High Street Hospitality Group (HSHG) owners chef Eli Kulp and restaurateur Ellen Yin are proud and excited to announce two new appointments within their group: chef Jon Nodler will officially assume the role of executive chef at High Street on Market and will turn over the culinary reins at AKA Rittenhouse Square to chef Eli Collins, who will join the team as executive chef at a.kitchen and a.bar.
“As the group continues to evolve, we will work closely with our growing team to bring a fresh culinary vision to each of our kitchens,” says Kulp, culinary director for the group’s five restaurants (Fork, High Street on Market, High Street on Hudson, a.kitchen and a.bar). “We are confident that Jon and Eli will bring exciting new ideas to their restaurants’ menus while upholding the same standards of excellence that our guests have come to expect.”
High Street on Market
Chef Nodler has been with the group since 2012 in numerous different capacities, including chef de cuisine of a.kitchen and a.bar, which The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Craig LaBan named among his Top 25 restaurants. Nodler was recently named a Rising Star Chef by Star Chefs New York for his work at High Street on Hudson, where he earned a coveted “Two Stars” review from Pete Wells of the New York Times.
“Jon has already earned national recognition and critical acclaim from his work at all of our restaurants and was intimately involved in creating the menus for both High Street kitchens, so he is personally connected to the restaurant’s unusual and demanding breakfast-through-late-night concept,” says Kulp. “His alt-grain pastas are a staple on the menu, and his thoughtful cooking is as diverse as it is delicious. We know that he will bring exciting new dishes and an unrelenting commitment to quality to his new role.”
Chef Nodler was a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for “Rising Star Chef” in 2015, as chef de cuisine at a.kitchen+bar. High Street on Market was named “Restaurant of the Year” by The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2014, and Bon Appetit named it the number two restaurant in the country in its annual “America’s Best New Restaurants” issue. Travel + Leisure also named High Street on Market among the best new restaurants in the world in 2015.
a.kitchen+bar
Chef Collins is best known for his work at the popular neighborhood restaurant Pub & Kitchen, but his extensive culinary background also includes time in Manhattan at Daniel Boulud’s Michelin-starred contemporary French restaurant Daniel, as well as executive chef at Boulud’s DBGB Kitchen and Bar, a more casual yet enduringly popular brasserie. For his work in Philadelphia at Pub & Kitchen, he received a glowing “Three Bells: Excellent” review from The Inquirer’s LaBan.
“I am excited to join the High Street team and to collaborate with talented chefs such as Jon and Eli,” says chef Collins. “However, I’m most excited to lead this amazing restaurant forward into a new chapter, with a new menu that will complement our award-winning 400-label wine list with both light snacks and hearty meals. I look forward to working with seasonal produce, coastal fish and top-notch meat from our network of exceptional local producers and purveyors.”
HSHG has operated a.kitchen+bar at the AKA Rittenhouse Square since 2014. They have amassed a compelling collection of accolades, including a “Three Bells: Excellent” review from The Philadelphia Inquirer. a.bar was twice named among the top 10 bars in Philadelphia, and a.kitchen appeared on Wine Enthusiast’s list of “America’s Top 100 Wine Restaurants” in both of the past two years.
Find High Street on Market at 308 Market St. in Philadelphia; phone: (215) 625-0988. Find a.kitchen and a.bar at 135 S. 18th St. in Philadelphia; phone: (215) 825-7030.
- Photos, top to bottom: Dan Abraham, Jason Varney, a.kitchen and a.bar
