came with soup or salad. That night, the choice of soup was minestrone or cream of broccoli. When I was in cooking school, we had to make minestrone and I remember Chef Ted telling me that the key to good minestrone was allowing plenty of time for the flavors to develop.

I put my pot for minestrone on the stove right away and added my ingredients with the quickness. As I had cooked it the longest, it should come as no surprise that my minestrone was the best in the class. You can tell the minestrone at Valentino's definitely had time to sit and baske on the stove for awhile. It was a soulful, rich and satisfying cup of soup that disappeared in minutes.

The salads were decent. They consisted mostly of iceberg lettuce, tomato, red onions and decoratively cut slices of cucumber. They arrived chilled and with the dressing on the side (always a plus in my book).

For our entrees, we had the spaghetti marinara, the spaghetti with white clam sauce and the crab and spinach ravioli. The noodles were cooked a little beyond al dente but the spaghetti marinara was a solid rendition of everyone's favorite. It had the hearty tomato sauce that seeps into the noodles and makes the dish even better reheated the next day. 

The spaghetti with white clam sauce had canned clams and a white wine sauce with plenty of butter. It was a rich and unctuous broth that coated the noodles and clams nicely and my dinner guest found tasty enough to eat with a spoon.

The crab and spinach ravioli could be topped with red, white or creamy tomato sauce and though the creamy tomato sauce would have been sublime, my friend chose the marinara sauce (since it's friendlier to her waistline).

The dish was overflowing with crab meat and a bit skimpy on the spinach. I found this incredibly ironic since crab is much more expensive than spinach. The raviolis were firm and well cooked and bursting with even more crab meat. The dish did not seem that large but the raviolis were quite filling and it took some will power to finish the entire plate. As you can tell, I enjoyed them very much.

We were all too stuffed to have dessert, although the tiramisu and carrot cake caught my eye. We sipped iced tea and soda because I forgot this was a BYOB. Next time I will remember to bring a bottle of chianti, sangiovese or valpolicella in tow to make it an ideal Italian dinner.

The decor is simple. There are tables and booths, which give it a cozy atmosphere. There are display cases for the desserts and, as mentioned earlier, a 50-inch flat screen TV. The service is casual and friendly and everyone seemed to chip in to help one another out, which is always a good sign.

Our lovely server was bright, friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. Her enthusiasm seemed sincere and not put on. Valentino's is a solid bet for traditional Italian-American fare with no fuss. The food is not trendy and doesn't feature the latest "it" ingredient.

As I had mentioned in the beginning, Valentino's is nothing like the Italian design house and this is a good thing. The world of fashion is the opposite of the world of food. Fashionistas pride themselves on not eating while the foodies brag about how much and where they eat. Valentino's is a place for the latter, after all, the portions are enormous and delicious.

But I guess we can take one page from the fashionista play book. When you dine here, wear black -- the tomato sauce stains are pretty unforgiving. My light blue, button-down shirt is at the cleaners as we speak.