News

Getting to Know Some of Our Favorite Philly Michelin Winners

Now that last week’s monumental Michelin Northeast Cities Guide ceremony is solidly in the rearview and we’ve all had a minute to reflect on how Philly’s inaugural cadre of winners (all of whom you can find listed right here) came together, we are now left with two big questions: First, how did we get here? Second, what comes next?

And while there’s no way to definitively answer that second riddle, Philly mag’s food editor, Kae Lani Palmisano, took an admirable swing at explaining how an optimist might look at our bright and shiny new future. She insists that the widespread concerns about the attention brought by Michelin dulling our uniqueness or flattening Philly’s wild culinary scene were overblown — reminding us that this city has a long, proud history of not being bothered in the slightest about what the rest of the world thinks.

“Instead of thinking that the world will change Philadelphia,” she wrote, “we should see this as an opportunity for Philadelphia to change the world.” And I could not agree more.

As for that first question: How we got to where we are now? THAT is something we can absolutely talk about. We’ve told the stories of so many of the chefs and restaurants that were recognized by Michelin, and every one of them has been a unique window into how this city’s scene has come together over the past few years — tales of risk and recovery, of poets, rock stars, and smugglers laying all their chips down and betting their last dollar on themselves and this city.

So here are just a few of our favorites. Each one is a look into how each restaurant went from the spark of an idea to the stage at the Kimmel Center. And we can start with…

Provenance and chef Nich Bazik, 1 Michelin Star

The story of Provenance has always been about making the thing that Nich Bazik wanted to see in the world. Before there was any guarantee that the Michelin Guide was coming to Philly, Nich set out to build a restaurant that could earn a place in it. And honestly, once we all found out that the Guide was coming here, everything after became a countdown to see whether or not he would be proven right.

For the longform profile, “Pride and Provenance,” Nich and I spent hours talking about how Provenance came to be, what it means to him, and whether or not his restaurant would be able to survive without one of those coveted stars.

Kalaya and Nok Suntaranon, Michelin Recommended

Nok Suntaranon has been a lot of things in her life. Telephone operator, flight attendant, smuggler, restaurateur, woman of leisure. She has lived one of the most full and remarkable lives of anyone I’ve ever profiled, beginning in Yan Ta Khao, Thailand, helping her mother sell shrimp paste, and now operating a Michelin-recommended restaurant in Fishtown. Want to know how something like that happens? I can tell you exactly how something like that happens. But make sure you’re sitting down, because it isn’t a short story.

Angelo’s, Bib Gourmand

For reasons not entirely clear to most actual Philadelphians, the Michelin inspectors, in their wisdom, chose to bestow Bib Gourmand awards (handed out to smaller, less formal, less expensive restaurants evocative of the local cuisine) onto three different cheesesteak joints. Of the three, the nod for Angelo’s made the most sense to me personally because of the generational commitment to cheesesteak (and pizza) excellence and the kinds of crowds this place still draws.

Still, there was a moment early on in Angelo’s history in Bella Vista where the place was still absolutely, inarguably ours alone. And this review, written just a few short months after the doors opened, captured what it was like to be there, on a spring afternoon, before anyone had any idea what the place might become.

Honeysuckle, Omar Tate and Cybille St. Aude-Tate, Michelin Recommended

Chef Omar Tate’s path to Michelin recognition was not a straight one. He came up hard, washed dishes, and worked brunch. He parlayed his skills in the kitchen and his vision of Black diaspora cuisine into a successful supper club run and write-ups in glossy food magazines — then saw it all fall apart during the pandemic. I got the opportunity to write about him (and his soon-to-be wife and partner, chef Cybille St. Aude-Tate at the time) at the moment when he started turning it all around. What came next was a comeback story that could only have happened in Philly.

And the restaurant that was just recommended by the Michelin Guide? That’s Omar and Cybille’s newest spot on North Broad, and I had a few things to say about that place as well.

Her Place Supper Club, Amanda Shulman and Alex Kemp, 1 Michelin Star

With Michelin bestowing a star on Her Place Supper Club, they were recognizing not just the viability but the importance of the supper-club model in Philly’s restaurant ecosystem. Back in 2023 — long before anyone but the most hardcore CVB and hospitality nerds were even dreaming about Michelin stars — we put together a rather exhaustive feature on the best supper club experiences and the chefs who were running them. Unsurprisingly, Her Place was part of that list.

It’s also worth noting that Amanda and Alex’s other spot, My Loup, made the Recommended list this year, too (no small achievement), and it stands up as a stellar second restaurant.

Roxanne and chef Alex Holt, Michelin Recommended

Speaking of supper clubs, Alex Holt’s new version of Roxanne on South 2nd Street might’ve gotten the nod as one of Michelin’s Recommended restaurants, but I’m still endlessly fascinated by Holt’s original spot — a completely bonkers Bella Vista supper club that she ran all alone for months, cooking dishes no one in Philly had ever seen before and would probably never see again. It was a restaurant in only the loosest sense of the word. There were tables, plates, and food that you could pay for on the nights it managed to actually get open. Really, it was a kind of ongoing insurgent experiment in fine dining, testing the boundaries (and the possibilities) inherent in a deeply flawed system.

This was the story of Alex Holt’s rise and one unlikely night behind the scenes at the original Roxanne. In it lives everything that would someday become the new Roxanne and earn her the recognition from Michelin that she deserves.

Royal Sushi & Izakaya and chef Jesse Ito, Bib Gourmand

This one was surprising to a lot of people. Jesse runs one of the most incredible sushi bars in the country. There are more than a thousand names on the waiting list for a seat, and people come from all over the country just to try it. But in the same building, he also runs a loud, crowded, almost equally remarkable (and beloved) izakaya. That Bib? It’s all about the izakaya side. It has to be. But in order to understand how Jesse — a restaurant brat from New Jersey who has basically had two jobs in his entire life — ended up as the man standing behind the sushi bar today, you have to read this. It’ll tell you everything you need to know.

And if you want to know what Royal was like back in the day — when it was still young and wild and full of giant robots — then read this: “Dinner At The Fish Riot,” our original 2017 review of the place when it first opened.

Vetri Cucina, Michelin Recommended

Another surprise: Marc Vetri’s venerable tasting menu at Vetri Cucina not getting a star. Now there’s an argument to be made that Recommended is the correct ranking for a place that’s small, close-set, casual(ish), and focuses all of its considerable attention on glorifying simple plates of food — which is exactly what Vetri does. And with its 125 years of history, annual adjustments to the list, and extraordinarily long view of cuisine, there’s still plenty of time for Michelin to zero in on those things that truly make Philly Philly. But right now, this is where we are. You want an argument for why Vetri is just as important today as when it opened? Then check out this super-sized look at a single meal, eaten 20 years after the first plate was served.

Friday Saturday Sunday, Chad and Hanna Williams, 1 Michelin Star

Right before Friday Saturday Sunday won the title of Most Outstanding Restaurant at the 2023 James Beard Awards, Victor Fiorillo talked with owners Chad and Hanna Williams about everything from their marriage to city inspectors, QR codes on menus, and pineapple on pizza. It was a great look at how they turned a local institution into the kind of restaurant that could win a Michelin star.

But if you want a real blast from the past, dig this: It’s a look back at the first review of the original Friday Saturday Sunday and Thursday Too (as it once was called), from critic Jim Quinn in the October 1973 issue. It shows you just how much the restaurant has changed since Chad and Hanna took over in 2015.