August 16, 2019

Chef Christopher Kearse opening Forsythia, new French restaurant

European cafes inspired the look of the Old City restaurant

By Sinead Cummings
PhillyVoice Staff

Courtesy of/Lexy Pierce

Forsythia is a new French restaurant from chef Christopher Kearse opening on Aug. 23 in Old City.

Chef Christopher Kearse will open his new restaurant, Forsythia, later this month, on Friday, Aug. 23.

The French restaurant and bar in Old City will serve dinner nightly. Menu highlights include rabbit porchetta, bouillabaisse, tuna collar and corn agnolotti with lamb ragu and porcini.

Also, those with a sweet tooth will be excited to know a petit four tower will be part of the dessert offerings.

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Kearse said that Forsythia's large kitchen allows him more room to experiment than his kitchen at Will BYOB, which he closed in April to focus on his new venture.

"Forsythia is an extension of my evolution as a chef. It's the next step. It's not Will 2.0," he stated in a press release.

"Will was very focused around one ingredient. (At Forsythia) it's so much a cross section of ingredients. It's more fun. It's classic French technique, but creative and with a twist," he explained.

Courtesy of/Lexy Pierce

Inside Forsythia in Old City.

As for the new restaurant's look, it was inspired by European cafes but given a modern vibe via Philadelphia-based interior designers PS & Daughters.

There's table seating for 60 guests, an L-shaped marble-topped bar that seats 14 and an open kitchen. The color scheme of white, green, black and gray is repeated throughout.

At the bar, guests can order cocktails, wines (mostly French) and wine-based cocktails. There will also be two beers on tap.

Forsythia – the name comes from the street in Levittown where Kearse grew up – will be open seven days a week for dinner

The bar will open daily at 4:30 p.m. and kitchen at 5 p.m. with last orders at 10 p.m. on Sundays through Thursdays, and 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

Walk-ins will be accepted at the bar and lounge in the front of the restaurant. Reservations for dinner can be made on Resy or by calling (215) 644-9395.

The restaurant's address is 233 Chestnut St. Below are more photos of the space.