CHOP TILL YOU DROP: An inside look at Butcher & Singer

Photo | Drew Lazor No bull: Stephen Starr's Butcher & Singer (1500 Walnut St.) opens in less than two weeks. Pictures and details after the jump. Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer var so = new SWFObject("http://www.db798.com/pictobrowser.swf", "PictoBrowser", "500", "560", "8", "#FFFFFF"); so.addVariable("source", "sets"); so.addVariable("names", "Butcher & Singer"); so.addVariable("userName", "dlazor"); so.addVariable("userId", "16589864@N00"); so.addVariable("ids", "72157608068707139"); so.addVariable("titles", "off"); so.addVariable("displayNotes", "off"); so.addVariable("thumbAutoHide", "off"); so.addVariable("imageSize", "medium"); so.addVariable("vAlign", "mid"); so.addVariable("vertOffset", "0"); so.addVariable("colorHexVar", "FFFFFF"); so.addVariable("initialScale", "off"); so.addVariable("bgAlpha", "8"); so.write("PictoBrowser101020013456"); "We wanted to bring the scale of the room down," Steve Scott, director of restaurant development for Starr Restaurant Organization, told us during a recent walkthrough of Butcher & Singer, the golden-era chophouse they'll unveil to the public on Mon., Oct. 27. He was referencing, in a broad sense, designer Shawn Hausman's plan to convert the airtight grandeur of Striped Bass into a wood-and-leather habitat well-suited for Sterling-Cooper account execs and typing pool betties to link up for Perfect Manhattans at precisely five of 5. A tall order, literally ï¿½ you seen the 28-foot ceilings? Hausman (Parc, Continental Mid-town, the Continental and Buddakan outposts in AC) is clearly up for it. The soaring marble columns of Bass cordoning off the main dining room remain, but that's basically the only recognizable remnant of the starmaking Starr venture. (The restaurant, which Neil Stein founded in 1994, was taken over by the restaurateur in 2004.) Those columns have been dressed in dark wood millwork, a great place to start if your aim is netting that 21 Club/Stork Club/Mad Men feel. Enormous chandeliers ï¿½ originals from the first run of Miami's swank Fontainebleau Hotel ï¿½ help take the sheer enormity of the room down a notch. Fat leather "Hollywood booths" cozy up to houndstooth carpet on the elevated dining platforms on the east and west walls, and six more rest on either side of the palm tree-laden main dining floor. The windows, once shrouded in heavy gray drapes, now boast regal valances and mighty hanging shade that'll do well lightening up lunchtime. Hausman was inspired by a piece he came across in L.A. for the unforgettable dogs-tying-one-on mural; he commissioned a reproduction through a Manhattan commerical art firm. (The after-party for the dog poker game, perhaps?) Chef Shane Cash's long open kitchen, which takes up the entire southern wall, is now partially obscured from the dining room by a pagoda-like decorative hood adorned with a bull's head ornament that originated in Argentina. (Scott says workers at Starr HQ had taken to plopping it on their heads and charging at fellow employees prior to its installation.) And what's become of the enormous fish that hung behind the kitchen in the Bass days? "The fish is safe and sound," says Scott. "It will pop up again someday." Cash's food will be classic American steakhouse through and through ï¿½ chopped and Caesar salads tossed tableside, raw seafood platters, your Porterhouses, Delmonicos, lamb chops and Surf and Turfs. We'll post menus here on Meal Ticket when we get them. Foobooz » Blog Archive » First Look At Butcher & Singer Posted 2008-10-16 11:45:43

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CHOP TILL YOU DROP: An inside look at Butcher & Singer

POSTED: Thursday, October 16, 2008, 3:51 PM

Filed Under: Openings

Photo | Drew Lazor

No bull: Stephen Starr's Butcher & Singer (1500 Walnut St.) opens in less than two weeks. Pictures and details after the jump.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

"We wanted to bring the scale of the room down," Steve Scott, director of restaurant development for Starr Restaurant Organization, told us during a recent walkthrough of Butcher & Singer, the golden-era chophouse they'll unveil to the public on Mon., Oct. 27. He was referencing, in a broad sense, designer Shawn Hausman's plan to convert the airtight grandeur of Striped Bass into a wood-and-leather habitat well-suited for Sterling-Cooper account execs and typing pool betties to link up for Perfect Manhattans at precisely five of 5. A tall order, literally ï¿½ you seen the 28-foot ceilings? Hausman (Parc, Continental Mid-town, the Continental and Buddakan outposts in AC) is clearly up for it. The soaring marble columns of Bass cordoning off the main dining room remain, but that's basically the only recognizable remnant of the starmaking Starr venture. (The restaurant, which Neil Stein founded in 1994, was taken over by the restaurateur in 2004.) Those columns have been dressed in dark wood millwork, a great place to start if your aim is netting that 21 Club/Stork Club/Mad Men feel. Enormous chandeliers ï¿½ originals from the first run of Miami's swank Fontainebleau Hotel ï¿½ help take the sheer enormity of the room down a notch. Fat leather "Hollywood booths" cozy up to houndstooth carpet on the elevated dining platforms on the east and west walls, and six more rest on either side of the palm tree-laden main dining floor. The windows, once shrouded in heavy gray drapes, now boast regal valances and mighty hanging shade that'll do well lightening up lunchtime. Hausman was inspired by a piece he came across in L.A. for the unforgettable dogs-tying-one-on mural; he commissioned a reproduction through a Manhattan commerical art firm. (The after-party for the dog poker game, perhaps?) Chef Shane Cash's long open kitchen, which takes up the entire southern wall, is now partially obscured from the dining room by a pagoda-like decorative hood adorned with a bull's head ornament that originated in Argentina. (Scott says workers at Starr HQ had taken to plopping it on their heads and charging at fellow employees prior to its installation.) And what's become of the enormous fish that hung behind the kitchen in the Bass days? "The fish is safe and sound," says Scott. "It will pop up again someday." Cash's food will be classic American steakhouse through and through ï¿½ chopped and Caesar salads tossed tableside, raw seafood platters, your Porterhouses, Delmonicos, lamb chops and Surf and Turfs. We'll post menus here on Meal Ticket when we get them.

Foobooz » Blog Archive » First Look At Butcher & Singer

Posted 2008-10-16 11:45:43

[...] CHOP TILL YOU DROP: An inside look at Butcher & Singer [Meal Ticket] Butcher and Singer [Official Site] geopress_addEvent(window,"load", function() { geopress_makemap(56421,"Butcher and Singer",39.94921,-75.166149,"google",Mapstraction.ROAD, { pan: true, zoom: 'small', overview: false, scale: false, map_type: false },15) }); [...]

megan

Posted 2008-10-16 14:54:29

nice tablecloths. way to take the most beautiful restaurant space in the city and turn it into a low end capital grille.

Vanz

Posted 2008-10-17 02:21:13

I think it looks really cheap, tacky, and dated--more of a late 1970's feel. Maybe that's the idea, but it's a fail. The 70's were the ugliest time in American history.

jgirl

Posted 2008-10-17 11:32:32

I think this is what the city needs. I'm tired of these stuffy steak houses. Esp. with the economy being what it is. I need a fun, more affordable place to get a great steak!

ohmygodtot

Posted 2008-10-17 11:58:05

I work around the corner from Butcher & Singer and have been watching the progress and am very excited. The 70's may have been a very unattractive time in our history but they were fun. I think that is what Steven Starr is trying to provide. Fun, affordable, classic american food is right up my alley.

Meal Ticket :: Blog Archive :: Butcher & Singer’s lunch and dinner menus :: Philadelphia City Paper :: Philadelphia Arts, Restaurants, Music, Movies, Jobs, Classifieds, Blogs

Posted 2008-10-27 12:53:22

[...] Starr chop shop opening tonight in the former Striped Bass (1500 Walnut St.).Also check out our Oct. 16 photo tour of the Don Draper-friendly interior, designed by Shawn Hausman [...]

Meal Ticket :: Blog Archive :: Meal Ticket turns 100 :: Philadelphia City Paper :: Philadelphia Arts, Restaurants, Music, Movies, Jobs, Classifieds, Blogs

Posted 2008-11-17 09:52:23

[...] it up! We’ll do the same.Felicia D.’s recipe for lamb sliders on Wild Flour Bakery bunsCHOP TILL YOU DROP: An inside look at Butcher & SingerTHE MEAL TICKET INTERVIEW: Sandra LeeCooking candied kimchi with Snackbar chef Joshua HomackiTHE [...]

Meal Ticket :: Blog Archive :: Chocolate City: Max Brenner opens July 1 :: Philadelphia City Paper :: Philadelphia Arts, Restaurants, Music, Movies, Jobs, Classifieds, Blogs

Posted 2009-06-29 12:15:53

[...] Bald Man opens in Philly this coming Wednesday, July 1, at 9 a.m. Located around the corner from Butcher & Singer, just up the block from Good Dog and directly across the street from the brand-new Miga, the Israeli [...]

New chef at Rat’s Restaurant :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper

Posted 2010-10-20 08:02:35

[...] Cash, who opened Butcher & Singer and SquareBurger for Stephen Starr before becoming divisional executive chef of SRO’s events [...]

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