Corio, From a Trio of Vernick Alums, Arrives in University City

1. Corio’s owners are a dream team of hospitality veterans.

Philly has chef-owner Greg Vernick to thank for bringing this trio together. Vernick recruited Mulholland and Feola to move to Philly and work as Vernick Food & Drink’s opening general manager and sous chef, respectively.

“Opening was a blur,” Feola recalls of those early days. “I worked something crazy like 279 days straight. But then we settled in, were constantly busy, and kept our standards high.” In working closely with Vernick, Feola says he honed his cooking skills, learned to work faster and smarter, and figured out how to work with different personalities. Vernick went on to win a James Beard Award, a four-bell Inquirer review, and a ton of national praise.

Feola and Mulholland forged a friendship during this exhilarating time that remains strong. In 2015, Mulholland hired Smith as a server at Vernick. In Smith’s 10-year tenure at the Rittenhouse restaurant, he moved through the ranks to become a bartender and then bar director. When Mulholland left Vernick for a new job with CookNSolo (Zahav, Dizengoff, and Laser Wolf Philadelphia), Smith became general manager.

After working together so well, the trio felt confident about opening their own restaurant. “If we did it once, we can do it again,” Feola says.

Greg Vernick agrees they’re ready. “Individually, they have the work ethic, experience, talent, and grit that it takes,” Vernick says. “Combined, they’ll do very well, and it will be a privilege to champion them.”

2.   There’s an interesting personal story about the restaurant’s name and inspiration.

Get ready to say “aww.” Co-owner Mulholland named Corio after a lounge located inside Boston’s Eastern Standard restaurant, where he met his wife, Dani. The space featured a photo of its namesake, famed Italian American burlesque dancer Ann Corio. Che romantic, no?

On Corio’s walls, Mulholland’s personal history continues with artwork created by his mother, mixed media painter Yvonne Gordon-Moser. Eimer Design led the build-out and interior design to create a bright white, red, and black space, based on the sleek minimalism of ’50’s and ’60’s Italian modernism.

3. It’s got something for everyone, including the littlest diners.

At Corio, it’s all about flexibility and ease. Corio aims to become a neighborhood restaurant that also serves the surrounding business community for lunch, happy hour, dinner, private dining, bar, and takeout.

“The neighborhood presents an opportunity,” Smith says. “We can do quick-service pizza or a sandwich to go or [get you in and out] in 40 minutes for a sit-down lunch, but after work, we can provide a more slowed down experience.”

Families are welcome with plastic cups, highchairs, low tables, and plenty of plain pizza and pasta, too. Feola’s kitchen crew is happy to make buttered noodles or quick tomato sauce for picky kids. All three co-owners are dads so, well, they get it.

Pizzas range in price from $16 to $21, and entrees clock in around $26. There are also TVs above the bar for Eagles and Phillies game days.

4. About those pizzas … and pasta …

Coming from an Italian family in central New York, Feola has been making pasta for as long as he can remember. His grandmother used to roll it out on the kitchen table. “There’s a big difference between my grandmother hanging it over a broomstick to dry and making it for Greg Vernick’s restaurant though,” he jokes.

For Corio, he’s bringing one of the signature comfort foods from his youth — Chicken Riggies — in what he hopes will become a signature dish. The combination of rigatoni in a blush sauce with cherry peppers, roasted peppers, bell peppers, mushrooms, black olives, and provolone is something Feola made for staff meal at every restaurant he’s worked at, and he hopes diners love it as much as he does.

On the other end of the spectrum, he’s also making pasta that’s handrolled or made with an Arcobaleno extruder, like a seafood pasta with Pernod dough, finished in the style of your classic linguini and clams.

Smith’s favorite dish is the gemelli with parmesan, black pepper, sesame seeds, and pecorino. “This is one of the surprises on the menu,” Smith says. “The black pepper is great in it; pepper can get overlooked as an element of heat and a spice. It’s hearty and the nuttiness of sesame comes in on the backend.”

Corio’s menu revolves around handmade pizza and pasta that will change with the seasons, and each is personal for chef David Feola, for different reasons.

On the pizza side of things, Feola is experimenting. Though pizza is his favorite food, it’s not something he cooked in restaurants until he started working with Dominic Piperno at Hearthside a couple of years ago. He’s been learning the craft ever since and, for good measure, he also hired pizza expert Ben Jeronimo, who previously worked at Pizzeria Beddia and Wm. Mulherin’s Sons.

Corio’s pizza dough is made with a traditional Italian starter called biga, which ferments overnight. It creates a subtle complexity in flavor with a light and bubbly 14-inch crust. Feola explains that his pizza is “thicker than Neapolitan, but not as thick as New York.” It cooks in a 600-plus degree oven and gets nice leopard spotting on the bottom.

The chef’s favorite pie, so far, is his riff on Bolognese sauce with beef and pork sausage, mozzarella, spicy red sauce, and Calabrian chile oil. While the pizza menu will change seasonally, you can always expect to see a classic margherita.

5. Don’t forget the wine.

When it comes to wine, you’re in good hands with Smith, who was most recently the general manager of Vernick Food & Drink. At Corio, he’s leaning into Italian varietals from small producers in less-popular regions, as well as American and other New World producers, for a substantial by-the-glass list. Expect to to see beers from Corio’s neighbor, Two Locals Brewery Company, too.

Another bonus: You can also purchase a bottle of wine from Corio’s takeout area near the front of the restaurant.

For cocktails, Smith is stocking the bar with spirits that tell a good story – like Philly restaurateur David Suro’s Tequila – and a healthy amaro selection. Two Kirks, A Khan, and a Pizza Place, for example, mixes mezcal, oregano tincture, and lime into an earthy, grassy, and herbal cocktail. He’s also “working hand in hand with the kitchen” to complement the food menu, as he does by adding tomato water in the martinis, or chile peppers to a tequila-based drink.

Corio’s 12-seat bar is open all day, making it ideal for a glass of wine or a quick espresso, too.

6. Most of all, Corio wants to give you a reason to dine out in University City.

Back in the early 2000’s when James Smith went to Drexel University, the neighborhood was not a restaurant hot spot. Longtime Philadelphians might remember Stephen Starr’s Pod, which closed recently, as the neighborhood go-to. In the last 20 years, University City has exploded with development. Still, it’s not necessarily known as a food destination. But the team at Corio hopes to change that.

Its location in UCity Square, a new mixed-use district adjacent to the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, The Wistar Institute, and multiple medical campuses, is also home to Liberty Kitchen, Han Dynasty – University City, Two Locals Brewing Co., and Elixr Coffee. The square is also home to more than 1,000 apartment units, 15,000 workers, and 200 biotech, science, technology, and healthcare companies spread throughout four million square feet of buildings (with more on the way), plus three acres of parks and outdoor space.

“I’m excited to be down the street from Two Locals, the only Black-owned brewery in Philadelphia,” Smith says. “On our block, [business] owners are excited. It’s about building that restaurant community.” He’s already looking for ways to collaborate, something he says is “very unique in Philadelphia. It elevates everyone.”

Feola feels like he’s on the forefront of something special, too. As soon as Corio opened for lunch, feedback from the neighborhood’s professors and students confirmed his hunch. “People who live here are like, ‘Finally, thank you.’”

Corio is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Friday starting at 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and is open on Saturday from 4 to 9 p.m. for dinner.

Sarah Maiellano is a Philly-based food and travel writer. Follow her on Instagram. Follow Resy, too.