The 10 best restaurants in Philly right now

There’s always a moment during my dinners at Andiario when I take a bite of a dish like an extraordinary pasta with foraged mushrooms, or lamb cooked over the embers three ways, and get wistful knowing I’ll never taste it again. No chef expresses the terroir of southeast Pennsylvania as lyrically as Anthony Andiario does through the lens of his Italian training, where a light touch is more when ingredients are so perfect. Every meal I’ve had since the chef and his partner, Maria van Schaijik, lit the wood-fired hearth at their elegant West Chester restaurant nearly seven years ago seems better than the last. 

This cheerful all-day cafe and BYOB in Passyunk Square, where chef-owner Juan Carlos Aparicio effortlessly blends traditional ideas with seemingly boundless creativity, is Philly’s most thrilling Mexican kitchen. The sunny corner room has a casual energy that effortlessly transitions throughout the day, from chilaquiles mornings to margarita mixers for BYO spirits at night. El Chingón’s commitment to fresh baking shines in the swirl-topped sesame cemita rolls used for the signature sandwiches that get stuffed with a variety of fillings, like a classic Milanesa cutlet. You’ll see other refined comforts, too, like braised rabbit tostadas, or perfect al pastor shaved off a turning trompo. Desserts are also a major highlight, thanks to daily stuffed concha variations and the ever-changing ice creams. Distinctive and beautifully crafted, like so many other wonders here, you can taste them only at El Chingón.

James Beard named Chad and Hanna Williams’ revamp of this Philly institution America’s Outstanding Restaurant in 2023, and they haven’t let up. The ever-evolving eight-course menu ($165) sings with originality and grace, melding cutting-edge techniques — think cryoconcentrated produce gelées — with Caribbean, Asian, and soul food references for creations like tortellini stuffed with Benton’s country ham over collards in smoky pork dashi pot likker. And a stellar team of bartenders, led by the brilliant Paul MacDonald, is why an à la carte dinner at the walk-ins only Lovers Bar downstairs was one of the most fun meals I’ve had all year. I relished the lively buzz of regulars and the opportunity to revisit some of the restaurant’s early hits, like octopus with menudo beans paired with drinks from MacDonald’s new Cocktail Carousel.

Going on four years now, Amanda Shulman’s onetime Sansom Street pop-up is deeply ensconced in its jewel box restaurant phase, and its ever-changing menus are reliably fantastic. The essential energy radiates off the collaborative, all-woman chef crew in this open kitchen, bopping to Cyndi Lauper — between interludes of Bruce and AC/DC — while they dress plates and take turns entertaining the adoring crowds of 24 diners with introductions to their favorite courses. With Shulman’s other restaurant, My Loup, humming along, Her Place hasn’t skipped a beat, from its witty pop culture winks (house Cheez-It crackers sandwiching whipped Stilton and blueberry jam) to a deft modern touch with classic French techniques, like the silky velouté that glazed grilled swordfish and summer beans. At $95 for five courses, this is a value for a meal where seasonal spontaneity and a chef’s distinctive style — sophisticated but never fussy — are always in harmony. “Nobody likes our food any more than we do,” Shulman says.

The James Beard-winning chef, cookbook author, and Netflix Chef’s Table subject Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon has a spectacular dining room to suit her culinary spirit with a soaring, palm-fringed space in a converted Fishtown warehouse. It pulses with tropical energy as guests sip cocktails kissed with galangal and servers weave through the room with giant snowballs of shaved ice desserts drizzled with Thai tea and guava syrup. Earthy goat and lamb curry, delicate dumplings shaped like tiny birds, and majestic seafood hot pots bubbling with lemongrass-tinged spice are some of the spectacular dishes that have defined Kalaya, though Nok’s irrepressible drive constantly produces new dishes. A newly introduced $75 tasting menu option showcases regional favorites from Trang and Phuket, but also model how to order a meal that balances heat, sweetness, sour, and fermented funk.

Is Mawn modern Cambodian, with its rib eye updates to the lemongrass-scented beef skewers of the Southeast Asian Market in FDR Park? Is it more pan-Asian, with its Burmese ginger salad and Thai-style “all-star seafood rice” jeweled with uni, crab, and roe? Or is it Jewish fusion, channeling the marriage of owners Phila and Rachel Lorn into a soulful chicken soup mash-up of schmaltzy matzo ball broth and pho? Lorn, named Phila as a tribute to the city where his Cambodian parents settled as refugees, defines the cuisine of this freewheeling “noodle shop with no rules” as the sum of his own experiences as a first-generation South Philadelphian: “We’re authentic in the way we cook the food I ate growing up — and what I want to eat now.” That independent streak has made this spirited 28-seat Bella Vista BYOB one of the toughest reservations in town.

Broccoli is rarely more than an afterthought. At Pietramala, chef Ian Graye snips the florets for garnish and grates the stems into rice-shaped bits. Next, he cooks them, risotto-style, in broccoli broth thickened with a vibrant green basil-boosted puree. He finishes with a touch of shaved dried tofu, salt-cured until it takes on the cheesy twang of Parmesan. The result is one of the most mind-blowing dishes of the year. I’ve come to expect such strokes of vegetable genius at Pietramala, the cutting-edge vegan BYOB where Graye turns carrots into Bolognese, crisps mushrooms into irresistible nuggets, and splashes smashed cucumbers and the silkiest tofu custard (set with Delaware Bay sea salt) with fresh coriander bud-infused shoyu. Do Pietramala’s big swings always pay off? No, but when Graye does land a dish — which is more often than not — it will make you see the entire vegetable kingdom in a beautiful new light.

If you ever crave matzo ball soup, you know Russ Cowan’s name. He’s been Philly’s Jewish deli king for the past 35 years, operating nearly 20 restaurants across the region — most recently the Famous 4th Street Delicatessen, which he sold after 18 years to open Radin’s Delicatessen. Wherever he goes, a cloud of corned beef steam follows, luring crowds of deli faithful like the Pied Piper of Pastrami. Radin’s is already humming with a diverse slice of locals who dig into mountains of corned beef hash and eggs, massive slices of checkerboard cake, and tureens of chicken soup bobbing with kreplach dumplings, kasha, and softball-size matzo balls enriched with schmaltz. Cowan has said Radin’s is his salami swan song. It also happens to be his best yet.

Jesse Ito was already riding high atop Philly’s sushi world when he made a bold decision. He changed his successful menu format — a 15-course omakase that is the city’s loftiest splurge, at $300 (including gratuity) — to embrace dramatic new composed dishes and techniques. A new dry-aging machine, for instance, has helped intensify the flavors of Japanese bluefin. Ito remains virtuosic in combining luxury ingredients so each one feels essential, not gratuitous, but he’s equally at ease in transforming humble Japanese whitebait into the ethereal cloud of a fried “dumpling” of tiny fish to be dunked in gingery tentsuyu broth. Of course, scoring a seat for the omakase remains annoyingly difficult, if not virtually impossible, unless you know a regular willing to gift their reservation, or get supremely lucky on Resy. A consolation is that the izakaya, whose inventive cocktails, à la carte menu, and 60 seats reserved for walk-ins only, remains a destination in its own right.

Zahav has managed something remarkable, which many 16-year-old destination restaurants haven’t: It keeps evolving and improving. That’s no small task considering how co-owners Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook have built Zahav into an empire of other restaurant concepts and outposts, from Philadelphia to Brooklyn and South Beach. But a steady pruning and reworking of Zahav classics — you’ll never forget your first taste of tender pomegranate lamb shoulder in all its smoky, tangy, sweet, and earthy glory alongside a golden pedestal of crispy Persian rice — obliges this kitchen to continuously keep it fresh. And current chef Natasha Sabanina’s team deftly channels seasonality and innovative techniques into memorable dishes. Return visitors who’ve already experienced the lamb shoulder should try another star option on the prix fixe: the dry-aged duck glazed in date molasses. And the whole four-course experience is still a bargain for $85 compared to the current proliferation of more expensive tasting menus.