hite-tablecloth restaurants in Eastern Montgomery County are few and far between nowadays, which makes the recent arrival of Academy Grill in Fort Washington something of a throwback.
Tucked off of Bethlehem Pike near Germantown Academy, the restaurant took over the building that for years housed Cantina Feliz. (Last year, the Mexican restaurant left Fort Washington for Ambler, 10 minutes away.) The sleek Academy Grill is taking a decidedly different approach: polished, contemporary American cooking with chef Jeffrey Power in the kitchen.
Power is no stranger to the area. He was the longtime chef at Dettera, the ambitious Ambler restaurant that closed in 2022, and before that worked at Blackfish in Conshohocken and Le Bec-Fin downtown. Though Power is turning out steaks and seafood at Academy Grill, one other dish connects those chapters of his career.
Power’s chicken roulade — once a staple at Dettera — traces its roots back more than 20 years to Le Bec-Fin, though the technique has evolved. Power completely debones a whole chicken, removes the legs and thighs, and wraps the breast in its skin around a chicken mousseline studded with sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, basil, parsley, and scallions.
At Le Bec-Fin, the roulade was rolled, tied in the old-school fashion, then pan-seared. Power now forms it into a cylinder using cellophane and cooks it sous vide, setting the proteins and helping the roulade hold its shape. It is then deep-fried to evenly crisp the skin around juicy chicken and herb-flecked mousseline.
The dish is unabashedly rich, but its accompaniments have changed with its surroundings. At Dettera, Power plated it with English peas, smoked fingerling potatoes, and cremini mushrooms. At Academy Grill, pillowy potato gnocchi and earthy truffle crema add to its lushness. Cauliflower brings sweetness, while fava beans provide a fresh counterpoint — green, slightly nutty, and mildly bitter.
In that sense, the roulade is both a new Academy Grill dish and a snapshot of Power’s career: a Le Bec-Fin idea refined at Dettera and carried into his latest kitchen.
Academy Grill, 424 S. Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington, 610-424-5000, academygrill.com.
