Whether it’s an intimate rendezvous over pasta and cocktails or a retreat to a quaint farmhouse for French fare, these are the secret date-night spots chefs love.
Little Water’s dining room / Photograph by Gab Bonghi, originally published in Little Water: A Poetic Exploration of Land, Water, and Comfort Food
From first dates to proposals, some of the most romantic moments in people’s lives happen at restaurants. But for folks in the food industry, the business of running a restaurant is a labor of love — especially for those who count their significant other as a co-worker.
Curious to know where Philly’s restaurant couples go when they’re looking for a romantic dinner of their own, I asked some for their recs. From a cozy South Philly social club to a suburban supermarket, here’s where you can find them on date night.
Randy and Amanda Rucker
Messina Social Club, East Passyunk
On their rare nights off, the duo behind River Twice and Little Water look forward to visiting Messina Social Club, where they’ll order the Messina salad — one of the members-only spot’s signature dishes, made with lettuce, saffron ranch, white anchovy, and cauliflower — the hand-made pastas, veal parm, and all the dessert. “We live just down the street and it’s consistently incredible,” Amanda says. “Eddie Konrad is one of the best chefs in the city.”
While they love the food, no visit to Messina is complete without a cocktail. Randy starts with a bar staple, the $8 Carrot — a Best of Philly-winning combination of carrot, lemon, black pepper, juniper syrup, and brown sugar, with a dill garnish — while Amanda opts for the $16 Carrot, the same drink but with gin and aquavit. “They also make fantastic milk punches,” Amanda says. With clarified-milk cocktails having a moment, there are usually a couple available on Messina’s bar menu.
Messina’s “dark and cozy” ambiance also keeps the Ruckers coming back, Amanda says. “It’s a place that always feels special, familiar, and exciting every single time.” And luckily, you don’t have to be a chef to go there — for the average food lover in Philly, it’s relatively easy to get a membership to Messina Social Club; anyone interested in joining can start the process by simply sending them an email. 1533 South 10th Street.
Scott and Lulu Calhoun
Little Water, Rittenhouse
“With two kids and conflicting work schedules, date nights are rare,” says Lulu Calhoun, who owns Ember & Ash with her husband, executive chef Scott Calhoun. But when they do go out, they make it count — with dinner at Little Water (yes, Randy and Amanda Rucker’s place in Rittenhouse).
The Calhouns kick things off with the Grand Plateau, a lavish platter of fresh seafood; the selection varies depending on availability, but right now it’s heaped with raw oysters, shrimp cocktail, snow crab claws, lobster tail, swordfish belly, mussels escabeche, smoked fish pâté, and tuna ‘nduja. Then, they’ll order the hash brown: neat rectangles of crispy potato topped with peekytoe crab salad, celeriac, and Maine uni. To drink, there’ll be something sparkling on the table. “I’m a bubbly girl,” Lulu says.
And when they’re at Little Water for lunch, the Calhouns get the chicken-fried chicken, served on Texas toast with bread-and-butter pickles and a smoked trout roe-buttermilk dressing. It’s not available on the dinner menu, but it’s a worthy excuse for a daytime date. 261 South 20th Street.
Vic Sushi Bar / Photograph by Kae Lani Palmisano
Brett Naylor and Nicole Barrick
Vic Sushi Bar, Rittenhouse
When Wilder owners Brett Naylor and Nicole Barrick go out, they often head down the block from their restaurant for dinner at Vic Sushi Bar. “We love this place,” they say. “It is also owned by a husband-and-wife team, and makes great and affordable sushi and rolls.” Their go-to orders are the oshinko roll, yellowtail jalapeño sashimi, and tuna dumplings.
And while they’re on Sansom Street, Naylor and Barrick will swing by the record store Long in the Tooth to “talk music and pick up a record or two before dinner.” 2035 Sansom Street.
Sang Kee Peking Duck House, Chinatown
Another of Naylor and Barrick’s favorite dinner spots is the Chinatown institution Sang Kee Peking Duck House.
They’ll bring their son along to make it family night, and get the Peking duck dinner for four — a whole Peking duck, XO duck and string beans, wonton noodle soup, spicy duck and pineapple fried rice, walnut shrimp, and chicken with eggplant. They leave with full stomachs and enough leftovers for the next day. 238 North 9th Street.
Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby
H Mart, Elkins Park
Since Vedge chef-owners Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby moved to Chester County, most of their free time is spent at home on their farm. “I cook whatever we are picking that day and serve it with a starch or grain,” Landau says. “We eat, drink, listen to music and watch the sunset. For dessert, we pick raspberries and eat them right on the spot.”
When the couple does venture out, though, they gravitate towards spots where they can unplug from work, and instead “talk about food, ingredients, culture, and where we will travel to next,” Landau says. One of their favorite places to do just that is the food court at the Korean supermarket H Mart in Landau’s hometown, Elkins Park, where the chef says they order “an embarrassing amount of food,” including dolsot bibimbap — made without meat or egg — and vegetarian pho dotted with tofu puffs. 7320 Old York Road, Suite #110.
Spring Mill Cafe, Conshohocken
When Landau and Jacoby want a more romantic vibe, they’ll go to Conshohocken’s Spring Mill Cafe, which serves cozy French fare out of an old general store and converted farmhouse. One of their most memorable dishes there is the tofu tagine, made with tomato and North African spices and served over pearl couscous with dried apricots, harissa, and yogurt. (While the tofu tagine isn’t on the menu at the moment, Spring Mill says it’ll be back in the spring; they’re serving a braised chicken version, and there’s usually a lamb tagine available, too.) “It’s just a great plate of food in a beautiful, cool, quaint setting,” Landau says. 164 Barren Hill Road.
