Slideshow

What to Eat at Alla Spina, Opening Monday

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Alla Spina

One look at Alex, the porcelain porker mascot with his trotters yarn-bombed in technicolor leg-warmers and perched atop the bar, and it’s pretty obvious that pig is big on Alla Spina’s menu. Marc Vetri’s and partners Jeff Benjamin’s and Jeff Michaud’s new Italian gastropub, which opens on Monday on North Broad Street, boasts pig tails, pig sticks (battered bits of pork), pig pot pies, whole roasted pork shoulders and more. Though the porcine proliferates the menu, which is best described as “bar food that’s grown up,” there’s also fried chicken, razor clams and Louisiana Gulf prawns. As the Alla Spina crew raced toward the finish line, Grub was lucky enough to snap some photos of what’s in store at what’s undoubtedly one of the most eagerly anticipated restaurant openings of recent memory. Click through, check them out and let us know with a comment which dishes pique your interest the most.

In Italian the name means “from the tap.”
Alla Spina’s official mascot.
The dining room is flanked on one side by the bar and kitchen, and large, glass airplane hangar doors on the other.
Sous chef Damon Menapace and Alla Spina’s culinary team are on display in the open kitchen.
You can get a closer view from this front row seat.
Marc Vetri hired local graffiti artists to paint Alla Spina’s interior walls.
Buy the kitchen a six-pack and ring the farm bell.
Alla Spina’s 20 taps will pour craft brews from both local and Italian breweries.
Served with sunny side up egg and apple wood smoked bacon.
Served with guinea hen leg bolognese and mozzarella curd.
Fried and served with fennel agrodolce.
Prepared alla piastra (a la plancha) with salsa verde.
Dressed with radish and parsley.
Served with spicy pickles, cabbage relish, mustard and housemade potato chips.
Made with veal breast milanese and bacon maionese.
With roasted red peppers and green tomato conserva.
From the menu’s pasta al forno selections.
What to Eat at Alla Spina, Opening Monday