Meet me at Phil's Place

Not a restaurant, but far too elegant and deliberate to be considered just eating with friends, Phil’s Place blurs the lines between eating out and going to a dinner party.

From their home overlooking Van Vorst Park in Jersey City, Emily and Phil Forrester consistently churn out restaurant-quality food and drinks.

After enjoying an evening cocktail or glass of wine on their stoop, they head inside to cook a delicious meal for themselves, or anyone lucky enough to be invited over to join them.

When you enter their home, you’re also walking into Phil’s Place. Not a restaurant, but far too elegant and deliberate to be considered just eating with friends, Phil’s Place blurs the lines between eating out and going to a dinner party.

The Origin

The idea for Phil’s Place was born in State College, Pennsylvania in 2015 over a dinner of chicken parmesan. Emily, pursuing her Ph.D., had put together the meal at a time when their financial resources were very limited. Upon tasting the meal, Phil immediately said, “This is fucking amazing! We should open a restaurant!”

Emily, surprised at the suggestion, replied, “We?! You didn’t help at all!”

Phil, who had been on the couch while Emily was cooking, continued undeterred, “Yeah! You’ll be back of the house - the chef. I’ll be front of the house.”

Emily jokingly responded, “And what are we going to call it, Phil’s Place?”

The name stuck, and when Emily’s parents would visit them, they’d say, “We’re coming to Phil’s Place!” and the family would remark about how it was impossible to get a reservation because there were only two seats. A wooden plaque engraved with the name made it official. Now almost a decade later, Phil’s Place has a dedicated Instagram account, exclusive merch, and ambitions to have a real storefront one day.

The Food

Italian cuisine is the heart of Phil's Place, a tribute to Emily's heritage and their memorable journeys through Italy as a couple. Over time Phil has become increasingly interested in wine and cocktails, adding another layer to the Phil’s Place experience.

If they’re the cast of Big Night, Emily is Primo and Phil is Secondo. They each strive for perfection in complementary areas. She’s the executive chef, intrigued by making the finest version of what may appear on the surface as uncomplicated, like a Margherita pizza. She’s skilled at finding order in the chaos of cooking: figuring out exactly what ingredients are needed and setting the pace in the kitchen.

Phil describes Emily’s intuition in cooking with a sense of awe; although he’s not shy about asking her to make more perfect knife cuts or try a new spin on a dish using seasonal produce. He’s passionate about seeking out the best ingredients, giving creative direction to the evenings, pairing the perfect drink with the meal, and documenting the process to share on social media.

There is a consistency in the Phil’s Place experience that mimics the kind of consistency you can find at your favorite restaurant: there are always taralli and olives on the kitchen island when you walk in, and Phil is immediately ready to make you a drink. Still, they are constantly changing things to keep guests inspired, often with the highest quality, yet uncomplicated foods. One day, you might be greeted with a cheese board adorned with cornichons and honey-drizzled Marcona almonds; the next, you might savor homemade focaccia bread, cured meats, and a Caprese salad.

For dinner, it could be hand-shaped gnocchietti with sausage, saffron, and tomato ragu served with broccoli rabe, spaghetti and meatballs with a shaved fennel and celery salad, or endless varieties of pizza fired in their Ooni oven served with a kale Caesar salad.

Though not open to the public, Phil’s Place feels rooted in its community in the way many restaurants aspire to be. Their food honors Jersey City’s wave of Italian immigrants of the past and the food scene of its present: meats sourced from Darke Pines butcher shop, cheeses from Van Hook artisan cheese store, and wines from Jersey Wine & Spirits. It’s obvious that this matters to the couple, who make an effort to shop in their community and point their Instagram followers in the right direction toward the best local places to eat and shop.

The Mission

Phil’s Place takes the everyday task of cooking and eating and reminds us to see them as a joy, rather than a chore.

In sharing their experiences on social media, whether at home, eating out, or traveling, Phil hopes “to inspire people to do what we’re doing: explore new ingredients, cook new foods, take ownership of what you’re choosing to eat.” If something catches your eye, he encourages you to follow your curiosity, saying, “I want to create an opportunity for a person to see what we’re doing and then go down a rabbit hole.”

In Emily’s words, “Food is a main part of being a human. I feel that people are so easily intimidated by food and cooking and hosting, but we’re all made to do this. Cooking shouldn’t be complicated and stressful.”

In fact, Emily has found that cooking helps her to break away from the stress of everyday life. She says, “When I was in graduate school, the reason I cooked so much was because then I couldn’t use my hands to look at my email or do things that gave me anxiety. When my hands are dirty I can’t look at my phone. It gives me something to focus on and in the end, I have this food to feed myself and my family.”

To put it simply, she adds, “Cooking for someone is what I love. That’s what Phil’s Place is about - spreading the word about the simple pleasures in life.”

The Future

If we’re lucky, one day there might be a Phil’s Place’s wine bar open to the public. It would be the kind of place where you’d walk in and the owners would pour you a glass of wine, hand you a small plate of food, and mostly just care deeply about ensuring you have a good time (kind of like going to a friend’s house for a dinner party).

Storefront or not, the real purpose of Phil’s Place for the couple is in their continued exploration and discovery. They love to stay home on a Friday night and cook together, and the ability to know what you love and do that is perhaps the ultimate sign of success.

Whether you’re in a tiny graduate school apartment in a remote college town, or a brownstone in a vibrant city, the simple pleasures of enjoying a homemade meal with the people you love are always within your reach.

---

If you haven’t already, now would be a great time to go follow Phil’s Place on Instagram! @philsplace_jc