Feastival has long been one of Philadelphia’s top food events, always gathering the city’s top chefs to raise money for the FringeArts program. This year’s edition—taking place on Thursday, September 27—is no different, though the concept has changed slightly. To more fully honor the city of Philadelphia’s extraordinary food scene, chefs will be paired together to represent cuisines from five of Philadelphia’s most iconic neighborhoods. The pairings were chosen by two of the event’s co-hosts, Michael Solomonov (Zahav) and Nick Elmi (Laurel).
The event, presented by Audi, will as always go beyond the food and offer a night of live art and music to accompany the delicious drinks and dishes. Running from 7-10pm, tickets will set you back $300. If you’d like to spring for the VIP experience, which gets you into the event an hour early, tickets will cost $450. Each ticket includes a year-long FringeArts membership (which gets you 30% off all tickets for the season) and benefits the FringeArts program.
If you’re wondering exactly what you’ll get for that money, take a look at the chef pairings and the neighborhood cuisines they’ll be representing:
West Philadelphia
Aaron Bennawit (The Good King Tavern) & Scott Schroeder (Hungry Pigeon)
Eli Collins (a.kitchen) & Adan Trinidad (Sancho Pistola’s)
Nick Elmi (Laurel) & Nick Macri (La Divisa Meats)
Matt Fein (Federal Donuts) & Jon Rodriquez (Mission Taqueria)
Nate Horwitz (Morimoto) & Todd Lean (Pod)
Armando Jimenez (Harp & Crown) & Charlie Schmidt (Philadelphia OIC)
South Philadelphia
Chris Baretta (Continental Midtown) & Abigail Dahan (Parc)
Jezabel Careaga (Jezabel’s) & Clark Gilbert (Louie Louie)
Jason Cichonski (Ela) & Andrew Farley (High Street on Market)
Joncarl Lachman (Noord) & Ben Puchowitz (Bing Bing Dim Sum and Cheu Noodle Bar)
Richard Pepino (Drexel University’s Center for Hospitality) & Michael Yeamans (Audrey Claire)
Seth Petitt (Urban Farmer) & Rakesh Ramola (Indeblue)
Chinatown
Nich Bazik (Kensington Quarters) & Aaron Gottesman (Oyster House)
Camille Cogswell (Zahav) & Manny Perez (Walnut Street Café)
William Kells (Capofitto) & Peter Woolsey (La Peg)
Michael Loughlin (Scarpetta) & Jeremy Nolen (West Reading Motor Club)
Michael Strauss (Mike’s BBQ) & Michael Sultan (Revolution Taco)
Kensington & Fishtown
Kenneth Bush (Bistrot La Minette) & Richard Landau (V Street and Vedge)
Jonathan Cichon (Lacroix) & Ari Miller (Lost Bread Co.)
Christopher Curtin (Eclat Chocolate) & Ari Miller (1732 Meats)
Chris Kearse (Will BYOB) & Joe Thomas Jr. (Bank & Bourbon)
Francisco Ramirez (Tredici and Zavino) & Greg Vernick (Vernick Food & Drink)
Northeast Philadelphia
Kiki Aranita and Chris Vacca (Poi Dog) & Marc Vetri (Vetri Cucina)
Michael Brenfleck (La Calaca Feliz) & Doreen DeMarco (American Sardine Bar)
Rob Cottman (World Cafe Live) & Andrew Wood (Russet)
Jesse Ito (Royal Izakaya) & Townsend Wentz (Townsend, A Mano and Oloroso)
Samuel Kennedy and Matthew Hettlinger (The Farm at Doe Run) & John Patterson (Fork)
I, for one, am excited to see what teams like Poi Dog and Vetri can come up with, as well as how some of these chefs represent my neighborhood of Fishtown. And as I can attest from years past, the event is always worth the price and one of the best food- and drink-related nights of the year. For more information and to order tickets, you can check out Feastival’s website. While it remains to be seen whether or not this is the most delicious incarnation of Feastival, it will certainly be the most interesting.
Ryan Travels and Eats 