My Loup is an impressive debut for Philly’s newest restaurant power couple

On one of their first dates in 2018, two young chefs who’d met in a famous Manhattan kitchen found themselves after work at a whiskey bar conjuring up a vision of the dream restaurant — and life — they’d someday build together.

“It would have a long bar with wine on ice. It would be a little dark and slightly too loud. But it would be warm and fun and abundant,” said Alex Kemp, painting the scene. “Maybe Fleetwood Mac would be playing and there’d be pictures of our kids on the wall. ...”

The Quebecois-born chef and self-proclaimed romantic concedes he was coming on hard. But he was also predicting the future with uncanny precision. Kemp had described My Loup to near perfection — five years before he and Amanda Shulman would eventually open their rollicking bistro homage to French Canadian romance on Rittenhouse Square, where inventive raw bar plateaus, pepper-encrusted slices of cool roast beef piled high with hot frites, and cocktails spiked with Chartreuse and amari stoke a festive party vibe. (Yes, it can be a little too dark and noisy for some, but one can’t say it’s accidental.)

“Oh boy!” was Shulman’s immediate reaction to Kemp in those early days. He was “a total cowboy in the kitchen” with an independent streak to go rogue on recipes and the culinary chops to carry it off, the most positive and fun-loving presence in a challenging kitchen situation. “Food was our first love language.”

That these two, who married in August, would collaborate on a hit restaurant comes as no surprise given their work histories outside Momofuku Ko, where they met. She’s a longtime Vetri family alum who followed Kemp back to his native Montreal, where she worked for the legendary Joe Beef. Kemp, who spent time at San Francisco’s Encanto and Eleven Madison Park, worked for other restaurants in Joe Beef’s orbit, Vin Mon Lapin (now independent) and Vin Papillon, as well as Au Pied de Cochon’s Sugar Shack the season Anthony Bourdain came there to film Parts Unknown.

What no one could have predicted was Shulman’s recent rocket ride to super chef stardom at Her Place Supper Club. Since launching just two years ago, her 24-seat Sansom Street tasting room has morphed from DIY pop-up experiment into a full-service sensation destination of in-the-moment seasonal cooking cast with whimsical Italian, French, and Jewish inspirations. And Shulman’s all-female kitchen there is still spinning magic with its biweekly changing menus — from fried skate cheeks to sweet corn ravioli showered with truffles, and plums with hazelnuts and ribbons of Tête de Moine cheese. But good luck getting in. Two weeks’ worth of seats can evaporate within 10 seconds when fresh batches are released on the Tock reservation app every other Sunday at 6 p.m.

The arrival of My Loup is the perfect reply for those who crave more access to Shulman’s delicious universe. Like Her Place, it operates only weeknights as the chefs aim for a more sustainable work-life balance. But about 20% of this 56-seater is set aside for walk-ins who show up at 5 p.m. to put their names on a list, especially for seats at the long bar that leads past whitewashed brick walls to a den-like rear dining room with tufted green banquettes, floral wallpaper, and a library of books, family photos, and knickknacks (Montreal Canadiens and Phillies memorabilia, but no kid pictures to date).

My Loup, however, is much more than just a sequel. If Her Place was Shulman’s unplugged solo debut, My Loup is a fresh duet tapping the next phase of her life, with two considerable culinary talents showcasing a shared history and passion for Canada’s modern approach to French cuisine. Close observers will see familiar Shulman touches in the details, from the clam-infused mayo paired with scallop or fluke crudo, to the deep fried “Philly balls” stuffed with roast pork sandwich fixings that debuted as a Her Place add-on.

But Kemp’s imprint here is distinctive, as My Loup’s confident menu embraces familiar French ideas with updated tweaks of witty Quebecois abundance, Philly’s best ingredients, and a rare enthusiasm for disappearing classic sauces. Like the mustardy sauce Charcutière for the big steak, or the vermouth and carrot reduction enriched with foie gras for Kemp’s stellar rabbit, which, presented with a bacon-wrapped sausage of rabbit saddle beside a slow-cooked tender leg over buttered egg noodles, is one badass bunny.

My Loup can display a light seasonal touch, too. Delicately fried zucchini flowers come stuffed with smoked brandade. Whipped chèvre costars with stellar produce from the weekly farm market on Rittenhouse Square, pairing juicy Robin Hill tomatoes with luscious Hand on Earth plums that have a look-alike hue, but resonate with a deeper, darker sweetness. Pristine raw Jersey scallops channeled summer with local corn vinaigrette. While soft-shell crabs came in many forms, all worthy, glazed in rich hollandaise and caviar, or drizzled with tart buttermilk jeweled with trout roe. A seasonal summer soft-serve swirl of corn custard and blueberry sorbet was a beautiful summer gift. (The rest of the limited dessert list is fine, but would benefit from some extra effort.)

The raw bar is always fresh and intriguing, whether it’s a salad of minced razor clams stuffed back into their narrow shells, poached mussels elevated by herbaceous lovage pesto, a bounty of local oysters, or lettuce cups with crab and avocado salad in Thousand Island dressing (a nod to the Canadian archipelago where Kemp grew up). A little jar of pickled shrimp with aioli was inspired by their trip to New Orleans.

So was the tangy, muffuletta-esque relish of salami, olives, and giardiniera that’s become a favored condiment here, though it was more successful with the panfried sweetbreads than the overwhelmed toasts of thin-sliced veal tongue. It was one of just a couple of good savory ideas that fell short on the plate — the smoked eel Caesar being the other, only because the chewy cubes of fish lacked the crouton-like crunch a Caesar craves. I’ll give My Loup extra points for transforming celery into an interesting salad with smoked almonds, dates, and anchovies, though it’s no surprise this was a holdover from the couple’s summer diet in preparation for their wedding.

My Loup, a play on Shulman’s pet name for Kemp and a “wolf” reference to her pet dachshund, Tootsie, is really at its best when it shifts into indulgence mode and the kitchen cooks spontaneously (try the four-course $100 option). Large-format specials like an epic halibut tail with bisque-rich sauce Américaine, fistfuls of lobster, and fresh peas was like a rare slice of Gilded Age decadence big enough to feed four. And then there is the côte de boeuf, a dry-aged 32-ounce chop seared to a perfect crust in cast iron, basted in butter, and served with fantastic frites, a seasonal salad, and that sauce Charcutière for $130 — now Philly’s most magnetic steak splurge for two.

But even something as seemingly humble as roast chicken is memorably flavorful. Foraged chanterelles in foie gras sauce and schmaltz-wilted greens came with our golden dry-aged bird, which gets cooked from raw, skin side down beneath a weight until it renders crisp and juicy. It takes 27 minutes from the moment it’s ordered, a no-shortcuts approach that might wreak havoc in other busy restaurants. But Amanda Shulman and her French Canadian kitchen cowboy have embraced the spontaneous rush of their collaboration as a delicious thrill in its own right.

“Yes, it’s cooked to order and it’s chaotic,” says Kemp. “But it’s worth it.”

2005 Walnut St., 267-239-5925; myloupphl.com

Monday through Friday, 5 to 10 p.m. drinks till midnight.

Plates, $34-$48. Côte de boeuf for two, $130. Four-course prix fixe option, $100.

Drinks: Classic cocktails with inventive, housemade touches are the way to start, from the Canadian whiskey-spiked Montréal to the tequila twist on a Vesper. Ten moderately priced small producer European wines by the glass showcase lighter-bodied, food-friendly styles, from muscadet to gamay and a sparkling Xarel-lo blend. The 60 label Euro bottle list has more depth, mostly under $100, with a sizable collection of skin-contact wines.

Most of the menu can be made gluten-free.

Restaurant is wheelchair-accessible via portable ramp and bathroom is accessible.