It’s not often you find a restaurant newcomer in an already established city that has the power to show dining reviewers, press, critics and snippy diners something they’ve never seen before. Noble will wow all four on all three counts: personality, atmosphere and food.

Bruno Pouget and Todd Rodgers designed Noble, a restaurant on the 20th block of Sansom that has a granite sidewalk counter (you’ll see a crowd of laughing imbibers, having wine and enjoying in the indoor/outdoor design) with two large canopy windows (an idea that Pouget and Rodgers got from a delivery window they saw in New York). Pouget and Rodgers had met in New Jersey and originally worked together on Blue in Sea Isle with chef Steven Cameron. The three musketeers closed Blue to concentrate on Noble. Turns out their hands came up flush; Cameron was a semi-finalist for the James Beard award right under Jose Garces, turning out breaded and fried poached eggs (honestly, how does one even do that?). Pouget and Rodgers revamped the Noble space with a bubinga-wood bar (one large cut from an African tree trunk), custom-cut antique hickory floors and stairs (rustic slates of wood reclaimed from oak bar timbers), huge skylights, an herb roof garden and indoor tomato plant and wheat grass planters. Royal flush.

The 100 percent seasonal menu is 95 percent from a Lancaster co-op (and 60 percent of the time it works every time). Cameron outdoes himself with the fried poached egg, but also stuns with morel-mushroom sides (perfectly burnt in a cast iron skillet) and mint-avocado scallops that were perfectly crusty on the outside. Get the sweet onion rice pudding with the lemon and grass-fed shortribs, but only with the shortribs (it’s too perfectly matched with the ribs and too exceedingly wrong for anything else). Rodgers is in charge of the beer and wine list. “There are a number of great restaurants in Philadelphia that lean towards Spanish or Italian. Tinto and others. But no one was focusing on North American wines or craft beers, says Rodgers. Even though North Third may be the only place in Philadelphia that embodies what Rodgers is talking about, it is not accompanied with the type of dining Noble is striving for. “We call ourselves an American cookery,” explains Rodgers. “Not because we are boasting a patriotic heart, but we are a country of immigrants and a country of many different cooking styles and that’s what we want to embody.”

For first timers, ask for Ryan to be your waiter, a sweet, funny and patient guy who will answer all of your questions. You can also catch Cameron behind the bar some nights, and Rodgers and Pouget walking around the dining room every night of the week. No matter what you decide, we suggest a French ’75 at the outdoor bar and anything that includes a fried poached egg.
 

Been to Noble? Tell us about your experience? Have photos of your food? Video from the bar? Let us know! CaitlinC@aycmedia.com.