Our picks for the best takeout | Let’s Eat

Sometimes, you just want to get takeout. Here are our favorite options from The 76.

Also in this edition:

— Mike Klein

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The 76, The Inquirer’s compendium of the region’s most essential restaurants, is stocked with wonderful dine-in options. If you’re looking for quality to go, here are 18 spots from the latest edition of The 76 that do takeout and delivery right.

✅ The 76: Our latest guide to the restaurants you must try.

Chef Christopher Kearse faces a court date Friday as he is accused of assaulting a former manager at his Michelin-recommended Forsythia. In interviews with The Inquirer, several employees corroborated the manager’s account. Meanwhile, Kearse’s cocktail bar, Known Associates, has been closed for several weeks for apparently unrelated reasons.

With The Inquirer Food Fest a little more three weeks away, check out some of the chefs who will make it happen. “Love at First Bite” is a reality TV-inspired culinary matchmaking series, hosted by The Inquirer’s Ariane Datil, where chefs enter “pods” to find their perfect collaboration partner. Hilarity ensues. Seven episodes are up now. Let’s catch up here.

✅ Get discount tickets to The Inquirer Food Festival, our all-day gathering of the region’s top restaurants and food/drink makers, on Nov. 14 at the Fillmore. It’s almost sold out.

Sixers star LeBron James asked on social media for Philly-area outlets for the West African stew known as seafood potato greens, and to Kiki Aranita and Craig LaBan, it was a slam dunk. Here are their recommendations.

Chefs’ work is demanding and punishing on the body. When chefs like Greg Vernick (above) need to get straightened out, they turn to physical therapist Joe Zarett. “I am literally walking because of him,” Marc Vetri told Kiki Aranita.

Craig LaBan, visiting Montreal for a birthday trip, discovered the Lemon Pookie Cheesesteak at the new Pasta Pooks in the Little Italy neighborhood, best known for its sage butter-glazed ravioli, tagliatelle with lamb ragù bianc, and other pastas. The owners are Eagles fans, and offer a Philly Special: a cheesesteak with lemon pepper seasoning. Craig loved that subtle citric tang.

Chef José Garces says he’s long considered offering breakfast at Buena Onda, his Baja-inspired fast-casual taqueria at 1901 Callowhill St. in Spring Garden. Then he noticed the Starbucks next door, crushing it every morning. On Nov. 1, he is starting a 60-day experiment with breakfast, served daily from 7-11 a.m. The menu includes bacon-jalapeño and chorizo breakfast tacos, an egg-and-cheese tacadilla, two breakfast burritos, and a bowl of potatoes, eggs, black beans, vegetables, and cheese. Rival Bros. drip coffee and cold brew will be available at a coffee bar, with free drip coffee refills and housemade sweeteners and alternative milks. Garces, who started Buena Onda in 2015 and reacquired the brand in early 2025, has been refining its menu and service model while exploring franchising. If breakfast works, Garces said, it will become permanent.

We’re in a period of flux, as openings and closings seek a balance.

Openings

La Maison Jaune, which opened last year at 22nd and Rittenhouse Square, opened a far roomier second location last weekend at 1718 Fairmount Ave. (shown below) with pastries and coffees. Look for it next to Bar Hygge.

Call Your Mother, the D.C. bagel import, opened the second of three planned Philadelphia locations on Monday at 262 S. 19th St., the former Metropolitan Bakery in Rittenhouse. CYM opened at 1500 Frankford Ave. in Fishtown last month, and will next open at 12th and Sansom Streets. That’s up for sometime in 2027, says cofounder Andrew Dana.

El Mariachi San Lucas in Voorhees opened a takeout — El Mariachi San Lucas Express — on Monday across town in Cedar Hill Shopping Center on Route 73. The Ramos sisters opened their first location in 2014.

Battle Royale Brewing brings beer and arcade games to 21 E. Springfield Rd. in Springfield, Delaware County, effective yesterday. (Lisa Dukart previewed it here.)

Field Day showcases Slow Drinks advocate Danny Childs and company in a new space at 923 N. Second St., in front of Cescaphe Ballroom in Northern Liberties. Debut is today.

Corte, the offshoot of University City’s Corio at East Market (1175 Ludlow St., pictured above), is due to open Tuesday with a menu built around housemade pastas plus proteins, vegetables, and small plates cooked in a wood-burning oven.

Closings

Le Bus will close Sunday after eight years in East Falls. Founder David Braverman told me that at 77 and enjoying good health, he wants to keep it that way. He’ll focus on his commercial bakery.

PokeOno, which started a decade ago on Lancaster Avenue in Ardmore, has closed. Founder Andrew Danieli has not abandoned the fish life. He started a company called Fathom Provisions, offering yellowfin sliced thin by hand, flavored in marinades, dried, and packaged to go. It’s expected to launch next month.

Zoto’s Diner on Route 309 in Line Lexington has set Sunday as its last day after 53 years.

Turks Head Wines’ mission was to bring a California tasting room experience to Pennsylvania. Having achieved that goal in West Chester, as Kiki Aranita writes, they’ve added a restaurant and hired a chef.

Extreme heat, late frosts, and unpredictable weather are taking a toll on Philadelphia-area farms, driving up ingredient costs and forcing restaurants to rethink their menus. Jess Rohan tells how chefs and farmers are experimenting with new ingredients and ways to adapt to a changing climate.

Autumn Harvest Block Party at Piazza Alta courtyard (1099 Germantown Ave.) will gather more than 40 vendors from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday for a fall market featuring food, drinks, produce, shopping, music, and children’s activities. Details are here.

The war with Iran is blamed for challenges with imports of this fruit:

A) bananas

B) kumquats

C) Pakistani mangoes

D) coconuts

Find out if you know the answer.

Why aren’t restaurants providing spoons in the silverware setting anymore? — Ted R.

This has been the case for decades, coinciding with the move to more casual dining, which calls for simpler presentation.

Also, “owners realized that spoons are a need-based use item, similar to steak knives,” said Mory Garfinkle of M2 Foodservice Representatives, who followed his father and grandfather into the restaurant-equipment supply business. “Restaurants bring them out with specific dishes or when customers ask.”

This also allows restaurants to match the utensil to the food — a bouillon spoon for soup, for example, or a dessert spoon for dessert. Breakfast restaurants are an exception, Garfinkle said, because customers are more likely to need spoons for coffee or eggs.

There’s also money involved.

Poppy Ward, regional sales manager at Zwiesel Fortessa Americas, said eliminating unnecessary spoons from place settings reduces the number restaurants must keep on hand, wash, polish, and handle. It also means fewer utensils getting lost, accidentally discarded, or stolen.

Flatware itself has become more expensive. Ward said rising steel tariffs have forced suppliers to increase prices, giving restaurant operators another reason to reconsider.

No one suggests that spoons are becoming obsolete. Rather, they have gone from being a standard part of the table setting to something provided when the menu calls for one.

“I don’t think we’re giving up on spoons,” Ward said. “I just think we’re being more selective about who gets to spoon.”

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