High Street is a full-service restaurant and bar from High Street Hospitality Group, founded by James Beard Foundation Award-Winning Restaurateur Ellen Yin, located in the Washington Square West neighborhood of Philadelphia. High Street’s menu is anchored by a celebration of locally sourced grains across pizzas, pasta, and breads highlighting seasonal, Mid-Atlantic produce and meats, fish, and cheeses, paired with local spirits fueling classic cocktails and an all-American wine program. Beyond the restaurant and bar, High Street neighbors The Back Room, an elegant private dining and event space, and High Street Bakery.
High Street Eateries: A Focus on New Culinary Ventures
“We are so excited to debut the new, more grown-up version of High Street,” says Founder and Co-Owner of High Street Hospitality Group, Ellen Yin. “The addition of the 14-seat bar is all-new for the High Street concept, and we look forward to offering that new experience to guests with cocktails powered by local spirits, domestic wine, and zero-proof cocktails. On the food side, guests will notice a more succinct menu that, in my opinion, reflects how most people want to eat — snacky, family-style, comforting plates Washington,” Yin contwineinues.
History
High Street relocated to Washington Square West in October 2020. Spurred by a 150% rent increase for the renewal of their 15-year lease pre-pandemic, the original High Street on Market in Old City was forced out of its seven-year home. Adapting to a takeout-only model with an emphasis on catering and delivery was fitting for the times, but there was always a plan to return to High Street’s beloved restaurant model.
Food
All things culinary are led by Christina McKeough, chef of High Street since 2019, who enlivens High Street’s passion for locale and grains across a seasonal menu showcasing High Street Hospitality Group’s long-standing relationships with local farms and vendors. Handmade pasta and pizzas with High Street’s distinctive sourdough crust anchor the menu which ranges from $8 to $38. Stand-outs include:
- Hand-rolled Pici with little neck clams, saffron, bottarga, and bread crumbs
- Steak Tartare Toast with marrow, fish sauce, and horseradish
- Lamb Meatballs with celeriac tzatziki, Marcona almonds, ricotta whey
- Delicata Squash, Calabrian Chili Oil, Honey, Burrata Pizza
- Brussels Sprouts with sweet potato hoisin and peanuts
- Rye Cannoli with chocolate chai cream, apple butter, black tea caramel
“Leave it to Us” offers guests the opportunity to sit back and let High Street take the reins of the experience. The $75, four-course prix fixe menu served family-style includes an assortment of breads and spreads, followed by pizza and/or pasta, meat or fish, and dessert. Dishes will be a mix of on-menu favorites and off-menu surprises and delights. Guests may opt for the additional cocktail or wine pairing for the experience.
A newly introduced 20% hospitality fee is added to all checks and is shared equally among front-and-back-of-house teams to ensure greater equity.
Drinks
High Street’s first-ever bar features a cocktail program created by Harry Jamison, a longtime member of High Street Hospitality Group and current general manager of a.kitchen+bar. Celebrating local and American spirits, the menu includes cocktails ranging from $13-$16 that are seasonally driven, and collaborative with the kitchen on ingredients, yet are classically inspired. The menu includes:
- Lo High Five with Rum, Chinese 5-spice, lime, and pineapple
- Northern Spy with Trabanco Cider Aperitif, citrus, cinnamon, and bubbles
- That One Whiskey Sour with rye whiskey, Fernet, lemon, and maple syrup
High Street’s wine program exclusively features American wines available by the glass and bottle. The program was developed by Frank Kinyon, beverage director of a.kitchen+bar whose selections have led a.kitchen’s to great acclaim from Wine Enthusiast, Wine Spectator and was named a semifinalist in the 2022 James Beard Foundation Awards for “Outstanding Wine Program,” and Chef Christina McKeough, who has a particular affinity for the upstate New York and East Coast wine regions informed by her time working and living in the Finger Lakes.
The Back Room
High Street’s 35-seat, 440-square-foot private event space is dubbed “The Back Room.” With its own private Chestnut Street entrance, in-room private bar, dynamic table arrangements, and tech accessibility, The Back Room can accommodate daytime or evening corporate events, social event gatherings, and everything in between, with room for 50 people reception-style. The Back Room is an ode to Fork’s private dining room which was attached behind the original High Street and lost in its 2020 relocation. (834 Chestnut Street, thebackroomphilly.com)
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Design
Designed in partnership with Ellen Yin’s long-time collaborator Marguerite Rodgers Interior Design who also designed Fork, High Street on Market and High Street on Hudson, High Street Philadelphia is a 1,350 square-foot space home to 38 restaurant seats, a 14-seat bar, and an open bakery that accommodates baking and pizza classes. The dining room has 12-foot ceilings lined with full-length windows creating warmth amid concrete floors, dark-stained church pew booths, and painted wood paneling. A refreshed iteration of High Street’s iconic Varles 1803 map, representing the restaurant’s ethos of local sourcing, is visible from the entry while maps of Philadelphia showing the City’s growth and evolution are also on display. Factory windows fabricated by Alli Fabrication offer a view from the dining room into the adjacent High Street Bakery where mixing and shaping take place. The Back Room offers a sleek, pliable aesthetic and layout of dark walls, neutral woods, and fabric paneling, plus the artwork of Parisian Orphic Cubist Sonia Delaunay – one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, Matt Imperiale, and many PAFA artists including Anthony Demelas (who painted Fork’s iconic mural), Thomas Gaughan, and Patrick Connors.
Future
High Street Bakery will be continuing to produce all bread and the shop will continue to operate with an abbreviated takeout and grab-and-go menu. Over the next few months, the space will undergo some slight renovations and a menu refresh, skewing more daytime-focused, with Head Baker Delilah Pergola at the helm, offering laminated pastries, a new coffee program, and grab-and-go items. High Street Bakery is open Monday – Friday 8AM to 7:30PM; Saturday 8AM to 7PM; and Sunday 9AM to 1PM.
101 S. 9th Street | Tuesday – Thursday 5-9 PM, Friday – Saturday 5-9:30 PM | highstreetphilly.com | @highstreetphl | Resy
