June 8th 2016 - Food & Wine magazine announced their annual list of Restaurants of the Year, and among the 10 honorees was Ellen Yin and Eli Kulp’s High Street on Hudson. The restaurant, which debuted in Manhattan’s West Village in December 2015, is High Street Hospitality Group (HSHG)’s first outpost outside of Philadelphia, where they first established their reputation as one of the nation’s most ambitious and gifted hospitality groups.
“Our entire staff – front and back of the house – has worked tirelessly to create a great dining experience that is welcoming, comfortable and delicious. We are so proud for them to receive this as recognition for their hard work,” says Yin, who opened her first restaurant, Fork, nearly 20 years ago and brought Kulp onboard as executive chef in late 2012. The pair went on to open High Street on Market, the inspiration for High Street on Hudson, and also operate a.kitchen + a.bar at AKA Rittenhouse Square.
High Street is a standard bearer in the new generation of full-service morning-through-evening restaurants serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily. Morning includes breakfast sandwiches with local meats and vegetables on breads by two-time James Beard Award “Rising Star” finalist Alex Bois and pastries by Samantha Kincaid, a Food & Wine Best New Pastry Chef in 2014. The lunch menu features something for everyone including inventive renditions of classic sandwich combos and seasonal fresh salads. Creative, share-able dinners featuring Bois’ breads and Kulp and team’s contemporary American pastas and plates are available after 5:30 p.m. every night except Tuesday. Delivery through Caviar is also available for breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday, and dinner reservations have fast become among New York’s most coveted thanks to the bold, dynamic menu.
“We are so pleased that the reception to High Street on Hudson had been incredible, and thank our team for upholding uncompromising standards of excellence every day,” says Chef-Owner Kulp, whose career took off at New York’s Torrisi Italian Specialties before he partnered with Yin, earning glowing reviews at each step along the way. “Ellen and I could not ask for a more dedicated, talented group of colleagues, and we share this exciting moment with all of them.”
The Food & Wine honor is the latest in a steady stream of critical praise: In his “Two Stars” review, The New York Times’ Pete Wells called High Street on Hudson “an adventurous and often exciting restaurant…[it] doesn’t just put on a show at night and wait for you to be impressed…[they] understand that coffee and a great pastry can be just as meaningful before noon as an artfully plated duck breast is after dark.” Steve Cuozzo of the New York Post called it “the year’s best new restaurant” and a “culinary miracle”: “Dishes as beautiful as these want to be seen as much as savored.” New York magazine and Grub Street named the Roast Pork the city’s best sandwich, and New York was bowled over by the restaurant itself, writing that its “frenetic, multifront hospitality” is “designed for maximum, round-the-clock utility…I was won over in the end by the fact that most things tasted very good” in a roundly positive “Three Stars” review. The restaurant is operated by co-owners Yin and Kulp, as well as a talented team that includes Culinary Director Jon Nodler, Chef de Cuisine Taylor Naples, Head Baker Alex Bois, Pastry Chef Samantha Kincaid and General Manager Julie Gray.
The Restaurants of the Year is Food & Wine’s definitive list of the 10 most exciting new places to eat in American right now. The complete Restaurants of the Year 2016 report, with insights on why all 10 restaurants made the list, is available online (click to read) and will also appear in the July issue of the magazine, on newsstands June 15.
