Starr settles on Asian concept for new eatery

The restaurant will open next spring in Sansom Common. A new high-concept Asian-style eatery to be operated by popular Philadelphia restaurateur Stephen Starr will be opening in Sansom Common this spring, Starr said this week. Starr, the proprietor of the trendy Continental and Buddakan restaurants in Center City, said his restaurant will employ somewhat of a retro-futuristic decor. Specifically, he said, it will look like a 1960s Japanese vision of the 21st century. Construction has already begun on the new restaurant, which will be located at 37th and Sansom streets next to the rear entrance of the Inn at Penn. Starr has not yet chosen a name for the site. The interior was designed by the David Rockwell Design Group, the architectural firm which also designed the popular Nobu and Vong restaurants in Manhattan. "It's going to be very fun," Starr said, adding that the restaurant will feature a conveyor-belt sushi bar as a complement to table service. In addition to Asian cuisine, Starr said a few Italian items might be thrown into the menu to fully utilize the talents of his head chef, Naoki. Naoki, who goes only by his first name, has extensive experience in both Italian and Asian cuisines after working as a chef at Spago in Beverly Hills, Calif., and Obachine in Los Angeles, Starr said. The Sansom Common restaurant will be moderately expensive, according to Starr, and customers can expect to spend about $30 for a meal and drinks. The 7,500-square-foot restaurant, which is capable of seating up to 160 customers, will require about 90 employees for operation, he added. It will be Sansom Common's second restaurant. The Ivy Grille, an upscale restaurant run by the Inn at Penn, opened this week for a month-long preview period. Starr has also been asked to open a restaurant in Robert Redford's Sundance Cinema, which is under construction at 40th and Walnut streets and is scheduled to be finished in May. "I've met with Robert Redford a couple of times," Starr said, adding the two had not ironed out any definite details regarding the second restaurant's theme and menu. Tom Lussenhop, the University's top retail official, said he believes Starr's new restaurant will help Sansom Common achieve its goal of becoming a destination for visitors from outside of University City. "The food and environment that Stephen Starr provides in his restaurants are something people will go out of their way to go to," he said. With the addition of Starr's restaurant in April, Sansom Common will be all but complete after about three years of construction. According to Lussenhop, the only other vacancy in the retail complex lies between the Ivy Grille and Steve Madden Shoes on Walnut Street. The University is currently in negotiations with several prospective tenants for the final space. Right now, the front-runner is Papyrus, a California-based gift and card shop. If Papyrus moves into Sansom Common, it will be the first of its kind in Philadelphia, Lussenhop said. Starr, whose Buddakan opened a year ago and continues to generate rave reviews, will debut two more restaurants in Center City later this fall. The first, called Tangerine and located at 232 Market Street, will offer Morracan cuisine. The second, Blue Angel, will be a casual French bistro at 706 Chestnut Street, Starr said.