Cary Restaurant & Bar

"Coated, crispy, seared; lots of textures. Funky fruits and dried berries: straws, blues and crans," explains Cary Neff, the 33 year old restaurateur, owner of Center City's brightest upscale innovative eating spot. He describes the essence of his cooking's philosophical bent. Retelling some of his past (brought up in Dresher, off to Pharmacy School), he smiles with a highgrade drugstore-mouthwashed twinkle to his teeth.

"I said 'No!' to drugs and drugstores before Nancy Reagan wore red dresses. I stop by my father's place, Babis Pharmacy in Bala Cynwyd, whenever I need Rise Menthol Shaving Cream. He comes here to the restaurant to see his Bala Cynwyd customers. Most nights, it's a Bala Gala."

Having graduated on the rebound from the Restaurant School, Cary sharpened his skills running kitchens from the Caribbean to Ventnor, New Jersey.

One enters into this restaurant, formerly a shebang called the Paper Plate, through a series of glass doors. Layers of grey, beige and rusty salmon walls are elegantly blended. Pronouncements of large silver squares and larger pink diamond inlaids add geometric visions. Terra cotta floors emulate the diamond/square affair. The high ceiling bears a huge cross, complemented by trendy track lighting and twelve shaded hanging fixtures whose bulbs are made most anatomically poignant by having pendulous aureolae and nipples. Burled shiny plywood surrounds a tiny fashionable barroom off to the side.

The waitstaff is costumed in black jacket, white apron and choker, and black bottoms. All servers, male and female, resemble the Durango Kid, in dress, youth and honesty.

Your pupils dilate and irises retract as you survey the spacious dining area, providing ample airiness between tables. Likewise, one immediately notices that a floor-to-ceiling sixty-foot uncovered window spans the length of the room, and that, but for the thickness of one-inch plate glass, you're "on" 15th Street.

Warmed bread slices arrive instantly, almost as soon as tush touches small round-bottomed chairs. A hot black bean dip accompanies the breadbasket. The creamy deep blue mixture is presented in a shot glass. Ice cold water is offered in a fat pilsner beer glass. The use of these unexpected taproom wares provides portentions of cordial and humorous serendipity.

Passersby wave to you from the pavement. Outside counsel, lawyer friends who've left work late, lift their briefcases in mock salutes as they recognize your visage inside. All wish you well, as you reciprocate in kind, with smiles and winks. Other strollers pay you no attention. With menu in hand, you settle down, and as you do, the mural of moving Philadelphians becomes unobtrusive, beyond one's ken. Concentration is now on dinner.

Always order something layered, and you'll be marvelously rewarded by successions of tantalizing topographies of foodstuffs.

Don't hesitate to try an appetizer less than tersely labeled "Fresh Calamari Dredged in Graham Cracker Crumbs, Spicy Black Pepper-Lemon & Anchovy Mayonnaise" ($7.50). A huge white oval bowl is covered with darkly coated carved parts of creatures, some circular, others with gangling legs open and turgid. All are to be dipped in the swarthy mayo, squirted with a lemon wedge and then devoured. First the smooth pudding of anchovy flavor brushes one's lips. A breath of lemon citrus curls the tongue as it reaches for the coarse morsel of crusted squid. The seasoned breading melts before your teeth can take a first bite of the cantankerous cephalopod now steaming in the heat of black pepper. One need not be tentative even with a tentacle.

Swallowing brings a perfect stoichiometry to the mollusk's mass as it vanishes, ready to be replaced by another nonflaccid forkful.

"Layered" appetizers of equal prowess are Crisped Sauteed Chicken Livers with Pacific Rim Five Spice Powder & Szechwan Peppercorns, Caramelized Walla Walla Onions, Glazed with Soy-Port Wine ($7.50), and Red Stripe Beer Battered Soft Shells with Citrus-Basil Remoulade ($8.50).

For an entrée, you may wish to pile through Grilled Marinated Filet Mignon of Tuna (served medium rare) upon which rests a tamari-ginger scallion garlic marinade, with Wasabi smashed potatoes ($16.50). Your thoughts alone could cut through this tuna. It's that tender. Set your cerebrum to it, and all becomes as rosy as the tumid middle of the fish. Hints of oriental herbs bathe your medulla until the mashed spuds cause synapses syncopated by the mindless gnashing of your jawbone.

"Specials" may include a breaded tilapia or a thickly coated veal chop. They're tri-leveled musts. Each will bring teirs to your eyes.

Overlook dessert at your peril. Simply point to the Dessert Sampler ($12.95) as your designated de rigueur. Insist that one of the selections is a piece of Fat Free Frozen Yogurt Chocolate Shortcake with Fruit Coulis & Berries. Your stark-naked body need not have its own layered look.