Chef William Distefano looks back at the final days at the Fountain at the Four Seasons

A 25 year run at one of the city's most beloved restaurants. 

A peek into the last dinner service at The Fountain
Caroline Russock

When chef William DiStefano began at the Fountain restaurant, he was an apprentice externing from the Restaurant School. The year was 1989 and the menu, was full of rich hotel stalwarts like oxtail consommé and eggy sabayon. 

“It was really classic, but it was 30 years ago,” DiStefano says. 

DiStefano has worked at the Fountain for 25 of its 31 years, a run that comes to a close with the end of the year. The Four Seasons Hotel is closing in June and gearing up to move into new digs in the Comcast Innovation and Technology Center in 2018. For DiStefano, the timing was just right to end the dinner service. (Breakfast and lunch will be served in the Fountain until the close.)

“Why not end it during the holidays when it’s festive? It’s the best time to do it,” he says. DiStefano decided to go a la carte, with seating throughout the evening, making it easier for regulars to chat and enjoy the experience. 

During an interview in the lounge adjacent to the restaurant, DiStefano seems remarkably composed, considering his longevity there. When asked just a few days before the final service if it was an emotional period for him, he replied, “Not really — well, it is, but I’m not very emotional.”

DiStefano goes on to tell the story of how he rose through the ranks of the brigade system, moving from apprentice to garde manger chef to chef de tournade and eventually chef de restaurant. 

Then he reconsiders. “It’s emotional for me because of the relationships and working with people. That’s the reason that I stayed so long … because of the team. You start trying to work your craft and learn and then you realize over the years that you’re in a group with a bunch of people with a common goal and that is where you develop your relationships with people. They’re working hard so you’re working hard. It’s totally collaborative.”

Although the primary techniques used in the Fountain kitchen are based in French tradition, DiStefano never saw the Fountain as a purely French restaurant. He speaks about the size advantage that the hotel brings, with the large staff bringing in influences from around the world. 

“We had the French chef and the technique of the food, but we would use people’s abilities, their gifts and their contributions. We had people from Laos who were making food for us and it was delicious. We would take that and ask how can we transform this, repackage it and put it on the menu,” he says. 

DiStefano sees three reasons for the Fountain’s longstanding place in the heart of many Philadelphians. One is constant evolution. 

“That’s the reason … people stayed so long, they were continuing to learn, there was never boredom and there was never complacency. We combined that with French technique and the expectations of the guests and I think those three things really came together. “ 

For DiStefano, this ever-evolving, collaborative style of menu creation is what kept the Fountain relevant and so well-received, especially during a time when fine dining was taking something of a swan dive. 

“Me, personally, I always wanted more fine dining restaurants,” he says. And it’s clear from Fountain alumni that DiStefano isn’t alone. Jean-Marie Lacroix left his executive chef post at the Four Seasons to open his eponymous restaurant in the Rittenhouse hotel and Martin Hamann moved from the Fountain to the Union League. 

Although Tod Wentz’s East Passyunk Avenue newcomer, Townsend, might be understated compared to these giants of fine dining, his Four Seasons pedigree shines though his impeccably sauced plates.  

And the Fountain kitchen also saw established cooking stars. Some of DiStefano’s fondest memories come from The Book and the Cook, an expo (sadly no longer happening) that paired chefs and cookbook authors with restaurants. This annual event was a veritable who’s who of the culinary world with Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Charlie Palmer, Charlie Trotter and Daniel Boulud all breezing through the Fountain.

It was during the 1990 Book and the Cook that DiStefano first got a peek at sous-vide cookery, a technique that was then virtually unheard of. But the pioneering chef Jean-Louis Palladin of the Watergate Hotel in D.C. and his crew were in the Fountain kitchen with Cryovaced proteins and makeshift immersion circulators. “We have wonderful, wonderful memories,” DiStefano says. 

With the final dinner service at the Fountain behind him, for the first time in memory, DiStefano will have a moment to breathe. With seasonal menu writing to be done, DiStefano likens the restaurant to a magazine. “When summer’s here you have to be thinking about fall, when fall’s here you’re thinking about winter. People think you’re living in the moment, but you’re like a quarterly.”

And while others in the same position might see this turning point as a place ripe for uncertainty, DiStefano is taking the transition in stride and readying himself for future opportunities, although he will not be continuing his employment with the Four Seasons.

“The last two weeks have been really great and extremely booked. We’re joking that the last month every night is Saturday night,” he says.