Zeppoli

Zeppoli is a small BYOB Italian restaurant in Collingswood, N.J. The restaurant makes frequent appearances on Philadelphia Magazine’s 50 best restaurants list, despite not being located within the city. It’s that good.

My husband and I dined at Zeppoli with another couple on a recent summer weekend. The space is intimate, with just 35 seats. Zeppoli serves Italian cuisine, with a special focus on flavors from Sicily. The restaurant called ahead of our reservation, as there was a cancelation, and we arrived about 30 minutes prior to our scheduled dinner time. We were seated immediately and were greeted by our waitress shortly after.

We brought two bottles of wine to accompany our meal. She opened a bottle as she went over the specials. The menu is broken into salads, pastas and entrées. She suggested sampling one of each, which we all did. I started with the Panzanella Catania, a tomato and bread salad with capers, lemon and white anchovies. The salad was one of my favorite dishes of the night. It was packed with simple, flavorful, fresh ingredients. Up next, I enjoyed the small size of the Pesto Trapanese pasta. The Sicilian-style fusilli pasta was topped with an almond-pistachio pesto. The noodles were cooked perfectly and nicely complemented the sauce. As my entrée, I opted for one of the nightly specials: whole roasted sea bass. As someone who loves seafood, I thoroughly enjoyed my fish. The fish is served whole, and this might be a daunting option for non-seafood lovers. The meat of the fish was tender and soaked up the flavors from the lemon and herbs. Not quite wanting the meal to end, I ordered a scoop of pistachio gelato for dessert. Despite being full from my meal, I devoured It all.

Zeppoli is the perfect spot for a really flavorful, authentic Italian meal. I already have reservations for an upcoming dinner.

Zeppoli

618 W Collings Ave.

Collingswood, NJ 08107

tel 856 854 2670