This Steakhouse Is More Than Just Beef

Salmon Wellington at Joey Chops in Malvern / Photograph by Allison Barto

Steakhouses are terrible restaurants.

At the most basic level, restaurants exist for one of three reasons: as places of comfort, as entertainment, or for convenience. All fast food? That’s convenience. Your neighborhood cafe? Comfort. That hot new joint with the fancy menu and long waitlist? Entertainment.

A common steakhouse is none of those things. Unless you own a yacht and more than one ascot, they can be a bit stuffy and uncomfortable. Convenience isn’t their thing. It’s not entertaining when the menu looks like every other menu at every other steakhouse everywhere. And while I like a good steak now and then, I firmly believe that when you’re talking about the best steaks, the cow and the butcher have already done all the hard work, and the best thing a kitchen can do is warm them up and stay out of the way.

But occasionally, there’s a place that comes at the steakhouse game from a slightly skewed angle — and in doing so makes a restaurant that transcends the model. And Joey Chops, the year-old “boutique steakhouse” in Malvern brought to life by the Stove & Tap crew, is one of those.

The New York strip is nicely charred, perfectly mid-rare, dressed in béarnaise or maître’d butter on request, tender and cool in the center. The creamed spinach is so rich that it should have its own tax bracket; the whipped potatoes bleed butter.

Joey Chops does everything a steakhouse needs to do to please those looking for a thick steak and all the trimmings. But it’s what else it does that makes the difference.

Gin and tonics in fat, heavy glasses that feel serious. Blue crab fried rice, and mushrooms from Kennett Square. Lobster dumplings made like tiny frisbees, crisped along the edges and piled over a mound of edamame puree and whole soybeans. Four little cubes of crispy rice like cubist arrancini, topped with spicy salmon tartare and tiny slices of jalapeño tweezered on like this is Jean-Georges.

Burrata ravioli and airline chicken Milanese are on the board for those who aren’t into knocking down an 18-ounce Delmonico in a single sitting. And the salmon Wellington is clever enough, with its grounding mushroom duxelle, wilted spinach, pastry jacket (that goes limp really fast), and silky beurre blanc puddled off to the side, just waiting to add a shocking sting of white wine.

At Joey Chops, they’ve elevated the game. By giving equal attention to those things that aren’t steak, they’ve created what is essentially just a very good modern American restaurant — that happens to serve some really nice steaks.

2 Stars — Come if you’re in the neighborhood

Rating Key

0 stars: stay away
★: come if you have no other options
★★: come if you’re in the neighborhood
★★★: come from anywhere in Philly
★★★★: come from anywhere in America

Published as “Not Your Father’s Steakhouse” in the April 2024 issue of Philadelphia magazine.