Philadelphia’s Chefs, Food, Finally Getting the Attention They Merit

I’ve been working on this article for a week or so now. Funny thing, it started out as talking about two cities, Philadelphia in the US and Vancouver in Canada. Why? Because to me both are excellent food cities and yet both have not gotten the respect they deserve from the culinary world. So while different, they have much in common; additionally, I didn’t think I’d have enough to write on each city by themselves (again, why is that? From being ignored or underplayed in the food press.)

I’m a Philadelphian myself and it’s odd how, writing about this chef, that chef, this city, that city — heck I even did something on Beijing last month — yet I don’t get to write anything about Philly as it gets a bum wrap. So it has been very odd and thrilling to in the last week suddenly see Philly pop up in the press, multiple times and in outstanding ways. There’s Burke being named as one of the Best New Chefs of 2008 last week; and then chef Garces is up for a Beard award. Plus two Vetri eateries are up for Beard’s and then the dramatic development with Philly’s cooking patriarch, Perrier, just yesterday, I’m aflood (is that a word?) with things to write about all of a sudden! Ok, so, Vancouver, you get your own article later this week, for now, it’s Philadelphia’s time to shine.

Old Time meets the New Chefs

Go back just 10 years ago and a list of the top 10 restaurants in the U.S. would often have five in NYC, three in LA and one in Chicago and one in Philly (ususaly it was Georges Perrier’s Le Bec-Fin and probably also Le Circe). If it were a top 20, Philadelphia always had a mininum of three, and in some years 5 restaurants in the list. Now, people dismiss it. It’s like Baltimore’s problem being so close to D.C., except again, New York’s shadow falls deeper upon Philadelphia. And yet, look at the James Beard Awards Semi-Finalists and you’ll see six chefs and several restaurants. Look at the finalists and you see two restaurants and a chef.

What makes things even odder for Philadelphia is that is a big city (the fourth largest in the country) and casts it’s shadown over Atlantic City just sixty-some-odd miles southwest, and so when you put the combination of Philly and AC together, that should make for some mighty haute-cuisine power. Whethere Zagat or the snooty NY Times or whomever looks or overlooks it, the fact is, Philly’s reputation as a fine dining area is as good as ever and getting better.

Ripert’s Restaurant Opens in May

The biggest news is the arrival of superstar French chef Eric Ripert whose 10 Arts will be opening in May (May 10th to be exact) as part of the The Ritz-Carlton Hotel , just footsteps away from both City Hall and the Kimmel Arts Center. Ripert was named Best Chef by the James Beard Foundation and his New York City restaurant, Le Bernardin, has been recognized by the Zagat Guide as Best Food in the U.S. the past four years.

This year Philadelphia’s Osteria (Marc Vetri’s place) is up for Best New Restaurant in the country and another famous venue by the same owners, Vetri, is up for Outstanding Service Award. Jose Garces at Amada is considered one of the best rising-star chefs in the country — and in the running for a Beard Award — and he also has a Basque wine bar: Tinto. There are “destination restaurants” such as Fountain at the Four Seasons Hotel (a perennial Zagat’s number one favorite), Lacroix, Morimoto (opened by the Iron Chef who left it and went to NY and his protege is getting as high or higher marks without him), along with long-time staples as Stephen Starr’s Buddakan and the venerable Striped Bass. Smaller restaurants with up-and-coming chefs include James with chef James Burke — just named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs 2008 — and Xochitl by Dionicio Jimenez reflect only the tip of the fine-dining ‘berg.

And There’s Nearby Atlantic City

Toss in the star restaurants that have been added to Atlantic City’s Borgota Hotel, Casino and Spa between the last eight months and those coming in the next four and you have Bobby Flay’s Flay Steak, Wolfgang Puck’s American Grille, Michael Mina’s SeaBlue and Michael Schulson’s Japanese-pub reimagined, Izakaya, and there’s plenty of four- and five-star eating in and around the City of Brotherly Love.

One last word about Philly and it comes from no other than Food & Wine Editor in Chief, Dana Cowin who once slighted Philadelphia as not being a great food city. When she both re-examined her criteria and actually visited the city, she changed her mind — talking total 180! Two quotes worth noting from that article: “a series of scouting trips to Philadelphia showed her the true meaning of [food] greatness” and

I went to a BYOB called Marigold Kitchen and was amazed at the connection between chef Michael Solomonov (also ex-Vetri) and his customers. He got kisses of gratitude from old women, old men, young men…everyone, in fact. And then it dawned on me: The fantastic restaurants I’d visited had the pizzazz of a Starr production and the intimacy of a BYOB, with significantly more attention to the sophistication of the food and the professionalism of the staff.

These enormously satisfying, small new restaurants made me reconsider everything I’d thought about what makes a great food city. When I looked back at my seven criteria, I realized that Philly performed poorly in many categories, but it’s still an outstanding place to eat. The neighborhood restaurants, better than many of the top restaurants in smaller cities, allow you to have a good meal any day of the week—and to befriend the chef. Would the food scene be better if there were more fabulous destination restaurants? Perhaps. But birthdays and anniversaries come around only a few times a year. I love a city that inspires palates every day and brings a sense of fun to the adventure of eating out. Now, I’m planning to go back to Philadelphia for ravioli stuffed with mashed potatoes, pecorino and leeks at Melograno and a wood-fired pizza at Osteria. And it occurred to me: There are now more places I want to try in Philadelphia than in New York.

Georges Perrier Turns in Le Bec-Fin’s Five Stars, Says It’s Time to Relax

In Philadelphia, both chef Georges Perrier and his restaurant Le Bec-Fin are culinary legends. And although the City of Brotherly Love has a tendency to get short-shrifted in the culinary world at large, Perrier is still a celebrity chef and his restaurant renown. After all, even today — well, as of last week — the restaurant was only one of 17 in the country to have a Mobile Five Star rating. And it’s held those five stars for a record 26 years.

That’s right, if folks think of some well-known chefs as being “getting up there in years”, think of this …. Rick Bayless and Thomas Keller were named Best New Chefs of the Year in 1988 the first time Food and Wine had such an award; at that same time, Perrier’s Le Bec-Fin was already opened 18 years and had had its five stars for seven years already. To put it one more way, Le Bec-Fin opened twelve years before some young kid named Wolfgang Puck would open Spago.

So this news is the equivalent of a culinary earthquake! As of today, Perrier turns in his five stars. Now image this, before we continue, not only was he one of less than a dozen and a half to have that. Not only did he hold that for nearly thirty years, but how deep his “obsession” was to maintain those five stars.

From WPVI: “But five stars came at a price: Twenty-two hour workdays, a failed marriage, and a newborn daughter he saw for 10 minutes before running back to his kitchen.”

From the Philadelphia Inquirer: “When Mobil downgraded Le Bec-Fin to four stars in June 2000, Perrier slipped into a deep funk that did not lift until November 2002, when - after numerous staff changes and a $500,000 freshening of the decor to that of a Parisian salon - Le Bec-Fin regained the fifth star.” In fact Perrier’s Le Bec-Fin owns the distinction of being the only restaurant to have lost a Mobil star and ever regained it again.

So why this change and how is it changing? Well, this institution has for nearly three decades been known for luxusious setting: its prix-fixe dégustation menus often as high as $165 per person; it’s formal six-course dinners, it’s two seving times a day (to fit in the two-to-three hour multicourses); it’s heavy and well-known and well-loved escargot and crab gallette; that is gone.

Although the decor will not change, that’s about it. What’s new? Mondays through Saturdays, reservations will be booked every 15 minutes.

From WPVI: “Gone will be the elaborate place settings and heavy silver, replaced with one fork, one knife, and a simple white plate. Diners can even wear jeans. And there is a mostly new a la carte dinner menu with dishes like lamb chop. “That’s what you want. Light, light, light,” he said.

From the Inquirer: He and chef de cuisine Pierre Calmels have set up a new menu of appetizers (an $11 endive salad to a $17 tuna tartare with caviar) and entrees ($17 for pasta to $68 côte de bœuf for two). Perrier said two people could eat for less than $100. Le Bec-Fin’s all-you-can-eat dessert cart will remain ($15), as will its cheese cart. Lunch, which became à la carte last year, is served on Fridays and Saturdays.” From WPVI:

But now, at 64, his heart says let them go. He has a new wife, a good relationship with his daughter, and new projects like his steakhouse, Table 31, to enjoy.

“I don’t feel I want to be judged again,” he said.

Perrier told his 97-year old mother on Thursday. He informed Mobil on Friday.

“I feel the release today. I’m sad. And you can see, I’m very emotional, but it’s time. It’s time. I have nothing to prove,” he said.