Press Release

PHILADELPHIA’S DINING SCENE: WHAT’S NEW AND NOTABLE?
Winter 2006-2007 And Beyond

New On The Scene
The latest great addition to ritzy Rittenhouse Square is snackbar, a chic, spare, deliciously edgy morning-through-late-night bistro. Owner Jonathan Makar (founder of West Philly BYOB Marigold Kitchen) and partner/chef Jonathan McDonald devised a menu of $13-and-under wonders: white beer-braised pork belly with poached egg and smoked onion dashi; roasted Brussel sprouts with truffles and Marcona almonds; and crispy-skin ocean trout with vanilla pomme puree and cranberry. At the other end of the size scale is Rae, a 220-seat restaurant (with an additional six private dining rooms) in the newly constructed, always twinkling Cira Centre. Here, chef/owner Daniel Stern works out of a centerpiece open kitchen overlooking the city skyline and 30th Street Station via a two-story glass wall. Rae’s New American menu includes veal kreplach, rabbit nachos, braised short ribs with bacon dressing and rack of lamb with feta soufflé. South Philly’s old Navy Yard is the chic setting for celebrated Philadelphia caterer Steve Poses’ Frog at the Yard, a 20,000-square-foot former pipefitter’s shop turned breakfast and lunch restaurant. Here, chic workers (and the public) dine amid koi ponds, bamboo gardens and a teak coffee bar made from an authentic jharoka, eating salads of grilled fig, fennel, orange and feta; rabbit sausage and chestnut soup with faro; and barbecue brisket thin-crust pizza. An instant hit for Main Liners is Susanna Foo Gourmet Kitchen, a contemporary dumpling house with Pan-Asian fare (including sushi) and three large-screen TVs projecting cooking classes.

Cuba Libre

Photo by R. Nowitz for GPTMC

Coming this January: Tinto, chef-restaurateur Jose Garces’ second project (his first, Amada, has become Old City’s hottest restaurant). With 60 seats, a list of 100 Southwestern French and Northern Spanish wines and a rustic décor evocative of an old wine cellar, Tinto will serve “pinxtos:” pork belly chorizo with black beans and cabbage; and Basque tapas, including foie gras bocadillos, creamy clam rice with shaved artichokes, tuna toro and bonito chowder.

Teeny-Tiny BYOBs
Philadelphia’s unique crop of bring-your-own-bottle (BYOB) restaurants may be big in number, but most are super small in size. Pif, a tiny bistro a block from the Italian Market, serves impressive meals—foie gras terrine, port-roasted quail and skate in langoustine cream—in a 38-seat setting. Guests get super intimate at Northern Liberties’ newly opened Copper Bistro, a white-tableclothed spot for seared day-boat scallops with potato rosti and wild mushroom ragout, duck breast with cherry gastrique and roasted lobster with udon noodles and orange vanilla butter. On a busy night at Old City’s La Locanda del Ghittone, patrons can easily pilfer a bite of melt-in-the-mouth osso bucco or homemade ravioli from the next table over. The one place synonymous with the best of bumping-elbows eating: Queen Village’s 25-seat Dmitri’s, everyone’s favorite spot for grilled octopus, heavenly hummus and homemade rice pudding—as evidenced by hours-long waits for a table. In the countryside, Wayne’s tiny, husband- and wife-run Thai restaurant, Mayuree Café (known for its red curry filet mignon), feels full even before the guests have arrived. Funky Lil’ Kitchen in Pottstown is just that: a former luncheonette turned lava lamp-lit BYOB, with 28 seats and a menu of duck tacos and veal cheeks over spaetzle.

Liquid Warmth
Those looking for an escape from the dipping temps can cozy up to the bar for hot liquid refreshments that will warm the body and soul. The extra-cozy bar at University City’s White Dog Café is the perfect spot for feeling tweedy among Ivy Leaguers while sipping hot apple cider spiced with cinnamon sticks, allspice, ginger, orange peel, spiked with amaretto and served in a sugar-rimmed glass. At Old City’s elegant Fork, the wintertime cocktail de rigueur is a cure-what-ails-ya hot toddy made of Jameson’s Irish whisky, fresh lemon, honey, hot water and a cinnamon stick. Around at Cuba Libre, cold weather calls for “coco-cream xocolati,” a coffee cocktail made with Mexican chocolate, coconut rum and whipped cream. As soon as the thermometer starts heading south, Headhouse Square’s Dark Horse gets to mulling some Port wine with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

For the Love of Chocolate
No question: Philly’s a chocoholic’s kind of town. At West Chester’s Eclat Chocolate, master chocolatier Christopher Curtin mixes fresh butter and cream with Grand Cru cocoa, adding pieces of mango, delicate bits of fleur du sel, decadent drops of Calvados, zesty bits of ginger or a subtly hot pinch of Sichuan pepper to make some of the world’s most delicious chocolates. In West Philadelphia, John Doyle and Kira Baker run one of the country’s foremost socially conscious confection businesses: John and Kira’s uses mint grown at local public school gardens, organic cream from grass-fed cows, strawberries and lavender from local farmers and cocoa beans from cooperatives to make their dark-chocolate delights, sold online only. Cute and petite, the new Naked Chocolate Café feels like a European coffee shop and tastes like spice-rich Aztec drinking chocolate, frozen hot chocolate and a la carte truffles. Tucked into the Reading Terminal Market, pastry chef Rebecca Michael’s Flying Monkey Patisserie offers dark chocolate ganache sandwich cookies, brownies amped with cayenne, chocolate-dipped handmade marshmallows and deep, rich dark chocolate layer cake, available whole or by the slice.

Veggie Fare That’s Fab
City vegetarians rejoiced when Caribbean-inspired, vegan-friendly Horizons Café, relocated from its suburban birthplace to serve up amazing edamame hummus, Jamaican BBQ seitan, boniato empanadas and portobello carpaccio. Bucks County’s Blue Sage Vegetarian Grille attracts far-away patrons with wild mushroom risotto and korma. Chinatown’s reigning veggie destination is Cherry Street Chinese Kosher Vegetarian, where “emerald 3 mix” soup stars on a menu of deliciously fun mock shrimp, chicken and fish dishes. Impeccable, quick veggie bites come in the form of spicy falafel pitas and hummus platters at kosher, no-nonsense Mama’s Vegetarian.

Above Average Dining in So-So
The burgeoning neighborhood just south of South Street officially goes by the names Queen Village and Bella Vista, but more recently has been ironically dubbed “So-So,” home to some of the city’s most up-and-coming bistros. The one to head to earliest in the day is Famous 4th Street Delicatessen, a gleaming emporium of oversized edibles, from orb-like matzoh balls swimming in hearty chicken broth to thick Reubens that demand two hands to handle to sliced slabs of mocha-frosted checkerboard cake. At Daniel Stern’s gem Gayle, patrons nibble delicate, bold fare: lobster rolls with lavender and frogs’ legs with sweetbreads. Beau Monde is an elegant spot for France’s famous fold-ups—buckwheat crepes with ratatouille, sweet crepes stuffed with Nutella and bananas. Just a few blocks away, Ansill dares its well-heeled patrons to dig into shirred eggs with foie gras and truffles, bone marrow crostini with sea salt and lamb’s tongue with lamb’s lettuce and potatoes. Southwark offers irresistible homemade bread to kick off season-based, bar-side meals of sweetbreads over blue cheese bread custard or fiddlehead ferns with cornmeal-crusted trout.

Comfort Food Goes International
Philadelphia’s international restaurants delight patrons with worldly—and homey—traditional fare, just like grandma makes—7,000 miles away. Brimming with airy fried oysters and warming ginger, the oyster hot pot at Chinatown’s Lee How Fook remains unrivaled. Giwa, a sleek new fast-service Korean restaurant in the heart of Center City’s business district offers fresh and hearty rice dishes such as dol sot bibim bap, served sizzling in stone bowls. In the middle of happening Old City, the simple, rich and spicy hot butter chicken at back-to-basics Indian bistro Karma can’t be beat. Beef noodle soup—pho ga—at Chinatown’s curtained Pho Xe Lua is Vietnam’s hearty, flavorful, steaming take on rib-sticking minestrone.

Featured Chef: Martin Hamann
If local chefs ever voted for their best-loved peer, Martin Hamann, executive chef at the Philadelphia Four Seasons, would be a favorite. Born and bred in Philly, Marty, as he’s known, graduated from the Philadelphia Restaurant School (now The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College), joined the Four Seasons’ kitchen as an apprentice in 1983, became the hotel’s chef de restaurant in ’89 and took over the whole operation in 2001. Hamann’s best-loved creations include the elegant homage to the cheesesteak—in spring roll form—served at the hotel’s sophisticated Swann Lounge, and The Fountain’s “mange-tout,” one-dish meals such as whole roasted American snapper stuffed with baby bok choy or whole roasted Virginia squab dipped in lavender honey.

ADDRESS BOOK

New On The Scene:

• snackbar, 253 S. 20th Street, (215) 545-5655, www.phillysnackbar.com
• Marigold Kitchen, 501 S. 45th Street, (215) 222-3699, www.marigoldkitchenbyob.com
• Rae, Cira Centre, 2929 Arch Street, (215) 922-3839, www.raerestaurant.com
• Frog at the Yard, 16th & Flagship Drive, Shop 543, (215) 454-3764, www.frogattheyard.com
• Susanna Foo Gourmet Kitchen, 555 E. Lancaster Avenue, Radnor, (610) 688-8808, www.susannafoo.com
• Tinto, 114 S. 20th Street, (215) 665-9150, http://www.tintorestaurant.com/

Teeny-Tiny BYOBs:

• Pif, 1009 S. 8th Street, (215) 625-2923
• Copper Bistro, 614 N. 2nd Street, (215) 627-9844, www.copperbistro.net
• La Locanda del Ghittone, 130 N. 3rd Street, (215) 829-1465
• Dmitri’s, 795 S. 3rd Street, (215) 625-0556
• Mayuree Café, 14 West Avenue, Wayne, (610) 341-8162
• Funky Lil’ Kitchen, 232 King Street, Pottstown, (610) 326-7400, http://www.funkylilkitchen.com/

Liquid Warmth:

• White Dog Café, 3420 Sansom Street, (215) 386-9224, www.whitedogcafe.com
• Fork, 306 Market Street, (215) 625-9425, www.forkrestaurant.com
• Cuba Libre, 10 S. 2nd Street, (215) 627-0666, www.cubalibrerestaurant.com
• Dark Horse, 421 S. 2nd Street, (215) 928-9307, http://www.darkhorsepub.com/

For the Love of Chocolate:

• Eclat Chocolate, 24 S. High Street, West Chester, (610) 692-5206, www.eclatchocolate.com
• John and Kira’s, (800) 747-4808, www.johnandkiras.com
• Naked Chocolate Café, 1315 Walnut Street, (215) 735-7310, www.nakedchocolatecafe.com
• Flying Monkey Patisserie, Reading Terminal Market, 12th & Arch Streets, (215) 928-0340, http://www.flyingmonkeyphilly.com/

Veggie Fare That’s Fab:

• Horizons Café, 611 S 7th Street, (215) 923-6117, www.horizonsphiladelphia.com
• Blue Sage Vegetarian Grille, 772 2nd Street Pike, Southampton, (215) 942-8888, www.bluesagegrille.com
• Cherry Street Chinese Kosher Vegetarian Restaurant, 1010 Cherry Street,
  (215) 923-3663
• Mama’s Vegetarian, 18 S. 20th Street, (215) 751-0477

Above Average Dining in So-So:

• Famous 4th Street Delicatessen, 700 S. 4th Street, (215) 922-3274
• Gayle, 617 S. 3rd Street, (215) 922-3850, www.gaylerestaurant.com
• Beau Monde, 6th & Bainbridge Streets, (215) 592-0656, www.creperie-beaumonde.com
• Ansill, 627 S. 3rd Street, (215) 627-2485, www.ansillfoodandwine.com
• Southwark, 701 S. 4th Street, (215) 238-1888

Comfort Food Goes International:

• Lee How Fook, 219 N. 11th Street, (215) 925-7266, www.leehowfook.com
• Giwa, 1608 Sansom Street, (215) 557-9830, www.giwakoreanfood.com
• Karma, 114 Chestnut Street, (215) 925-1444, www.thekarmarestaurant.com
• Pho Xe Lua, 907 Race Street, (215) 627-8883

Top Chef: Martin “Marty” Hamman:

• Philadelphia Four Seasons, Swann Lounge, The Fountain, One Logan Square,
  (215) 963-1500, www.fourseasons.com
• The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College, 4207 Walnut Street, (215) 222-4200, http://www.therestaurantschool.com/

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) makes Philadelphia and The Countryside™ a premier destination through marketing and image building that increases business and promotes the region’s vitality. For more information about travel to Philadelphia, visit http://www.gophila.com/ or call the Independence Visitor Center, located in Independence National Historical Park, at (800) 537-7676.

Note to Editors: For photos of Greater Philadelphia, visit our Photo Gallery. On the pressroom, you can also subscribe to RSS feeds to receive updates on topics that are specifically of interest to you: What’s New, Dining, Events, Seasonal Travel, Hotel Packages and Tourism Research.

CONTACT:

Donna Schorr, GPTMC
(215) 599-0782, donna@gptmc.com 

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