3 Philadelphia Restaurants Must Be Saved: Esquire Magazine

PHILADELPHIA — Restaurants have been decimated among the coronavirus. Many have been forced to permanently close due to revenue loss amid government imposed restrictions and a lack of patronage during the pandemic.

This led Esquire Magazine to release a list of the "100 Restaurants America Can't Afford to Lose."

Among the 100 were three Philadelphia restaurants.

"What if those places were to vanish," the magazine writes. "What if you were to wake tomorrow morning and learn that that remnant of your life—and that portion of your community’s lingua franca—had been erased?"

And now that winter is in full swing, many restaurants are struggling even more as fewer people choose to dine outside.

"We love restaurants here at Esquire, and we hope that during this holiday season you’ll consider making donations to Southern Smoke and the Lee Initiative and other organizations that are helping restaurant workers endure the crisis," Esquire writes. "We also hope you’ll raise a toast to these spots around the country—old and new, scruffy and spiffy—that we consider restaurants that America can’t afford to lose. Because if we lose them, we lose who we are."

Below are the three Philadelphia restaurants featured on the list and what Esquire writers have to say about them:

Abyssinia

"Oh, I love that place." That's what I often hear from Philadelphians whenever I happen to mention Abyssinia. The connection runs deep. And that's no surprise, because the warmth of the hospitality at this beloved Ethiopian spot makes you feel as though you've joined a family for dinner in their home—even if you happen to be dining alone. A little while back, when I was teaching a writing course at Drexel University, I used to catch an early train from Manhattan just so that I could get a quick, quiet lunch of injera and stews at Abyssinia before dashing to the classroom. But it's even better with a big group. Let's all gather here when the pandemic is over. We'll have a feast.

Fork

I got my first restaurant job at Fork restaurant when I was just out of college. Fork had recently opened and added an elegant vibe to Philadelphia’s Old City. My entire family has dined at Fork and loved every meal—from shrimp and grits at brunch to Champagne roasted chicken (takeaway) dinners during quarantine. Every experience at Fork is edifying. Ellen Yin has maintained this gem for more than two decades and I hope it lasts at least another twenty years.

Kalaya

No punches are pulled by chef/owner Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon and her remarkably spicy, funky, practically vibrating Thai dishes that are a snapshot of her mother’s recipes she learned while growing up in Southern Thailand.

Numerous restaurants in the Philadelphia have closed since the start of the pandemic. See Patch's list of closed restaurants here.