The Old-School Excellence of Fork

Trey Popp reviews Fork, the 15-year old dining institution in Old City that, thanks to New York import, Eli Kulp, is suddenly as fresh as anywhere in the city.

Kulp can cook, no doubt. Barely a week into his tenure, he put out a split-personality guinea hen that would go down as the best entrée I’d eaten in a year. The thighs were done up as fried nuggets with hot sauce; the breasts had a mysterious depth—and crackling skin—born of dry aging, complemented by a nose-tingling mustard oil, crème fraîche, and sweet pear and apple marbles that riveted me to the last bite.

Kulp does even better by duck. He hangs the carcasses in cold air for a week, spends another week Peking-ifying them—ballooning the skins with an air compressor, dipping them in a boiling vinegar solution, powdering them with baking soda, glazing them with maltose—and then veers sharply away from China, cooking the breasts medium rare rather than to death.

Three Stars – Excellent

Restaurant Review: Fork [Philadelphia Magazine]
Fork [Official Site]