Rising Again

South Street is poised to become more relevant than ever, one restaurant at a time.

by A.D. Amorosi

[ openings ]

Neal Santos THE A TEAM: (L-R) Michael Solomonov, Erin O'Shea and Steve Cook with the meat smokers at Percy Street Barbecue, slated to open later this month at 900 South.

It's been forever since South Street's been discussed as a full-on diner's destination. The area was in the restaurant doldrums for so long that few people remember it as an upscale eating region during the 1980s, when now-defunct establishments like Monte Carlo Living Room and Knave of Hearts were at their peaks. Seemed like South had its fun, ate up and left its scraps to tacky T-shirt vendors and hooligan youths.

Now, though, thanks to several big projects, the street where the hippies meet seems to be heading toward culinary reinvention.

That's not to say that quality establishments haven't come to the fore in the past few years. Al Grafstrom and Jim Whittaker have, since 2004, made La Fourno into a tasty, affordable Italian dining experience. This month, chef Mitch Prensky and his wife, Jennifer, are celebrating two years of serving creative new American food at Supper. Walk by Brauhaus Schmitz, which opened in June, and chances are the butcher-block tables will be filled with customers digging into German grub and beer. Eateries like Las Bugambilias, Mango Bush and Tastee D's have brought welcome ethnic flavor to the lower blocks. And all the veteran eateries are here to stay.

It's just that South, right now, is as hot as it's ever been.

While rumors swirl that the abandoned Chef's Market at Third Street will get split up between a café and a tony Asian restaurant, there's also rumbling of projects like Joey's Stonefire Pizza near Fifth and a top-notch noodle house with a liquor license at 216-218 South.

This past Tuesday, Stephen Starr introduced his subdued Pizzeria Stella at the corner of Second and Lombard in Headhouse Square, with chef Shane Solomon firing up pies in a wood-burning oven. (See more on Meal Ticket.) Starr says he's eyeballing South Street itself for future development.

A few blocks west at 900 South, Zahav's Steve Cook and Michael Solomonov, along with partner/chef Erin O'Shea, are playing with meat smokers for their upcoming Percy Street Barbecue.

And these are just the first fables of the reconstruction, according to Triad Realty owner Stephen Giannascoli, who's been dealing with properties in the area since 1984. "Now's a perfect time for something down here," he says.

It's been a long time since he's been able to make such claims with confidence, especially when you take into consideration factors like South Street's unending construction. "After trying to get sidewalks, lights and streets fixed for 20 years, the year they picked to do it was the worst in history," he says of the city's revamp project, which ran through nearly all of 2008. "It closed off the street and became a final nail in the coffin for many retailers."

Between this large-scale setback and South Street's long-standing reputation as ground zero for drunken crowds — not to mention the economy — you might think the area would be the last place a new restaurant would want to consider. Giannascoli sees it differently.

"When everything was strong, you had all sorts of vendors coming in — they could pay the rent. [But] when times got bad, we were able to bring in restaurants we couldn't bring in before," says the realtor of his "lemons into lemonade" outlook on filling properties. (Brauhaus, Joey's and that unnamed noodle house are all his projects.) "They couldn't afford to pay the rent we charged in the good times, [but now] they might stay longer because you're starting them lower."

Starr believes South is a marvel for more than just its name recognition. "It's the best street in the city," he says. "There's no street like that in terms of its scale and walkability." The restaurateur wants to get together with area realtors and developers, as well as the city, to come up with strategies to keep it on an upward tick. He'd like to see zoning restrictions on fast food operations, "and on vulgar T-shirt stores that have the worst slogans right in the window. If we can do that, I think I can bring not only myself, but other restaurant guys in Philly, and convince them to take the ride with me."

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When Starr saw that the Headhouse corner space that formerly featured a Cosi was available, he got a vibe similar to the one that opened his eyes to the Buddakan space at 325 Chestnut — "Old City, but not Old City." Just like that institution's geography, with the park across the street, Stella has its own feng shui separate from South — it's quaint, but it still plays to the masses. "There's an audience craving places to go that are walkable," says Starr.

"Apples to oranges," says chef O'Shea when asked to contrast her bucolic former West Philly digs at Marigold Kitchen (which Cook sold to chef Robert Halpern) and the bustle of South, which'll ideally see the opening of Percy Street before the end of October. It won't be a pricey night out — the team says you'll be able to get a full meal and a beer for $25 — but don't discount the detail that's going into the project. "We're not white tablecloth at Percy Street," adds O'Shea. "But barbecue isn't as simple as people think."

In other words, the meaty discipline isn't fine dining, but they're aiming to set the barbecue bar high. Cook sees this concept as just right for South Street. "I have a culinary background and am interested in caviars and all that cool shit, but at the end of the day, I'm drawn to cooking the old-fashioned way," says Cook of what'll separate this concept from his and Solomonov's universally lauded Zahav. "Though the cuisine has been around for thousands of years, we'll be filling a void — despite the fact that there's not going to be any culinary twist on what we're doing there."

Cook's not saying ribs and rubs is unintellectual — wait until you see what O'Shea's got planned for their brisket — but rather that barbecue's a popular, populist cuisine, and South is a popular, populist street. "Starbucks and Whole Foods spend $10 million a year identifying locations that would be good for their concept," he says. "I think the fact that they're our neighbors makes me feel a lot better about the location."

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)