“Philly allows you to dream big and grow into your dreams.
You don’t have to make it in the first three months or you’re dead [financially].”
“Living in the shadow of NYC, it can be hard
to compare,” says Steve Cook, co-owner of Dizengoff. “We might not have 10 restaurants serving
every ethnic cuisine, but we do have one really
good one who does it.” Cook and his business partner, chef Michael Solomonov, have opened Zahav
(Israeli food), Abe Fisher (new Jewish cuisine) and
Federal Donuts (fried chicken and doughnuts!),
each to great success. Still, Solomonov, a James
Beard Award winner, is not immune to a little constructive criticism from locals.
“We have an open kitchen at Zahav, and people will walk up to me during service and tell me
our carrots are not nearly as good as what their
mother makes,” he says.
A Destination Unto Itself
Chefs are taking diners’ opinions in stride
because they are confident in what Philadelphia
has become. No longer a chef’s steppingstone to
New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles, Philly is
now a destination unto itself, even in the neigh-
borhoods miles from downtown. South of the
city center, East Passyunk Avenue has tradition-
ally been the place for noodles swimming in red
sauce. The street has the charm of an old-school
Italian neighborhood—scarlet awnings hang off
buildings, strings of lights are strewn above the
streets—but with new-school choices. Diners can
settle in for an $85, seven-course tasting menu at
the 26-seat Laurel or find rustic Dutch and Scan-
dinavian grub at Noord.
Even the Italian food has changed. Chef Joe
Cicala traveled to his family’s homeland of Italy
to work in the Salerno kitchen of chef Pietro Risp-oli’s Al Cenacolo, then returned to the U.S. and
worked at Del Posto in New York before planting
roots in East Passyunk, first at Le Virtù and now
Brigantessa.
“Philly allows you to dream big and grow
into your dreams,” he says. “You don’t have to
make it in the first three months or you’re dead
