July 19th, 2011
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Author: Just one look at the appetizer that server Kevin Hart brings to your table as your eyes widen in disbelief tells you that Massa is no ordinary Mediterranean restaurant.
Here comes your Chorico, that flavorful spicy Portuguese sausage, wrapped neatly around a clay pig, still broiling in the flames emanating from the vodka-soaked rock at the base of the pig.
All eyes turn to your table as they gaze upon a spectacular appetizer that could (with a couple of well-chosen side dishes) easily feed a family of four!
As with all your orders, Hart (or one of his fellow servers) will explain the preparation of the dish to entice you even further. Now, this is the kind of BYOB that food lovers long for — where some rarely-seen dishes coexist nicely with more recognizable offerings with the chef’s own twist.
This was our first, but absolutely not last, encounter with one of the latest dining havens to grace Ambler’s own Restaurant Row, the lively Butler Avenue. Just steps away from Dettera and only a block or so removed from the Shanachie, From the Boot and Saffron, as well as Act II Playhouse and Ambler Theater (the popular art-house cinema), Massa gives people just one more reason to flock to the bustling borough.
Massa is the brainchild of Lorival Felix (better known, simply, as Felix), the gregarious former owner of Ricardo’s Brick Oven Pizza Café in Huntingdon Valley. When he sold his interest in the popular café two years ago, he didn’t realize how restless he’d become as a retiree.
So he asked his son, Rick (the Ricardo after whom his previous restaurant was named), if he’d like to join him in opening a restaurant together. According to Rick, who had been working in the construction business since the family sold Ricardo’s, it seemed like a great idea.
So he and his father, who had owned a construction company before opening Ricardo’s, looked around for a suitable location and found it in Ambler — next door to Dettera. The site had most recently been a newspaper and thrift shop, which the father and son completely gutted and restored to its current charm in just three-and-a-half months.
Massa, which opened quietly in April 2011, has been steadily building a loyal customer base since then. And it’s not hard to see why.
When is the last time you found one, let alone four, traditional Portuguese dishes on the menu?
Thought so.
After all, Felix and his wife, Marie, who co-owned Ricardo’s, are natives of Portugal and offered some dishes from their homeland at their previous restaurant. The Chorico ($12) I described above is one of them.
The others are the appetizer Ameijoas a Bulhao Pato ($11), a whopping dish of steamed littleneck clams and garlic in a white wine emulsion; and the entrées Carne de Porco a Alentejana ($20), an interesting mélange of pork and clams, diced potatoes and pickled vegetables; Paelha Marinheira ($26), saffron rice with shrimp, clams, mussels, scallops and lobster; and the national dish of Portugal — Bacalhau a Lagareiro ($21), a hefty plate of grilled cod, baked smashed potatoes, garlic and olive oil. Continued…
According to Rick, customers really enjoy the Portuguese dishes, which remain among the most popular on a menu that also includes some great Mediterranean favorites, with a few American-flavored dishes, which makes it hard not to find something to every diner’s liking — especially when pizzas are part of the bargain.
Massa means “dough” in Portuguese, and that’s precisely what Ricardo enjoys working with virtually every day at the new restaurant. Among the most popular pizzas created in Massa’s brick oven daily are the traditional Margherita ($11, small; $15, large), topped with plum tomatoes, fresh garlic and basil, fresh mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano and extra virgin olive oil; and the Sunrise ($12, $16.50), topped with avocado, diced tomato, fresh garlic, basil, onions, mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano and extra virgin olive oil.
Bored no more, he is proud of the work his son and their youthful executive chef have done.
Speaking of the chef, Massa has a fine one. He’s Peter Alessandrini Jr., a graduate of Philadelphia’s Restaurant School who has also worked with some of the finest chefs in the world on his way to Massa.
The South Philadelphia native recalls the fabulous home-cooked meals — from pepper steak and ravioli to meatballs — that his grandmother used to make for him and his family. Even when the family moved to South Jersey, Alessandrini used to live (and eat) with his nonna whenever he came to the city (which was frequently).
By osmosis, she taught him much about the kitchen, even though his interests lay elsewhere — in the fields of art and comic books (which he studied at the University of the Arts), and even video games and computer art.
When it became clear how difficult it might be to earn a living in those fields, the levelheaded young man read a brochure given to him by his mother (whom he said is an even better cook than his nonna) touting the advantages of attending The Restaurant School.
Something suddenly clicked. It was a combination of Alessandrini’s lifelong love of good cooking, his realization that great culinary presentations are a genuine expression of art and a mandatory study-abroad trip to France that also got his attention.
And after taking third prize in a citywide high school chocolate competition — which came with a $1,500 scholarship to The Restaurant School — he knew where his future lay.
Since then, Alessandrini has worked at the Olive Garden, the Olive Restaurant in South Jersey and, most importantly, with Chef Fritz Blank at his heralded Deux Cheminées and then in a series of posts (from chef garde manger, preparing the kitchen’s cold dishes to saucier), with Chef Jean-Marie Lacroix at the Four Seasons.
During one of his stints at the Four Seasons, Alessandrini met and fell in love with his future wife, Jaclyn, who is reprising her role as pastry chef there with the same role at Massa, baking fresh pastries for the restaurant three times a week. And living in Ambler as they do, the Alessandrinis are enjoying their focused creative life at Massa.
Felix taught his new chef the Portuguese dishes, but the rest of the menu is Alessandrini’s, with input from Felix and Rick.
Among the other appetizers are Ahi Tuna Carpaccio ($12), served with marinated avocado, jalapeno and citrus; Seared Scallops ($13) with English pea risotto and chive nage; and Prosciutto-wrapped Melon ($8). Continued…
Just one look at the appetizer that server Kevin Hart brings to your table as your eyes widen in disbelief tells you that Massa is no ordinary Mediterranean restaurant.
Here comes your Chorico, that flavorful spicy Portuguese sausage, wrapped neatly around a clay pig, still broiling in the flames emanating from the vodka-soaked rock at the base of the pig.
All eyes turn to your table as they gaze upon a spectacular appetizer that could (with a couple of well-chosen side dishes) easily feed a family of four!
As with all your orders, Hart (or one of his fellow servers) will explain the preparation of the dish to entice you even further. Now, this is the kind of BYOB that food lovers long for — where some rarely-seen dishes coexist nicely with more recognizable offerings with the chef’s own twist.
This was our first, but absolutely not last, encounter with one of the latest dining havens to grace Ambler’s own Restaurant Row, the lively Butler Avenue. Just steps away from Dettera and only a block or so removed from the Shanachie, From the Boot and Saffron, as well as Act II Playhouse and Ambler Theater (the popular art-house cinema), Massa gives people just one more reason to flock to the bustling borough.
Massa is the brainchild of Lorival Felix (better known, simply, as Felix), the gregarious former owner of Ricardo’s Brick Oven Pizza Café in Huntingdon Valley. When he sold his interest in the popular café two years ago, he didn’t realize how restless he’d become as a retiree.
So he asked his son, Rick (the Ricardo after whom his previous restaurant was named), if he’d like to join him in opening a restaurant together. According to Rick, who had been working in the construction business since the family sold Ricardo’s, it seemed like a great idea.
So he and his father, who had owned a construction company before opening Ricardo’s, looked around for a suitable location and found it in Ambler — next door to Dettera. The site had most recently been a newspaper and thrift shop, which the father and son completely gutted and restored to its current charm in just three-and-a-half months.
Massa, which opened quietly in April 2011, has been steadily building a loyal customer base since then. And it’s not hard to see why.
When is the last time you found one, let alone four, traditional Portuguese dishes on the menu?
Thought so.
After all, Felix and his wife, Marie, who co-owned Ricardo’s, are natives of Portugal and offered some dishes from their homeland at their previous restaurant. The Chorico ($12) I described above is one of them.
The others are the appetizer Ameijoas a Bulhao Pato ($11), a whopping dish of steamed littleneck clams and garlic in a white wine emulsion; and the entrées Carne de Porco a Alentejana ($20), an interesting mélange of pork and clams, diced potatoes and pickled vegetables; Paelha Marinheira ($26), saffron rice with shrimp, clams, mussels, scallops and lobster; and the national dish of Portugal — Bacalhau a Lagareiro ($21), a hefty plate of grilled cod, baked smashed potatoes, garlic and olive oil.
According to Rick, customers really enjoy the Portuguese dishes, which remain among the most popular on a menu that also includes some great Mediterranean favorites, with a few American-flavored dishes, which makes it hard not to find something to every diner’s liking — especially when pizzas are part of the bargain.
Massa means “dough” in Portuguese, and that’s precisely what Ricardo enjoys working with virtually every day at the new restaurant. Among the most popular pizzas created in Massa’s brick oven daily are the traditional Margherita ($11, small; $15, large), topped with plum tomatoes, fresh garlic and basil, fresh mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano and extra virgin olive oil; and the Sunrise ($12, $16.50), topped with avocado, diced tomato, fresh garlic, basil, onions, mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano and extra virgin olive oil.
Bored no more, he is proud of the work his son and their youthful executive chef have done.
Speaking of the chef, Massa has a fine one. He’s Peter Alessandrini Jr., a graduate of Philadelphia’s Restaurant School who has also worked with some of the finest chefs in the world on his way to Massa.
The South Philadelphia native recalls the fabulous home-cooked meals — from pepper steak and ravioli to meatballs — that his grandmother used to make for him and his family. Even when the family moved to South Jersey, Alessandrini used to live (and eat) with his nonna whenever he came to the city (which was frequently).
By osmosis, she taught him much about the kitchen, even though his interests lay elsewhere — in the fields of art and comic books (which he studied at the University of the Arts), and even video games and computer art.
When it became clear how difficult it might be to earn a living in those fields, the levelheaded young man read a brochure given to him by his mother (whom he said is an even better cook than his nonna) touting the advantages of attending The Restaurant School.
Something suddenly clicked. It was a combination of Alessandrini’s lifelong love of good cooking, his realization that great culinary presentations are a genuine expression of art and a mandatory study-abroad trip to France that also got his attention.
And after taking third prize in a citywide high school chocolate competition — which came with a $1,500 scholarship to The Restaurant School — he knew where his future lay.
Since then, Alessandrini has worked at the Olive Garden, the Olive Restaurant in South Jersey and, most importantly, with Chef Fritz Blank at his heralded Deux Cheminées and then in a series of posts (from chef garde manger, preparing the kitchen’s cold dishes to saucier), with Chef Jean-Marie Lacroix at the Four Seasons.
During one of his stints at the Four Seasons, Alessandrini met and fell in love with his future wife, Jaclyn, who is reprising her role as pastry chef there with the same role at Massa, baking fresh pastries for the restaurant three times a week. And living in Ambler as they do, the Alessandrinis are enjoying their focused creative life at Massa.
Felix taught his new chef the Portuguese dishes, but the rest of the menu is Alessandrini’s, with input from Felix and Rick.
Among the other appetizers are Ahi Tuna Carpaccio ($12), served with marinated avocado, jalapeno and citrus; Seared Scallops ($13) with English pea risotto and chive nage; and Prosciutto-wrapped Melon ($8).
Entrées include the likes of the signature Seared Crab Cake ($23), served with marinated tomato salad and black olive tapenade, topped with balsamic drizzle; Roasted Chicken Breast ($20), served with Alessandrini’s distinctive homemade Crisp Herb Gnocchi with summer vegetables in a sage brown butter; and another signature dish — Pappardelle Pasta ($20) served with a rich beef Bolognese and topped with shaved pecorino.
Some of Jaclyn Alessandrini’s signature desserts are Warm Chocolate Soufflé Cake served with raspberry sauce, fresh berries and vanilla ice cream, and Key Lime Tart topped with caramelized pineapple, fresh berries and a coconut macaroon cookie.
But you’d better hurry. The long restaurant, bathed in warm earth colors chosen by Felix and Rick, is filling up quickly with reservations for dinner. Be sure to call ahead, any day of the week but especially weekends, to enjoy this quickly rising restaurant before everyone else discovers the great food and service we experienced less than two weeks ago.
Massa Restaurant/Café
131-A E. Butler Ave.
Ambler, PA 19002
215-641-0900
HOURS: Lunch:
Monday – Saturday,
11:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Dinner:
Monday – Thursday,
4:30 – 9:30 p.m.;
Friday & Saturday,
4:30 – 10 p.m., &
Sunday, 4:30 – 8 p.m.
Reservations recommended
during week but required
on weekends. BYOB.
All major credit cards.
Facilities for handicapped.
Available for private parties.
Entrées: $16 – $28.
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