"It feels like cheating to call out a 'restaurant' on this list of newcomers that is, at best, liminal. In Philadelphia, chef Liz Grothe has made quite a name for herself over the past year with her buzzy personal project, Couch Cafe, a supper club she constantly sold out from the comfort of her apartment. When I attended Grothe’s Feast of the Seven Fishes, she served up elegant trout-stuffed culurgiones, a generously plump, crimped Sardinian pasta-dumpling situation that is so pillowy, the dish has been haunting my thoughts since. Whether delighting diners with her pasta prowess or paying homage to her home state of Oklahoma (think chicken-fried steak), Grothe’s Couch Cafe allowed her to play even as she worked in some iconic Philly kitchens. Now she’s building out Scampi, an Italian American prix-fixe restaurant that—we expect—will channel the whimsy and experimentation of her supper club in more professional digs." - ByThe Bon Appétit Staff & Contributors
