Restaurateur Ellen Yin

Ellen Yin is the founder and co-owner of High Street Hospitality Group, which operates some of the country’s most celebrated dining establishments, including a.kitchen + bar, Fork, High Street Restaurant & Bakery, High Street Hoagies and The Wonton Project  in Philadelphia. A graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and doyenne of the hospitality industry, Yin was honored with Philadelphia Business Journal’s “Women of Distinction” award in 2020. In 2023, she was awarded “Outstanding Restaurateur” by the James Beard Foundation.

In 2020, the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce honored the group with the “Inspiring Excellence Award” for serving front-line workers, hospitality workers and the food insecure during the COVID-19 pandemic and fundraising for restaurant industry mental health programs. Proudly dedicated to the flourishing of Philadelphia, Ellen is a co-chair of Sisterly Love Coalition and a board member of the Philadelphia Award, the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation, and the Arden Theater Company. She is on the Community Advisory Board of the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Kimmel Cancer Center. Nationally, she sits on the board of OpenTable and is an active member of the Independent Restaurant Coalition.

Watch Ellen Yin on TEDxPenn:

Finding a Recipe for Belonging
Ellen Yin shares how The Wonton Project was born by sharing her mother’s wonton recipe and a rallying cry from the AAPI community helping her find the perfect ingredients to her recipe for belonging.

Eli Kulp is co-owner of High Street Hospitality Group, as well as creator and host of Chef Radio Podcast and Delicious City Podcast where he talks to top-tier chefs and other esteemed guests in the industry.   He has been a finalist for JBF Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic, 2016; Best New Chef, Food & Wine Magazine 2014; Chef of the Year, Eater 2014 and Philadelphia Inquirer.  His work takes him to collaborations with organizations such as Manna, Visit Philly, Heritage Radio, chefs and restaurants throughout the country.

Chef Eli Collins has been part of High Street Hospitality Group since 2017.   After studying art abroad, he spent time traveling and working up and down the East Coast, finally landing in New York City where he worked for acclaimed Chef Daniel Boulud at his eponymous Daniel, a Michelin-starred contemporary French restaurant, and later as Executive Chef at Boulud’s DBGB Kitchen, a more casual brasserie.  At a.kitchen, Collins earned “Three Bells” from the Inquirer’s critic Craig LaBan for his “compelling French flair” and a menu “driven by seasonality and a love of prime ingredients.” a.kitchen has been named one of Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100 Wine Restaurants in America, Wine Spectator’s “Award of Excellence” in 2020 and 2022, James Beard Foundation semifinalist Outstanding Wine Program 2022.  Philadelphia Magazine named Chef Collins, its Best of Philly 2022 Chef.

George Madosky is Chef de Cuisine of a.kitchen+bar d.c., High Street Hospitality Group’s newest restaurant, George got his start at Fork, the iconic Old City restaurant in 2017 working under Chef John Patterson, who helped Fork achieve Four Bells from Philadelphia Inquirer critic Craig Laban. George built his career from ground up starting as Garde Manger Cook before working his way up to Sous Chef and eventually Chef de Cuisine, a post he has held since May 2020. Throughout his near five-year tenure, Rising to leadership amid the pandemic, George was exposed to uncertainty, resiliency, the challenges of building a team in addition to a plethora of other lessons. He and a small team of cooks prepared and packaged over 10,000 meals for front line workers and local food pantries. George re-assembled and rebuilt a diverse kitchen to lead Fork forward, all the while bringing a fresh perspective to a restaurant that the community relies on.  His culinary approach is rooted in seasonality and high-integrity sourcing, primarily from local purveyors. He is passionate about environmental sustainability, particularly by reducing food waste via creative ways of maximizing all food products.

Christina McKeough is Chef of renowned High Street which serves locally sourced breakfast, lunch and dinner menus in Philadelphia’s Washington Square West neighborhood. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Christina worked at the reputable seafood-forward Tsunami in Memphis, where she climbed the ladder to Sous Chef before moving on to become Sous Chef at High Street Hospitality Group’s flagship, Fork, in Philadelphia and eventually working as the Dining Room Manager for Queen Village’s since-shuttered Django, one of the most coveted reservations in the country and predecessor to Talula’s Table.

Christina and her family then relocated to New York’s Finger Lakes, where they opened their own restaurant Hazelnut Kitchen. The seasonal farm-to-table had a great five-year run, but ultimately closed in favor of spending more time with her two young children. After a short hiatus, Christina returned to the industry as Bakery Director for Gimme Coffee before moving on to collaborate with GRAFT Wine + Cider bar, in Watkins Glen, New York, where she ran a one-woman kitchen churning out daily specials featuring local ingredients.  When Christina and her family made the move back to Philadelphia. Christina knew she wanted to return to working with Ellen Yin, whom she has long admired for having an unwavering commitment to hospitality. At High Street Philly, Christina enjoys working with fresh, beautiful ingredients and smart, creative people on a daily basis.