ABOUT THE RESTAURANT

In November of 2011, chef Jason Cichonski opened Ela, an inventive new American bar and restaurant in Philadelphia’s Queen Village neighborhood. Ela showcases Cichonski, who Philadelphia Inquirer’s Craig LaBan called “one of our most exciting young chefs,” is combining an approachable menu of innovative dishes with an extensive wine and craft beer program and inspired cocktail list in a rustic-modern setting.

“Creatively, it’s wonderfully freeing to prepare food that doesn’t fit into any one genre or style; this is seasonal food, using exceptional ingredients, prepared perfectly,” says Chef Cichonski. Ela is a serious-yet-comfortable restaurant with a menu that that changes frequently throughout the year, to reflect the latest offerings.

JASON CICHONSKI {chef-owner}

Chef Jason Cichonski is one of Philadelphia’s brightest rising star chefs. His artful American restaurant, Ela, is located in Queen Village. Ela’s menu changes frequently throughout the year, to reflect the season’s finest ingredients and Chef Cichonski’s creative, boundary-pushing presentations. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Craig LaBan wrote in his glowing “Three Bells: Excellent” review that “few kitchens in town can match Ela’s food value-wise for pure excitement…from the first course to the last, the chef at Ela is hottest where it matters most,” while Philadelphia Magazine’s Trey Popp called the restaurant “deliciously off-the-wall…completely worth it…a transporting peek inside this rising young chef’s head.”

Before his success at ELA, Cichonski opened Chip Roman’s Chestnut Hill restaurant Mica, another of the best-reviewed restaurants in the region. Prior to joining Chef Roman at Mica, Jason Cichonski served as executive chef of Lacroix at the Rittenhouse Hotel when he was just 24 years old. Lacroix was one of the city’s only “Four Bells: Superior” fine dining restaurants at the time. Chef Cichonski worked in other highly praised kitchens, including the Pluckemin Inn, a contemporary American restaurant in Bedminster, NJ and Moonlight, a progressive American restaurant in New Hope, PA.

Born and raised in Pennsylvania’s Bucks County, Chef Cichonski is a graduate of University City’s The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College.

Today, he resides in Philadelphia & can nearly always be found in the kitchen at Ela.

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