Morgan's Pier brings in chef Jim Burke this season

Heading into its fifth year on the western bank of the Delaware River, Morgan's Pier has established itself as one of the most popular fair-weather venues in al fresco-crazed Philadelphia, serving an estimated 150,000 customers during its annual spring-to-fall season.

DJ nights, live concerts, and craft beer tastings are de rigueur at the venue, run by Avram Hornik's Four Corners Management. But the food at Morgan's Pier, which opens April 21, has always been executed a little differently.

Instead of falling back on a safe bar-food menu that would likely satisfy the crush of seasonal revelers, Hornik and Co. have brought in well-regarded chefs, tasked with interpreting the food their own way.

Since its 2012 debut, the Morgan's Pier kitchen has served as a sort of way station for high-profile culinary talent transitioning between opportunities.

In its inaugural season, David Katz, now culinary director of the Honeygrow chain and chef-owner of the former restaurant Mémé, was at the stove. George Sabatino, chef and co-owner of Aldine in Center City, spent the following summer there. David Gilberg, who closed his Northern Liberties BYOB, Koo Zee Doo, in 2013, brought his distinct Portuguese cooking the next year. Last summer, Nicholas Elmi, the Top Chef-winning proprietor of Laurel, grabbed the reins after a long-planned expansion on East Passyunk Avenue hit some snags.

Jim Burke, the acclaimed chef and co-owner of the former restaurant James, returns from high-profile New York City cooking jobs to serve as "chef in residence" this season.

Hornik's wide-open directive remains the same: a backyard barbecue - hosted by a professional chef. With that challenge comes the opportunity for creativity and growth.

"It was about 18 times the size [of Mémé] - the volume was insane," said Katz. "The food was supposed to be casual, but even so, it had to be built for speed."

Sabatino, meanwhile, spent his time at the pier boning up on high-end techniques. "I never touched a Cryovac machine or immersion circulator until I worked at Morgan's Pier," said Sabatino, who used those tools, mostly associated with modernist cooking, to prepare down-market dishes like burgers and pulled chicken. "That's where I learned how to do it."

For chefs with "little windows in their careers," Hornik said, the temporary gig is appealing. "It's a selling point," he said. "Excellent chefs normally wouldn't be interested in doing an outdoor, quick-service kind of concept."

For Burke, the pier is his first official opportunity to reintroduce his food, done his way. A Mount Airy native, Burke worked for Marc Vetri and Stephen Starr locally and cooked at Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe before returning to Philadelphia and opening Bella Vista's refined Italian-inspired James, with wife, partner, and industry veteran Kristina, in 2006. Critical acclaim quickly followed - impressive local reviews, James Beard Award nominations, a Food & Wine best new chef nod in 2008.

But all the plaudits didn't guarantee steady business, especially in a bad economy. "We got hit really hard by the economic downturn, being a fine-dining restaurant," Burke said. In 2011, the Burkes chose not to renew James' lease, a decision Kristina describes as heartbreaking. But shortly thereafter, Starr, Burke's former employer, installed him as executive chef at Caffe Storico, an Italian restaurant inside the New-York Historical Society, and the couple, parents of a young son, moved to New York. (Starr has since sold the catering arm that operates the property.)

In 2013, after wrapping up with Starr, Burke was recruited into the executive chef position at legendary French chef Daniel Boulud's DB Bistro Moderne, tasked with relaunching the bustling Theater District restaurant in the City Club Hotel. (The Burkes' second child, Sadie, was born a week before he started.)

After six months of putting in 90-plus-hour weeks, essentially living apart from his wife and kids even though they shared an apartment in the same city, it became clear that Boulud intended to take his kitchen in a different direction - a decision Burke did not expect. "It doesn't matter who you go to work for - after you've been your own boss, it's difficult," he said. "We learned to trust our own instincts and perspective. It's difficult to give that up, to let your point of view be secondary to somebody else's. As iconic and great as [Boulud] is, it's still difficult."

That was in late December; the family was back in Philadelphia by the first week of January. Though they felt pressure to open a new restaurant upon their return, they soon realized rushing back into business was not the best idea. "The more we thought about it, the more we realized we really wanted to refine a little more," said Burke. They created Tiny & Jumbo LLC (family nicknames), a husband-and-wife culinary consultancy that's contributed to Princeton Bar & Grill in Avalon and Pizzeria Felici in Horsham. (Kristina has also worked as an adjunct professor in Drexel's School of Hospitality and Sport Management.)

That's not to say the Burkes aren't still planning on opening something of their own. "We definitely have some concepts, let's put it that way," said Kristina. "We have two menus for two different concepts. They're very different but stem from what we do best."

In the meantime, diners can experience an accessible version of Burke's cooking en plein air at the Pier. In addition to a menu built around popular dishes from summers past, Burke has his own thing going - saffron arancini with lamb ragu, seasonal antipasti from scratch, a James-inspired gnocchi gratinata with summer truffles. He also plans on cooking big, family-style meals - a seafood spread with fresh catch from Barnegat Light, a 30-pound suckling pig feast for large groups that rent out the Pier's "Crow's Nest" seating area.

"We don't want to get lazy and say, 'They're coming anyway,' and start serving a lower-quality product," Hornik said. "This way, we're forced, in a good way, to reinvent."

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