Greg Vernick doesn’t open restaurants casually. After first helping elevate Philly’s dining scene with Vernick Food & Drink, and then Vernick Fish, he’s now turned his focus to Emilia on Frankford Ave.—a neighborhood Italian restaurant that feels more relaxed, but delivers the same caliber of simply delicious food.
Natural textures define Emilia’s intimate Fishtown dining room.
Emilia is “a light and bright, pasta-forward Italian restaurant,” says the James Beard award-winning chef and restaurateur of his first foray into Fishtown’s ever-evolving restaurant scene. Rather than anchoring the thoughtful menu to a single region in Italy, Vernick and his team “keep it looser, while keeping handmade pasta at the center.” And for chef de cuisine Meri Medoway, whose heritage informs her connection to Italian cooking, pasta is personal. “Early in my childhood, I learned that cooking is a way to show love and gratitude,” she says. Building a pasta-driven menu “was a goal from the beginning”—and it shows.
The tortellini in brodo arrives in a clear, savory broth, the thin pasta carefully folded around its filling, the bowl restrained and focused on balance. The rigatoni ragù bianco moves in a richer direction, with wide tubes of pasta coated in a savory sauce that settles into each ridge, the texture of the noodle carrying the dish as much as the ragù itself. And the lamb sugo is rich, rustic and deeply savory.
Dining and Cooking