As befits its birthright as the child of the legendary Le Bec-Fin, Georges Perrier's Brasserie Perrier has gotten rave reviews since the day it opened. "Brasserie Perrier," critic Jim Quinn wrote in the Philadelphia City Paper, "is first of all great food, four-star food, the first new restaurant I've been to so unremittingly wonderful from beginning to end since Georges Perrier started Le Bec-Fin nearly 30 years ago." Janet Bukovinsky Teacher shared his high opinion of the three-year-old brasserie. In Philadelphia Magazine, a publication that has done away with the star system, she wrote, "I don't really care about conforming to editorial style. The Brasserie is a four-star eatery if I ever saw one, and it warrants a little constellation of its own."

Until recently, the man most associated with the brasserie was Francesco Martorella, who only this winter passed his toque, as it were, to his former sous-chef Chris Scarduzio, a Philadelphia native who has been with the restaurant from day one. Scarduzio is a local boy made good. A second-generation Italian, he grew up in a West Philly row house with his parents and maternal grandparents. It was the locus for all family gatherings, and food was always a big production, whether it was the fresh lamb that they butchered themselves or the homemade pasta they made three times a week. But although he credits his Italian heritage with his passion for food, Scarduzio prefers to think of his food as "cuisine de voyage." The Brasserie Perrier menu is certainly très French, but you are as likely to find dishes like soy-marinated black sea bass, falafel, and moussaka as classic French food.

After graduating from the CIA, Scarduzio exchanged brotherly love for alohas, working as a banquet chef for the Sheraton Hotel at Poipu Beach. Upon his return to Philadelphia he spent time at Monte Carlo Living Room and DiLullo Restaurant. He was working as Martorella's sous-chef at the Philadelphia Ritz-Carlton, when Perrier invited them into the kitchen at Brasserie Perrier. The result of their teamwork drew a mention on Esquire's "100 Best New Restaurants" list and a "Best New Restaurant" nod from Philadelphia Magazine. Now, as executive chef of the restaurant that he helped to build, Scarduzio has come into an inheritance more valuable than Aunt Millie's china, or Uncle Harold's paintings. We can't wait to see what he does with it.