Barbuzzo chef to Popolino
Chris Davis trades the hectic 13th Street power room for the quieter life in Fairmount.
Popolino - Peter McAndrews' peasant Italian BYO at Fifth Street and Fairmount Avenue - has a new chef, Christopher Davis, previously a chef de cuisine at Barbuzzo.
McAndrews told me that three months in, the restaurant kitchen simply wasn't where it needed to be. Enter Davis, who worked for McAndrews eight years ago at Rembrandt's. (Hard to believe that McAndrews toiled for 12 years at the Fairmount landmark before he split in 2007 to create an empire that includes Modo Mio, two Paesano's sandwich shops, Monsu - and come Thursday - La Porta in Media.)
Davis' departure has set in motion a change in Marcie Turney's kitchen at the red-hot Barbuzzo, on 13th near Sansom, which has two chefs de cuisine, one executive sous chef, and four sous chefs. Chef de cuisine Paul Lyons, who left to open Jamonera across the street, will now work at both. Chef de cuisine Todd Satterfield is now joined by the recently promoted Caleb Johnson.