Philly Chef Severely Injured In Amtrak Derailment Set To Open First New York Restaurant
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia's High Street Hospitality Group is getting ready to open their first New York restaurant. Among the owners is a chef who was critically injured in the Amtrak derailment in May.
Ellen Yin, co-owner of Philadelphia's High Street and Fork restaurants says High Street on Hudson, which opens Monday, will be her first restaurant in New York.
"We have our pastry and egg sandwich program," Yin says. "In the afternoon it's like a destination sandwich shop, and then in the evening we have a dinner program that is new contemporary American."
But the process has not been without challenges. Two months after signing the lease, her business partner, Eli Kulp, was a passenger aboard an Amtrak train from Philadelphia to New York and became paralyzed when it derailed.
"He obviously had a severe spinal cord injury," Yin says. "I'm sure you've read all the publicity. He's in a wheelchair and he's doing the best he can to contribute."
Yin says Kulp is still coping with his new reality.
"He needs 24-hour a day care," she says. "He has to have people around him all the time."
She says Kulp has a long recovery ahead of him. It was unclear whether he would be at the grand opening.
"I certainly hope he'll be here," Yin says. "I can't imagine opening a restaurant without Eli."
Yin says opening a restaurant in New York was one of Kulp's personal goals, but one her goals has been to have several restaurants under their umbrella.
