The mad culinary talent that fueled the gloriously off-the-wall menu at the defunct Adsum restaurant is back at it in his new Center City digs.
Executive chef Matt Levin has taken his talents to the space formerly occupied by a Marathon Grill outpost and launched Square Peg, 929 Walnut St. And while there aren’t any dishes as crazy as his (in)famous Tastykake sliders (tiny burgers with Kandy-Kake “buns”) in the new place, there are still some moments of delicious genius here.
The starters we tried were nothing short of addictive, none more so than the mac & cheese grilled cheese ($9.50), which at first sight is so very, very wrong. It is a middle finger the size of the Comcast Tower to anyone who is the slightest bit wary of carbs (or cholesterol). But its moist, cheesy onslaught is too good to condemn for its flagrant lack of health consciousness. And if you happen to dip it into the slightly spicy drunken tomato soup accompanying it, it’s a wrap. Short of being violently lactose intolerant, you cannot resist.
The deviled eggs ($4) have a pleasantly spicy kick thanks to some wasabi mayo. The fried chicken tacos ($9) were super bad-ass with crispy and juicy pieces of chicken tossed in a tangy sauce.
Back at Adsum, Levin showed love for the Canadian staple poutine (French fries smothered in brown gravy and cheese curds) on his menu. The incarnation topped it with foie gras, which sounded more inspired than it turned out to be. At Square Peg, he gives poutine a solid nod by putting it on the all-day breakfast menu. The breakfast poutine ($13.50) uses sausage gravy instead and tops the whole shebang with crumbled bacon and over-easy fried eggs. It’s an obscenely decadent way to start the day, unless you have a hangover or a long day of lumberjacking ahead of you, and scratches the breakfast itch nicely.
The house specialty at Square Peg is the fried chicken ($17) and it’s easy to taste why. We dare anyone to find a better piece of chicken in the city.
Yeah, we said it.
Perfectly hot, tender, juicy and crispy, this specimen inspired us to go all piranha on the two healthy pieces we got. The honeyed hot sauce on the plate was a nice bonus and the dish was accompanied by Kool-Aid-pickled watermelon (which was an appetizer back in the Adsum days) and some impressive collard greens. (If you can get us to like collard greens, color us impressed.)
We hit a bump in the happy road with the cheesesteak pot pie ($16.50), which took the air out of our sails as soon as it hit the table. When you say “pot pie,” the image that instantly materializes is a flaky pie shell enveloping a steaming hot bastion of hearty goodness. In this case, the steaming goodness was a bowl of soupy cheese with steak and peppers topped by a chapeau of puff pastry. Now, because we had “pot pie” on the brain, something inside of us dejectedly put out the pouty lip and said, “Aw, man.” Then another part of us got irate and silently exclaimed, “Aw, hell no! You get all fancy and French on us now!”
Try as we might, we couldn’t get as excited about this dish, even with the tiny bottle of sriracha that came with it.
The General Tso’s chicken cobb salad ($14.5) is an inspired idea that was undermined by the huge crumbles of blue cheese, like unsubtle grenades of flavor elbowing everything else out of the way.
But all was forgiven when the smoked black-bean chili hit the table ($14). It was so substantial and spicy that we didn’t care that there was no meat in it. Any time we love a vegan chili as much as its meat-laden cousin, you can take that to the bank. The grilled corn off the cob ($5) was another winner, every bit as fresh, buttery and crunchy as if you’d just gnawed it yourself.
Levin has definitely upped his game with his new place and menu. Square Peg is the perfect fit for Philly.