a.kitchen+bar Chef Eli Collins Shares His Favorite Family-Friendly Restaurants in Philadelphia

Palizzi is one of my favorite places to eat — it’s in-your-face simple and tasty. I go once a year during Christmas with my wife; it seems like a movie set at that time. I grew up in Scranton, Pa., and my neighbors were Italian, so Italian food was one of my first full-flavor food memories. Palizzi truly gives you a flavor of South Philly and Italian American culture.

I like sitting at a bar stool and getting a Negroni, Caesar salad, and semolina gnocchi. The Caesar salad is done really well, and it’s exactly what it’s supposed to be: nicely seasoned, the lettuce is fresh and crisp, the croutons are both crispy and crunchy, plus there’s white anchovies. My wife loves their crab spaghetti so we get that every time. It’s not a huge menu so I love that I can eat just about everything.

Bartender Jorgen Eriksen has always treated us very well at Palizzi. You can tell when you’re eating at a restaurant [like Palizzi] that when people love it, they eat there regularly. If you sit around long enough here, you’ll notice conversations from long-built relationships. There’s a feeling of genuine kinship among staff and patrons.

I used to live in Chinatown and loved having late-night meals and affordable snacks. It’s a very fun experience to go to Chinatown and see the slew of different restaurants from all different countries in one place. Now, we go there as a family — we’re not a fancy dinner kind of family, so it’s great for my kids.

We’re all in on Dim Sum Garden’s pork soup dumplings; my boys love them. We just get a ton, and everyone digs in. I also love the beef shin noodles. It’s just a perfect family-style meal where everything is on the table to eat. It’s a very bustling environment too, which I love and the kids find entertaining.

Walk-ins only.

There is not one food in my life that I haven’t eaten more of than pizza. Pizzeria Beddia is our favorite pizza place. The seasoning is at the exact level of deliciousness here. The pizza is perfect every time: a nice crispy crust and the right amount of chew. Pizza is such a subjective thing, but what they execute is unique, it looks cool, and there’s simplicity. We usually get a chicory salad, which is always prepared with care, tomato pie with anchovy pizza, and a bottle of riesling or aligoté. I can never resist the affogato to finish.

[Editor’s note: The feeling is mutual when it comes to Pizzeria Beddia chef-owner Joe Beddia.]

I could eat Korean barbecue once a week. Several years ago, a friend introduced us to Korean barbecue and we have been hooked since. Kim’s is the best place. It has become our go-to Christmas Eve dinner as a family. We have also now celebrated several birthdays at Kim’s. I think my kids can have picky tastes but when presented with something thoroughly delicious, they can’t deny it, and that’s the case with Kim’s. We usually get the combo, which comes with six different meats (we like the spicier cuts) as well as banchan and soybean stew with vegetables.

Call (215) 927-4550 to make a reservation.

Forsythia is a French bistro that feels very much like Christopher Kearse and also Philadelphia. Chris has spent his entire life and career here and his menu is clearly the heart and soul of French bistro cooking. He’s cooking for the Francophile community in Philadelphia, which is even reflected in Forsythia’s gorgeous Old City building.

I feel like Chris and I come from some of the same places, I always felt a connection to his work. I’ve been obsessed with French bistro cooking for all of my career. Chris is constantly tweaking and getting better; he’s part of that classically trained chef generation. You can see it as his menus evolve.

Ideally, I’d come here on a day off to get an early cocktail (any variation on a Manhattan) and snack at Forsythia. I love his take on French bar snacks — they’re so elegant and delicious. He used to have fried cornichons on the menu, a fun French version of fried pickles. I think that’s such a fun thing to do with French American bar food — to have more sophisticated bar snacks than traditional bar snacks.