Walnut Street Café — Philadelphia, USA

By
last updated
in Features
dining area view
(Image credit: press)

There are, we think, at least two good reasons to dawdle around Cira Centre South, Philadelphia’s first urban experimentation with vertical neighbourhoods. One is to admire Pelli Clarke Pelli’s crystalline FMC Tower just south of 30th Street station, and the other is Walnut Street Café on its ground floor. 

Designed by local architects BLT and New York-based Parts and Labor Design, the lofty 21-foot ceilinged space features a café lined in penny tiles and green terrazzo. 

Here, flanked by a walnut and brass staircase, and a towering travertine bar, Melissa Weller (ex-Per Se) stocks the pastry counter with pistachio cherry croissant, and spinach and feta bureka, to go with Rival Bros. coffee. 

For more serious gastronomic pursuits, a dining room framed by a hand-blown brass and glass chandelier and an open kitchen sets the stage for chef Daniel Eddy’s American menu of Porterhouse steak with Bordelaise sauce and roasted shallots, and ravioli draped with Brown Butter, ricotta, and mint.

dining area with outside view

(Image credit: press)

staircase at a restaurant

(Image credit: press)

bar view

(Image credit: press)

staircase view

(Image credit: press)

dining area view

(Image credit: press)

INFORMATION

Website

ADDRESS

2929 Walnut Street

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

Daven Wu

Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.