Category Archives: Press

Square Peg Fits Fine
By Larry Nichols

The mad culinary talent that fueled the gloriously off-the-wall menu at the defunct Adsum restaurant is back at it in his new Center City digs.

Executive chef Matt Levin has taken his talents to the space formerly occupied by a Marathon Grill outpost and launched Square Peg, 929 Walnut St. And while there aren’t any dishes as crazy as his (in)famous Tastykake sliders (tiny burgers with Kandy-Kake “buns”) in the new place, there are still some moments of delicious genius here.

The starters we tried were nothing short of addictive, none more so than the mac & cheese grilled cheese ($9.50), which at first sight is so very, very wrong. It is a middle finger the size of the Comcast Tower to anyone who is the slightest bit wary of carbs (or cholesterol). But its moist, cheesy onslaught is too good to condemn for its flagrant lack of health consciousness. And if you happen to dip it into the slightly spicy drunken tomato soup accompanying it, it’s a wrap. Short of being violently lactose intolerant, you cannot resist.

The deviled eggs ($4) have a pleasantly spicy kick thanks to some wasabi mayo. The fried chicken tacos ($9) were super bad-ass with crispy and juicy pieces of chicken tossed in a tangy sauce.

Back at Adsum, Levin showed love for the Canadian staple poutine (French fries smothered in brown gravy and cheese curds) on his menu. The incarnation topped it with foie gras, which sounded more inspired than it turned out to be. At Square Peg, he gives poutine a solid nod by putting it on the all-day breakfast menu. The breakfast poutine ($13.50) uses sausage gravy instead and tops the whole shebang with crumbled bacon and over-easy fried eggs. It’s an obscenely decadent way to start the day, unless you have a hangover or a long day of lumberjacking ahead of you, and scratches the breakfast itch nicely.

The house specialty at Square Peg is the fried chicken ($17) and it’s easy to taste why. We dare anyone to find a better piece of chicken in the city.

Yeah, we said it.

Perfectly hot, tender, juicy and crispy, this specimen inspired us to go all piranha on the two healthy pieces we got. The honeyed hot sauce on the plate was a nice bonus and the dish was accompanied by Kool-Aid-pickled watermelon (which was an appetizer back in the Adsum days) and some impressive collard greens. (If you can get us to like collard greens, color us impressed.)

We hit a bump in the happy road with the cheesesteak pot pie ($16.50), which took the air out of our sails as soon as it hit the table. When you say “pot pie,” the image that instantly materializes is a flaky pie shell enveloping a steaming hot bastion of hearty goodness. In this case, the steaming goodness was a bowl of soupy cheese with steak and peppers topped by a chapeau of puff pastry. Now, because we had “pot pie” on the brain, something inside of us dejectedly put out the pouty lip and said, “Aw, man.” Then another part of us got irate and silently exclaimed, “Aw, hell no! You get all fancy and French on us now!”

Try as we might, we couldn’t get as excited about this dish, even with the tiny bottle of sriracha that came with it.

The General Tso’s chicken cobb salad ($14.5) is an inspired idea that was undermined by the huge crumbles of blue cheese, like unsubtle grenades of flavor elbowing everything else out of the way.

But all was forgiven when the smoked black-bean chili hit the table ($14). It was so substantial and spicy that we didn’t care that there was no meat in it. Any time we love a vegan chili as much as its meat-laden cousin, you can take that to the bank. The grilled corn off the cob ($5) was another winner, every bit as fresh, buttery and crunchy as if you’d just gnawed it yourself.

Levin has definitely upped his game with his new place and menu. Square Peg is the perfect fit for Philly.

  Uwishunu – July 26, 2012
“Roundup: Top Picks for Late-Night Deals for Good Eats and Drinks at Philadelphia Restaurants” – Square Peg is included in a compilation of 16 notable Philadelphia eateries offering late-night discounts and food and drink specials.

Bacon and Booze Leave Us Satisfied During Brunch at Square Peg
By Brian Freedman

Mid-morning on a Sunday can be a delicate time. What seemed like a good idea the night before, that extra cocktail at the bar before heading home, the bag of pretzels or chips on the couch to absorb the excess booze … The brunch choices made on a Saturday or Sunday morning are, as often as not, medical decisions as much as they are gustatory ones.

The irony, of course, is that that delicate condition often necessitates aggressive food, the fat and salt salving our wounds. And Square Peg, at brunch at least, does so with real success, whether or not you’re still cotton-mouthed from the night before. For instance: banana bread, while nothing out of the ordinary, is nonetheless a warm plate of comfort, the palm-thick slices studded with melty chocolate chips and topped with generous pats of caramel butter. Deviled eggs leverage the subtle heat of a wasabi mayo and a caviar-like dollop of pickled mustard seeds to electrify the silky yolks and slippery whites.

Matt Levin, of course, has come in for a bit of criticism for what he’s done here. He was, after all, the chef at Lacroix, where he managed to meld fine dining with a more brash, contemporary spin. Then at Adsum, initially a critical darling before losing its mojo, Levin found his footing with an almost ballet-like dance between the high and the low.

At Square Peg, however, though some of his old twists are still in evidence, his focus at brunch is on comfort almost exclusively. And he’s taken a bit of a beating as a result; the online commentariat have been ambivalent, the word-of-mouth, especially regarding dinner, uneven. We, however, have decided to review the Peg’s brunch, as the restaurant’s space, formerly Marathon Grill, is, for many of us, inextricably associated with that meal. So we set out to see how it handled the weekend tradition.

Say cheese: Is it grilled cheese, or mac ‘n’ cheese? It’s both!

Quite well, it turns out. In addition to the standards, there are enough tweaks throughout the menu to keep things interesting. Grilled cheese is stuffed with mac and cheese: It’s a fatty, gluttonous, satisfyingly uncomplicated dish, with a successful interplay between the gooey and the crisp. An omelet is filled with a smoked goat cheese that somehow actually highlights the sweetness of the eggs themselves. The breakfast sandwich is a massive, fat torpedo, the eggs just drippy enough, the chihuahua cheese melting throughout, the homemade chorizo sizzling with a low-level spice that’s more implied than realized; porkiness is the focus here. Neither one is a life-changer, but they’re well-crafted components to a more than respectable brunch-time repertoire.

It’s with the cocktails that things get a bit more creative. I particularly liked the Bacon Mary, which bypasses vodka as a base for the bacon infusion and instead uses Laphroaig 10, whose own smokiness and inherent salinity are perfect compliments to the pig. The Bourbon Royale is a sort of amped-up riff on the bellini, with Combier providing the fruit and Maker’s Mark an added sense of smoke and honey to the champagne.

Of course, a brunch beer is also a great option, especially with the hangover-killing fried chicken. And while I’m not sure the Kool Aid-pickled watermelon is any better or more interesting than plain old slices of the fruit, it really didn’t matter: That chicken, almost inconceivably moist inside its shatteringly crisp crust, is a more than worthy addition to our city’s already substantial selection of fried birds. The General Tso chicken Cobb salad, on the other hand, is a bit more outré, though ultimately a success. It makes sense on the palate, if not immediately on paper: The salty-sweetness of the quintessential cheep-Chinese delivery dish pairs well with blue cheese and bacon. There’s an honest, visceral satisfaction to it.

When it comes to brunch, Square Peg is a more than worthy successor in the old Marathon space, and an appealing addition to the city’s ever-expanding base of weekend-morning dining options. It may not be Lacroix, or even Adsum, but it’s not supposed to be. And in terms of what it’s trying to achieve, it’s hitting its mark very well.

   Foobooz – June 5, 2012
“Late-Night Industry Brunch at Square Peg” – Announcement of Foodustry’s first industry event to benefit CORE with a “pay-what-you-want” dinner and silent auction held at Square Peg.

   Korin – June 6, 2012
“Chef Matthew Levin from Square Peg” – A Q&A with Matt Levin on his career, favorite dishes, future plans and favorite cutlery by Korin, a retailer of Japanese tablewear and chef knives based in Manhattan.

  Drink Philly – June 12, 2012
“12 Picks for Center City Sips” – Drink Philly highlights the top Center City Sips participants based on atmosphere, beer, food and drinks, listing Square Peg for its accompanying food specials.

   Foobooz – June 19, 2012
“Six Pack: Deviled Eggs are Having a Moment” – Square Peg is included in a roundup of Philadelphia eateries including creative takes on the classic deviled egg.

   The Philadelphia Inquirer – June 27, 2012
“Building a better burger, with tips from the pros” – A piece on the growing trend of chefs grinding their own fresh meat to create signature burgers, featuring photos and quotes from Chefs Matt Levin and Guillermo Pernot.

   Philly.com – June 28, 2012
Chef Matt Levin’s recipe for Square Peg’s roasted onions.