Where Chef Tyler Akin Gets His Noodle Fix in Philadelphia

It’s amazing and charming that Fiore serves a full dish of pasta at breakfast. Their cacio e pepe has a richness you’d find in American breakfast foods like biscuits and gravy or chicken-fried steak with sausage gravy. It’s so decadent. I order a cortado to go along with it. I also like their breakfast pastries—the maritozzi and pistachio cornetti. They also have a ricotta cake that is delicious; you can’t lose with anything in their pastry case. Chefs Justine MacNeil and Ed Crochet do an incredible job. Everything you eat there is wholesome and thoughtfully sourced.

Perfect for mid-morning, Pho Ga Thanh Thanh opens at 10 a.m. I’ve been going here since I moved to Philly from D.C. in 2012. Sit down and get a sidecar of salt, pepper, MSG, and habanero for your chicken pho. There’s something so fresh about their broth. It feels like the chickens that went into it were just slaughtered, the stock was just made, and it was just ladled out for you. It has a lightness that also packs a punch. I order the whole chicken with the pho on the side.

You must get lunch at Spice C. I’ve had many dishes here, but I’m most happy with their big bowl of beef noodle soup. I’m more of a shaved-noodle person than a hand-drawn-noodle. I get it spicy, with some combination of cuts—oxtail, brisket, and tendon are my go-tos. I add the pickled mustard greens sitting on the table, and I never wear a white shirt there because my shirt always gets destroyed while slurping—every single time.

Chef Liz Grothe is always doing cool new shapes of pasta, some of which I’ve never had before. She has a deft set of hands and an instinct for how to properly cook and sauce pasta. I love how her menus cycle through different regions of Italy. When she was running her Sardinia menu, she made lorighittas—little rings that start with two strands of semolina dough braided together. It’s a special shape. I also like Liz as a person; she keeps it real in ways that I’m afraid to.

It took me twelve years of living in Philly to make it to Vetri. It was an amazing experience. Vetri is the most important restaurant in Philadelphia, and the family tree—the lineage of chefs—that has emanated from Vetri has touched all of us. I’ve encountered hand-me-down Vetri recipes while working for Jim Burke at James. These sorts of tentacles have also spread out. They do a prix fixe menu and a tasting menu. With the tasting menu, I had a corzetti made with masa and beef cheek, which, flavorwise, read like a tamal. It was really surprising. Marc Vetri is still pushing the envelope. We also had spaghetti with seafood XO sauce recently.

Executive chef Sam Henzy came from Middle Child Clubhouse, which is a favorite of my family. I grew to love Sam’s pastas there. I’ve known him since college—we both went to the University of Delaware—and I’ve been following what he’s been doing for years. He has an incredible knack for delicate, filled pastas.

Her Place is invariably delicious and another example of Vetri’s chef lineage. There’s an honesty and approachability to Amanda Shulman’s supper club that makes it best in class—you feel it when Amanda is speaking to the diners about the ingredients on the plate, hearing about them in her words and how she arrived at decisions—what cheese is grated on top, where the vegetables come from. It’s always interesting to hear her perspective. I like the whimsy and playfulness that’s always on offer.