Chef Melissa McGrath brings her hot hoagies from San Francisco to a South Philly pop-up
Chef Melissa McGrath wowed the Bay Area with her sandwiches last year. She is back home, with a new gig on the way at the Shore.
Philly hoagies by way of San Francisco?
Northeast Philly-bred chef Melissa McGrath worked at such downtown restaurants as Trattoria Carina and Pub & Kitchen and the Diving Horse in Avalon before heading to San Francisco just before COVID-19 hit.
McGrath was helping to open Palm City, pairing Italian small plates with natural wines.
As a pandemic pivot, McGrath and Dennis Cantwell, Palm City’s Philadelphia-born co-owner, decided to build the menu around hoagies. They even found a Philly-born baker in the Bay Area — Matt Kosoy of Rosalind Bakery — to make rolls like Sarcone’s.
Palm City’s hoagies — more like Italian sandwiches than the more familiar lunchmeat hoagies that McGrath grew up eating at Salvito’s at Ashton and Willits — blew away the City by the Bay.
In August, the San Francisco Chronicle’s food writer announced that McGrath was “churning out some of the best sandwiches in the city.” In the fall, Palm City made the list of Esquire’s list of best new restaurants in America.
McGrath is back home in anticipation of a permanent gig this spring at Sweet Amalia, the Jersey Shore oyster specialist, which is opening a farm stand that will feature her sandwiches.
You can get an early taste at a hoagie pop-up from noon to 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23 at South Philadelphia Tap Room, 1509 Mifflin St.
McGrath is calling it Cip’s House of Hoagies, after the Cipollino side of her mom’s family.
On the menu, built on two-foot Sarcone rolls that she will cut in half, are:
Italian (mortadella, spicy soppressata, Calabrian chili mayo, vinaigrette, lettuce, onion)
Pork (confit pork shoulder, broccoli rabe, Calabrian chili mayo, St. Malachi cheese, served warm)
Chicken cutlet paprikash (fried chicken cutlet, smoked paprika aioli, buttered egg noodles, lemon vinaigrette, arugula, shaved Parmesan, served warm)
Turkey roulade (turkey breast with stuffing, currants and herbs, butternut squash spread, bacon, pickled onions, pepperjack cheese, served warm)
Vegetarian (her nana’s artichokes, cooked in olive oil, garlic, and parsley, with spinach dip, confit peppers in garlic, olive oil, and smoked paprika, and Provolone picante cheese
McGrath also will offer potato chips with hoagie spices, brown-butter chocolate chip cookies, and apple cider chiffon cake slices soaked in brown butter and rolled in ginger and cinnamon sugar.
It’s first come, first served, cash or Venmo on site. Miss this? McGrath plans more pop-ups before Sweet Amalia’s planned opening in March. Check her Instagram, @melissahaiti.