An acclaimed departed BYOB returns to Philly for two nights only

Husband-and-wife chefs Jon Nodler and Samantha Kincaid, who enjoyed critical acclaim in the 3½-year run of their restaurant Cadence, are coming back to Philadelphia for a two-night pop-up next month.

It truly will be a homecoming on Sept. 6 and 7, as they will take up residence at their former space in South Kensington, now Emmett, where chef Evan Snyder has received excellent notice since his opening early this year.

Nodler and Kincaid arrived in 2012 from Madison, Wis., working at such destinations as the now-shuttered Will BYOB and R2L, as well as High Street, Fork, and a.kitchen.

Cadence, which they opened as a BYOB in summer 2018 with initial partner Michael Fry, served seasonal local plates, many cooked over a live-fire hearth for a mix of rusticity and fine-dining polish.

Cadence’s home at 161 W. Girard Ave. previously housed Taste and Modo Mio. Cadence’s departure made way for Primary Plant Based, which closed last year.

Inquirer critic Craig LaBan gave Cadence a three-bell review (excellent) and it was among The Inquirer’s Top 25 list. In its first year, it was included among Bon Appétit’s Top 50 Best New Restaurants, and in 2019, Food & Wine named it the best new restaurant in America.

As LaBan pointed out, Cadence was also one of the more progressive restaurant workplaces in town, becoming one of the first to add a surcharge to help pay a health-care stipend for its seven full-time employees.

When the couple closed Cadence in 2021, Nodler said it wasn’t due to the pandemic per se. “We could have kept going for another five years,” he told LaBan.

But the year had made them “scrutinize their priorities” and decide it was time to move back home to Wisconsin. Their old Cadence Instagram account shows them enjoying the agrarian life in Green County, Wis.

At Emmett, the collaborative pop-up menu will merge Nodler and Kincaid’s reverence for seasonality and their Midwestern roots with Snyder’s blend of Levantine and Mediterranean influences.

The menu will begin with sunchoke cannoli with smoked trout and horseradish crème fraiche; rye tartlet with wagyu, smoked mustard, and dill aioli; lamb kibbeh with sumac labneh and pickled pear; and a kohlrabi spring roll with marinated seafood, fresh herbs, and puffed wild rice.

The second course features black bass with shrimp mousse, harissa-braised peppers, and saffron, as well as sujuk manti with Jimmy Nardello jam and muhammara.

The main course will include dry-aged duck with sweet corn, smoked scallop, chanterelles, and stone fruit; and smoked steelhead trout with amba and peach fattoush.

For dessert is silan chocolate mousse with roasted sweet corn whipped cream, raspberries, and polenta cake, as well as cauliflower mille-feuille with sweet potato custard, fig ice cream, and toasted benne seed.

Reservations are $150 per person (plus tax and tip). Bookings start at noon Thursday on OpenTable. Seatings begin at 5 p.m.