The 10 Restaurants That Defined Philadelphia Dining This Year

Kalaya is about a woman on a mission. Four years ago, Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon started cooking the southern Thai food of her youth in a tiny BYOB on a historic Italian Market street. Her attention to detail (on display in the labor intensive bird-shaped dumplings), bold flavors, and warm interactions with guests made Kalaya an immediate hit.

In 2022, Suntaranon upgraded to a 160-seat Fishtown destination with a full bar, in partnership with the restaurant gurus behind Suraya and Pizzeria Beddia. She’s been wowing diners with massive whole prawns, colorful curries, crispy rice cakes, and creamy shaved ice. This year, she won the James Beard award for Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic and landed in The New York Times’ best restaurants list. A meal at Kalaya has quickly become a signature experience for any informed traveler visiting Philadelphia, and Nok Suntaranon continues to make her city proud.

Ever since 2021, Amanda Shulman has been blowing diners away with her flavors and hospitality at Her Place. It feels like being at a dinner party, everyone says. The only problem is that it’s a dinner party that is always fully booked, which made the opening of her second venture, My Loup, a big moment for Philadelphia’s dining class.

This full-service Rittenhouse operation, which Shulman runs with husband Alex Kemp, leans French in honor of the couple’s time spent as young cooks in Montreal. The menu changes daily, but cold roast beef and fries is always a winner, as is pickled shrimp with saltines and the roast chicken with matzoh balls. Better yet, just go with the $100 tasting menu and try as much of the menu as possible. The restaurant, similarly fêted by the Times, closes on the weekend, giving the young chef-couple some time to themselves — to that matter of work-life balance.

We’ve been singing Chance Anies’ praises for years, since his food-truck days. Now, in a brick-and-mortar location in South Philly, Tabachoy has been turning heads with satisfying Filipino food in an ultra-friendly atmosphere.

Talk about hospitality: There’s even a community fridge where guests can snag a free beer to enjoy — or generously, leave extra drinks after dinner. We always go for Tabachoy’s pork shoulder adobo, but you won’t go wrong with anything here, from spring roll starters to icy halo halo for dessert. When available, the whole fried pompano makes for a special, sharable main.

Post-pandemic, Friday Saturday Sunday’s chef-owner Chad Williams upped his fine-dining game by shifting to an eight-course tasting menu available five nights a week. His food has never been better. Proof? The James Beard Foundation named it this year’s Outstanding Restaurant, which translates roughly into “America’s best restaurant of 2023.”

Who are we to disagree? Dining in this Rittenhouse townhouse is an exquisite experience from start to finish. Servers perfectly walk a friendly-formal line, while cocktails by star bartender Paul MacDonald, the soundtrack, and just-right lighting set the mood. Though the menu changes often, you can expect courses of crudo, vegetables, fish, poultry, steak, and sweets. Fresh canelé typically finish the meal here. Somehow, you’ll leave this long, indulgent dinner feeling perfectly full, but not overstuffed.

Carlos Aparicio is a master of bread. One of his claims to fame is developing Parc’s popular baguette. In his more than two decades cooking around Philly, Aparicio, who hails from the Puebla region of Mexico, worked at hot spots, including Buddakan, Pod, Osteria, and Zavino. Today, he works for himself.

His El Chingon, in the restaurant-rich E. Passyunk neighborhood of South Philly, is known for cemitas. These sandwiches come with tender, marinated meats or vegetables on freshly baked, crispy, seeded rolls. The BYOB similarly earned high praise from the Times. Aparicio’s success is representative of a burgeoning trend here of talented chefs striking out on their own and delighting diners with food from their native countries and culture — and it’s a trend that we hope continues.

More info here.

In Queen Village, you’ll find a duo of restaurants — Southwark and Ambra — that knock it out of the park, but have tended to serve an in-the-know neighborhood crowd. For better or worse, that’s about to change, specifically thanks to its new seven-course, $300 all-in tasting menu.

With four seats in the active kitchen and 10 in a private dining room, this is a tough table to book — so try early and often. It’s worth the extra effort to experience Chris D’Ambro’s confident and creative Italian-leaning cooking. Ambra combines a luxurious experience — think white truffles shaved tableside over egg-yolk raviolo — with an unpretentious, friendly atmosphere. It’s just right for Philly.

Philly has plenty of pastry shops and cafes, but when Gilda opened, we knew something special was happening. Its pastéis de nata, a brûléed Portuguese egg custard in layers of crunchy, crackly pastry, often sell out before many of us are awake. Try the fruit-topped or chocolate sea salt versions, but don’t sleep on the original. This sunny, friendly cafe, from chef Brian Mattera, has quickly become a hangout for Fishtown’s work-from-home crowd and anyone looking to try a cuisine that’s less prevalent around here. The all-day menu offers Portuguese-inspired sandwiches topped with various styles of pork, salt cod fritters, potato and kale soup, and espresso-based drinks.

More info here.

The Jersey Shore is not fancy and we Philadelphians mostly like it that way, though things are starting to change. Since 1998, Steve and Cookies in Margate, an always-booked fine dining destination, known for sophisticated seafood dishes and iconic blueberry pie, has always been excellent. When we speak with young chefs down the shore, they all point to Steve and Cookies as the standard-bearer of quality shore dining.

Not one to let the grass grow under her feet, owner Cookie Till continues to keep her business relevant year after year. For the last two summers, she’s hosted celebrated Philadelphia chef Greg Vernick for a bustling week-long pop-up. She also recently took over Reed’s Organic Farm, turning it into a lovely market and cafe (powered by farm-fresh produce and a full culinary team) as well as a home for her nonprofit A Meaningful Purpose, which engages individuals with cognitive disabilities in regenerative agriculture.

Ever since we first heard rumblings that chef Omar Tate’s heralded Honeysuckle pop-up series would become an Afrocentric market and cafe, we’ve been excited. Tate, who previously cooked at Fork and was named Esquire’s chef of the year in 2020, partnered with his wife chef Cybille St. Aude-Tate for this West Philadelphia operation. At Honeysuckle Provisions, they source products from Black farmers to offer the neighborhood high-quality, sustainable food. The “Dolla” hoagie here earned instant classic status — it’s served on a benne-seed roll and stuffed with local turkey or sliced turnips. Get there early to snag a pop-tart made with seasonal fruit and do try a salad made with fresh, local produce.

More info here.