What chefs order at Parc

For so many Philadelphians, Stephen Starr’s French brasserie Parc holds a certain allure. There’s the location, looking out over Rittenhouse Square, and the tiny sidewalk tables that seem to call out to us all as soon as the sun comes out. But the community most dedicated to Parc is people who work in restaurants. This dedication is in equal parts baffling (has the menu at Parc even changed in the last 10 years?) and sensible (since Parc seems to almost never close, it makes sense that people who work odd hours would appreciate it most). To better understand the love that Parc inspires, I polled restaurant pros from across the city about their love of this restaurant to find out.

When Phila Lorn, the chef-owner of Mawn, goes to Parc, he always orders the fries.

“We order anything, but we always get an extra side of fries,” Lorn says. “We work a lot and don’t have time to go to France. Parc will do.”

D’onna Stubblefield, beverage director and general manager at Bloomsday Cafe, calls the fries unbeatable.

“I sit at the bar with a book and order the deviled eggs and fries,” Stubblefield says. “And on my birthday, [I] treat myself to a seafood tower.”

Poison Heart owner and manager Andrea Ulsh is dedicated to Parc’s warm shrimp salad as a key element of her perfect Parc lunch.

“The one item we usually always get, which has absolutely no business being as good as it is, is the warm shrimp salad,” she says. “Butter poached shrimp, shaved parm, fennel, avocado, and greens. It’s simple and perfect.”

Her love is echoed by Friday Saturday Sunday co-owner Hanna Williams, and by New June Bakery owner Noelle Blizzard.

When she’s not eating the shrimp salad, though, Williams says she often goes for breakfast.

“I’m ordering eggs over easy and Chad [Williams, her husband and the chef and co-owner of Friday Saturday Sunday] gets the benedict,” Williams said. “I must say, for a place that does the volume it does, they make perfect eggs.”

Emma Richards, director at Goldie, echoed her love of Parc’s egg dishes.

“Eggs and soldiers in the morning on the park are unrivaled,” Richards said. “When I switched from being a night restaurant person to a day restaurant person, it was a really good treat in the morning for me.”

Parc’s steak tartare is a stalwart on the French bistro’s menu. Chloe Pantazelos, pastry chef at Enswell, always orders a martini and escargot to go with her tartare, ideally eaten at the bar.

Kiki Aranita, owner of Poi Dog Sauces, is so dedicated to Parc’s French onion soup that at a recent dinner with Stephen Starr himself at his New York brasserie Pastis, she noted that the restaurant’s soup wasn’t as good as Parc’s.

“We spent the next hour troubleshooting the soup — Pastis was using too much beef broth,” Aranita said. Parc’s version is still her favorite, her choice for slipping away from the day and indulging in a small pleasure.