PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Time now for The Dish and Mediterranean restaurants are having quite a moment in Philadelphia.
Action News visited the kitchen at Dear Daphni, the latest eatery in Michael Schulson's collection. It's the restaurateur's first Mediterranean venture and it's all about the shareable experience.
"Our mezze spread is an assortment all made fresh, daily dips," explained general manager Geo Stovall. "We make the hummus from scratch."
You can find Dear Daphni at the base level of the new Laurel high rise at 20th and Sansom streets in Rittenhouse.
"I've been with Schulson since Sampan," Stovall said. "I opened Independence Beer Garden and Double Knot and Harp & Crown, and now this."
Stovall said the difference at Dear Daphni is that they built this space from the studs up.
"This is a lot different than what we've done before," he said. "It's jewel tones, a lot more bright, a little bit more airy and definitely different than the Harp & Crown and Double Knot basements."
The name Daphni was inspired by both Greek mythology and the name of this building.
"She's wood nymph or a river nymph, and she was turned into a laurel tree," he says. "Her name was Daphni, so it's kind of a play into that mythology. She's our muse and Laurel speaks to the building we're adjacent to."
Each dish and each drink is drenched in Mediterranean flavors.
The classic tequila-based Paloma cocktail gets a Persian glow up.
"Obviously, there's grapefruit, some dried grapefruit, a little rosemary, and also Zaatar salt," Stovall explained.
You'll also find swordfish and filet mignon kebabs on the menu, as well as the Moroccan meatballs.
Ground beef is incorporated with golden raisins, pine nuts and basmati rice.
"The spice blend is our house made seven-spice blend," said executive chef Ryan Lloyd. "We have all spice, cinnamon, coriander, all the fun stuff from the Persian spices."
You'll still need onion and garlic, but also whole golden raisins and pine nuts.
"Then you have the Holy Trinity of herbs, which is parsley, mint and cilantro," Lloyd said.
Now, here's where it gets really interesting. Instead of bread crumbs or bread, Lloyd went with the more Mediterranean basmati rice.
Like any meatball, you incorporate it all with egg and get rolling.
These meatballs start out in the oven.
"We'll bake it at 400 degrees for about five to ten minutes," Lloyd said. "Just enough to kind of bind them together."
You can also just give them a good sear in a pan and skip the oven.
They finish cooking them in a Moroccan tomato sauce.
"This sauce is like a traditional Pomodoro, except we add more Persian spices to it," Lloyd said.
"We'll let that cook for another five minutes or so," he added, "Just bring the heat down, and all that sauce is going to absorb into that meatball mix."
Save some of that sauce for the big finish!
And because these are Mediterranean, they finish this dish off with whipped feta.
If you are looking for a few more ideas, you can bake the meatballs all the way through. That would take about 15 to 20 minutes.
You can also serve them with dips, like tzatziki.
Ingredients:
Process:
Serve plain or with sauce or dips!