5 Big Reasons to Be Optimistic About Philly’s Food Scene
After a tumultuous few years, Philadelphia’s dining scene has come roaring back with ambitious projects, over-the-top menus, decadent dinner parties, and once-in-a-lifetime nights.
There are so many reasons to be optimistic on Philly’s food scene. / Photo-Illustration by Leticia R. Albano; Photography by Mike Prince (5); Branca: Kerri Sitrin; Crudo: Stuart Goldenberg; Fire Roasted Ulam Platter: Neal Santos
There’s been a palpable sense of exuberance around Philly’s restaurant scene lately. With all the national accolades and awards, the industry is responding with ambitious projects, over-the-top menus, decadent dinner parties, and once-in-a-lifetime nights that produce stories prefaced with “You just had to be there.” It’s giving Gatsby. It’s giving razzle-dazzle. It’s giving that flurry of post-pandemic let-loose energy akin to the Roaring ’20s. Here’s what we’re looking forward to as we frolic in Philly’s dining boom.
Expanding Empires
There are big new openings on the horizon, in name and in size. In the coming months we’re going to Fishtown for Tyler Akin’s new Mediterranean restaurant, Bastia, located in the soon-to-open boutique hotel Anna & Bel. You’ll also find us at Essen Bakery’s second location on Berks, where we’ll be noshing on babka in the new sit-down cafe. Come 2025, we’ll be watching the trees bloom in Rittenhouse Square while enjoying an afternoon prosecco on the second floor of Stephen Starr’s new Italian trattoria, Borromini.
The Return of Saté Kampar
From the dumpster-fire ashes of 2020 rises a phoenix named Ange Branca. Four years after the pandemic forced her to close Saté Kampar, we’re thrilled to see her start a new chapter. Now called Kampar, her two-story Malaysian restaurant is bigger and has two different concepts: a social club upstairs with an à la carte menu, and a fixed-price tasting menu developed by two chefs in residency and Branca herself downstairs.
Ange Branca’s Kampar is just one of the many reasons we’re bullish on Philly’s food scene. / Photograph by Kerri Sitrin
Brunch Is Back
The idea of brunch was nearly decimated during the pandemic as restaurants dropped their daytime menus. And though the weekend’s favorite midday meal is making a comeback, no brunch has returned with as much gusto as that of Lacroix. Executive chef Eric Leveillee says he has an entire team that spends all week preparing for the Sunday feast. There are tables of canapés, a raw bar, a six-item carving station, and an entire room — yes, a separate room — dedicated to pastries.
World-Class Dinner Series
If you follow chefs like hoops fans follow the NBA playoffs, keep your eye on the CHEF Radio podcast’s Voi-Age Dinner Series. Imagined by chef and podcaster Eli Kulp, the idea is that two nationally acclaimed chefs, one from Philly and one from elsewhere, come together to create a never-before-and-likely-never-again-seen menu. So far, he’s brought Justin Pichetrungsi of L.A.’s Anajak Thai Cuisine to collaborate with Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon of Kalaya, plus Jeremy Fox of Santa Monica’s Birdie G’s and Rustic Canyon to cook up a dinner with Nicholas Elmi at Lark. “To see the eagerness of chefs to come and be a part of the Voi-Age Dining Series shows just how much respect our food scene is getting across the country,” Kulp says.
Proliferation of Pop-Ups
If there’s a silver lining to the cloud that’s loomed over the restaurant industry for the past few years, it’s the proliferation of pop-ups. Chefs are going out on their own and proving they can make it beyond the walls of a conventional restaurant. We’re talking Diana Widjojo’s Rice & Sambal, Liz Grothe’s Couch Café, Evan Snyder’s Emmett, Nicholas Bazik’s Provenance, and all of Jacob Trinh’s endeavors, just for starters.
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Published as “This Food Town’s a Boom Town” in the April 2024 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
