With two other restaurants come and gone in this Narberth row
home-turned-restaurant locale, Gemelli proves it has staying power.
By Beth Lesko

Upon first approach, Gemelli appears cozy and inviting as its windows give off a warm orange glow from within. On a mostly residential street, Gemelli is a non-intrusive commercial space that fits right in with the design of the neighboring houses. Chef and owner of the BYOB, Clark Gilbert, owns one of those houses and was thrilled to find the Gemelli space—formerly Carmine’s then Margot—when he was seeking out the perfect spot for his first restaurant. “I love that I can walk out of my home and then walk into my second home just a few steps away,” says Gilbert.
Diners will, in fact feel at home in Gemelli’s snug and friendly dining room. The room has a Tuscan feel and the open kitchen with counter seating creates a casual, Italian trattoria vibe. The lighting from the kitchen is a bit harsh and the cooking clamor contributes to the high noise level, but it can be fun to watch Gilbert and his crew in action. The dinner tables are decidedly bare, the walls are terra cotta-colored and hung with decorative cookware and artwork.
Gilbert’s vision to open a laid-back neighborhood restaurant with a mostly Italian menu came from his desire to leave behind the confines of refined French cooking. Gilbert spent most of his successful cooking career in the kitchens of the Four Seasons Philadelphia under Chef Jean-Marie Lacroix and as Executive Chef of the now closed Taquet in Wayne. His menu at Gemelli is small but selective, just as a good menu should be. There is a nice variety of appetizers, salads, pastas, meat and fish entrees and a small dessert selection. The menu has gone through a few changes since the restaurant opened a few months ago. Gilbert experimented with the dishes, changed some prices and went through two assistant chefs before settling on a menu that he calls “rustic Italian with some nods to France.” While he didn’t want to open an all-French place, he did want to incorporate some French techniques and ingredients that have served him well in the past. Many of Gilbert’s recipes come from his personal repertoire of Italian dishes he likes to cook at home and some small touches on the plates reflect a little bit of his French past.
We started off our meal being welcomed by the front of house manager, Bill Pushing (formerly of Brasserie Perrier, Tacquet and Savona) who quickly rearranged his floor plan to get us a table right away. It was only 6:00 p.m. and the restaurant was already bustling. We had brought two bottles of wine, a red and white, both Italian. It took a while for our waiter to pour the wine and talk to us about the menu, but he did eventually chill the white, pour the red, and get us started with some bread and olive oil. Gilbert orders bread from the famed La Brea Bakery in California and it’s delivered to the table alongside a lush and earthy olive oil for dipping.
After perusing the menu and hearing about a few seasonal specials, we decided to skip the chef’s tasting menu, five courses for $45, and order al a carte. The dishes are sized for an ample two course meal, plus dessert. We wanted to sample a bit of everything, so our waiter helped us build a four course dinner. We started with three appetizers. First, we had one of the restaurant’s signature appetizers, the vitello tonnato. As well as being a visually stunning dish, the braised veal cheek beneath a generous mound of tuna tartare with a tangy tonnato sauce was a delicious way to start the meal. We also tried the portobello mushroom tart and the scallops with shaved fennel and an orange-vanilla reduction. The mushroom tart was light and tasty. Its thin puff pastry shell held a layer of creamy goat cheese and was topped with meaty sautéed Portobello mushrooms and an artful pile of baby arugula dressed in a balsamic vinaigrette. It was both savory and sweet and was perfectly baked and assembled. The scallops hit a light and refreshing note. Perfectly seared on the outside and soft and tender on the inside, each bite, after a swipe through the airy orange-vanilla reduction and tendrils of shaved fennel, was meaty and satisfying while being refined and delicate in all the right ways.
For the pasta course we chose the namesake dish, the Gemelli bolognese and the tortellini with peas and walnuts in gorgonzola cream sauce. The bolognese changes seasonally and for the winter, Gilbert is preparing the slow-cooked sauce with ground venison, venison sausage, and dried cherries. The dish, like any well-prepared bolognese, was rich and satisfying. The sauce was thick and savory, thanks to the amount of time Clark lets the ingredients simmer, allowing the flavors of the ground venison, red wine, vegetables and herbs to develop into a hearty, flavorful sauce. The venison sausage, although not “gamey” or “livery” tasting as the meat can often be, lacked spice and the large pieces interrupted the flow of eating the dish. The tortellini dish of handmade, cheese-stuffed tortellini in a creamy blue cheese sauce was well-executed. The sauce of parmesan, cream, and pungent gorgonzola was light despite the heavy ingredients. The peas were cooked to an appropriate al dente, but the pasta was overcooked just a bit. The dish is topped with roasted walnuts that it a nutty crunch and pair well with the blue cheese.
We decided on seafood and a steak for our third course. My dining companion chose the New York strip steak in red wine sauce with roasted fingerling potatoes and rapini and I ordered the seared scallops over butternut squash risotto with duck confit. The red wine sauce in the steak dish was outstanding. The steak itself was tender mostly, but it came medium-well instead of medium-rare as it was ordered. The sauce helped moisten the meat and complemented the steak’s salt and pepper crust. The side of roasted potatoes and sautéed rapini rounded out a nice Italian steak plate. The scallop dish came with four large scallops over a generous portion of creamy risotto. The scallops were plump, fresh and nicely seared. The outside had a salty, crunchy bite and the insides were tender and sweet. The risotto was expertly cooked – the rice had a nice firm bite, the sauce was creamy and well-seasoned and it had just the right amount of cheese. The butternut squash added a little sweetness. The only misstep here was the addition of duck confit. While the duck was delicious on its own, it added an unnecessary texture and flavor to the dish.
After the feast, there was barely room for dessert, but we squeezed it in. Rather than having an on-site pastry chef in an already tight kitchen, Gilbert enlisted his friends from Le Petit Mitron in Narberth to create his dessert menu. Gemelli has a small list, only four desserts and a cheese plate, but there is a nice selection and the portions are perfect for sharing. We tried the raspberry tart, a moist, cake-like tart filled with raspberries and the cherry bread pudding. Both desserts were delicious. We ended the meal with a pot of herbal tea and a few last sips of wine before heading back out into the cold.
Gemelli is worth another visit and next time we look forward to sampling Gilbert’s tasting menus and some of his seasonal dishes. He has successfully opened a neighborhood restaurant that serves as he says, “good food with good flavor to good people.”Gemelli is a cash-only BYOB.

Gemelli
232 Woodbine Ave. Narberth;
610-660-0160, gemellinarberth.com.