butcher and singer

we took our nephew (party of 7) tobutcherand singer for his 21st birthday on friday night.. absolutely the right choice. christopher went above and beyond to make his birthday dinner a night to remember. he made suggestions that really enhanced our dining experience. when you go.. do not just focus on the food (although it was great).. enjoy the atmosphere, the conversation..the history and you will have a night to remember. oh.. make sure you get the truffle butter if you order stake. as we were driving away my wife said... so.. when are we coming back.. as they say happy wife happy life.. so we will be back soon... thank you once again..

the gf and i have been to butcher & singer several times for dinner and have reviewed their restaurant week lunch as well. i realized i had never highlighted their dinner on the blog though. so when it was her dad's birthday, i figured it was the perfect excuse to celebrate and cross another philadelphia institution off the list!

i’d always pass bybutcherand singer but didn’t care about it. when a friend ask me to pick a restaurant to try during center city restaurant week. i said i’m cool with any of the steakhouses. butcherand singer just happened to have an opening at a convenient time when we can all meet. i should have tried this place sooner. it’s one of the best steak experiences i’ve had with a lean cut like filet mignon. what made the difference was the wine pairing. for $10 a glass, it was a steal.

for my second restaurant week outing, i decided to head tobutcherand singer, another stephen starr classic. we had previously been here for dinner and had a wonderful evening. this time around, we invited one of our friends for lunch.

the interior certainly has an old hollywood vibe. with its vaulted ceilings, it is a gorgeous location to dine and people watch.

but what was i most excited about? getting to finally try thebutcherburger, an oft-acclaimed burger that is only found on the lunch menu, monday through friday. but perhaps i'm being a bit hasty ... so let's start with the apps! for those of you who don't know, restaurant week lunch, typically 3 courses, goes for $20 per person.

just a fyi - perhaps because it was lunch and/or restaurant week, bread service was not offered, though it is offered during dinner.

caesar salad

i went for the caesar salad, interested to try stephen starr's take on this classic steakhouse dish. this was fairly standard, with lots of shaved parmigiano regianno on top.

winter squash soup

the gf and our friend opted to try the winter squash soup. this was smooth and lightly creamy, with an undercurrent of sweetness from the squash. the herbs were a bit jarring - there were several small branch-like stems that seemed to get in the way of the appreciating the dish.

organic scottish salmon salad
arugula, roasted red pepper

the twins went for the salmon salad for their entrees. the greens were well-dressed and mixed with sweet roasted red peppers with a vinegary tang, gorgeous cherry tomatoes, and what was deemed to be out-of-place roasted potatoes. the salmon itself was glazed, but dry. it was telling when most of the ladies' salmon was left uneaten.

butcher burger
english cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, russian dressing

i went for the healthier tastier option. ordered medium-rare, this came out perfectly juicy and succulent.

the hefty portion of cheddar and the caramelized onions added additional richness to the dish. the russian dressing was not as noticeable as i would have liked but regardless, this was a great burger. the accompanying fries were thin, crisp, and well seasoned.

chocolate salted caramel tart

the tart was ordered by the gf as she is a huge fan of chef marcie turney's salted caramel budino at barbuzzo. the play on salty and sweet was prevalent here and appreciated. chocolate rice balls (think crunch bars) were nice additions on top of the whipped cream.

apple streusel
crème anglaise

the apple streusel was crumbly and delicious. the powdered sugar and the creme anglaise added sugary decadence. mascerated raisins helped to bring tart notes to the dish.

blood orange sorbet

i opted for the sorbet, which reminded the gf and our friend of flintstone push-pops (in a good way!). i appreciated that this creamy dish was restrained as i typically find blood orange desserts to be a bit too tangy and sweet for my taste.

overall, i'd love to return tobutcherand singer and have their burger again. but be sure to stop by for dinner to have one of their delicious delmonico rib-eyes, hockey puck sized stuffed hashed browns, and baked alaska. pure decadence and how a steakhouse should be run.

i came here for lunch since i was wandering around center city and was hankering for a good burger. when i walked in, i knew immediately i was under-dressed. i wondered if they would still seat me, and they did! you walk in, and it just looks like a swanky joint with its dark reds and brown interior design.  they did seat me off to this side section and i watched other well-dressed diners enjoy lunch in the central dining area while everyone else in jeans was seated in my section. ha……. the burger thebutcherburger had english cheddar cheese and fried onions on top. it also came with some sort of house sauce. i was going to order french fries on the side but the waiter informed me that the burger came with fries! sweet! i asked for my burger medium-well and the waiter raised his eyebrows as if to say, “really? come on!” so i immediately changed my order to medium and he looked more pleased. my medium burger i was ve

a great restaurant week visit.butcher& singer participated in a restaurant week promotion here in philadelphia where people can enjoy a meal from a limited menu for less than what a typical dinner would cost (prix fixe). in this instance the limited menu was very limited and was made up partly of items not on their regular menu.

i got an uneasy feeling this might be more like i was going to hear an investment sales job (seminar) at a very nice restaurant where the food is not as good and not what they usually serve. that was not the case at all. the food was in fact excellent. i chose the filet mignon and mashed potatoes that were also listed on their regular menu. i also ordered a separate onion soup (au gratin) off the regular menu, influenced by other great reviews i read. the soup was very good, especially the cheese that was so thick it was hard to cut into bite-sized pieces. the filet was seasoned nicely and cooked perfectly. the mashed potatoes were creamy and still kept the taste of potatoes. the two other items i ordered that were not on the regular dinner menu, a beet salad and a chocolate pudding dessert were good but not great.

service was ok, maybe not quite as attentive as you might expect from a high-end restaurant, but certainly not missing. all in all it was a very good meal at a less than usual price. i really like restaurant weeks.

while house-sitting in bella vista and living out my city-girl life, i met r for lunch atbutcher& singer to try one of their famed burgers. i had no idea how fancy this place was on the inside. i felt pretty bad showing up all schlubby and sweaty after having biked there. but they seemed fine in letting me in. we showed up not during prime lunch time, so it wasn't all that busy. it seemed that everyone got the burger, so that's what we did too. and here is the famedbutcherburger! it is topped with english cheddar cheese and a healthy helping of fried onions. you also get iceberg lettuce (yeah!), tomato, and pickles. and it's all served with singer fries. what did i think? this was a great burger! the meat was a tad bit too salty for me (but i don't like salty things much) but otherwise, it was great. it's a fat burger, so it's a bit difficult to eat, but that seems to happen a lot. i also liked the roll, it wasn't too much b

high prices, great service, not so good food.. during christmas, we received a 100 dollar gift certificate to any steven starr restaurant. this past weekend, we finally got around to using it. on saturday evening, we stopped intobutcher& singer, one of the few steven starr restaurants we had not been to. pulled up to the corner of 15th and walnut and dropped the car off with the valet. (trust me the valet parking is worth the price, for piece of mind about parking around the center city location.) after having the days specials given to us, our waitress took our orders. for an appetizer i ordered the french onion soup au gratin. my wife ordered the crab cake. the onion soup was fantastic. with dark bread steeped in the soup and caramelized onions in a rich beef broth, then smothered with a mixture of mozzerella, parmesian and swiss cheese, i couldve eaten two orders of the soup alone. sadly, that was the best part of my dinner. my wifes crabcake was average, as it was dry, and didnt have the flavor she was expecting. i ordered the del monico steak medium, with the stuffed hashbrown, and my wife ordered the filet medium rare, with the flash fried half moon potatos. the flavor was missing on both the potato dishes. the hash brown was stuffed with cubed boiled potatos, mixed with sour cream, and diced onion. this had almost no sour cream flavoring, and my wifes potatos were just over fried. my steak was rare, and my wifes filet was medium well. all in all for the money we spent on top of using the $100. gift card, we couldve gone to a less expensive steak house and received the same quality of meat with alot more flavor.

nothing short of perfect. halibut, swordfish, creamed spinach, stuffed hash browns, caesar salad,butchersalad, all so right i ate here 2 nights in a row. congrats to mr. starr

in philadelphia, there is no shortage of steakhouses – all the chains are there (morton’s, smith & wollensky, ruth chris’), but we were looking for something with some local flavour – andbutcher& singer, part of the starr restaurants group – at least di

a throwback with modern twists.butcher& singer is currently the city's best "date" restaurant with a hip, fun vibe. at times advertised as "old hollywood" --- think more "rat pack". the background music should always be frank, dino, perry como, doris day, or 50s - 60's jazz. wonderfully consistent food -- have a crab/shrimp louis salad, or steak diane. the french onion soup is the best in philadelphia. while steaks and chops reign supreme, the seafood entrees are wonderful too. no one goes just once.