Peek at Butcher & Singer
A look at Philly's next steakhouse, bull and all.
Staff training is in full swing at Butcher & Singer, the Stephen Starr steakhouse at 15th and Walnut Streets that will open for dinner Oct. 27 and for lunch Oct. 28.
On Tuesday, as chef Shane Cash started cooking and carpenters hammered, I got a peek.
Starr says he wanted the old Striped Bass to look like the Original Delmonico's Steakhouse in New York, the Brown Derby in L.A. and/or Philly's long-gone Frankie Bradley's. Menu includes such old-timey stuff as steak tartare prepared tableside, Caesar salad prepared tableside, lobster Newburg, surf-and-turf (filet and cold-water lobster tail), steak Diane, and baked Alaska.)
Starr gave the decor to designer Shawn Hausman, who did Parc and Continental Mid-town for him. Hausman warmed up the space by cladding the ceiling in wood, and adding leather Hollywood-style booths and velvet sofas, and installing two enormous crystal chandeliers that once hung at the original Fontainebleau in Miami. The once-open kitchen is now tucked behind a booth-like structure, finished in copper and boasting a bust of a bull. (The signature striped bass sculpture that hung behind the open kitchen is now serving as a yard ornament for one of Starr's contractors.)
The windows, once shrouded, now are behind shades and shutters that allow light. The bar area, once tucked off to the left behind a wall, is now mostly along the Walnut Street side. The front of the bar is white leather.
Starr says per-person dinner tabs will be about $85.