Portraits of Philly: Mish Mish’s Alex Tewfik

Clay Williams: What’s making Philly such an exciting city to eat and drink? What makes it stand out to you?

Alex Tewfik: Philly’s kind of like a city-sized restaurant incubator — in that it’s a great place to launch an idea. Right now, the rent — compared to other big food cities like NYC, L.A., and SF, at least — is still relatively affordable for small businesses. The close-knittedness of the restaurant industry creates a built-in network of people and experts to help get your idea off the ground. There’s this scrappiness about the restaurant scene that’s really endearing and enduring and lovable. It’s a great place to realize a dream, big or small, and because of that, it’s become an entire city of dreamers. You always want to be inside a restaurant that means something to the people running it — and if you’re eating in a Philly restaurant, there’s a great chance it does.

Now that Philly has been established as a food destination, what comes next? How do you want to see the food scene develop and grow? What do you want to stay the same? What does Philly need more of?

I think Philly will always benefit from thinking outside itself, even just a little bit. We’re a very prideful city, which is wonderful in a lot of ways, but I think it would benefit everyone in the restaurant industry to travel, to see what other vibrant cities are doing in the world of food and drink — and then bring some of it back with them. Stealing an idea is stupid, because it’s really difficult to replicate someone else’s restaurant idea, but it’s important to be inspired and it’s important to stay inspired.

Who or what in Philly is inspiring your creativity right now? What are you eating or drinking that you are excited about?

I love when I go somewhere in Philly and it feels like I’ve somehow left Philly. I feel like I’m in L.A. every time I’m at Eeva [sadly now closed] for dinner. When I go to Superfolie, I feel like I’m in some back-alley bar in Paris. It feels like I’m on a mini-vacation every time.

I’m also really into restaurant design identities — the way restaurants present themselves to the world on social media or with their menus or branding, and it’s cool to see how Philly’s evolving in that respect. Meetinghouse’s design stuff is super captivating. It feels so different from everything else in Philly right now.

How do people in the Philly hospitality community show up for one another? Do you find it to be more or less than what you hear of in other cities?

I think because Philly and Pennsylvania don’t make things easy for restaurant owners, it’s kind of like … we’re all we’ve got. Sometimes, national food media doesn’t quite get us. Sometimes, our local media doesn’t quite get it. So, we’re kind of all we’ve got. And in that way, we’re all very supportive of each other and constantly shouting each other’s successes. We’re ready and willing and excited to give people their flowers when they’ve earned it.

What are you focusing on right now? Are you working on anything new?

Mish Mish requires so much attention. But I’ve got a million other ideas, too. I just need the time and space to do them.

Clay Williams is a Brooklyn-based photographer whose work takes him across the country and beyond, documenting stories of food, culture, and community. Follow him at @ultraclay.