No great, modern, truly cosmopolitan city in the 21st Century is without a hotel scene that its tied to an equally enchanting and tastefully composed restaurant. That has been the case ever since the wealthy, boozy, married detectives of The Thin Man came bounding into the legendary Waldorf Astoria hotel, sucked down several martinis and began their beguine of fine dining in style.
The Waldorf Astoria New York still has its Peacock Alley as The W in Manhattan has its Heartbeat. The Conrad in downtown Los Angeles has two swank new spaces in which to dine, the San Laurel and Agua Viva. The Rosewood in Washington DC has the elegant Grill Room. Chicago’s Peninsula Hotel has its Z Bar lounge and its Lobby dining space among several tony eateries.
The idea of sophistication is not solely devoted to price points, but rather the tasteful way that a hotel’s restaurants match the décor, decorum, and decadent taste levels of its restaurant – for local habitues treating the restaurants as a daily dining space, as well as visiting tourists looking for something comfortable, cool, and culinarily thrilling.
The Cordish Companies’ Live! Casino & Hotels in Hanover, MD and Philadelphia, PA (they also, in tandem with Loews Hotels & Co created Live! by Loews’ upscale hotels in St. Louis, MO and Arlington, TX), understand what it means to provide high minded concepts of lodging and gaming to its partners in dining. While the Maryland Live! works with renowned national chefs such as Bobby Flay for its restaurant spaces, the new-ish Philadelphia Live! Casino & Hotel paired up with a tony East Coast classic – the Prime Rib – and turned an old world traditional, but sleekly handsome version of the Rib into its anchor restaurant.
Joe Billhimer, the Executive Vice President of Cordish Gaming Group told Philadelphia Weekly that when his company began strategizing how to bring Live! Casino & Hotel brand to life in Philadelphia, it was important that the experiences – gaming, dining, entertainment, hospitality – were equally exciting, sophisticated, and meaningful to city residents as well as being a draw for tourists. “A commitment to excellent service across all the Cordish properties is in our DNA… and we wholeheartedly understand the direct line between a city’s desirability and stature and its hospitality offerings,” said Billhimer. “When travelers are deciding where to go, where to spend their hard-earned dollars and precious time off, we know accommodations and entertainment – great food and nightlife – weigh heavily in that process.”
A new hotel such as Live! could have simply gone with an entirely new restaurant concept. The Cordish crew happened to go another way with a goal of being a “good neighbor and positively contribute to the city’s well-deserved reputation as a top destination for restaurants and warm hospitality.” Being that the Cordish family had a long-standing relationship with the Dolan family operation of the Prime Rib – a four-decade old, Center City/Rittenhouse area steakhouse room dedicated to martinis and (filet) mignons – making the Rib Live!’s flagship dining experience at its Philadelphia location was a no-brainer.
“We considered how best to re-imagine a Center City Philadelphia favorite for a new, more diverse crowd,” said Billhimer in consideration of the dressed-up millennial diners, say, on a Thursday night at Prime Rib where its piano player rocks out, Chef Justin Nelson throws down a mean porterhouse and bartender Dan Kulisek keeps the martinis dry. Add in the Wells Fargo Center/Lincoln Financial/Citizen Bank ballers and the Live! casino’s gamblers, and you have a party.
“We worked closely with the restaurant’s second-generation owners Brenda and Rebecca Dolan to take some of the features that make The Prime Rib so unique and blend them with new design elements and experiences, such as the Library Bar and private dining area with floor-to-ceiling windows,” said Billhimer “It was an exciting step for the family-owned restaurant to return to Philadelphia through this partnership, and we’re beyond proud to have brought the shared vision to life. And, remember, the Prime Rib space at Live! is vastly different than the previous Philadelphia location. We and The Dolans re-imagined its old-world glam through the classy, sophisticated viewpoint of today’s guests. High ceilings appointed by swanky chandeliers, luxurious seating and cushy booths, beautiful, patterned floors. While the traditional Prime Rib and steakhouse dishes will always be mainstays, we further appealed to hotel and casino guests with our special nightly menu features. These offer something a little different each night for those who visit daily or are staying with us for a while. For instance, our Bubbles and Pearls champagne and oyster special on Wednesday followed by our Lucky 8 menu and live music by Dan Kulisek on Thursday nights have been a big hit with guests and keep them continually engaged. Whether you are staying in the hotel for a few nights or live nearby in South Philadelphia, it is nice to have exciting new reasons to visit.”
The Hyatt Hotel chain across the United States has several brands within its bigger umbrella brand in which to contend: the Hyatt House and the Hyatt Regency, for example. Newest to the Hyatt’s hospitality chain, however, is its design-conscious, artisan-favoring, locally-minded boutique hotel, the Hyatt Centric. With 40 Centrics in the U.S., alone, at the present time, the Hyatt Centric Center City, in Philadelphia, was the 21st of its boutique spaces to open in 2021, on a corner of Rittenhouse once occupied by one of Philly’s finest, sleaziest downtown diners.
Elizabeth Fricke, the Associate Director of Sales for everything Hyatt states that the overall goals of its hotels’ brand – no matter which experience you choose – has always been to create a seamless and quality experience for their guests.
“Whenever you have two parties that can make decisions with a shared goal at top of mind, the result will always be a consistent and elevated product,” stated Fricke. “The Centric brand started with a passion for sharing our favorite local spots and stories with our guests. This inspired Hyatt to create the perfect launch pad for savvy travelers – a unique home base with everything they need and nothing they do not. You will find Centric’s at the center of some of the most unique destinations, always in the middle of the action.”
In Philadelphia, for example, being at the center of any action means touching on that city’s high mind for high and low cuisine of every taste and ethnicity done boldly and delectably.
When it came to finding and/or making a restaurant for the newest in the Hyatt Centric chain and its open, airy blonde-wood-heavy rooms (the large flatscreen television on both sides of the living room/bedroom is a particularly nice touch), Fricke said the Hyatt’s top executives held open discussions regarding its culinary space that started during the concept inception of the hotel design, and were thoroughly discussed throughout the architectural design. “Some of the more pertinent topics discussed from the start were culinary concepts, back of house design as well as front of house designs with a heightened conversation regarding meeting space and differentiators from competitors, which included incorporating AV in all meeting rooms.”
Landing as they did at Patchwork- an all-day-all-night-all-meal dining space, a multi-ethnic-inspired menu with Philadelphia flair – the Hyatt Centric team had to make sure the restaurant had equitable taste levels, literally and figuratively, with what the new hotel property had in mind. “The restaurant build out was based on what would best flow into the lobby aesthetic and design, creating an open restaurant and lobby space for guests,” said Fricke. “Once our design team was brought in, there were opportunities to incorporate elements that spoke to not only to the Patchwork name, but also to the history of Philadelphia, staying consistent with the Centric brand.”
Ask Executive Chef Jonathan Dearden, the man behind making Patchwork purr, and season to taste, he said that when he first met the hotel group, he and his staff were immediately impressed with the level of professionalism, attention to detail and drive that the Hyatts held enthrall. “We were pleased to bring a new and personalized restaurant, Patchwork, to the Hyatt Centric, something that reflects the hip vibe in the lobby with a modern American menu tapping into Latin and Asian influences. Gearing more towards very well thought out appetizers for the purpose of table sharing was key. And menu items such as our refined Spanish octopus dish with pork belly pairs great with a glass of red wine, or our Tommy’s Margarita with agave and lime. We wanted this restaurant to have a soul of its own. We have been working tirelessly to create a unique and intimate dining experience here at the Hyatt Centric with rotating menus and new and inventive cocktails.”
Or four or five inventive cocktails.
These two new hotels and their tony, tasty restaurants are simply the best, most recent examples of what it means to be a truly cosmopolitan city in the 21st Century. Raise a glass to the Thin Man, and let’s eat and staycation.
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