Michael Vincent Ferreri on Starting Over, Better, at Irwin’s

To dine at Irwin’s, Michael Vincent Ferreri’s Sicilian restaurant in Philadelphia, you enter the old Bok Vocational High School, built in the 1930s through the Public Works Administration. Head past the old auditorium and lockers and take the elevator to the eighth floor, where you’ll find chefs serving housemade pasta and roast chicken, and bartenders pouring natural wines and fizzy spritzes. 

This is version 2.0 of the building, which was...