The soaring former bank space (and Jack Kellmer jewelry store), with its ornately coffered ceiling arching 60 feet over the terraced dining room of velveteen booths, private rooms peering down through Palladian windows, and a marble staircase sweeping up to a glass-wrapped mezzanine, was the closest thing we'd get to a carnivore's cathedral.
But could the timing have been worse? Probably not, as Union Trust's rapid fall back to earthly reality in recent weeks - in both its prices and its notably more conservative approach - demonstrates.
Philly's once insatiable appetite for prime red meat is finally showing signs of hitting its lipid limit, from one early entry abandoning the steak concept altogether (Table 31) to another's bitter public dispute over contractor bills (Del Frisco's) and an overall buzz of dwindling revenues industrywide.
Yet, few have shown the strain of the current sirloin stress-test quite as much as Union Trust, which has spent a tumultuous first few months churning through key staff (two chefs gone in the first 10 weeks, including founding partner Terry White), slashing its lofty prices, and reining in the haute ambitions of an early menu to a safer, more familiar Capital Grille-style shell. That's no surprise, given co-owner Ed Doherty's long and successful tenure at "the Cap."
But I had to wonder the other night, as Doherty hustled in his natty suit and spiky gray hair after a team of contractors to jump-start the gimpy AC in the sweltering dining room mid-meal, whether there was enough sustainable breeze to push this grand endeavor in the right direction. At that moment, with a light dinner crowd despite a stellar raw bar and some more-than-worthy chops, its big sails were sagging for lack of wind.
