Skip Navigation

Going out to dine in

  • By Phantom Diner

And so, on the first night Harrisburg restaurants were able to serve dine-in meals, your Phantom, of course, headed outside to eat inside.

After months of being denied the small but oh-so-treasured pleasure of sitting in a favorite eatery, relaxing with a beverage, being served good food and not having to clean up afterward, it felt liberating, a step toward normalcy, even if it’s a new normalcy.

This despite the fact that Harrisburg (which is to say Dauphin County) going “green” on June 19 meant only 50 percent occupancy inside restaurants.

Phantom Diner LogoI didn’t mind. Probably because I spent my first let’s-eat-inside-with-physical-distancing experience over plates of food from the kitchen of Qui Qui Musarra.

You may know her as chef/owner of that troika of linked-together North Street culinary gems, Mangia Qui, Suba and Rubicon.

I know her as one of the region’s, if not the region’s, best long-time, consistently reliable deliverer of high-quality dining at Mangia Qui, which she opened in 2002.

As a lover of Italian/Mediterranean food, the only other restaurant that comes to my mind in terms of staying power, steadiness and excellence is Trattoria Fratelli in Lebanon, which opened in 1996.

My dream house would be within walking distance of both these eateries.

But Musarra is also the purveyor of casual Spanish tapas dining at Suba, as well as wonderful French cuisine at Harrisburg’s best atmospheric restaurant, the bar-centric, chandeliered Rubicon.

If the region has a reigning Queen of Cuisine, Musarra certainly must be considered the person with greatest claim to the crown.

Which is why my first foray back into a restaurant, had to be into one of hers, a place to get beautiful dishes served on beautiful dishes.

And I know, Mangia Qui’s menu options do not appeal to everyone. What does? And, yes, it’s pricey. But good things are. And when one wants to celebrate a special event, such as freedom from take-out or the preparation and clean-up required to cook at home, a splurge can be justified.

My dining partner and I arrived in required facemasks for a late-evening reservation and were offered the choice of sitting inside Mangia Qui or inside Rubicon.

We opted for the latter, and a table on the second-floor mezzanine overlooking the large, first-floor U-shaped bar, which looked oddly sparse due to seating restrictions even in the state’s “green” phase.

Tables, of course, were fewer and spaced apart. But all tables were occupied, surely a good sign for all restaurants. And, once seated, it seemed like old times, except that each place setting had a linen napkin and real cutlery in a plastic bag.

Masks are not required at table, though they are for rest room visits. Staff and servers wear masks all the time.

The one-page Mangia Qui menu had fewer choices than normal but the choices were delightful. There was a big “WELCOME BACK!!!” blazoned across the top. And there were specials.

Appetizers, or antipasta, included a tempting carpaccio of filet mignon with arugula, parmigiano, lemon and olive oil for $22; and equally tempting grilled black mission figs with Manchego cheese (made from sheep milk in Spain’s La Mancha region) for $14.

There was also a whole fried baby artichoke with sour cream and chives, or caprese (tomatoes, basil and olive oil with made-in-house mozzarella), each $12.

I opted for almost-always available oysters, in this case half-a-dozen sweet little ones from Massachusetts, served on a large circular tray of shaved ice.

Entrees, or secondi, presented a problem. Too many looked too good. There were nine plus a couple specials. There was seared branzino with lemon caper butter ($32), grilled lamb chops with tomato Provencal and green beans almandine ($34) and, a Phantom phavorite, calamarata, Southern Italian ring-shaped pasta in red sauce with shrimp ($24).

I had ahi tuna served over wonderful wild rice confetti and sinful but delicious tomato beurre blanc ($34). The rare tuna was perfect.

My dining partner went with a well-known Northern Italian dish, veal Milanese, a pounded-thin veal chop, butter-fried, topped with arugula and cucumbers. It was the size of second base. It cost $48. But don’t judge, we were celebrating; and its flavor was amazing. Half the portion would make a meal for just about anyone. So, half the portion came home.

I could swear every aspect of the evening, from the feel of the venue to the taste of the food, was better than usual. I assume that’s due to a long-awaited release from culinary captivity creating some stimulation of the pleasure center.

But it felt good to be back, even at 50 percent occupancy. And if you haven’t been back to dine in whatever restaurant gives you pleasure, I hope you are able to do so soon, and are able to splurge.

 

MANGIA QUI

272 North St., Harrisburg; also the site of Rubicon and Suba

mangiaqui.com; 717-233-7328

Reservations a must.

Support for WITF is provided by:

Become a WITF sponsor today »

Support for WITF is provided by:

Become a WITF sponsor today »

Up Next
The Phantom Diner

Here’s what I hope happens when we dine out again