All it took was one bite for me to fall in love with Berwyn’s Alfredo BYO. And that bite was not into an appetizer or an entrée or even a dessert. It was a chunk of bread straight from their oven. Sitting across from me at a windowside table, a bread basket and a plate of olive oil between us, my dining companion, Barbara, the wife of the restaurant’s namesake, said proudly, “we bake our bread overnight in a slow oven. That way it is fresh for each day.”
My meal began with the Rucola Salad—so simple, sweet pear and salty pecorino cheese flavored by a raspberry vinaigrette. And then, for my next course, I had the Caprese salad, which brought antipasti to a higher artisanal level, featuring thick slices of their hand-pulled mozzarella. A cheese that fresh is truly addictive.
There is an authenticity about Alfredo’s kept alive by a family of food lovers with roots in Naples. Pasta dishes like Gnocchi Sorrentino and Rigatoni Amatraciana are accessible but refined. The Amatraciana uses thick, fresh, locally-made rigatoni covered in a pancetta-tomato sauce that boasts a hint of heat. It is the very essence of comfort food—true to its origins.
Bring your dessert wine to this BYO, because the final course is a must. All sweets are baked in-house, including fried-to-order mini donuts with sides of homemade chocolate and caramel sauces. Nothing is overlooked.
As I finished my meal, savoring each bite of a decadent hazelnut dark chocolate ganache torte, I realized just how important it is that a restaurant like this can thrive. Serving food that is at once fresh, made with love, and simply authentic, in an atmosphere that feels like home, Alfredo BYO is the just what the Main Line needed.
Find Alfredo BYO at 668 Lancaster Ave. or online at www.alfredobyo.com. View more scenes from my recent tasting by clicking here.
