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Burning Across the Kitchen Constellation: Top 5 Rising Stars
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
Burning Across the Kitchen Constellation: Top 5 Rising Stars
No matter what Anthony Bourdain thinks, Philadelphia has emerged as a major restaurant city in the past 10 years. From Neil Stein blowing L&I's hive-mind with his sidewalk tables, to our boy Jose Garces kicking Bobby's Flay's lily-white ass on Iron Chef America, the illest city on the East Coast is a teeming talent pool. Philly's industry people and clientele lack the high-powered snobbery that pervades the NYC dining scene; our gorgeous, sensual food is plated minus pretension. Even at nationally lauded temples of chef-worship like Vetri, the average fashion-deficient dad can enjoy a '99 Barbera paired with the degustazione without drawing snickers for his polo and cargo shorts combo.
The cooks who make the magic happen often toil away in relative obscurity. Some pursue the spotlight as they advance through the brigade ranks, while others turn away from questions to look after the six burners they are working right now. The rising stars of the moment work at both the biggest and flashiest, and smallest and most unassuming, restaurants in the city. To the five top toques who made Meal Ticket's list, we expect big things from you. But no pressure.
1 Mike Stollenwerk
If chef/owner Mike Stollenwerk were to display every award and press mention Little Fish has garnered, he'd need to rent an extra wall. Though the open kitchen takes up half the room, the vibe is friendly and the seafood dishes pristine at the pint-sized Bella Vista BYOB. Bon Appétit even named the place one of the top 10 seafood restaurants in the nation in its December 2008 issue. Stollenwerk's dishes are simple, inexpensive and shockingly good, like his surf & turf of braised pork cheek and white tuna with parsnip purée, fennel-orange salad and star anise jus.
2 Will Zuchman
Vetri, Lacroix, Amada and Tinto: Will Zuchman's resume reads like a must-eat guide to Philadelphia fine dining. Zuchman opened Tinto for boss Jose Garces in 2007 and ably assisted him in his glorious Iron Chef: America bid, but departed from the Garces Restaurant Group later that year. The headhunters at Starr Restaurant Group wisely scooped him up as sous chef at Parc, the latest Rittenhouse see-and-be-scene. Though he has mastered the classic bistro fare of Parc, his deep knowledge of world ingredients (you should see this guy draw a gooseneck barnacle and explain its preparation) and experience cooking in Italy recommends him as a future executive chef/ owner.
3 David Katz
In bucking the trend of publicist-glossed chefdom, David Katz comes off as almost retro in his disregard for anything but cooking purely great food. His restaurant, Mémé, took over the jewel-box space outgrown by Melograno in Fitler Square, and has already received as much excited press coverage as any restaurant since Michael Solomonov's Zahav. The foie gras tart baked with seasonal fruit, the curry-tinged steak tartare and generous, savory entreés for two deserve the buzz this bear of a chef has created — no matter how loud the Screaming Trees play during service.
4 Jennifer Carroll
Hometown Northeast Philly girl Jennifer Carroll was handpicked by Eric Ripert to head up 10 Arts, the NYC chef's first foray into our dining scene. After beginning her career at Manayunk's Sonoma and Arroyo Grill, Carroll worked her way up to sous chef at Ripert's insanely prestigious Le Bernadin in Manhattan; no small feat for any cook, but in the still-male-dominated back of the house, a double victory. Her résumé and riffs on Philly regional fare (miniature pretzels tossed in brown butter and Maldon sea salt) mark her as a chef with both classical skills and a sense of humor.
5 Dionicio Jimenez
Talk about classical technique: Dionicio Jimenez arrived in from Puebla, Mexico in 1998 and worked his way up from dishwasher to executive chef/restaurant owner. His career took him from the Asian-fusion kitchen of Twenty Manning to Vetri's regional Italian pastas and game, but he found his own style updating Pueblan Mexican cuisine at Xochitl. His bright ceviches and complex mole have grabbed the attention of local diners and the national press: Food & Wine scoops up his restaurant recipes and interprets them for home cooks, and the New York Times sought his opinion on $35 million in scholarship money allocated for Latin American students to attend the Culinary Institute of America.
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