High Street on Market launches dinner
High Street on Market, the ambitious all-day sit-down the owners of Fork recently opened in the old fork:etc, has eased into service in its introductory months, serving (and vigorously Vine-ing) breakfast and lunch — until this week, when dinner service officially launched at 306 Market.
High Street on Market, the ambitious all-day sit-down the owners of Fork recently opened in the old fork:etc, has eased into service in its introductory months, serving (and vigorously Vine-ing) breakfast and lunch — until this week, when dinner service officially launched at 306 Market.
Chef Eli Kulp and his team have been earning some well-placed daps for their a.m. eats and midday sandwiches, but nighttime posed a new set of challenges. "fork:etc was a daily go-to for a lot of people, so that's why breakfast and lunch had to stay approachable," says Kulp, who started at Fork a little over a year ago. Dinner, meanwhile, provided the opportunity for the kitchen to tackle food from an edgier angle distinct from the slightly more buttoned-up personality at the neighboring Fork.
"Craftsmanship is a major focal point for us," Kulp says of the thought process behind High Street. That applies both to surroundings both physical (ceramic plates formed and fired by a former Fork employee at the nearby Clay Studio) and edible.
The menu's pastas, crafted and extruded on the premises, are a good place to look for examples of High Street's detail-oriented and appealingly off-kilter approach. Buckwheat orecchiette, tossed with crispy okra, crawfish and their rich braising liquid. Beet-based corzetti with marinated sardines. Sous chef Jon Nodler's toasted kombu bucatini, covered in brilliant neon shavings of lobster bottarga the kitchen processes in-house.
There are adventurous choices on the opening menu — for the "savory cereal," Kulp dehydrates beef tendon, pork skin and chicken feet, mixes the cracklin' meats with puffed grains and pours cashew milk over top — and a few local touches, as well. A starter of fried broccoli features chow-chow, the chopped relish popular in Pennsylvania Dutch country. The fat-on-top setup that defines potted shrimps (yes, shrimps with an S), a dish originating in Lancaster, England, was adopted, via Anglician culinary osmosis, to the cooking tradition of our Lancaster. Kulp rejiggers the preservation technique again, covering braised shrimp(s) with foie gras and serving them with fried potato bread.
"Part of our goal at night is to focus on local foodways," says Kulp. "Fun, shareable plates — just food we like to cook. "