Stephen Starr's Newest: Talula's Garden

Stephen Starr is set to open his newest restaurant — number 23 overall — this Monday, April 11. 

The new restaurant is called Talula’s Garden and it’s a collaboration between Starr and Aimee Olexy of Talula’s Table in Kennett Square.

Talula’s Garden will serve creative garden and farm-inspired food, offering dinner from 5 p.m.-11 p.m. nightly, plus Sunday brunch. The new Talula’s will be opening in the space that was formerly Starr’s Washington Square restaurant, which closed in 2007.

The new restaurant will enter the Philadelphia dining scene with some very big expectations, largely on account of its pedigree. Upon opening, this will become the 16th Philadelphia restaurant for super-restaurateur Stephen Starr (and 23rd overall). And Aimee Olexy’s other restaurant, Talula’s Table, is said to be thehardest restaurant reservation to secure in the entire county.

On top of that, Olexy has been praised by publications such as Saveur, Food & Wine and the New York Times Magazine for Talula’s Table, the boutique gourmet market and restaurant she operates in Kennett Square. With only 12 seats available at Talula’s Table for its one nightly dinner seating, guests must call one year in advance to land a reservation.

In contrast, the new project in Washington Square will offer 102 seats, including a 66-seat seasonal outdoor garden. Diners can expect a constantly refreshed menu from Executive Chef Michael Santoro, based on rustic ingredients like pastured meats, farmstead cheeses and locally grown seasonal vegetables.

The new restaurant seems to be following an au courant trend toward these types of menus.

Menu highlights include starters such as veloute of sweet peas with cuttlefish “ravioli,” and a spring salad of herbs, flowers, and lettuces, with almond milk dressing and croutons. Main course dishes on the opening menu will include braised halibut, oxtail stuffed artichokes, sea beans, and Lancaster saffron barigoule; and roasted morels with new potato gnocchi, Meadowset egg, raisin puree and mushroom jus.

Olexy’s deep affinity for cheese will be evident with the restaurant’s expansive cheese program, which will feature a selection of artisanal cheeses paired with sweet and savory accompaniments. The cheese program will be a focal point of the restaurant as guests can watch the cheesemonger at work from behind a salvaged granite counter.