When the sun casts a shadow over Washington Square Park Talula’s Daily, transforms for Talula’s Daily Supper Club which hosts diners from 6:00 – 9:30 pm in an intimate setting with farm tables in the cozy 30 seat culinary setting. Talula’s Daily is located on Washington Square next to Talula’s Garden, owned by Aimee Olexy in collaboration with Stephen Starr. Talula’s Daily aims to be an everyday go-to for wholesome food and drink. This Fall, Stephen Starr and Aimee Olexy are proud to introduce to Philadelphia their newest restaurant concept, The Love. The restaurant, just steps off of beautiful Rittenhouse Square, serves creative American cuisine in a vibrant and carefree setting where the most important ingredient is the love of food and good friends.
Aimee Olexy grew up in West Chester, Pa., and her early food memories remain vivid as ever. “My parents were pretty hippie,” she laughs. “Guitars and gardens and tie-dyes. We ate simply and naturally, picked blueberries and squash and hid in forsythia bushes for fun.” As a teenager in the late ’80s, she landed her very first restaurant job at Conshohocken’s Spring Mill Café, where she was waiting tables, sweeping floors and even doing a little cooking. It was here that Olexy first uncovered her love of making people happy as well as her fascination with cheese, one of many areas of expertise displayed at her restaurants. “I loved pronouncing them and sniffing them and making the cheese plates, even then,” she recalls.
The early ’90s saw Olexy earning her English Lit degree from St. Joseph’s University, next up was an educational journey in France, where Olexy attended l’Universitie du Vin in the Vacluse, forming the groundwork of her wine expertise and further fostering her love affair with fromage. “I can remember every cheese and where and how they were made,” she says. “With food, I can remember everything.”
The year 2001 marked Olexy’s true arrival onto the Philadelphia restaurant scene with Django, a tiny 38- seat Society Hill restaurant that’s still, to this day, the only BYOB eatery ever to earn a four-bell rating from Philadelphia Inquirer critic Craig LaBan. In 2005, she decided to sell and relocate to Pennsylvania’s Chester County, they opened Talula’s Table in 2007. The Talula part is in honor of her daughter, Annalee Talula Rae. The “Table” refers to the gourmet-market-by- day’s nightly 12-person BYOB tastings, so incredibly coveted that reservations have to be made a full calendar year in advance!
Talula’s Garden, opened in partnership with Starr Restaurants in April 2011. Olexy’s energy can be felt throughout – from the cozy-chic décor and vibrant outdoor planter boxes to the elaborate pink-granite cheese bar inside, the restaurant is distinctly hers, no matter where you’re sitting. In May 2013, Aimee opened Talula’s Daily in the art deco-inspired Ayer Condominium building next to Talula’s Garden. Talula’s Daily borrows queues from Aimee’s market-by-day, Talula’s Table and when the market closes, the restaurant opens with a seasonal, monthly rotating, family-style supper menu is offered, bringing a new style of eating to Philadelphia.
Talula’s Daily Supper Club offers a monthly prix-fixe dinner menu which includes 5 courses for $55 per person. An additional beverage pairing is available for $35. They also offer a full beverage list including wines, local beer, and cocktails. In an exclusive partnership with Anthropologie, the table-top setting for Talula’s Daily is brightened be a colorful and refreshing collection of plates, serving pieces, cheese knives, glassware, and linens showing Anthropologie style in action. Talula’s Daily Supper Club menu reflects the best highlights of the season, showcasing superior local farm ingredients. October’s Menu is called American in Paris designed by Chef de Cuisine Kyle Clark.
Chef Kyle’s perspective is always rooted in European roots, particularly French foundations. October is such a glorious season in the local markets and we felt that celebrating historical Philadelphia flavors to the tune of A Parisien bistro cooking would be fun. We combined serious cooking with ideas that resonate in the season and tasted flat out scrumptious whether sitting in a cafe in Philly or in Pari!
We sampled the beverage pairing including 4 types of white paired with each course. The meal began with a glass of sparking white wine from Oregon. With light floral notes, this paired very well with the crispy Beef Croquettes which sat on top of a Chow-Chow Relish, Chicago Style with course grain mustard. Up next, paired with a glass of white Burgundy wine, was the South Philly Lyonnaise Salad on top of a Caramel Apple butter, with a light vinaigrette and nuggets of Fried Mortadella. This light and leafy frisee was tossed in the vinaigrette accenting the sweet apple butter and salty mortadella.
The special menu addition for the evening was a handmade Ricotta Gnudi pasta in a butter bone marrow sauce and with beechwood mushrooms. Going into dinner knowing about the prixe-fix 4 courses, this plate was a welcome surprise and portioned to share. Next was a Nero d’Avolo Mandarossa, from Sicily, Italy taste for the main course, Poulet En Vinaigre, this braised chicken breast was accented with cruncky little potato puffs and spirals of Fall squash.
And what would a meal at Talula’s be without some cheese! Talula’s is very well know for their extensive selection of unique and rare cheeses. We sampled Fruit and Fromage, tangy chevre cheese mixed with local dried cranberries and served alongside apple slices and homemade crackers. The final course was a Pear Tart Tatin with Cinnamon Ice Cream. We also received two small baggies of homemade granola to take home with us after. Reservations are now available via OpenTable to experience it for yourself.
And dont’ forget to stop by during the day! Talula’s Daily has all the essentials to stock your pantry: a wide variety of olive oils and vinegars, spiced salts, Italian pastas, European style butter, and more. Looking for the perfect cheese? Local. French. Stinky. Oozey. Sharp. Sweet. They’ve got it. And if you think you don’t like cheese, you just haven’t found the right one yet.
Talula’s also offers catering assistance for your last minute get-together, elaborate wedding, and everything in between. Elegant hors d’oeuvres, buffet-style entrees, cheese boards with our charcuterie, little sweets, and personalized cakes are all available.
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