Fork
306 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
I
asked my family for a gift certificate to Fork for my birthday last year. I
didn’t know much about the place at the time except that it had been a
powerhouse in the Philly restaurant scene, but that its fame had been fading in
recent years as more and more new restaurants opened with more and more talented
chefs running the kitchens. What I did know before we wound up going there for
dinner was the owner had brought in Eli Kulp, a culinary star from New York, to
run the kitchen. The new menu looked phenomenal, and I was interested to see
what he could do.
From
the moment we stepped in the door, we knew we were in for a treat. The décor is
pretty neat. There is a tree in the middle of the restaurant, which I thought
was awesome, and a central bar. The kitchen is open so you can see the chefs
working as well. The meal started with delicious cocktails, one with bourbon,
fernet branca, mint, grapefruit, peychaud’s, and another with rye, sweet
vermouth, amaro maraschina and old fashioned bitters. Amazingly tasty way to start
the meal.
They next brought out their house made mini bagels with house made
cream cheese. Holy crap I wish all cream cheese tasted like this! I don’t
usually like cream cheese, but this I could have spread on just about anything. It
wasn’t as sweet as cream cheese usually is, and the consistency was absolutely
perfect; smooth and spreadable. The same could be said about the Italian bread
and butter that my fiancé said “was better than most of the bread I had in
Italy”. It was fantastic, with a wonderful exterior crust and incredibly soft
and moist in the middle. Again, the butter was of perfect consistency and
amazingly creamy.
Fork’s
portions are on the smaller side, so we asked our waitress, who was phenomenal
by the way, what our strategy for ordering should be. We would up ordering the
eggplant stracciatella, grilled octopus with lemon sauce, suckling pig with
three hour pear, chickpea postage stamps, fig pie and brown butter tart with
coffee ice cream. The eggplant stracciatella came out first and it was
impressively simple. The taste was magnificent. Stracciatella is a kind of soft
cheese that is made by stretching and shredding. The eggplant was pureed and
spread onto a thin cracker, a delicious combination for a single bite.
The
charred octopus with roasted potatoes and lemon sauce was next up. We didn’t
love the lemon sauce, but the octopus itself was very tender and had a
delicious char to it. The potatoes were nicely roasted as well. Our main
courses took a while to be served, which we barely noticed because we were
enjoying the meal so much, but our waitress bought us a round of drinks to
apologize for the kitchen taking so long, so I got to enjoy the deliciousness
that is a Blanche de Chambly on her recommendation!
When
our mains did come out, we were floored. Impeccable execution and out of this
world flavors. The chickpea postage stamps were phenomenally done. The small
raviolis were made from chickpeas, and a beautiful sauce of sesame, raw
artichoke and spiced lamb ragu rounded out the perfect dish. Not to be outdone,
our suckling pig entrée was inventive and unique while being succulent and
flavorful. Pig appeared three ways in the dish; as house made headcheese, house
made liverwurst and roasted suckling pig. The liverwurst was doused with a
whole grain mustard that popped with each bite, making that amazing flavor profile
of liverwurst and mustard even more spectacular. The pork shoulder was very
moist and tender. The fat had rendered down perfectly leaving the pork juicy as
can be. The three hour pear was strange, yet delightful. It still had its
perfect pear shape, but it pretty much fell apart when you bit into it, leaving
a mouthful of sweet pear juice.
While
we weren’t as blown away with the desserts as we were with the savory portion
of the meal, they were still outstanding desserts. You can suck me in with any dish
using brown butter, especially if it is in a dessert. It just adds a nuttiness
and richness to the dish that really cannot be compared. The fig tart was good,
but I wish the figs were a bit riper. They seemed to be a little bit hard. The
tart itself was great, buttery but not greasy, sweet but not cloying. The
coffee caramel and coffee ice cream were the perfect flavor pairings to go with
the figs because of the bitterness to them. All coffee ice cream should taste
as good as this one. Wow. You definitely got the punch of coffee in each and
every bite. The brown butter cake with pears was fantastic as well. A little
crumbly topping, a quick scoop of a creamy ice cream and a fresh bite of fruit
make for a deadly combination.
Four
and a half pints for Fork Restaurant. We were blown away by the level of
cuisine and the incredible service during our meal. Eli Kulp is killing it all
across the city, but Fork really is some next level stuff. I cannot wait to go
back. You will not be disappointed if you check it out, but if you don’t, trust
me you are missing out! Cheers!
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