How did Philadelphia become a restaurant city?

[san]

In discussing the perils of my hometown of metro Detroit (specifically the lackluster restaurant scene) here, I have made several comparisons to Philadelphia (where I now live). Based on my limited experience here, it seems that only 15 or so years ago Philly was in a not so great state as Detroit has been for so long. Aside from LeBecFin, I can't imagine that many of the great places that make this city a dining destination were around back then. To what do you attribute the birth of so many excellent restaurants in a relatively short period of time? It should be mentioned that I have already heard any stupid wisecrack about Detroit that you can think of, so please refrain- I am a little sensitive...

[Holly Moore]

It all came to pass in the late 70's and Philadelphia's original Restaurant Renaissance. A few from that era are still around. Along with Le Bec-Fin, there is the Astral Plane, Friday Saturday Sunday, the Restaurant School and ... I can't think of any others.

Among the departed, La Panatiere (which I have no idea how to spell), Frog, The Commissary, Knave of Hearts, Judy's, and the Fish Market. Some funky upstairs place at 18th and Sansom too.

[philadining]

Yeah, it's kind of come in waves since that original 70s renaissance that Holly mentioned, but it's been a steadily creative, if under-appreciated, scene for over 30 years. It got flashy with the advent of the Steven Starr era in 1995, and the mom-and-pop BOB thing got pretty big shortly thereafter, but it's been a really interesting place to eat for a long time.

I don't know exactly how it all got enough momentum to sustain, although there are some accounts of the origins of that original boom that imply that there was a lucky intersection of people, real estate, and energy. I do know that some of the innovative multiculti food that was coming out of those kitchens in the late 70s and early 80s was influenced by the large number of Thai line cooks that happened to be in the workforce at the time. I think that creative vibe of places like Frog has had a lasting influence on chefs and diners in Philly.

There have been little jolts to the scene now and then, but it's been pretty solid for a long time...

[MarketStEl]

Since Holly was too modest (unjustifiably, in this case) to mention it, I'll assume that you didn't know that the place at 18th and Sansom was his own establishment. By the time I arrived here in 1983, it was an Ethiopian restaurant, Cafe Nyala, the second such restaurant in the city. The first is still in business at 45th and Locust in University City; it now goes by the name of The Red Sea.

The building that housed Holly Moore's Upstairs Cafe and Cafe Nyala is now home to Tria. In between Nyala and Tria was, among other things, an ice cream and dessert parlor called Alaska. That should give you some idea of how the restaurant scene has evolved over the years.

The then-restaurant critic for Philadelphia magazine, whose name escapes me now, wrote a funny, discursive, and too-long article on the occasion of his 10th anniversary writing for the mag back around '88 or so chronicling the evolution of Philadelphia restaurants since the 1960s, when, as he put it, the "grownups" served the "mix-and-match menu", consisting of the usual surf 'n' turf suspects accompanied by salads made from industrial-grade produce and topped with your choice of dressings (quoting now): "(bottled) French, Russian (French with pickle bits), Thousand Island (even more pickle bits)..." "The kids" came to town in the mid-1970s and upended everything with funky, creative dishes served on mismatched place settings. Holly already listed the survivors of that era, although another of its pioneers, Steve Poses (Frog, The Commissary), is in the catering business still.

FWIW, it was shortly after the start of that first Restaurant Renaissance that the Reading Terminal Market revived after a near-death experience. I suspect that the two events are actually linked in some way, though I can't prove it.

However, since you brought up Motown, I have a neologism for you to ponder: "Bos-troit"--

that is, a Center City with the pizzazz of Boston’s surrounded by miles of neighborhoods like Detroit’s. 

That's the characterization of Philadelphia that an unnamed academic gave it. The quote appears in a Pew Charitable Trusts report on the state of Philadelphia in 2007.

You can read the whole thing if you like here.

--Sandy, who assumes you've been to the "Fabulous Ruins of Detroit" Web site, a poignant but now ultimately hopeful love letter to your hometown

Edited further to add: And with this post I hit the 3,000 mark. I've still got a ways to go to match Cal Ripken.

Edited June 29, 2007 by MarketStEl (log)

[philadining]

Sorry to wander off-topic, but Foobooz is reporting that Astral Plane will close this weekend, leaving only Friday, Saturday, Sunday still standing from that funky 70s movement.

[dockhl]

I was in school in Philly from 1976-80 and saw a huge change in those few years alone. I had thought that some of it was attributable to the Restaurant School grads opening places that were quite unusual for the time. (ie, wasn't Bookbinders )

One of my old faves was Under the Blue Moon in Chestnut Hill. I still make their Sesame Pecan Chicken !

It was an exciting time......

[cinghiale]

The above-linked thread to the Detroit discussion is really intruiging, and I've commented there.

But I did want to toss in my opinion as a current Philly resident on this here thread: Detroit and Philly are really not comparable cities, despite similar sine waves of growth and decline. Philly has a dense, inhabited core, allowing residents to walk/bike/taxi/public trans easily between home-bar-restaurant-bar-bar-home. Detroit, otoh, is a car city -- always was, always will be, the People Mover being a stellar white-elephant monument to that fact.

That said, Philly was in the dumps when I moved here in the early 1980s. A friend called Philly "a perfectly good city that wasn't being used." So we, and others, made use of it, and, for a variety of reasons, including word-of-mouth advertising, Philly caught fire.

But, to my mind, that doesn't make Detroit any less of a dining city (residential city is another matter, I think), potential-wise. We have no Greektown in Philly. We also have no innate hot dog culture (Lafayette, American, and others way rock and are tastier in their genre than Pat's, Geno's et al). Sliders are now served in Philly almost as an homage, rather than as the awesome grab-n-go fare that Detroit makes in unsurpassable fashion (I'm visiting a few burger joints next weekend, e.g., Miller's [thanks Detroit eGers for some great posts on this item], as I travel north to Alpena). There's Lebanese and Polish fare. And the country's best charcuterist in Brian Polcyn at Five Lakes. (Philly, of course, has lots that Detroit doesn't have, but that's not relevant here.)

Philadelphia whined forever about being an afterthought on the Metroliner dining line. I've always sought to disabuse people of this notion, and there no longer seems to be any need to do so. Detroiters ought to be about flying their flags, and some day others will see what they've been missing.

[BrentKulman]

The then-restaurant critic for Philadelphia magazine, whose name escapes me now, wrote a funny, discursive, and too-long article on the occasion of his 10th anniversary writing for the mag back around '88 or so chronicling the evolution of Philadelphia restaurants since the 1960s, when, as he put it, the "grownups" served the "mix-and-match menu", consisting of the usual surf 'n' turf suspects accompanied by salads made from industrial-grade produce and topped with your choice of dressings (quoting now): "(bottled) French, Russian (French with pickle bits), Thousand Island (even more pickle bits)..."  "The kids" came to town in the mid-1970s and upended everything with funky, creative dishes served on mismatched place settings. 

I was in school in Philadelphia from 1978-80 and worked at Philadelphia magazine in the summer of 1979. I can picture the restaurant critic (big guy with a pony tail) and I think his name was Jim Quinn. He also wrote an interesting book on language at about that time. I probably have a copy of it somewhere.

Anyhow, at that time there was a lot of talk about the restaurant renaissance. The one dish that memorializes it for me was the Commisary's carrot cake. We still have the recipe and it is a classic. Among the survivors from that era, I noticed Deux Cheminees on a recent trip to Philadelphia.

Astral Plane was a favorite from that time so I am sorry to see it go.

[philadining]

Among the survivors from that era, I noticed Deux Cheminees on a recent trip to Philadelphia. 

←

Just closed...

And yeah, that carrot cake rocks. Still can be found at catered affairs around town, I'm told. The recipe is in here, along with some other great stuff. I still pull out my beat-up, stained copy of this book, and cook from it. A few recipes seem dated, or charmingly innocent, but many are classics, and still seem fresh, even 22 years after the book was first published.

[dockhl]

Ohhh....

and the THAI CHICKEN CURRY that I still make......with bechamel !

(Thai was SO exotic then )

I remember taking my parents (Pittsburghers) to the Commissary for lunch in 1979. We spent $60 (including tip) : I thought my Dad would have a STROKE !!!!

Good stuff. But I lived out on the North end of the city (Oak Lane) and didn't have a car all four years while I was there. We took the train (never the subway) into the city for all our entertaining...............and there was a LOT !

[MarketStEl]

Next time you're in town, dockhl, you should take a trip up Ogontz Avenue, the main drag of West Oak Lane. You'd be pleasantly surprised how good a shape it's in. (Though your comment about the train suggests to me you lived in East Oak Lane, as the SEPTA ex-Reading main line runs through that side of the district.)

There's a decent casual sit-down restaurant with live jazz, the Ogontz Grill, in the main business district in the 7100 block of Ogontz. Across the street in the strip mall, there's a barbecue joint called Abner's that's highly rated by the locals. When a friend of mine and I went up to the West Oak Lane Jazz & Arts Festival last weekend, we pigged out there. He thought the ribs were fantastic; I've had much better, even in Philly. But I'd say it's still worth a visit.

[dockhl]

Things must have really improved. I was at the Penna. College of Optometry on W. Godfrey. I lived in Warnock (don't know if that is E or W Oak Lane) and we were quite near the train. I think we had to pickup the subway on Broad. There was no place to eat around there other than pizza...............

I sure loved going down to the Italian Market on Sat AM's, though. The RTM was just (?) coming back to life.......I'd love to see it now. And I remember the Italian restaurants........

[MarketStEl]

The Optometry College was east of Broad -- you lived in East Oak Lane. (Oak Lane, the street, lies entirely in East Oak Lane.)

The RTM is in very good shape these days. And the variety of ethnic fare has gone way beyond Italian. In fact, calling the 9th Street market "Italian" is increasingly misleading these days. Let's just say that it's a fortunate coincidence that the national flags of Italy and Mexico use the same three colors.