Forsythia

Forsythia is a contemporary French bistro on Chestnut Street in Old City, opened in 2019 by chef-proprietor Christopher Kearse. The dining room is bright and modern with an open kitchen, the menu is elevated and rotates frequently, and the bar leans wine-forward alongside craft cocktails. The kitchen holds a place in the MICHELIN Guide's Philadelphia recognition, listed as Recommended in 2025.

The non-alcoholic offering is small and honest, and its headliner is properly built. The 75 Year Old Virgin is a spirit-free take on the French 75 — conventionally gin, lemon, sugar and champagne — reconstructed on juniper, cara cara orange and lemon. Philadelphia Magazine's Kae Lani Palmisano described it as achieving the same citrusy, spicy, botanical essence of gin through the juniper, and that is the correct way to read the drink. Juniper is the berry that legally defines gin and supplies its piney, resinous character; using it directly rather than reaching for a commercial gin substitute means the drink carries the flavour that matters without the bottle in between. Cara cara oranges are the pink-fleshed variety, lower in acid and more berry-like than a navel, which gives the drink roundness where a straight lemon build would be sharp. Steep Calm is the second named option.

The French bistro context is the reason a short list still works here. This is a restaurant where wine is the expected accompaniment and where a table settles in for a long meal, so the useful thing is not a large menu of alcohol-free drinks but one well-made aperitif to open with — which is precisely what a French 75 is for. Ordering it means starting the meal the same way as everyone else at the table.

Open for dinner only, from five in the evening until ten, and until nine on Sunday.