Historic fare with new-school flair

A resurrected seafood house on the site of Bookbinder's. A pub serving fried bologna and roast beef sandwiches. A 1980s theme restaurant bringing back the surf and turf. A vintage-styled dinette, slinging Western omelets.

Suddenly, it seems that the newest local trend in food isn't about the future at all - it's about looking back. Just when you thought it was safe to hock your fondue pot on eBay, here comes all the food you haven't seen on menus for a couple of decades.

The good news is that verbs and conjunctions might also return to menus as chefs forgo their molecular aspirations to get back to the basics.

"Fashion styles come and go," says Brian Sirhal, co-owner of Beast & Ale, a neo-beef and ale house in Manayunk. "I think people have grown tired of modernist cuisine and dehydrated powders. Looking to the past is a natural evolution from there."

When you take away the rocket science, food can evoke more feeling. For chef Marcie Turney, that's precisely why the concept of cooking nostalgically appeals. A year ago, she opened Little Nonna's, a throwback red-sauce Italian restaurant, and was surprised at the profound response from customers.

"Something just happened. People came in there and talked about how they were transported back to their grandparents' house. That was different from the responses we've had at our other restaurants and it was really powerful," she says.

Opening later this year in Midtown Village, Bud & Marilyn's will be Turney's second retro operation, this time an homage to her own grandparents' restaurant in Wisconsin, which operated from the 1950s until the end of the century.

"It's not like they taught me to cook there, but the roasted ribs and chicken, the prime rib special, the Shirley Temples, it was very comforting to me, and I think that inspired my cooking, which has always been centered around comfort."

Comfort seems to be the guiding principle in this new spate of old-style restaurants. Familiarity, too. It's the culinary version of the relief some of us feel when Chuck Taylors come back in style yet again. It's just nice to know you won't look outdated when you put those sneakers on.

At the same time, today's chefs are not about to turn the clock back on their commitment to fresh ingredients, their understanding of technique, and their excitement about global accents.

"We're not trying to change anything, but we do want to bring the quality back to it," says Greg Garbacz, executive chef of Juniper Commons, the recently opened 1980s-themed restaurant from the Sbraga group, serving surf and turf, prime rib, a corned-beef special, and Caesar salad made tableside.

Sure, there's a salad bar at Juniper Commons, but it's a tray loaded with bits and bobs of veggies and brought to each diner to create a customized experience, as opposed to the sneeze-guarded DIY of Salad Alley.

The newly opened Olde Bar has taken on the culinary mantle of its predecessor, Old Original Bookbinder's, but the house version of Oysters Rockefeller has confit fennel, Manchego cheese (yes, we are in Jose Garces territory) and a brunoise of bacon.

At Dottie's Dinette, the breakfast and lunch eatery on Delaware Avenue, that Western omelet is made with maple syrup-black peppercorn-glazed bacon and the French toast luxuriates in a dulce de leche custard.

So they're bringing simple back, but with a smarter edge.

"There's a real challenge there in the sense that sometimes the easiest things to cook are not always the easiest to execute well," says Dottie's executive chef, Susan van Vreede. "We want people to say, 'That tastes like my mom's, but my mom never made it that way.' "

After decades of restaurants overlooking the simple pleasures, it may well be the perfect time to reclaim them. Perhaps these new-old eateries are just an extension of ongoing trends in the food truck and fast concept world, where meatballs and fried chicken and grilled cheese have taken on new life.

Sirhal says he and his chef-business partner Tim Spinner settled on the concept of serving "timeless classics" after being inspired by the truly out-of-time Ye Olde Ale House in Lafayette Hill, a place where the wood paneled décor is as steadfast as the roast beef sandwiches and Continental fries.

"We weren't looking to reinvent the wheel at Beast & Ale so much as find our own spin to put on dishes people love," he says.

Likewise, Garbacz says he and the team behind Juniper Commons conducted their research at the Pub in Pennsauken, where there's never been foamed anything.

"On a Saturday night they're serving a thousand people," Garbacz says. "To me, that says that people just really want food that's made well and tastes great. It might be my own maturity or where I am in my career, but right now I just want to make the best dish with as few ingredients as possible."

There are dangers, of course, in using the past as a lure to draw in diners. Some may balk at the very new-school price tag on a fancified prime rib when they could get an early bird discount elsewhere. Some may not notice the innovation that chefs are bringing to the table, missing the umami for the proverbial meat loaf. Others might find the tongue-in-cheek, just slightly kitschy approach off-putting.

It's a delicate balancing act, to be sure. So even as Turney is installing floral wallpaper, pink-and-green ceramic restroom fixtures, and a linoleum floor in Bud & Marilyn's, she fully intends for her vintage vibe to still look cool in 10 years. Ditto for the cheeseball and relish tray that may or may not make it onto the final menu. It's a loving cover tribute, not a karaoke rendition.

For Olde Bar's Mike Siegel, who has been working in kitchens about 30 years, the return to snapper soup and lobster Newburg is a gratifying turn in a long career of waxing and waning trends. "It's just exciting to be thinking about history and the way we used to eat. We're just reconnecting with a part of ourselves."

Makes 4-6 servings

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1 bay leaf

3 peppercorns

8 ounces bacon, diced

2 tablespoons butter

1 medium onion, small diced

2 celery stalks, small diced

1 leek, small diced

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup heavy cream

3 cups clam juice

Pinch of red pepper flakes

1 Idaho potato, small diced

1 10-ounce can clams, drained or 4 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed

1 tablespoon finely diced celery

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, smashed

1 cup white wine

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

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1. With a piece of cheesecloth make a sachet of the bay leaf and peppercorns, tying the ends with kitchen twine.

2. Cook bacon in a large soup pot until crispy and the fat has rendered. Add butter to pan and allow it to melt. When the foaming subsides, add onion, celery and leek, seasoning with salt to taste.

3. Once the vegetables are very tender, sprinkle flour over them to make a roux, stirring until evenly incorporated. Add clam juice and heavy cream, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and add sachet. Add potatoes and cook until tender. When potatoes are tender, add the tablespoon of diced celery, then quickly remove from heat. Chill if making ahead, or set aside and proceed to next step if serving immediately.

4. Heat the oil in a separate saucepan. Add shallots and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add clams, wine and parsley. If using canned clams, cook only for a minute or two; then remove with a slotted spoon and stir into the soup and serve. If using fresh clams, cover pot and cook until shells have opened. Pull the meat from the shells, cool and chop before adding back to soup. Reheat soup before serving.

Note: Mike Siegel uses fresh clams, but canned clams can be substituted for convenience.

Per serving (based on 6): 482 calories; 17 grams protein; 36 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams sugar; 30 grams fat; 79 milligrams cholesterol; 1,530 milligrams sodium; 3 grams dietary fiber.EndText

Makes 4 servings

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FOR THE DIJONNAISE:

1/8 cup Dijon mustard

1/4 cup mayonnaise

Salt, to taste

FOR THE SANDWICH:

4 brioche buns, lightly toasted

1/2 pound bologna, preferably sliced thin

4 slices yellow American cheese

4 slices beefsteak tomatoEndTextStartText

1. Make the Dijonnaise: Whisk together mustard and mayonnaise and season with a touch of salt. Keep cool.

2. Heat a large skillet to medium high. Working in batches, add bologna and sear on each side, about 30-45 seconds. Once the bologna is seared and hot, make four separate piles of bologna in the skillet.

3. Add a slice of tomato and a piece of cheese to each pile.

4. Once the cheese melts (you can use a cover to help it melt faster), place each portion of bologna on a roll and smear with a tablespoon of Dijonnaise. Serve immediately.

Per Serving: 420 calories; 14 grams protein; 29 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams sugar; 28 grams fat; 50 milligrams cholesterol; 1,236 milligrams sodium; 1 gram dietary fiber.

Makes 8 servings

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2 cans sweetened condensed milk

2 cans evaporated milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 pinch salt

3 eggs

1 loaf challah or brioche bread, sliced into 8 pieces

1-2 tablespoons butter

Whipped cream, maple syrup and berries for serving

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1. Combine milks, cream, vanilla, salt and eggs in a bowl. Using a whisk or an immersion blender, mix until thoroughly incorporated.

2. Submerge slices of bread in mixture, one at a time until evenly saturated. Heat a griddle or frying pan and melt butter. When foaming subsides, transfer soaked bread onto hot surface, working in batches, and fry until crisp and golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Serve one slice per person, with whipped cream, syrup and berries.

Per serving (without toppings): 322 calories; 9 grams protein; 37 grams carbohydrates; 30 grams sugar; 14 grams fat; 77 milligrams cholesterol; 244 milligrams sodium; no dietary fiber.