Portraits of Philly: Chef and Partner Eddie Konrad of Messina Social Club

Resy: How long have you been working in restaurants? Have you worked in restaurants in other cities?

Eddie Konrad: I started cooking in high school. It was a culinary high school in Huntington Park in Philly that had a trade program, and at the same time, I took a bus after school to my part-time job at a restaurant in Cherry Hill, N.J. My dad would pick me up from there, and drive me back to Philly. After that, I went to Rhode Island to go to Johnson & Wales University. Then I lived in Maine for a little bit, and then went to Germany for two months and then came back.

I missed Philly so I went to work at Le Bec-Fin, then went to New York where I worked at Del Posto, thought briefly about moving to the West Coast, and then just decided I missed home, so I came back to Philly to open Laurel with Nick Elmi. I worked there for a number of years, and then I was going to open my own place, but COVID happened, so I did some private in-home catering for all of COVID. And then I ended up getting involved with Jay [Jason Cichonski] at Messina.

What makes the food scene in Philadelphia different? How does it stand out?

Philly has a certain type of restaurant that’s very do it yourself. There’s a certain type of grittiness and a certain type of personal ingenuity that happens more here than in other places. I’ll use New York as an example. There, I worked with a lot of line cooks, but somebody else prepped their stations or somebody else did their sauce. Or I met cooks who didn’t even know how to butcher a fish. In Philly, a lot of the cooks I’ve worked with are way more well rounded, and a little bit more tenacious because we have to fight a little harder, and we got it. You appreciate what you have and work with what you have. Obviously, you can find chefs like that in New York, too, but this is just from my own experience over the years. That DIY attitude also extends to opening restaurants and making it work, too. You’ve got a lot of people’s lives riding on a lot, and that creates more intensity, and a little bit more diversity and a little more soul in some of these places because of that reason.

What are you excited about eating and drinking right now? Where are you going out when you have a night off? Whose work is inspiring you?

I’m a parent, and I literally just moved out of the city last year because my row home didn’t cut it anymore, so I’m in the suburbs now. I’m a suburban dad who runs a restaurant, so I don’t really go out very much now. If you asked me this question when I was 20, I’d want to go try the craziest sh*t ever —whatever ingredients and whatever I’ve never had before. I still want to do that, but now I’m getting to a point where, now that I’m older, I’m looking at more of a well rounded and more executed restaurant than the craziest, newest thing. It could just be a grilled cheese, but I just want it to be perfect and exactly what you would think it would be. Does that make sense? I’m looking for a smaller menu that’s executed perfectly, instead of the newest, trendiest thing. Because I want a perfect cocktail, and I want something I know is going to be delicious, because I don’t have a lot of that luxury of that free time.

Vernick is a perfect example of something that’s always good. The cocktails are always solid, the service is always awesome. It’s a good example of a bigger restaurant that’s run in more of a mom-and-pop style. It’s executing at a high level, and is comforting, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad meal. You’ve also got neighborhood like Passyunk, where you’ll find Laurel and River Twice. They’re all running and gunning, and I love that.

But I also know it’s important to try all the new things. I’ve was just having this conversation with my partner, Jason, about how we need to eat out more, because it is good for us. It’s a learning experience to see what somebody else did or what somebody didn’t do, or things you haven’t seen before done a certain way.

Philly as a whole, with all its different restaurants, inspires me. The city itself and the energy it brings through the restaurant scene is something I’m proud to be a part of. I love that grittiness and determination that we have, despite all the challenges, because somehow Philly finds a way to push forward.

Philadelphia is blowing up. There are more than 100 new restaurants set to open in the city this year. How do you think that will change the industry? What do you hope changes from that growth and what do you hope stays the same?

People wouldn’t be trying to do this if there wasn’t demand for this, but my biggest concern with that many restaurants opening is: Does it take away from all the restaurants that currently exist? I don’t know. Are we growing too fast? Are we building a solid foundation that’s built on a concrete food scene that’s not going anywhere? Will it create more demand for people to go back to the neighborhoods that were cool before and maybe kind of cooled off a little bit? Is it going to renovate and rejuvenate the rougher parts of the city need a little love? I think that, as a whole, it’s a good thing. Just as it is with anything that’s a major change, there’s always going to be pros and cons.

Ideally, though, I think it’s great, because I’m hoping we’ll get more outside and young talent moving in, because when COVID happened, so many people just quit cooking all together. I’m hoping that we’re getting people from major cities who are talented and want to grow and live in a city and be part of a city that is more affordable than your New York or your L.A.

I also want to see everything from the small hole-in-the-wall places to all the fine-dining tasting menu spots; I want to see more of a mix. I don’t want to just see 100 restaurants all kind of doing that New American style of food. Not that it’s bad, but I want to see a full range covered, from Malaysian and Indonesian to African and everything in between. I want to see the city grow more like that because bringing diversity to the scene that already exists is so important.

What do you think the city needs more of and less of as all this development happens?

I think that diversity as a whole is something that needs to keep happening for this scene to grow, to prove that everything could work in the right scenario. You don’t want to go into Center City and find 20 places to do lunch, and it’s all the same. It doesn’t do anything for anybody, right? Having more diversity across the board in every aspect is so important.

At Messina we do what you could call progressive Italian American. But as for the actual dining room experience, the idea is you can come in here and do so many different things based on how you’re feeling that night. You can come and have one bite and drink, or you just come here and not eat at all, and just grab a drink, whatever you want. I think that’s important for everybody to have more options, so that living in this city becomes more dynamic.

How do people in the food community show up for one another these days? Where are you seeing the community coming together and how?

I think that Philly’s unique in that everybody kind of knows each other. It’s like the biggest small town. And I think everybody kind of rallies around each other and brings each other up. There’s not a lot of hate when it comes to other restaurants. There’s a huge majority of people who have all worked together in some respect or aspect. And you see those people go to different restaurants and work in different restaurants with each other. If somebody gets hurt, you’ll see people go to these fundraisers for that cook or that bartender. In Philly, a lot of it’s pretty close knit, and it’s not just the restaurant groups. It’s just people who came up together and stayed in Philly. A lot of people stay here [or] leave and come back. You see that a lot. You see a lot of people call each other to ask for recipes, or go out to the bar and hang out with each other, or maybe go help out at other restaurants. That’s one of the best aspects of the city. This close-knit community does exist behind the scenes.

What are you focusing on right now that has you excited? Anything new in the works?

Honestly, on a personal level, I’m trying to be better at being both present at home and at work. I have two kids and a wife, and I don’t want to be the “live and die at the restaurant, kids don’t see me” kind of dad. I’m doing my best to balance my work life, because my kids are four and eight, and I want to be around for this time as much as humanly possible. But I still have to do what I do. So, that’s one of my biggest focuses right now: trying to grow as a person, as a father, I should say, while running a restaurant.

And I would like to open another project. I would like to open something that’s not a members-only restaurant, something that you can just walk into. There are plans, but I’m just trying to find the right things at the right time. I don’t want to just jump on stuff just to do it, because ultimately, everything I do affects not just me anymore, but also my children, my family, my wife.

But also [we’re] growing as a restaurant at Messina, and we’re still trying to fine-tune everything we’re doing. We do that every day anyway. I want Messina to be this mainstay of the neighborhood where everybody understands and knows what we’re trying to do. I want to put our best foot forward every single night and that, in and of itself, takes a lot. You’re never just staying stagnant. And that’s a huge thing for me: constantly trying to evolve, whether it’s changing the menu to make it slightly more casual or a little more approachable, whatever it might be, because all of it is relevant. You’re constantly sharpening your own skill set. So, personally, it’s focusing on family and getting Messina to a place where I can do more projects and do more things and grow as a chef at a different level.