Striped Bass will be closing at the end of the month notes Michael Klein. Stephen Starr will be remaking the space as Butcher & Singer Steak & Seafood. Starr hopes to have the “40s-supper-club-style steakhouse” open by October 1st.
BREAKING: Striped Bass to be reconceptualized [Food and Drinq]
Striped Bass [Official Site]

Several little birds – let’s call them Starrlings – have been twittering about an unholy alliance allegedly brewing between Marc Vetri and Stephen Starr.

There are two versions of this rumor making the rounds. One has Vetri and Starr partnering up on a new project at the now-shuttered Washington Square.

Another version has Starr either selling Striped Bass to Vetri or the two of them going into business there together. Our sources, Starrlings and otherwise, have long been chirping that Starr wants out of Striped Bass. The rumored asking price: $2 million.

I checked with Starr’s rep, a Cashman-iac, and she tells us “there is nothing definite to report at this time.” Which, you’ll notice, is not a no.

Vetri at the Bass could be a beautiful thing, especially if it was Osteria-like. Vetri with Starr? We’ll wait and see. Yes, wait and see.

Field Guide takes you around Philadelphia for a tour of oyster bars. Scoring them for cost, Guinness availability, wine list, old-schoolness and more.

• XIX
• Sansom Street Oyster House
• Coquette Bistro & Wine Bar
• Striped Bass
• Philadelphia Fish & Co.
• Original Snockey’s Oyster & Crab House

Shells Angels [Philadelphia Weekly]

City Paper names Philadelphia’s top five open kitchens.

1. Audrey Claire
2. Dmitri’s
3. Little Fish
4. ¡Pasion!
5. L’Oca

And although these are all fine restaurants and several are among our favorites. This list is incomplete without Striped Bass and Osteria. And speaking of Osteria, Thursday/Friday lunch starts today.

Air It Out [City Paper]

Philadelphia bars and restaurants continue to get kudos from national publications.

First it was The Grey Lodge and Southwark being named by Esquire as two of Best Bars in America.

Vetri and Striped Bass cracked Gourmet’s top 50 restaurants. Gayle’s veal stew was named one of the nation’s top ten restaurant dishes of the year by Food & Wine.

Then the Standard Tap and Grace Tavern were featured in Bon Appetit’s January issue on “new American pub food.”

Now McGillin’s Olde Ale House and the Walnut Room have been named in Nightclub & Bar magazine’s top 100 Nightclubs and Bars in the U.S.

Top 100 Nightclubs and Bars for 2007 [Nightclub & Bar Magazine]
McGillin’s Olde Ale House [Official Site]
Walnut Room [Official Site]

Philadelphia Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan looks back at the year in dining, reviewing the highlights and checking in with several restaurants to see if chef/owner changes or experience have warranted a change in grade. Striped Bass held on to its four bells despite chef Christopher Lee�s departure earlier this year. The news out of Django isn�t as good as the former four beller has dropped all the way down to two bells, having “taken a noticeable step down in elegance and execution.”

Also revisited were Astral Plane, Raw and Ted�s Montana Grill.

Rising stars [Philadelphia Inquirer]

The Mobil Travel Guide has awarded a five-star rating to Philadelphia’s Le Bec-Fin and four-star ratings to Lacroix at the Rittenhouse and Striped Bass.

Le Bec-Fin rates five Mobil stars again [Philadelphia Business Journal]
New Mobil Ratings: Quixotic Attempt at Scientific Objectivity [Grub Street]

October’s Gourmet Magazine lists the top 50 restaurants in the country and two of them reside right here in Philadelphia.

In at number 16 is Striped Bass, while Vetri hits the list at number 25.

America’s Top 50 Restaurants [Gourmet Magazine]
Striped Bass [Official Site]
Vetri [Official Site]

Christopher Lee of the Striped Bass has left Stephen Starr’s Walnut Street Seafood spot and has headed up the Turnpike to New York and Gilt (pictured above).

Liebrandt Out, Christopher Lee In at Gilt [Eater]
Best New Chefs – 2006 – Christopher Lee [Food and Wine]
Gilt – Eye-opening, Eyebrow-Raising [New York Times]
Striped Bass [Official Site]