With bright, sunny flavors and meticulous care — plus produce, cheese and honey from just minutes away — chef Scott Morozin has brought a little modern Americana to Chester County. Read More »
102 East State Street, Kennett Square, PA | 484-732-7932 | Website
Chad and Hanna Williams have brought this institution back to life: an elegant dining room, killer cocktails, and inspired takes on classic dishes (like this roasted asparagus) that leave us wanting more. Read More »
261 South 21st Street, Philadelphia, PA | 215-546-4232 | Website
In a year when French restaurants seemed to be staging something of a comeback in Philly, what did Peter Woolsey, one of the city's best-known traditional French chefs, do? He napalmed the entire menu at his Fringe Arts French restaurant, La Peg, and rebuilt it from scratch as a straight regional American menu — one he executes with French techniques that launch pedestrian dishes (fried cheese, pot roast, clam chowder) to new, previously impossible heights. Read More »
140 North Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA | 215-375-7744 | Website
The second most impressive thing about chef Greg Vernick's eponymous restaurant is that it started great and has, over the years, only gotten better -- more confident, more daring, more a part of the neighborhood. The most impressive thing, of course, remains the kitchen's light touch with the small plates (egg fettuccine with morels! Sweet pea ravioli with braised rabbit!) and those awesome toasts, served across the counter of the open kitchen in the cozy back room. Read More »
2031 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA | 267-639-6644 | Website
Whether it's lamb ribs, an exquisitely grilled porgy or a master class on carrots, Jonathan and Justin Petruce's wood-fired cookery represents American food at its best: rustic, finely wrought and familiar but never predictable. Sommelier Tim Kweeder has also made this one of Philly's best places to discover new wine especially by the glass. Read More »
1121 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA | 267-225-8232 | Website
Robert Halperns cooking is as American as the Cabot-clothbound-cheddar cracker he likes to send out before appetizers, and as New as the liquefaction process that makes that cheese spill over your tongue like a stream of not-quite-molten lava. The amuse-bouches are the coolest things going in this timeworn rowhouse popcorn sauced with liquid nitrogen, ice-cream-droplet tricolore salad, chocolate-dusted corn ravioli which is good, since dinner comes with about a dozen of them. Read More »
501 South 45th Street, Philadelphia, PA | 215-222-3699 | Website
Forget the melting pot. Jason Cichonski's hyperactive mishmash of global ingredients and innovative technique is as American as a Ritalin kid watching Chopped on a caffeine high-only delicious. Read More »
627 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA | 267-687-8512 | Website