Fitler Dining Room: Ghosts of Dining Rooms Past


Every so often I’m asked how often the opinions of Craig LaBan and Trey Popp differ. Here’s one such case. LaBan heaped the praise on chef Rob Marzinsky and Fitler Dining Room. Trey Popp? Well, not so much.

But when I returned later for a second meal, those hints of magic turned halfway black. First, dynamite buttermilk-sauced beets with crispy maitakes and onion rings—then mealy carrots with a merely fine braised beef cheek. Here were outstanding ginger-sparked oysters; there was a tagliatelle too scarcely sprinkled with peas, nettles and ramps to maintain interest. And the walnut-oiled beef tartare with pickled chanterelles I’d loved before came out this time crudely cut and faintly slimy under a slush of grated raw turnip. It tasted like a punishment.

One-and-a-half stars – Fair to Good

Philadelphia Restaurant Review: Fickle Fare at Fitler Dining Room [Philadelphia Magazine]
Fitler Dining Room [Official Site]