How Does Friday Saturday Sunday Succeed? By Being Ever Bolder

They had also worked in the Philly restaurant scene for years, having met while working at an Old City restaurant. Hanna’s passion for the industry traces back to her parents, who both worked in the restaurant industry. And Chad got his start working in a kitchen during a semester at Howard University, eventually making his way back to Philadelphia.  

Their vision for Friday Saturday Sunday: Draw from travel and dining experiences in some of Europe’s most iconic restaurants and then infuse their own singular tastes. And the Williamses managed to honor the past and its nostalgic comforts, in terms of both vibe and cuisine aesthetics, while stepping with surety into a more modern dynamic.  

Chad Williams took time out to chat recently, reflecting on the nature of luxury, comfort, and curiosity in developing a menu, and getting real about why the Assassin’s Handbook just might be their best cocktail. 

You’re a husband-and-wife team, both from Philadelphia, and I know you got married in the Friday Saturday Sunday kitchen! How does your partnership help make this place so special?

Chad Williams: At the end of the day, if an unbiased observer would look, they would say, you know, this really is a beautiful collaboration where our ideas matter. When you first open, I feel like there’s not much of an identity to a restaurant. You’re kind of mimicking what you’ve seen before, and really just trying to make the business work. As the business grows, you start to take some more risks and I think your personalities naturally come to the forefront. 

Your restaurant’s location in Philadelphia’s beloved Rittenhouse Square feels important to its energy and general vibe. What impact does that have?   

We’re not necessarily central in Rittenhouse, we’re maybe one or two blocks off the main square, and the street we’re on is relatively quiet. Then all of a sudden, you open the door and you’re in this really cool kind of vintage bar, and then you’re having this great meal upstairs and it feels special, it does give you that jewel box experience.   

My favorite kind of European fine dining places, they always involved, like, a little trek. It was never easy to get where you were going, you know? Like Michel Bras [in the remote French town of Laguiole, 2.5 hours from Toulouse] or Mugaritz [about 25 minutes outside San Sebastián], they were 45 minutes, or hours, out of town. So by the time you arrived, you felt some sort of specialness just because of the journey to get there.

Let’s get to some food. Your tasting menu emphasizes seasonality and luxury: Osetra caviar with Manzano pepper and sabayon; dry-aged duck with XO rice; and much more. How do you approach menu development?

When we talk about inspiration, we try to find it anywhere and everywhere. So when we go out and dine, or somebody has a great casual meal, or finds a side-of-the-road barbecue stand, you want to be inspired. And then you bring that back.   

And luxury for us, luxury is in the flavor. Osetra caviar is almost not central to the dish in a way. Visually, it’s not a mound of it on top — it’s almost hidden. But so much of what we do is in the time that we spend on the dishes and the flavors. For us, the stock is very important. It’s very intentional. When we’re making sauces, that, to us, is kind of a luxury, because you’re spending so much time.   

This seems like a good time to ask about wine pairings, your cocktail list, and why people love the Friday Saturday Sunday bar. 

I think the bar is incredible. It’s really a cocktail lovers’ bar. The bartenders, especially Paul MacDonald, who runs the program, his focus is on the liquor itself,  and what it brings to the table. The Assassin’s Handbook — a mixture of Jamaican rum, Averna, Cognac, amaro, and housemade mulled wine shrub, with a splash of habañero tincture to finish — is probably the drink that he’s most famous for, and my favorite. It’s one of those drinks that hits so many different preferences. Somebody comes in and they want a liquor-based drink, you know, liquor-forward? Perfect. If somebody wants a spicy drink that has more of a tropical feel? Perfect. If somebody wants something that’s really classic-tasting and Cognac-forward, perfect.

You have a great photo of the Friday Saturday Sunday team on your site. Talk a bit about your crew and your service philosophy. 

The service, we really try to make it as unstuffy as possible. I know it’s a cliché, but I think the service aspect is really just making the guests feel at home and welcome and taken care of. We don’t have the space — or the intention — to do that fine-dining, synchronized service, because I think in the wrong hands, it can be really cold, it can feel off-putting. Some people just want to feel at home and taken care of in a special way. So we try to do that, whatever little touches you can do.  

Like if somebody may mention a dish they had or something they loved. Or a cocktail that you used to drink. You don’t have to ask if they want it. You just bring it to the table. This is on us. Please enjoy. Because that’s what your mother would do at home if she knew you loved a dish: It would just show up one day. Or if she knew there was ice cream in the freezer you loved, at the end of dinner, it was on the table.

Help us better understand the vibrant culinary ecosystem of Philadelphia. What’s it like these days? 

I’ve lived here all my life, born and raised here, and I’ve seen it grow, kind of ebb and flow over the years. I think just the sheer volume of great restaurants is what’s pushing us to the forefront. There’s 10, 15 really special restaurants in the city. And for a city of this size, that means a lot. So when folks come down from New York or come up from D.C., there’s these options that you can now push people toward. And be proud of.  

If every dining experience is a journey, what is the journey like for guests when they come in? 

We start with the entry to the restaurant, and hopefully a cocktail at the bar. And then you have a selection of smaller dishes, a little bit spicier, more kind of an enlivening experience. And then you move into the more savory aspects of the meal, which is what I love most.

I could have a bunch of umami-forward dishes and I’ll be ​happy, so we kind of move into that realm of the sweetbread dishes. [Crispy sweetbreads glazed with chicken jus, served with white wine, plantains, and mushrooms.] We do the pasta with the collard green broth, grilled quail, these really smoky, savory elements. And then we always finish the meal with the desserts by our super talented pastry chef, Amanda, and her canelé. The canelé is just like one of the world’s perfect dishes. It’s the time that it takes and the equipment you need to make them. And it just kind of goes back to luxury. It’s dairy and flour, but at the end, it is this special kind of moment.