Philly’s Essential Cheesesteaks | Let’s Eat

We got the meats this week. Also, we’ll catch you up with lofty changes at Jean-Georges, a new home for gelato favorite Cloud Cups, a rundown of six riffs on Caesar salads, and plenty of dining news.

— Mike Klein

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On the eve of National Cheesesteak Day (March 24), we share tips, facts, and opinions about this uniquely Philadelphia-born sandwich.

Also:

🎥 Philly-bred comedian Bryan Yanez has decamped to Mexico City, where he has discovered versions of Philly cheesesteaks. ¡No son buenos!

✈️ Philadelphia International Airport is getting into Cheesesteak Day, though you have to get through the Transportation Sandwich Administration checkpoints. The PHL Cheesesteak Tour stops at such kiosks as Chickie’s & Pete’s, Tony Luke’s, Geno’s, and Jim’s. Finale (with sampling) is 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday in the B/C Connector. Details are here.

🍦And here’s some scoop for you: One of our favorite cheesesteaks — seen above — comes from the prosaically named Steaks West Chester. Owner Speer Madanat also owns the popular Pizza West Chester. Next up: Ice Cream West Chester, which will serve soft-serve and custard at the former Juice Pod shop at 14 N. Church St., perhaps as soon as mid-May.

The Caesar salad, underneath its deceptively simple guise, is a culinary powerhouse, writes Hira Qureshi, who found six tasty renditions. Did you know that the Caesar, though popular on Italian menus in the U.S., was created in Mexico?

Phillies alum Jimmy Rollins (above) is a partner in Eleven Social, a forthcoming bar-restaurant (with brewery) at 117 Chestnut St. in Old City. A decade ago, then-Eagles tight end Brent Celek (shown below) was a partner in Prime Stache, a bar right across the street.

This brings to mind a lineup of Phillies who’ve been in The Biz, mainly as investors. Phillies star Bryce Harper helped launch Blind Barber, a hair salon/cocktail lounge in Center City. Former star Ryan Howard has a big piece of Colbie’s Southern-Kissed Chicken. Retiree John Kruk has Kruk’s Philly Steaks in Naples, Fla., while former pitcher Shane Rawley owns Shaner’s Pizza in Sarasota, Fla. Former Phillies manager Charlie Manuel lent his name to Uncle Charlie’s Steaks at Citizens Bank Park, where ex-slugger Greg Luzinski fronts Bull’s BBQ. Going way back, I’m sure that Del Ennis, a member of the 1950 Whiz Kids squad, had at least a snack bar at Del Ennis Lanes, his long-ago bowling alley in Huntingdon Valley, where the Giant is now.

Read on for news of Rollins’ deal.

As a new chef (Colin Henderson, a Daniel Boulud acolyte) joins the Four Seasons Philadelphia, its atmospheric Jean-Georges restaurant on the 59th floor of the Comcast Technology Center has revived à la carte dining, in addition to the $198/$218 tasting menus. Read on and see the menus.

Galen Thomas has a bright, roomy new retail home in Kensington for Cloud Cups, his gelato business. Ever smell a gelato-scented candle? His fiancée, Victoria Pickens, sells them there.

Piadina option at Tulip. I defy you to find a tastier/better dining deal out there than the new piadina option at the bustling Tulip Pasta & Wine Bar in Fishtown. Chef Alex Beninato rolls out a staggering spread inspired by Momofuku Ssäm’s dinners — local cheeses, greens, and focaccia to start, followed by two pastas such as buttery mushroom pastina or ricotta gnocchi, and then the showstopper: ribbons of juicy porchetta with piadina, the warm flatbreads he crafts from local stone-milled flour, and strutto rendered from the pork belly, accompanied by pickles and sides. Then comes dessert: s’more semifreddo, cassata cake, ricotta fritters. It’s all for $65pp, the whole table has to buy in, and you must call (yes, by phone) to reserve a day in advance.

Tulip Pasta & Wine Bar, 2302 E. Norris St., 267-773-8189. Piadina is offered Tuesday-Saturday. Must reserve by phone a day in advance.

Kampar. Chef Ange Branca is finally, finally opening Kampar, the 2.0 version of her acclaimed Malaysian restaurant. Half of it, anyway. The second-floor bar and dining room (the “kongsi”) starts Friday, and the first floor, to be overseen by a chef in residence, is a ways away. Read about Branca’s journey and check out the concept here.

Kampar, 611 S. Seventh St. Initial hours: 5-10 pm. (kitchen) and 5-11 p.m. (bar) Sunday, Monday, Thursday; and 5-11 p.m. (kitchen) and 5 p.m.-midnight (bar) Friday and Saturday. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

Otto’s Supper Club & Social. Ashley Power, a Philly-area restaurant/catering lifer, has launched a charming space in a strip center in Eagleville (near her Collegeville home) for assorted programming: 20-seat supper-club dinners, takeaway meals, chef collabs, private events, and classes (like the “Mimosas, Cookies & Tea Party” on Saturday). Named after her uncle Otto, she calls it a passion project funded with her credit card: “I registered the name in 2008, and thought I would do something with it, as my husband Jeff [chef at Dettera in Ambler] and I always talk about opening up a little restaurant or shop one day.” You Otto check the schedule.

Mural City Cellars. Nicholas Ducos and Francesca Galarus complete their move from Kensington to Fishtown with Friday’s opening of their winemaking facility and wine bar/bottle shop in a converted auto-body garage at 1831 Frankford Ave. They’re sticking to their promise to source all grapes from growers within 300 miles of Philly. Also on: cheese from Birchrun Hills in Chester Springs, Perrystead Dairy in Olde Kensington and Bandit in South Philly, plus beers from Philadelphia’s Carbon Copy and Triple Bottom Brewing, along with additional wines from Pennsy producers including Camuna Cellars in Philadelphia, Vox Vinetti in Lancaster County, and Galen Glen in the Lehigh Valley.

Hours: 4-10 p.m. Monday and Thursday, 4-11 p.m. Friday, noon-11 p.m. Saturday, noon-10 p.m. Sunday. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

No opening dates yet on the following, but “soon”:

Jerk Fry City (602 South St.): The crew from Southwest Philly’s Kingston 11 is about to soft-open a Jamaican-style takeout.

Órele (775 S. Front St.): Mexican and Venezuelan comida coexist in Queen Village’s former Catahoula.

Mulherin’s Pizzeria (1175 Ludlow St.): The East Market pizzeria offshoot of the Fishtown favorite that’s been nearly three years (!) in the making.

Memories in Margate, the nightclub founded five decades ago by the late DJ Jerry Blavat, will get new life this summer. A new owner wants to keep it as it was (mostly).

Aaji’s, which makes the tomato condiment Lonsa, and Huda, the Rittenhouse sandwich shop, are collabing through Friday on a sandwich benefiting the Sisterly Love Coalition. Huda’s Yehuda Sichel adds breaded fluke, Aaji’s spicy Lonsa, pickled daikon, lettuce, and garlic aioli on a toasted milk bun, and it’s priced at $15.

Two female-led culinary businesses in Ardmore are partnering for Women’s History Month on a fundraiser for the Ardmore Food Pantry. Leanne DelVescovo and Alia Sobel of the quick-service Lentil & Co. and María-José Hernández of Autana Authentic Venezuelan Food are showcasing a specialty at their respective restaurants. Lentil & Co. is serving Autana’s lentil soup, Sopa Lentejas, while Autana is using Lentil & Co.’s recipe for lentils in its empanadas, which come four per order accompanied by hummus. The initiative runs through April 18.

Rittenhouse Grill at the Radisson Plaza Warwick Hotel is running a cabaret series called “An Evening With Me,” and the “me” on April 15 will be Philly native Andrea McArdle, who was the first Annie on Broadway in the 1970s. John Lloyd Young, the original Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys, will be up for shows May 20 and May 21. Details are here.

Be advised that Philadelphia Whiskey is neither made nor sold in Philly. As Stephanie Farr asserts: It’s a plastic bottle of lies.

A vegan version of an iconic Philly food is making a comeback. What is it?

A) Roast pork

B) Scrapple

C) Soft pretzel with cheese dip

D) Cheesesteak

Find out if you know the answer.

What’s going on with the restaurant that was Moonstruck in Fox Chase? — George B.

Moonstruck, on Oxford Avenue near Rhawn Street, closed in summer 2021 after decades. The partners behind Gaul & Co. Malt House bought it, as well as the adjacent Joseph’s Pizza. They reopened Joseph’s last year, but given the pandemic and the economy, they’re giving additional thought to the large restaurant. Partner Matt Yeck tells me they are slowly talking to chefs and plan to open it as a “private speakeasy dinner club before anything to test recipes and processes.”

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