A 'masochistic' new trend: Running restaurants for 18 hours a day

A restaurant may not be able to be all things to all eaters, but there is a new breed of eateries in the city that are giving it a go - offering meals morning, noon, and night.

Unlike the traditional diner, these breakfast-lunch-and-dinner restaurants of the moment not only offer more ambitious cooking, but they often visually transform over the course of a day.

Hungry Pigeon, a charming storefront in South Philadelphia, starts out as an airy cafe serving morning coffee and biscuits with sausage gravy, then moves to salad and wine lunches. At night, the pale-blue walls take on a moodier cast as a more studied dinner menu is rolled out. Co-owner and chef Scott Schroeder refers the shift in ambience as "day-care to Pink Floyd concert."

In Midtown Village, Double Knot actually maintains separate spaces for its various functions: Coffee drinkers and lunch eaters are seated in the street-level cafe. In the evening, that upper space becomes a bar and the lower level opens, offering sushi in a more sultry setting. "We wanted each space to feel like its own experience," owner Michael Schulson says.

Perhaps the shift to all-meal operations reflects a Philadelphia where more people are living downtown, working flexible or unconventional hours, and need immediate gratification.

"You don't really see the three-martini expense-account lunch anymore," says Ellen Yin, owner of all-day High Street on Market cafe. "You see more breakfast meetings, or people with just an hour for lunchtime." Enter a duck meatball sandwich with a side of house-pickled long hots.

For Stephanie Reitano, her passion for Italian coffee, Neapolitan pizza, and focaccia was the inspiration for her all-day restaurant, Capofitto, where she serves those, along with her lauded Capogiro gelato. "Staying open all day and night allows you serve all the needs of a neighborhood," she says. "It allows us to give people something fresh and delicious all day long." That might be any of the above items; a breakfast frittata; pasta dishes; or a house tuna conserva served with salad greens, cannellini beans, and egg.

Similarly, at High Street on Market, the concept came from a desire to elevate breakfast cooking and give it what owner Yin calls a "chef's influence." Hungry Pigeon's co-owners Scott Schroeder and Pat O'Malley saw morning service as an opportunity to showcase O'Malley's pastry program. "It didn't make a lot of sense for us to serve croissants at night," Schroeder says, "so we always knew we wanted to open early."

Parc and a.kitchen on Rittenhouse Square were pioneers of the new breed, and La Colombe Fishtown, which is just beginning evening service, is one of the newest.

Of course, there are business advantages to staying open all day. There's always a flow of customers, which prevents the early bird from getting scared off by an empty dining room. Serving all three meals helps justify the cost of rent, and having multiple types of service can help underwrite the more costly pieces of the business.

But offering multiple meals with different characters demands a careful balance of customer expectation, convenience, and a clearly delineated concept. High Street on Market predecessor Fork Etc.'s prepared-foods counter commanded steady service, but Yin says it confused customers who never understood that the same place offered a high-end dinner. The Old City restaurant now emphasizes a sit-down breakfast and lunch service, though its famous breads are available for takeaway.

"When we removed the counter, people started to see the place in all three dimensions," Yin says, "and it allowed us to cross over more."

Another model is Talula's Daily, with a takeaway/market component proffering prepared foods, fresh baked goods, and preprepped sandwiches during daytime hours. In the evenings, Talula's monthly changing five-course dinner menu is served by candlelight with an almost pop-up-restaurant vibe. "When we opened in Washington Square, we built off our concept for Talula's Table in Kennett Square, which was always small-batch, from-scratch food, 'morning, noon, and night,' " says owner Aimee Olexy. "The feeling at Daily is a little more urban, with more grab-and-go foods and more options for snacks all day long."

Given an increasingly discerning restaurant-going population, the drive for better eating around-the-clock sustains these businesses that just a decade ago might have had diners scratching their heads. Serving breakfast and lunch enables chefs to offer exceptional food and an Instagram-worthy dining experience at a lower price point. Double Knot's lunch items, from banh mi to rice bowls, top out at $7. At Talula's Daily, a turkey and Gouda sandwich on house-made bread costs $6.

The influx of serious coffee and customers who demand it constantly also has transformed the restaurant landscape. Schulson says he has drawn in commuters on their daily route and attracted others who want it all. "We have customers who come in the morning for a coffee, and come back for a banh mi, and then stop in after work for a cocktail."

Yet, sometimes running these multifunction restaurants can feel like an exercise in masochism. The hours are long, with days starting as early as 5 a.m. Hungry Pigeon has required almost double the workforce for which Schroeder initially planned, and staying open during transition times in a small kitchen requires a tricky juggling act. Sometimes, customers are disappointed because the instant gratification only goes so far: The eggs are not available all day.

The kitchen also has to be creative about adapting foods between meals. Olexy will repurpose cheese-counter holdovers in baked macaroni; Talula's signature granola for yogurt parfaits can become a sprinkle on a cheese plate, or a croutonlike crumble for salads.

Turning out a day's worth of hand-ground burgers, fresh-made focaccia, and/or confit tuna to a high standard of quality and then turning around the kitchen for dinner demands an extraordinary amount of work. "I was talking to a friend the other day who thinks I'm crazy for doing this," Reitano says. "I just think life is too short for bad food."

The Restaurants

High Street on Market, 308 Market St., 215-625 0988, www.highstreetonmarket.com

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Makes 4 servings

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1/4 fennel bulb, cut into quarters

1/2 red onion, quartered

1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped

2 whole garlic cloves, peeled

1 bay leaf

1 carrot, quartered

1/2 tablespoon black peppercorns

Pinch of crushed red pepper

1 pound sushi-grade yellowfin tuna loin, cut into 2½- to 3-inch slices

Generous amount of salt

Mild olive oil (not extra virgin; ligurian is preferred)

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1. Fill a large, wide braiser with at least 6-inch sides 2/3 full with water, and set over medium high heat.

2. Add all the ingredients except the tuna, salt, and olive oil. Bring the temperature of the water to 158 degrees. Add a generous amount of salt. (The water should taste like the sea.) Let the water come back to 158 degrees.

3. Gently add the tuna in a single layer with plenty of room around it. Cook for about 20 to 25 minutes, keeping the temperature at 158 degrees. The tuna should be pink in the middle, not red. Remove tuna, and put on a rack to drain and cool.

4. While tuna is draining, place a container over an ice bath. Strain hot liquid through a cheese cloth or fine mesh strainer into the container. Cool liquid quickly by stirring over ice bath. Discard solids.

5. Set the tuna in a container, and cover with cooled liquid, completely submerging it. Refrigerate overnight.

6. Drain tuna again on a rack, discarding liquid. Snuggly pack tuna into a jar and completely cover with oil. Tap jar to remove any trapped air. Refrigerate. Conserva will last several weeks. Serve on a salad, or on pasta with cherry tomatoes, or with blistered shishito peppers.

- From Capoffito

Per Serving: 234 calories; 27 grams protein; 5 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram sugar; 12 grams fat; 51 milligrams cholesterol; 355 milligrams sodium; 1 gram dietary fiber.EndText

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Makes 11 cups EndTextStartText

42 ounces rolled oats

21/4 cups pumpkin seeds

21/4 cups sunflower seeds

1 cup flax seeds

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt

13/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon ground cardamom

1/2 tablespoon ground ginger

21/4 cups maple syrup

3/4 cup neutral oil

1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

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1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.

3. Pour onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Spread in a thin layer, and bake, stirring every 15 minutes, until toasted and dry.

- From Talula's Daily

Per 1/4-Cup Serving: 244 calories; 6 grams protein; 32 grams carbohydrates; 10 grams sugar; 11 grams fat; no cholesterol; 164 milligrams sodium; 4 grams dietary fiber.EndText

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Makes 1 serving

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A few handfuls market baby greens (arugula works well)

5 leaves picked torn basil and parsley

8 slivers cucumber

5-8 fresh sliced strawberries

2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled (preferably Shellbark Hollow Farm Sharp)

Handful of granola

Your favorite vinaigrette

Chive blossoms (optional)

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1. Toss all ingredients together, and serve.

- From Talula's Daily

Per Serving: 460 calories; 25 grams protein; 32 grams carbohydrates; 15 grams sugar; 27 grams fat; 60 milligrams cholesterol; 321 milligrams sodium; 8 grams dietary fiber.EndText

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Makes 12 servingsEndTextStartText

For the biscuits:

5 cups all-purpose flour

11/4 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

11/2 cups 83 percent European style cultured butter (unsalted), chilled and cut into small cubes

2 cups buttermilk

1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream

For the gravy:

4 tablespoons butter

1 pound pork breakfast sausage (uncased)

2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper

1/3 cup flour

1 quart whole milk

Salt to taste

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1. Make the biscuits: Preheat oven to 425 F. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl, and whisk to break up any lumps.

2. With your fingertips, work the butter into the flour mixture until it has a cornmeal texture.

3. Add the buttermilk, and knead for a few minutes until combined. Mixture should look combined, but still shaggy.

4. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to ½-inch thickness, and cut with a lightly floured biscuit cutter, being careful to cut straight down and not pinch the sides, for a maximum rise.

5. Place rounds on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper about ½ inch apart, and lightly brush with heavy cream.

6. Bake for about 12 minutes until lightly brown. Remove immediately.

7. Make the gravy: In a heavy-bottom pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add sausage and pepper, and cook until brown and crispy.

8. Add flour, and stir for 1 minute. Add milk in 3 batches, stirring constantly and allowing mixture to come to a boil in between each addition. After the final addition comes to a boil, season with salt to taste.

9. To serve, cut biscuits in half, and ladle an ounce or two of gravy over each half.

- From Hungry Pigeon

Per Serving: 687 calories; 26 grams protein; 47 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams sugar; 48 grams fat; 138 milligrams cholesterol; 863 milligrams sodium; 2 grams dietary fiber.EndText