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About 10 years ago, chef Mitch Prensky and his wife Jennifer moved to Philadelphia from New York City. Prensky graduated from the French Culinary Institute, where he was a kitchen assistant to Jacques Pepin, and honed his skills at a number of Big Apple restaurants including Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill. Jennifer is a native Philadelphian and she urged her husband to move to her hometown. They soon opened The Global Dish Caterers whose Web site touts the husband and wife as "event artisans."
Several months ago, the Prenskys opened Supper on the 900 block of South Street across from Whole Foods.
"What a beautiful door," Edward said as we entered. Beautiful, indeed. It is fashioned from hammered copper and is absolutely glorious.
The couple calls Supper an "urban farmhouse." When I think of a farmhouse, my mind quickly shifts to the warm and sunny colors of Provence. The main dining room is filled with hues of gold and tangerine. Edward and I sat right next to the open kitchen, so we had a fine view of the magic taking place.
The menu is pure New American featuring the kinds of dishes the chefs prepared on Bravo’s "Top Chef." Patrons build their own tasting menu from a selection of hors d’oeuvres, small sandwiches and small plates.
Our server advised that we select at least three or four appetizers and at least three from the plates menu.
We sipped martinis ($15) made with Philadelphia’s own Blue Coat gin. That’s right, pick yourself up off the floor. A cocktail at Supper is a Hamilton and a Lincoln.
Prensky and his staff bake their own bread including French baguettes and focaccia. Softened butter came with the selection.
We began dinner with potatoes baked in aromatic salt ($4), beets a la Greque ($4), artichoke and cauliflower fritters ($4) and marinated squid with lemongrass ($5). The potatoes looked like tiny Idaho spuds and Edward and I thought the beets contained way too much vinegar. The fritters, however, were the star. They were crispy outside, yet creamy inside. We dipped them into a slightly spicy remoulade and enjoyed. The squid arrived warm and fragrant with the aroma and flavor of lemongrass, giving the shellfish a nice Asian flair.
We then moved on to the "plates." The menu states that "all plates are slightly larger than an appetizer and smaller than a main course."
Edward and I love good homespun charcuterie. It takes us back to our beloved Paris. The charcuterie plate ($15) consisted of spicy slices of chorizo, refreshingly light Bayonne ham, a saucisson prepared with wild boar and heavenly smoked duck. Each item was tasty, enhanced by the slight sweetness of the homemade preserves and tart flavor of tiny cornichons. Slices of toasted baguette were included.
Sweetbreads are a favorite and I always try them when dining out because they are tedious to prepare at home. Supper’s veal sweetbreads ($18) were smoked and sat upon a pool of creamed chard, bits of bacon and licorice. There were about four bites of sweetbreads on the plate and neither Edward nor I could detect any licorice. They were nicely seared on the outside and creamy inside.
Pork belly has become all the rage and the darling of chefs in big cities. Edward and I had to try it as we always have a culinary sense of adventure. The meat is cut from the belly and layered in tiers: meat, fat, meat, fat. Supper’s version ($20) was a small rectangle (emphasis on small) sitting on a few tablespoons of lentils laced with red wine and autumn quince poached in miso. Edward and I had two bites each.
Wines by the glass and bottle are well chosen and extremely high end. I have always agreed with Julia Child and Philadelphia’s own Julie Dannenbaum: Drink moderately priced wines in restaurants and enjoy more costly ones when you dine at home. Edward selected the least expensive glass of red on the carte du vin. It was a small carafe of GCS Otto Box Head Cabernet Sauvignon ($10) and measured about a small glass-and-a-half.
Service was professional and attentive, as it should be at these prices.
Three tiny, complimentary petit fours, including a piece of candied grapefruit, ended our meal.
We agreed the food was about the finest in recent memory. Each plate was carefully crafted with top-quality ingredients. I tip my toque to Prensky and his team because everything from the bread to the preserves is made in-house.
Edward said he liked Supper better than the tapas we have sampled within the past few years. Still, he left hungry. If we had ordered another dish or two, the bill would have been about $200, including tax and tip.
Some will say "Whoa!" to Supper, yet others may be itching to sample its fine cuisine — just once.
Three tips of the toque to Supper.
Supper
926 South St.
Credit cards accepted
