Philly’s quirkiest new Italian restaurant is ‘middle-class fancy’ by way of Oklahoma

The spirit of Couch Cafe, the supper club that chef Liz Grothe ran in her Northern Liberties apartment, is still apparent in her soon-to-open restaurant, Scampi, at 617 S 3rd Street in Queen Village. The warmth, the charming and slightly weird decor, like a shrimp-shaped disco ball and prints of hot dogs adorning the walls, make Scampi immediately feel intensely personal.

The menu is evocative of Grothe’s experience growing up Filipino in Enid, Oklahoma, then falling in love with pasta through stints cooking in some of Philadelphia’s best Mediterranean-leaning restaurants, like Oloroso and Fiorella. Grothe’s dishes are alternately celebratory of Italian pasta culture and what she terms “middle-class fancy,” as in, no white tablecloths, but soul-warming, handmade food served in a tasting menu format. There is, of course, a heavy emphasis on shrimp, in the art and on the menu.

On Monday night, after Scampi passed its health inspection, Grothe threw a housewarming party, as one would for, well, an actual house. Guests —a mixture of line cooks, industry folks, neighbors, and strangers — grabbed paper plates and helped themselves to platters of Grothe’s paella rice arancini, rigatoni con polpettine (tiny meatballs), and hot dogs with Cheez Whiz. “I don’t know any of these people, I love this,” I heard her say from across the room.

Aesthetically, Scampi, is a far cry from the red-sauce Italian joints of Grothe’s youth, and it also has little in common with any of the restaurants one might conjure up as part of her Italian travels. She painted the walls cooked-shrimp pink, leaving a prominent patch of the black and white mural commissioned by previous tenant Neighborhood Ramen, who are in the process of moving to Japan — a fitting transition from Japanese noodle nerds to an Italian noodle nerd.

“I got into pasta as an Asian because I ate noodles all the time as part of my diet growing up,” Grothe said. “I thought I would learn Asian-style noodles but the culture gap between a white-washed Filipino and Chinese noodle masters is too vast for me to cross. Being from Oklahoma also attracts me to Italian food.”

Over the past two years, Grothe traveled to Italy twice, rattling off a list of twenty places she visited to absorb their culinary traditions. “Last year, we — meaning me and Scampi — stayed by Rome’s Trevi Fountain and then went to Bologna, Tuscany, Florence, Sardegna, Palermo,” she said. “This year, I went to Genoa, which will feature largely on the menu next year. I usually focus on the south. Next year, I’ll focus on the north.”

Grothe worked to create a homey atmosphere at Scampi in part by visiting other people’s homes during her research travels, as opposed to the usual circuit of working for free in other chefs’ kitchens, known as staging. “A lot of it was through Airbnb Experiences,” she said. “When you learn from someone who is not a professional chef, there’s a lot of grandmothers’ love still woven into the way they move around pasta or the way they put together a dish. Chefs look at a dish with money and time as factors. Things are streamlined and maybe less generous.”

As much as Grothe learned during her time in Italy, she says her ultimate inspiration is something closer to home. “With Scampi and Couch Cafe, this does go back to being from Oklahoma,” she said. “‘Hot and a lot’ is how a lot of people like to eat. So when I went to Italy I kept the idea of accessibility in mind.”

Ideally though, Grothe will return to Italy annually. “I want to go back like Michael Ferreri from Irwin’s does, to keep the menu focused and close to home,” she said.

Scampi, which Grothe will run with roommate Ryan Lansdon, and another cook, Thomas Kehl, also previously of Fiorella, will be open Wednesdays through Saturdays for dinner service, with two seatings per night, at 5:30 and 8:00pm. There are 26 seats, a four-seat counter for neighbors and walk-ins, and an outdoor patio for private dinners and other food-focused events. “Everyone sits at the same time, eats the same menu, and we serve you,” Grothe said. “You’ll feel cared for and loved, but there won’t be a white tablecloth.”

Reservations will be available on OpenTable and pre-paid. Five-course tasting menus are $115 per person, inclusive of tax and tip, but not of a la carte supplements. “I wanted to replicate as much as possible the European dining experience where you aren’t obligated to tip, so it’s worked into our pricing,” Grothe said. The opening menu will feature pasta, Caesar toast, smoked trout culurgiones, tiramisu, and, of course, scampi.

Further down the line? “In my head,” Grothe said, “we’re going to do the supper club [format] for two years until it’s out of style, then I want to change the restaurant’s format to be a la carte.”