New Restaurant

Went out to dinner for my wife's birthday last night, to the brand new Parc restaurant on Rittenhouse Square. It's a new Stephen Starr restaurant, and as such has a clear theme. This one is a Paris bistro. Having been in Paris a few months ago, I can report that it is a perfect knockoff. It looks like it's been around for 100 years, even though it opened 2 weeks ago. This strikes me as an interesting job, making something brand new look old. Parts of it, of course, can be accomplished simply by furnishing with old things, including mismatched chairs and bathroom fixtures with age-cracked porcelin. But it would seem like at least something in the place has to be bought new and made to look old.

There were only a couple of things that seemed different to me. First there's the size. This place is immense. It must seat 500 people. It's easily twice the size of any place I've ever been in Paris. The second thing is the noise. I'm not sure that I've ever been in a louder restaurant. My ears were ringing for an hour after we left. The waitress (a third difference is the service was very friendly) had to come to both sides of a table for 4 to take our order and I still only heard half of what she said. The wine steward told me that they'd hired an acoustician to try to improve things. The food was excellent, though, and I'd definitely go back.

I should also mention that the people eating and drinking there (and it was packed, inside, outside and at the bar) were the most attractive group that I've seen in a Philly restaurant. It made me feel much better looking than I really am just being there. When we came out there was an orange Lamborghini two seat convertible sitting at the curb. I'm sure I'd be even better looking if I was driving that thing.