Philly’s hottest supper club is moving to Queen Village

Liz Grothe, the chef behind popular supper club Couch Cafe, is used to serving guests in her Northern Liberties apartment. But later this year, she’s planning to welcome them into her restaurant, Scampi, which will take over the current Neighborhood Ramen space in Queen Village.

Grothe was looking for a brick-and-mortar space when Neighborhood Ramen announced that it will close in June. “I immediately said, ‘I want that space,’” Grothe said. Turns out that Neighborhood Ramen owners Jesse Pryor and Lindsay Steigerwald had been thinking that a place like Couch Cafe might be a great fit, too. “There was this connection of mutual respect,” Grothe said. “Neighborhood Ramen is a Philly food pop culture icon. It meant a lot to me as an admirer of the restaurant and their vibe and the way they made their mark on Philly.” Grothe signed the lease for the space, at 617 S. Third St, on April 8.

Neighborhood Ramen’s origins as a pop-up also appealed to Grothe, who believes strongly in the DIY approach. Grothe started hosting Couch Cafe in 2022 as an outlet from her regular cooking job, first at Oloroso and later as a sous chef at Fiorella. She posted menus on her Instagram, and accepted reservation requests via Venmo. The supper club became a hit among Philly’s food obsessives, consistently selling out moments after Grothe posted seating availability online. At Couch Cafe, Grothe wanted to experiment; she made menus dedicated to whatever cuisine she was fixated on at the time, like Oklahoma night, an homage to the cuisine of her home state, where she served up chicken-fried steak and smashburgers, and Spaghetti Western, a mash-up of Italian and Italian-American classics.

Most recently, Grothe’s menus have reflected a tour of Italy she took in 2023, bringing guests along as she explores the food history of Tuscany, Florence, Rome, Sardinia, and Calabria. Her dinners are interlaced with a spiel that combines a history lesson with jokes, and musings on the challenges of making the food in her kitchen.

The new restaurant, called Scampi — an homage to the kind of Italian-American mash-ups Grothe loves — won’t be exactly like Couch Cafe. First of all, there won’t be a couch. But there will be a rose gold shrimp disco ball and a karaoke machine, if all goes to plan. Grothe plans to keep certain features of her supper club alive, too: There will be 24 seats. It’ll be a prix fixe menu, with two seatings per night Thursdays through Sundays. (There’s also a back patio she plans to use for private events and parties.) And the menu will change every month according to what Grothe’s particular obsessions are. She plans to preserve some of the existing Neighborhood Ramen mural that decorates it as a tribute to the history of the space. The target opening date is August.

“Scampi isn’t going to be a place where you can go order the same cutlet and the same pasta every time,” Grothe said. “I want to be free to use any ingredient. I want to keep things fresh for both me and the diners. The menus I hope will make sense, but won’t be predictable.”

Grothe wants to keep the spirit of Couch Cafe alive at Scampi, just with more room to work, and more professional equipment. “This is my new house,” she said. “Except I’ll have six industrial burners instead of four house burners, and I don’t have to worry about getting evicted.”