Pumpkin “Cabbage Patch Kids”

In 2004, Hillary Bor and Chef Ian Moroney opened Pumpkin BYOB on a sleepy stretch of South Street with a fresh vision for cooking simply and seasonally. Now, twenty years later, the neighborhood is thriving, as are farm-to-table restaurants around the city.

To celebrate their 20th anniversary, Pumpkin will devote the second half of 2024 to one of Ian’s favorite ingredients: No, not pumpkin. Cabbage!

They have invited over a dozen chefs from the Philadelphia area to create a dish using cabbage that reflects the style of their cooking, heritage, and restaurant. They’re calling them the Cabbage Patch Kids. Each dish will run for three nights only (Tuesday-Thursday) on the normal three course prix fixe menu at Pumpkin, either as one of the appetizers or one of the entree choices. Each month will feature at least two Cabbage Patch Kid recipes, beginning in May until the end of the year. There will be a punch card, where diners can earn a free dinner at Pumpkin by trying eight of the cabbage dishes.

The first Cabbage Patch Kid was Chef Alex Yoon from Little Fish. Little Fish is the first restaurant Ian worked at when he moved from Syracuse to Philadelphia, about 25 years ago, back when his father owned it. Now Alex is the chef and owner and while a lot has changed, there is definitely a throughline. Alex’s dish was a charred cabbage and pork dumpling.

Chef Alex will be joined in May by Chef Ange Branca of the newly opened Kampar. Their two cabbage dishes will celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

June will see two new Cabbage Patch Kids, celebrating Pride Month: Joncarl Lachman of Winkel and Diana Widjojo of Rice and Sambal.

Here’s the current list of Cabbage Patch Kids:

Alex Yoon, Little Fish
Alexandra Holt, Roxanne
Andrew Wood, Le Virtu
Ange Branca, Kampar
Carlos Aparicio, El Chingon
Casey Webb, Man v Food
Chance Anies, Tabachoy
Diana Widjojo, Rice & Sambal
Eli Collins, A.Kitchen
Joncarl Lachman, Winkel
Kiki Aranita, Poi Dog
Liz Grothe, Scampi
Lor Kats, Saami Somi
Melissa McGrath, Sweet Amalia
Omar and Cybille Tate, Honeysuckle Prov
Pat Alfiero, Heavy Metal
Rebecca Foxman, Fox & Sons

Be sure to follow Pumpkin to see the chef line up each month, the dishes they are creating, and an adorable cabbage patch style illustration (they may need to make some swag using these images, they are just that cute).