Goodbye to Chifa

Peruvian Cantonese? I asked the same question to myself a year ago before we first went to Chifa, for my birthday, the now closed Peruvian Cantonese restaurant in the Washington Square, Philadelphia neighborhood. 

This photo of Chifa is courtesy of TripAdvisor

 

It was by far the most ambitious of Jose Garces restaurants and apparently a harder sell since it closed one month ago. If you were late to the news like us, the Garces Group has closed Chifa to open a Cuban diner in its place. I get it: you have to sell what appeals to the widest audience. I guess that's why Chifa's most loyal customers liked it, it didn't just appeal to everyone. 

 Based on the cuisine of Cantonese Chinese immigrants who moved to Peru in the 19th century, Chifa was all about Cantonese cooking techniques with Latin flavor. 

Courtesy of Visit Philly

Aaron and I have done the Chef's tasting menu with my family for my birthday celebration and have gobbled up their amazing happy hour deals more times than I can count. But I guess we were part of the problem, we LOVED Chifa, but we just don't have the money to drop $100 on dinner so instead we spent $40 on happy hour with drinks and tapa bites galore and called it a month. The wait staff and bartenders were always beyond impeccable. Thank you for being as nice to us between 5 and 7 as anyone else. I will miss you expertly done Inigo Montoya cocktail, $6 cava and tofu or pork belly bao buns more than you know.

Courtesy of Philly 2night

Garces other restaurants who are more traditional in their approach seem to be doing fine. Amada, Tinto, Garces Trading Company, Distrito and the list goes on.

 I get the reasoning behind closing Chifa, if you are going to charge what you charge you need to give the people what they want. With Alma de Cuba and Cuba de Libre, and many haute diners like the Continental already established, I wondered if a Cuban Diner concept will really make a splash. But hey, best of luck and I hope it works. You just better have the Inigo Montoya on your cocktail menu or I'm not coming...
 
Good bye Chifa, thanks for being awesome while you still could. Mr. Iron Chef Garces, I'm still kind of mad at you, but I'll get over it in a month...I think. Though I do accept bao buns as apologies. It's an official policy here. 

Love,

The Cuisiner