I remember my first Philadelphia dining experience. It was the early 1990s and my parents were excited to take my brother and me to The Spaghetti Warehouse, a new location for a Dallas-based restaurant chain that recently opened to much fanfare on Spring Garden Street. My dad worked in Center City Philadelphia and his co-workers were raving about this restaurant, nevermind that Philadelphia invented spaghetti and meatballs. Finally, a culinary experience worthy of an hour drive from our suburban home.
The Spaghetti Warehouse’s parking lot introduced me to the concept of sketchy. There were kids playing basketball with a milk crate attached to a telephone pole serving as the hoop. We parked in a chain-linked fence enclosure and crossed a puddle-filled alley to the restaurant’s back entrance. I hoped the car would be there after we finished our meal. Inside we passed through a waiting room with at least twenty-arcade games, none of which my parents were willing to give me twenty-five cents to play, before reaching the hostess stand. As we were led to our table I looked up and in all directions restaurant’s expanse—there was no facetiousness of the warehouse in Spaghetti Warehouse, we were truly dining in a warehouse. Italian and Americana paraphernalia was tacked to the walls and hanging from the ceiling. In the center of the warehouse was a trolley car that had been retrofitted with tables and chairs. For a twelve-year-old kid this was the coolest. We had such a wonderful time that The Spaghetti Warehouse continued to be a birthday-dinner destination for several years.
That was Philadelphia dining in the 1990s. Chain restaurants serving spaghetti in a kitsch-filled environment. Since then the pendulum has swung so far in the opposite direction it flew off the clock.
Stephen Starr
There’s a bright line delineating when Philadelphia started to become a world-class culinary destination. In September 1995, Stephen Starr opened the Continental, a swanky restaurant/martini bar at the corner of Second and Market Street, the gateway to the Old City neighborhood. His been transforming the city’s dining scene ever since. Twenty-five years later he’s running nearly twenty restaurants in Philadelphia and expanded his empire to include restaurants in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Paris. What I’ve always found fascinating with Starr, is that he’s a restauranteur, not a chef, and he focuses on creating distinct and memorable dining experiences. Those dining experiences include a German-style beer hall (Frankford Hall), a Parisianesque bistro (Park), a British pub (The Dandelion), and new takes on everything from Mexican to Chinese.
Michael Solomonov
Philadelphia’s culinary star of the moment is Michael Solomonov, who’s flagship restaurant, Zahav, was names as the 2019 James Beard Restaurant of the Year (Solomonov was named Top Chef in 2017). Zahav serves modern Israeli/Middle Eastern cuisine and was already one of the toughest tables to book in town. Solomonov’s empire has been expanding to include a range of restaurants, but with the exception of Federal Donuts, a donut and fried chicken fast food offering, with an Israeli-focused cuisine.
If I was in Philadelphia for a day or two, I’d be sure to eat one meal from both Stephen Starr’s and Michael Solomonov’s dining empires.
Beyond these two dining stars, Philadelphia has a deep bench of outstanding and award winning chefs. Philadelphia Magazine has a frequently updated Top 50 Restaurants of Philadelphia list that keeps up with the city’s current dining trends. Suraya, Vernick, Laurel, Vetri, and Zahav are as good as a Top 5 (mine) restaurants that you’ll find in any city in the world. The Top 50 list is a great dining resource with three major caveats: 1) it’s a Center City centric list that covers an area from the Passyunk neighborhood up to Center City and over to Fishtown, nothing in West Philadelphia, Norhtwest Philadelphia, or Northeast Philadelphia; 2) when the list strays from Center City…it strays completely outside the city to include restaurants from New Jersey and West Chester, PA; and 3) there’s no classics, none of the restaurants that have been around for years and are still going strong, like Oyster House or The Saloon.
Craig Laban and Michael Klein, The Philadelphia Inquirier’s long-time food critic and food scene “insider”, respectively, are usually the first two who report new restaurant openings and what’s hot. They are both worth following on Instagram. Craig Laban and The Inquirer periodically produce Philadelphia food guides that serve as a template on how to eat around the city.
The Spaghetti Warehouse’s parking lot introduced me to the concept of sketchy. There were kids playing basketball with a milk crate attached to a telephone pole serving as the hoop. We parked in a chain-linked fence enclosure and crossed a puddle-filled alley to the restaurant’s back entrance. I hoped the car would be there after we finished our meal. Inside we passed through a waiting room with at least twenty-arcade games, none of which my parents were willing to give me twenty-five cents to play, before reaching the hostess stand. As we were led to our table I looked up and in all directions restaurant’s expanse—there was no facetiousness of the warehouse in Spaghetti Warehouse, we were truly dining in a warehouse. Italian and Americana paraphernalia was tacked to the walls and hanging from the ceiling. In the center of the warehouse was a trolley car that had been retrofitted with tables and chairs. For a twelve-year-old kid this was the coolest. We had such a wonderful time that The Spaghetti Warehouse continued to be a birthday-dinner destination for several years.
That was Philadelphia dining in the 1990s. Chain restaurants serving spaghetti in a kitsch-filled environment. Since then the pendulum has swung so far in the opposite direction it flew off the clock.
Stephen Starr
There’s a bright line delineating when Philadelphia started to become a world-class culinary destination. In September 1995, Stephen Starr opened the Continental, a swanky restaurant/martini bar at the corner of Second and Market Street, the gateway to the Old City neighborhood. His been transforming the city’s dining scene ever since. Twenty-five years later he’s running nearly twenty restaurants in Philadelphia and expanded his empire to include restaurants in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Paris. What I’ve always found fascinating with Starr, is that he’s a restauranteur, not a chef, and he focuses on creating distinct and memorable dining experiences. Those dining experiences include a German-style beer hall (Frankford Hall), a Parisianesque bistro (Park), a British pub (The Dandelion), and new takes on everything from Mexican to Chinese.
Michael Solomonov
Philadelphia’s culinary star of the moment is Michael Solomonov, who’s flagship restaurant, Zahav, was names as the 2019 James Beard Restaurant of the Year (Solomonov was named Top Chef in 2017). Zahav serves modern Israeli/Middle Eastern cuisine and was already one of the toughest tables to book in town. Solomonov’s empire has been expanding to include a range of restaurants, but with the exception of Federal Donuts, a donut and fried chicken fast food offering, with an Israeli-focused cuisine.
If I was in Philadelphia for a day or two, I’d be sure to eat one meal from both Stephen Starr’s and Michael Solomonov’s dining empires.
Beyond these two dining stars, Philadelphia has a deep bench of outstanding and award winning chefs. Philadelphia Magazine has a frequently updated Top 50 Restaurants of Philadelphia list that keeps up with the city’s current dining trends. Suraya, Vernick, Laurel, Vetri, and Zahav are as good as a Top 5 (mine) restaurants that you’ll find in any city in the world. The Top 50 list is a great dining resource with three major caveats: 1) it’s a Center City centric list that covers an area from the Passyunk neighborhood up to Center City and over to Fishtown, nothing in West Philadelphia, Norhtwest Philadelphia, or Northeast Philadelphia; 2) when the list strays from Center City…it strays completely outside the city to include restaurants from New Jersey and West Chester, PA; and 3) there’s no classics, none of the restaurants that have been around for years and are still going strong, like Oyster House or The Saloon.
Craig Laban and Michael Klein, The Philadelphia Inquirier’s long-time food critic and food scene “insider”, respectively, are usually the first two who report new restaurant openings and what’s hot. They are both worth following on Instagram. Craig Laban and The Inquirer periodically produce Philadelphia food guides that serve as a template on how to eat around the city.
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PHILADELPHIA FOOD
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