Staff Blog
Sampan in pictures
posted by Drew Lazor
Team Meal Ticket spent some time yesterday taking in Sampan, which Michael Schulson will open the public tomorrow at 124 S. 13th Street. He first told us about the project back in July, meaning the chef/restaurateur and his team whipped this all up in a little over five months — Usain Bolt-like speed by Philly’s hurry-up-and-wait standards.
“In Philly, you have great BYOs, which typically have a lower [cost] buildout, and you have high-end design restaurants, which are usually more expensive,” says Schulson. Sampan, in its chef’s eyes, occupies a bit of middle group between these two camps. The atmosphere is very there — a centerpiece bar and an open kitchen; opposing dining rooms with mod color-shifting walls; sexy, clean-lined table and banquette seating — but the food is priced quite nicely, with plates topping out at $19.
Schulson, of Atlantic City’s successful Izakaya, says he’s been “pigeonholed in a good way” when it comes to his Asian cooking. Sampan’s small-plates menu, which you can check out in full after the jump, rounds up influences from places like Korea (short rib with apple; rice cakes with sausage, chilies and yu choy leaves), Japan (lobster gyoza; barbecue pork ramen) and Southeast Asia (an entire satay selection; Berkshire pork belly banh mi). Meal Ticket’s Felicia D shares some sexy photographic views of the grub above.
Addressing the question most Asian-concept restaurateurs who open in Center City end up fielding, Schulson’s steadfast — “I don’t want to compete with Chinatown,” he says. Given Sampan’s location, in an increasingly self-sufficient cluster of destinations — a handful of new restaurants are on their way to the corridor, too — and the subtle-twist refinement of his plates, that should not be an issue.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
