Friday Saturday Sunday is a small restaurant that is actually open Thurs. through Sat. evenings.  Chef Chad Williams offers only an 8 course tasting menu and 5:00 and 8:00 seating times.  He and his wife Hanna took over the Rittenhouse Square restaurant in 2017.  Covid has restricted dining to the second level (no elevator) of well spaced tables and the bar on the first floor only makes drinks.  The couple tables outside are for cocktails.  Benches line the walls of the second floor and face the tables set with armless chairs. Fairly loud music is in the background and there are dampening panels on the ceiling.  One wall holds a number of large paintings of lush scenery with a large metal palm tree in the middle while the opposite wall has windows and mirrors.  No wine pairings were offered so we ordered our own bottles of wine.  The meal had good portion control and pacing.

Building

Food and Beverage

 

Tasting Menu

A drink of Peruvian corn tea was served in a glass with a smoked salted rim to wake up your appetite.  It was nice and light.

 

Snacks

The two were a yuka fritter topped with Royal Osetra caviar and a chicha morada on milk crisp.  The fritter was lovely and stuffed with puréed cashews.  Topped with caviar it had lots of texture and flavors. Delicious.  The milk crisp item had a faint curry flavor and was chewy rather than crisp.  It was filled with a celery root purée and rutabaga.  A nicely flavorful couple bites.

 

Cured Kanpachi

Raw kanpachi was cured and mixed with Meyer lemon, chili oil, vin jaune and dill.  It had a sweet and sour effect.  Tender and light and wonderful – all parts blended well.  A dish of brightness and acidity.

 

Beet Cappelletti

“Little Hats” of pasta were stuffed with beets, dotted with chives and set in a sauce of hibiscus, buttermilk and nasturtium honey. The creamy beet filling was sweet and earthy and encased in a small pocket of pasta that was tender and perfectly cooked.   These were delightful.

 

Sweetbreads

Lightly fried sweetbreads were plated with mushrooms(Maitake), plantain ragu and poached egg.  The creamy sauce was sweetened by the plantains and was a good contrast with the crisp wonderful sweetbreads.  This was a really good combination with all ingredients being fun and tasty.  It went down easily.

 

Wild Halibut

Alaskan halibut was lightly seared and served in a sauce of buttermilk dashi alongside a turnip purée.  The perfectly cooked fish still had a bit of stickiness to the flesh and was wonderfully moist.  The great sauce had a hint of coconut from the oil the fish was sautéed in.    Another excellent combination of flavors and textures that was perfectly prepared.

 

BBQ Veal Cheek

Chermoula seasoned yam and veal cheek was a fun combination.  The yam was smoked and sliced as well as presented in a puréed form.  The veal cheek was incredibly tender, moist and tore apart rather than having to be sliced. The green sauce of the chermoula sort of flavored everything for another wonderful course.

 

Dry Aged New York Strip

A 28 day  aged strip steak was served aside melted comté cheese and caramelized sweet onion sauce. The tasty well seasoned meat was good with the gooey cheese and/or the onion sauce.  It was really good but not as good as the previous couple courses.

 

Bay Leaf Semifreddo

The bay leaf semifreddo was presented on top of a verjus roasted rhubarb sauce and a crispy meringue.  The rhubarb was well cooked and sweetened to add to this tasty dessert.  Lots of good textures and contrasts here for a good end to a fine meal.

 

Last treat

Final treat was an Earl Grey canelé.  It was amazingly crisp on the outside with a wonderful soft interior.  Sweet and crisp added up to greatness in my book.

 

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