Rittenhouse Square Restaurants

The $35 Challenge: Eat Like It’s Restaurant Week At Vernick Food & Drink

Posted by Jason Sheehan on January 29th, 2013

$35 for three courses sounds like a helluva deal. And that’s what Restaurant Week is built around. But say you want to go somewhere awesome without having to deal with the crowds, the restrictions and the stressed-out wait staffs that are also a part of Restaurant Week. Is that possible?

It is, even if you happen to find yourself among the high heels and yappy dogs of Rittenhouse Square. Just aim yourself toward 21st and Walnut and deliver yourself into the hands of the crew at Vernick Food & Drink. Don’t believe you can get out of there with three courses for $35? Then check out the math:

Peas and bacon on toast $7
Crispy potatoes with shishito peppers $6
Pork blade steak with onion marmalade and sauteed mustard greens $22

All that, and for a grand total of $35, on the nose. Granted, if you’re willing to go just a little bit higher you could opt for the fromage blanc with kumquats on toast ($7), then the mussels in Dijon broth ($14) and then the potato ravioli with braised lamb and long beans ($15) for a total of $36, but that’s just crazy talk. Why would anyone pay $36 for a three-course dinner at one of the 50 Best Restaurants in Philladelphia when they could head down to Bleu Martini on 2nd Street and get chicken fingers, Cajun salmon and a slice of cheesecake for $35?

Ugh.

All Restaurant Week Coverage [Foobooz]

Vernick Food & Drink [Official]

Seafood Unlimited Reopens After Major Makeover

Posted by Aubrey Nagle on September 13th, 2012

David and Judi Einhorn’s Seafood Unlimited is back in action as of late August after a summer hiatus and a major makeover. After 24 years of owning the Philly mainstay on Rittenhouse Square the Einhorns have worked to double the space at the bar, add seating, redecorate, create a completely new menu, and add later hours. Seafood Unlimited now holds 36 guests in the dining area and ten at the bar, and an expanded mosaic mural graces the walls. They’ve also exchanged their previous logo for this much creepier one:

Full menu and details on the tap list after the jump.

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Free Shake Shack Custard at Moonlit Movie Screening

Posted by Aubrey Nagle on August 9th, 2012

Uwishunu’s Moonlit Movie Screenings return this Saturday, August 11th, at Rittenhouse Square with Midnight in Paris showing on the 18th St. side of the park (at Locust) at 8:30pm. As the title indicates, France is the theme of the night and Shake Shack and Rouge are getting in on the action.

And that’s not all…

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Jane G’s Open for Business

Posted by Aubrey Nagle on July 31st, 2012

Jane G’s, the new Chinese fusion restaurant at 1930 Chestnut, is now serving lunch and dinner for their soft opening. Jane Guo, former owner of Broad Street’s Noodle Heaven, has finally returned to Center City with her high-end take on foods from all over China. For now they are serving lunch from 11:30-2:30 p.m. and dinner from 5-11p.m. The restaurant plans to have its grand opening around August 15^th.

Read on for the highlights and full menu of Jane G’s. Read the rest of this entry »

The Revisit: Eating Vetri at Zama

Posted by Trey Popp on May 3rd, 2012

In The Revisit, Philadelphia Magazine restaurant critic Trey Popp turns his attentions to classic, underappreciated or overlooked restaurants in Philly and beyond. This month, he drops in for a meal at Zama in Rittenhouse Square.

“It happened first in Philadelphia” isn’t the common claim it once was, back when the Constitution’s ink was still sticky and George Washington ruled the realm from the 500 block of Market Street. But you can say, without too much of a stretch, that it was one of the first American cities to turn its chefs into celebrities. After all, when you don’t have any real celebrities, you have to work with what you’ve got.

Whether that’s the strict truth or just a poetic one, Philly today retains a brand of hometown chef fixation that you don’t see anywhere else. For proof, take the menu at Zama. Over and above the dragon rolls and miso bouillabaisse and tofu cooked tableside, pride of place goes to maki-style homages to Marc Vetri, Michael Solomonov, and Pierre Calmels.

The Vetri, Zahav, and Bibou rolls name-check the best Italian, Middle Eastern, and French restaurants in Philadelphia. They also signal the sort of company Hiroyuki “Zama” Tanaka wishes to be considered alongside. My wife and I went on a recent weekend evening to see whether he’s gotten there.

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More Details on Nick Elmi and Rittenhouse Tavern

Posted by Jason Sheehan on March 9th, 2012

Former Le Bec-Fin chef Nick Elmi had about a month’s warning of the impending closure of Georges Perrier‘s landmark restaurant–and that was just fine by him. He’d been planning to leave for a while (about a year) and had been making some (very) preliminary inquiries about opening a restaurant of his own, and had also hoped to take a nice, long vacation. But as always seems to happen in the restaurant industry, things didn’t go exactly the way he’d planned.

“Things moved a little bit quickly,” he told me when I got him on the phone this afternoon. Once he knew for sure that Le Bec was going to be shutting down, he heard from friends that Ed Brown (the chef from Restaurant Associates, the company looking to re-make the space in the Art Alliance building that had previously been Le Jardin and Opus 251) was in town and actively looking for someone to run the line at a new modern American restaurant going into the address. He met with Brown, cooked for him and, apparently, the two hit it off immediately. “It seemed like a good fit,” Elmi told me. “So I said, ‘Okay, I’m on board. Let’s do this.’”

For his part, Brown seemed to know almost as quickly that Elmi was his guy. The project at the Art Alliance was held up for a long time “by not finding the right players,” according to Brown. But when Elmi showed up, he knew he had the right guy. “He [Elmi], like I did, started in French food. And what French food teaches you is technique and respect for the ingredients. Once you know that, you can do anything. You can do a Chinese restaurant using French technique.”

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UPDATED Foobooz TV: Russet, Getting Ready For Opening Night

Posted by Jason Sheehan on February 14th, 2012

UPDATE: Okay, so that first video? Not our best work. But since Russet was literally opening the doors as we were finishing the video, we figured that something was better than nothing.

Now that we’ve had a couple days, we’re pleased to offer the prettied-up version of our Russet walkthrough. It’s a gorgeous space that deserves a loving look. And that charcuterie is just sexy as hell. Enjoy…

Andrew and Kristin Wood didn’t take the easy route when they picked an opening date for Russet. Their first night of service? Tonight. Valentine’s Day–one of the busiest nights in the entire food service calendar.

Still, if the charcuterie room (as seen in the video) is anything to go by, they’re ready. And this is what the tiny, gorgeous, 50-seat BYO will look like when they open the doors to the public for the first time tonight.

Russet [Official website]

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Rittenhouse Square Restaurants

The $35 Challenge: Eat Like It’s Restaurant Week At Vernick Food & Drink

Seafood Unlimited Reopens After Major Makeover

Free Shake Shack Custard at Moonlit Movie Screening

Jane G’s Open for Business

The Revisit: Eating Vetri at Zama

More Details on Nick Elmi and Rittenhouse Tavern

UPDATED Foobooz TV: Russet, Getting Ready For Opening Night