JOHN PATTERSON PROMOTED TO EXECUTIVE CHEF AT FORK: Owners Ellen Yin and Eli Kulp are proud and excited to announce that Chef de Cuisine John Patterson has been promoted to Executive Chef at their landmark Old City restaurant, Fork.
“After 19 successful years, I am delighted to announce Chef Patterson as the fifth executive chef at Fork,” says Yin, whose High Street Hospitality Group (HSHG) makes up one of the best regarded teams of young culinary and hospitality talent in the country. “For the past two and a half years as chef de cuisine, John has upheld our high standards, and his commitment to excellence makes him a natural choice to lead Fork’s next chapter.”
“Over the past year, I have watched John use his talent and passion to bring his own voice to the table,” says Chef Kulp, who was a 2016 James Beard Award finalist for “Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic” for his work at Fork. “He has earned this title, and over the past year as acting chef, he has crafted seasonally driven, high-quality meals for our guests that are at once delicious, thoughtful and consistent with the sterling reputation that Fork has earned with nearly two decades of extraordinary cooking and hospitality.”
Guests have gotten to know Chef Patterson recently through his successful Wednesday night series of tasting menus, each grouped around a central ingredient or theme and intended to showcase the diverse and gifted kitchen team that he oversees at Fork. Recent dinners have included “From the Forager,” a collaborative effort with local forager Evan Strusinski, and “From the Fish House,” a celebration of local seafood.
“Fork has achieved lasting relevance by constantly looking forward,” says Chef Patterson, a former sous chef under Chef Michael Anthony at New York’s legendary Gramercy Tavern who supported the chef during his James Beard Award-winning year in 2012. He brings a gracious hospitality, as well as a bold culinary vision, to Fork. “I am proud to contribute to Fork’s ongoing exploration of contemporary American cuisine, and I look forward to an enduring and successful collaboration with Eli, Ellen and the rest of our talented team.”
A graduate of the Haverford School and Restaurant School at Walnut Hill, Chef Patterson also worked at such stand-out restaurants as Talula’s Table and Blackfish before joining the team at HSHG. He is a native of Delaware County, and realized during college, thanks to his work as a server, that his heart was in restaurants. He met his wife, a front-of-house restaurant manager, while working in New York after graduating from the Restaurant School, and the pair proudly returned home to Philadelphia. Today, they reside in Old City near Fork.
Chef Patterson will work closely with Chef-Owner Eli Kulp, who continues to direct the culinary vision of all HSHG restaurants, including Fork. They will work in partnership to guide and grow the menu, maintaining the uncompromising standards of excellence that Yin and Chef Kulp have cultivated across their group beginning at Fork nearly 20 years ago.
About Fork…Fork was a semi-finalist for the James Beard Award for “Outstanding Restaurant” in 2014, 2015 and 2016; and Chef and Co-Owner Eli Kulp was a finalist for “Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic” this year. Chef de Cuisine John Patterson was named one of the nation’s top “Up and Coming” chefs by Imbibe & Inspire, and The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Craig LaBan called the restaurant’s food “hauntingly good,” while Philadelphia magazine gushed over the restaurant’s “old-school excellence.” In 2014, Chef Kulp and Pastry Chef Samantha Kincaid were named among Food & Wine’s “Best New Chefs” and “Best New Pastry Chefs,” making Fork the only restaurant in the country to boast winners in both categories. Baker Alex Bois was a finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s “Rising Star Chef” award in 2015 and was a finalist again this year.
