South Philly from chef Chandler Schultz was born during the lockdown and pays homage to chef Schultz's favourite things to eat in Philadelphia. Launched as a delivery only, it now operates out of Casa Sapparod and has a new menu.
"South Philly is mostly my favourite things I would eat, like the hoagie [that's a submarine sandwich for us non-Americans]. Buffalo wings are probably my favourite bar food ever, and that is on the new menu. We have drink specials, as well, which is again what I would want to drink with these bites," says chef Schultz.
The housemade hot sauce for the Original Buffalo wings (B190) is based off the popular Frank's Red Hot and butte one. "That's the secret," says the chef. The dish comes with a blue cheese dipping and celery. The Mac and cheese (B150) is not traditional. "There are two ways to cook a mac and cheese, stovetop or oven. I've combined these two. Typically, oven would be combining cooked pasta with cheese and then baking it with bread crumbs," according to chef Schultz. Stovetop is just what it sounds like; you cook everything in a pot. "For the ease of service, we have a Cheddar cheese sauce base and when we get an order, half-cooked pasta is combined with everything and with the breadcrumb topping and cooked in the oven for just a moment. I think it kind of brings the best of both worlds," says chef Schultz.
Cannoli.
The SP Caesar salad (medium B180, large B280) is made with griddled beef, Romaine lettuce, soft boiled egg, Caesar dressing and Parmesan. And because the chef likes something other than lettuce to be crispy, he uses fried bread slices.
But enough about the sides, let's come to the main event: The new addition and my current fav is the Roast pork and Broccolini (B250), which is a delicious slow-cooked pork shoulder, baby broccoli and Provolone in a sesame hoagie roll. It is a sandwich made famous by a place called John's Roast Pork in Philadelphia. Typically, it will be a whole leg that the bone is taken out of and filled with garlic, onions, different spices, fennel seed and chilli peppers and "because it's an Italian-American thing, brown sugar and some fresh herbs," says the chef. The entire pork leg is slowly roasted and sliced and served with all of its drippings, like a sauce. In Philly, I am told it is normally eaten with broccoli rabe, but here the closest thing is Chinese broccoli. (South Philadelphia is home to a large Italian immigrant community).
Pickle station at South Philly.
"It's funny you say that," says the chef Schultz, when I say it tastes like khao ka moo, "because the fennel seed is also reminiscent of star anise so people really think it's some fusion when it's straight Philly Italian."
Another new addition, is the Pickle Bar. "If you don't have at least a few different kind of pickles, normally something sweet, something spicy, some kind of relish, then it's not a good sandwich. So I wanted to bring that experience here, too," says the chef.
Wash all this down with the chef's special Mixed Citrus Lemonade (B99) made from lemon, lime and grapefruit juices with citrus zest syrup.
South Philly’s new menu.
South Philly is still doing their Mini key lime pie (B110), but another Italian-American addition is the housemade Almond cannoli (B120 a piece). The American-sized crisp pastry shell is filled with homemade vanilla-ricotta and garnished with chocolate and almonds. A delicious little treat.
Another very American dessert is the Hot fudge sundae (B350 serves two) with vanilla and chocolate ice cream from Ici Patisserie, whipped cream, warm chocolate fudge sauce, peanuts and a cherry on top. (Just like it is depicted in all those Archie comics.)
South Philly pop-up @ Casa Sapparod, Charoen Krung 44, Bang Rak / Call 083-469-4029, visit http://southphillybkk.com.
