A Mano

You know when you train for a race for months and then the day before the race, your brother decides to run it too, and then he somehow beats you? That’s kind of like what A Mano is to every other Italian BYOB in Philly. Everything they do seems effortless, from the upscale, but still somehow casual feel of the dining room to the food, which tastes like it was made in a back-alley kitchen in Florence, but looks like the stuff you’d find in the most expensive and technical restaurants in the city. If we were the owners of another Italian spot in town, we’d probably be pretty annoyed. But we’re not, so we’re not.