January 16, 2024
COURTESY/MEDIUM RARE
Medium Rare, a steakhouse chain with six locations, will open in Philadelphia's Fishtown neighborhood in late 2024.
A new steakhouse is coming to Fishtown. Medium Rare, a restaurant chain with six locations, will make its Philadelphia debut on Frankford Avenue in Fishtown in late 2024.
Founded in 2011, the steakhouse chain operates restaurants in Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Maryland and Virginia. Medium Rare is known for its steak frites — according to its website, that is the only dinner entrée offered.
The restaurant also offers desserts, a weekend brunch menu and a full bar with wine, liquor and four beers on tap, including the Belgium beer Delirium Tremens and three locally brewed draft beers. The chain has not announced its beer lineup for the Fishtown location.
At 1540 Frankford Ave., Fishtown's Medium Rare will house 100 seats and a 4,000-square-foot dining room. It is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to the Inquirer.
Medium Rare's arrival in Fishtown comes amid a restaurant boom in the up-and-coming neighborhood. Suraya, a Lebanese-inspired restaurant that is next door to the new Medium Rare location, has received national recognition in recent years. At least 19 new food-and-drink establishments opened in the neighborhood last year, according to the Fishtown District’s recently released 2023 annual report. Notable recent entrants include Kalaya, Post Haste, Forin Cafe and Liberty Kitchen.
That growth will continue this year. In March, Mediterranean café Bastia will open at Susquehanna Avenue and Belgrade Street inside the forthcoming 50-room hotel Ana & Bell, and it's already getting nods from the national culinary press.
Also expected to open in Fishtown this year are a Shake Shack and a Sweetgreen, as well as the Dominican restaurant Mamajuana Cafe, a Georgian fine dining spot called Kinto and Essen North, the second location of Essen Bakery, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Although Medium Rare got its start in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C., the chain has roots in the Philadelphia region. Mark Bucher, the chain's cofounder, is a native of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
