Corio, dishing an Italian menu and bar list, has finally fully opened in University City

Corio is finally coming into its own as the contemporary-casual Italian bar-restaurant that University City didn’t realize it needed.

When it opened in May next to Two Locals Brewing and Liberty Kitchen at uCity Square (37th and Market Streets), its liquor license was tied up in bureaucracy.

Chef and owner David Feola, formerly of Ember & Ash, teamed up with business partners James Smith and Ryan Mulholland — both Vernick alums — to open a BYOB. Mulholland is now director of operations at CookNSolo and previously served as general manager at Vernick Food & Drink. The team eventually partnered with Two Locals on a drinks list.

With the license’s arrival two weeks ago, they’ve rolled out happy hour (snacks like wings, crispy potatoes, and a porchetta small plate right now, plus discounted wines and beers) and a full bar, which includes cocktails that are a few dollars less than Center City prices and a mostly Italian wine list.

Emphasis on “mostly.” Smith said customers have been enjoying Pray Tell Wines' Mutual Feelings, a riesling and viognier blend, and its Memory Lane, a merlot-pinot noir blend. “These guys are up in Fishtown, doing everything themselves,” Smith said. “People care about the stories behind the labels.”

“I’ve actually been pretty surprised with how people are responding to what I would consider slightly lesser-known varietals,” Smith said. Among the more popular Italian selections are the grillo (Poggio Anima “Uriel”) and the soave (San Cassiano). It’s all sold by-the-glass for now, as Smith builds a retail collection of bottles.

Lunch and dinner menu bestsellers include the 14-inch pizzas, stuffed long hots, roasted artichoke, hoagie salad, and especially the pastas such as the chicken “riggies” ($19, in a blush sauce with cherry peppers and olives) and gemelli ($16 at lunch and dinner, a twist, so to speak, on cacio e pepe).

There are four dinner entrees — a bone-in pork Milanese ($28) topped with an endive and chicory salad; sea bream ($32) served with herbed quinoa, basil pesto, and burnt orange oil; a half-chicken ($24) with braised escarole, pancetta, and lemon); and what Smith called “the big boy porterhouse steak” — a shareable 28-ouncer served with crispy potatoes and charred scallion for a reasonable $78.

“Corio” is a nod to the Corio Lounge at Boston’s Eastern Standard Kitchen & Drinks, where Mulholland and his wife, Dani, met early in their restaurant careers. The lounge featured a photo of Ann Corio, a long-ago burlesque dancer.

Corio, 3675 Market St. Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday, 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday.