Porcini: Staying humble in a Rittenhouse brownstone
"We love Philadelphia. It's been good to us. We want them to enjoy the street, what we have to offer here."
We always hear about the shiny, new food companies. The Spot is a series about the Philadelphia area's more established establishments and the people behind them.
These days, if you want cred for a new Italian restaurant, you'll probably want to frame your culinary school diploma, spend some time working for local pasta don Marc Vetri, and then head off to Italia for some calorie-intensive "research"—and perhaps an internship with a non-English speaking Nonna. But two decades ago, the Philadelphia dining scene was less complicated. You could ride into town from Buffalo, New York, and cross your hospitality experience with recipes you learned from Italian relatives and open a tiny BYOB that would remaining in business even as other more ambitious Italian restaurants came and went all around you.
That was Steven and David Sansone's approach to restaurateuring back then, and it's the one they rely on even now in this competitive environment.
When the brothers opened Porcini BYOB in the mid-90s, big personalities and an earnest approach to cooking mattered more than degrees, resumes, or passport stamps. And to the cadre of regulars who have been eating there for decades, those qualities still matters more than anything else.
As a chef Steven Sansone is trend-blind; instead he wants to cook the iconic foods of Italy's most famous regions. And for David Sansone, being maitre d' is all about creating a welcoming, relaxing vibe. The brothers and partners prize the idea of fairness, which to them includes generous portions at reasonable prices in a BYOB atmosphere.
Steven wanted to talk to me at 5 p.m. one afternoon, a time of day when the first diners are showing up and he's fresh off an ingredient run at the Italian market. He's proud of what he and have brother have built at their restaurant, but he's even happier about the way their little slice of Sansom Street—as well as the larger restaurant scene—has flourished all around them.
This is your 20th year in business. Can you tell me a little bit about the restaurant scene in Philly back in 1996?
Well in '96, when we opened Porcini Restaurant, this part of Sansom Street was pretty much on the decline. The Merriam Theater had just left where the Adrienne now is. In July of '96, when we opened, there was Porcini and one coffee shop down the corner, called the Blue Moon, where Tinto is now. There was nothing in between. Bars on the windows. No street lights. Desolate and cold.
Why did you pick this property if the block was still distressed around it?
We were able to afford the rent here. The restaurant was a plan that my brother David and I had been working on for years. He's a year younger than myself and he was working at Primavera as the maitre d' for 13 years before that. I had come from Tampa, Florida, from the Hyatt. In the 1980s, I worked at La Famiglia.
What do you think brought people here back then if the immediate area was basically otherwise deserted?
Well, it wasn't too far off Rittenhouse. David had a really, really big following and I had a reputation, too. We had a lot of people we knew in the restaurant scene then. I don't know how it is now. Back then it was always a close family. Everybody worked for someone before, starting from the early 70s from Le Bec-Fin to La Famiglia to the Commissary or the Frog. Everybody worked together.
You don't feel like it's still that way, a tight-knit community?
I am not that involved enough anymore to know. You probably know more than I do. I know that we have a lot more chefs coming in from out of town now, chefs graduating from the CIA or another culinary school. I wasn't like that 20 years ago. Nobody went to cooking school.
How did you learn to be a chef?
It was more of a trade situation. I started back in the 70s, late 70s, flipping burgers, working as a bartender. That's the way that most of us learned. Later I worked at La Famiglia and learned a lot there. I learned a lot of things about wine. I was the head bartender at La Famiglia of wine, beverages. You had to really be interested in every aspect of the restaurant to be part of a fine dining restaurant. That was just part of the natural interest and it served you right to do that. You would make more money.
Why did you choose Italian food?
I'm Italian. It's something that is at this point I'm very proud to be part of a culture that is one of the best food cultures in the world. I think the statistic is 35 percent of all people go to Italian restaurants.
Were your parents from Italy?
I'm fourth generation, 100 percent Italian. Actually, my great grandparents came over from Italy. I lived with my grandmother at one point.
Did she teach you how to cook at all?
She showed me techniques, showed me what things tasted like. I remember her teaching me our family sauce—or gravy, I guess you would call it down here. In Buffalo, where we're from, we call it sauce, but let's not get into that. Anyway, she would just show me different steps in preparing it. You hear it all the time about any grandmother's cooking. "A pinch of this, a pinch of that." Being that I had an interest in food since I was younger, coming from a family of seven, my mother always had me in the kitchen. I always went shopping with her. I was her favorite when it came to that.
What brought you and your brother to Philadelphia?
The economy was real poor and there wasn't really any jobs. I couldn't even get a bartending job in Buffalo. My sister came down to Philly for college. I drove her down and stayed with her for a while and I really liked it. It was a larger Buffalo. It had a nice Italian community. I didn't know there was Italians outside of Buffalo. The food was different, too. That really is when I got interested in food. I never even saw a cream sauce in Buffalo. I never knew what a pesto was. At La Famiglia, I saw all these things from Naples.
You were cooking at La Famiglia?
I was not. But you eat family staff meals. I always stepped behind the line and the chef always said I had a really good palate. Throughout the years, I worked at other restaurants where you had to cook table-side. You learned techniques from there. That's the way that apprenticeship starts in a small restaurant, especially back then.
There are so many Italian restaurants here. Many of them have come and gone. What do you think is it that has given Porcini the staying power over 20 years?
I think it's our humble nature. Well we respect the cuisine and we don't really chase other styles of cuisine. Something might be hot one day and not the other day. Like most restaurants weren't serving polenta five, 10 years ago. Polenta was nothing. Then it rises to the top and everybody is doing polenta. I think in Italian cooking, what you need to do is you need to cook what you have experienced, have tasted. That's from my point of view.
Have you traveled in Italy much?
I have not. I have only been over to Bologna once, and that was on a quick trip when I was in my early 20s. I didn't even know what I was seeing back then. With me, my older relatives were interested that I had a restaurant, they taught me about the food and the history.
How have your diners changed over time?
The diners have changed just in the way they make reservations, the internet and that type of thing. They say if you have 35 percent return of regulars, it's just a fantastic thing. One night not long ago, I looked around and I saw seven out of 10 customers as coming here for years and years and years. The charm of the restaurant for regulars is that they still feel and they always felt like it's their secret little place.
What has it been like watching 20th and Sansom transform into a vibrant culinary corner?
We're honored that the street has developed the way it is. Dave and I, we just want the community to enjoy Porcini. We love Philadelphia. It's been good to us. We want them to enjoy the street, what we have to offer here. We also have Melograno here. They came about 10 years after we did and they've become part of the fabric of the street. In this small area, I think we have some of the greatest restaurants concentrated. You have Tinto, you have Village Whiskey, you had Il Pittore until it closed, us, then a couple more around. It's almost like a little Italy. People do love Italian food.
Joy Manning, a writer and editor who has covered food and restaurants in Philadelphia for more than decade, is also the executive editor of Edible Philly and Edible Jersey magazines. Also follow her on Instagram @joymanning.