Bruno Pouget, who opened Center City’s stalwart Caribou Cafe in 1989, will again team with Todd Rodgers and Chef Steven Cameron to open Noble American Kitchen early next year. The group had previously worked together on Blue in LBI, and have purchased the old Gioia Mia building at 2025 Sansom St.

Cameron’s style is focused on using seasonal, local ingredients and preparing them simply, keeping in mind what the EDF says about ingredients’ availability. “My guests can be confident that what they’re eating is truly a ‘green’ meal,” he has said.

The menu, then, will revolve regularly, dependent on those principles. In designing the restaurant, the idea was to create a “neighborhood spot with a friendly, family feel, rather than a special occasion dining destination,” highlighting the local character of the area. Keeping with this, Pouget and Cameron teamed to create a seasonal rooftop herb garden to be used in preparing dishes.

A URL exists at www.noblecookery.com but nothing has been posted. No menu yet, either, but some notable suggestions from Cameron include Roasted Baby Beet and Kabocha Salad with bright lights and anise vinaigrette; Orange-Glazed Pennsylvania Grass-Fed Beef Shortribs with warm caramelized onion rice pudding; and Pan-Roasted Pocono Mountain Rainbow Trout with pickled shallots, black trumpet mushrooms and potato puree.
Full press release after the jump.

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Successful restaurant partners Bruno Pouget, Todd Rodgers and Chef Steven Cameron, of Long Beach Island, New Jersey’s beloved Blue, announce the opening of Noble American Cookery (2025 Sansom Street) in early 2009. Noble will serve fresh, inventive fare in a dramatic, rustic-yet modern space complete with reclaimed wide plank hickory floors, modern furnishings and a chef’s rooftop herb garden.

“We purchased the building that houses Noble back in 2005, because we really believe in investing in this neighborhood and developing it into a dining destination,” says Pouget. “Back in the 70’s, this area was known as Rittenhouse Village, and it was a great place to go out for a meal. Alongside neighbors such as Tinto, Melograno, Tria and Capogiro, we’d like to be a part of bringing that reputation back to this area.”

Heading the kitchen at Noble is Chef Cameron. At 33, he has already won acclaim for his culinary achievements at Blue, including a prestigious semi-finalist nod from the James Beard Foundation for “Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic” in 2008 and a glowing August 2007 review in The New York Times, which called his cuisine “far-reaching, inspired and ambitious.”

“Blue was only open seasonally, for five months out of the year,” says Rodgers. “For a young chef – in a boutique kitchen – to attract that kind of national attention is a powerful endorsement of his talent.”
Chef Cameron will bring that talent to bear at Noble, where he will create and execute a seasonal menu of fresh, flavorful American fare that leans heavily toward locally grown and raised, sustainable products. His dedication to environmentally sound ingredients often leads him to revise menu items so that they do not include fish or meats that have been victims of population depletion or lack of proper management, such as East Coast skate wing.

“I’m a little obsessed with finding extraordinary regional products and preparing them simply and perfectly,” says Chef Cameron. “I’ve developed close relationships with local farmers and fishermen, so I have access to some very special ingredients. And I pay close attention to what the Environmental Defense Fund says about ingredients’ availability, so my guests can be confident that what they’re eating is truly a ‘green’ meal.”

Menu items have not yet been finalized, but will vary greatly depending on what items are in season, to best capitalize on the freshest flavors in the area. Dishes may include: Roasted Baby Beet and Kabocha Salad with bright lights and anise vinaigrette; Potato Dumplings with cured rabbit and marjoram; Orange-Glazed Pennsylvania Grass-Fed Beef Shortribs with warm caramelized onion rice pudding; Pan-Roasted Pocono Mountain Rainbow Trout with pickled shallots, black trumpet mushrooms and potato puree; Lobster Soufflé with carrot-lime crustacean essence and chervil; Pan-Roasted Brussels Sprouts with cured pork jowl; and Brioche Custard with kumquat preserve. Prices will range from $6 to $35. Chef Cameron is developing a weekly, five-to-seven course tasting menu that will be offered in addition to the a la carte options; a seasonal catering and private event menu is also planned.

“We’ve wanted to bring Blue into the city for a number of years, but we were waiting for the right time, in the right space, with the right chef,” says Pouget. “With this building and Steven’s immense talent, we are finally ready to create a fresh, neighborhood-focused restaurant here in Philadelphia.”

The space that houses Noble has been painstakingly restored by Pouget and Rodgers with charmingly rustic character; with the exception of structural reinforcements, the entire building has been preserved intact. Downstairs, guests enter from the street into the bar area, featuring a 20-foot bar and floor-to-ceiling front windows that can be opened to allow outside-in sidewalk seating; Noble boasts Philadelphia’s first outdoor cafe with alfresco bar seating facing into the restaurant space. Back inside, modern banquettes offer comfortable accommodations for up to 30.

Upstairs, the stylish, inviting main dining room can seat up to 70 guests beneath three sweeping skylights. The neutral color palette – light-colored, textured plaster walls and natural woods – makes Noble’s dining room a soothing backdrop for the brilliant flavors and textures of Chef Cameron’s food.

In addition to restoring the dining spaces, Pouget and Rodgers collaborated with Chef Cameron to create a seasonal rooftop herb garden, where he will cultivate many of the seasonings that will be used in the restaurant. Although the garden will not be open to guests, it is a symbol of Noble’s commitment to freshness and extraordinary quality.
Drawn from the idea of hospitality being “a noble pursuit,” Pouget, Rodgers and Cameron named their restaurant Noble American Cookery envisioning a neighborhood spot with a friendly, family feel, rather than a special occasion dining destination. From the inviting decor to the menu of perfectly prepared seasonal ingredients, Noble will be a beacon of American warmth and fine cookery – true comfort food for our times.

Since founding Philadelphia’s Caribou Café in 1989, Pouget has earned a broad understanding of the restaurant business. He and Rodgers met while surfing at the Jersey Shore, and worked together to open Blue; Cameron joined their team in 2005 and proved to be an able and talented addition. Together, they were frequently named to “Best of the Shore” lists in both New Jersey Monthly and Philadelphia magazines; Zagat called Blue “a sophisticated treat” and the Asbury Park Press praised Chef Cameron’s “rare talent and seemingly unimpeded vision,” naming them the year’s best dining experience anywhere in the country in 2007.

Noble will be open Sunday through Wednesday from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday from 5 p.m. until midnight. Plans for lunch hours are also in the works.