A Fork in the road

Ellen Yin celebrates 10 years of a Philadelphia hotspot

TRAVEL. Before Philadelphia became a bastions of fine dining, there was Ellen Yin’s Fork. In the past 10 years, Yin’s bistro has changed from an upstart neighborhood restaurant to a destination restaurant for foodies everywhere. Yin laughs at how her restaurant went from being sandwiched between a dollar store and discount pants shop to one of the preeminent restaurants in one of the hot areas of the city, which is gaining recognition for its culinary offerings. “I know the landlord has high hopes for the renewal period,” she says.

Yin chronicled this transformation in her new book, “Forklore: Recipes and Tales From an American Bistro” (Temple University Press, $35). Half cookbook  and half personal history, Yin peppers the book with personal stories from her time as a co-owner of the restaurant, as well as her experiences with the many chefs who have walked through its doors. With each new chef comes new recipes and new creations, making “Forklore” a chronicle of how a restaurant evolved and changed.

Yet through it all, Fork has not deviated from what Yin believes a bistro should be. “To me, a bistro is a place people like to go; a neighborhood-type restaurant,” Yin told Metro. “It’s a place to meet friends and have good wine. Bistro cooking isn’t what I would call comfort food, but it does have this simple, warm, unpretentious aspect. We’ve always been striving to maintain that feeling hospitality-wise, food-wise, wine-wise and people-wise.”

Once her life settles down after the book release, Yin will settle back into her routine of running Fork and deciding what will happen in the future. “It is definitely a hard business,” she admits. “And after 10 years, do I want to open a new restaurant? More Forks? Fork is my baby and it’s hard to let go.”