Coffee with a side of cow nuzzles | Let’s Eat
Hot dinnerware, 70% off; a Vetri restaurant expands; we tried a retro burger that tastes like 1956; and what the heck is a Tush Push Tater?

Coffee, cream, and cows. Now that is how to spend a dreamy morning.
Also in this edition:
Hot dinnerware: Jono Pandolfi, who makes the cult-favorite ceramic dinnerware from The Bear, is holding a pop-up sale in Philly.
Core issues: Apple farmers are pivoting because of a poor 2026 crop.
Bird feed: What’s on the Eagles’ menu at Lincoln Financial Field this season, besides the Tush Push Tater?
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Brew and a moo? Maybe a little calf-feine? At a suburban animal sanctuary, you can enjoy your morning coffee while cuddling affectionate baby cows. Beatrice Forman tried it while on assignment and came back udderly enthralled.
Jono Pandolfi’s ceramics turn up at some of Philly’s top restaurants — and on The Bear. Now, writes Zoe Greenberg, you can snag them for up to 70% off at a limited-time pop-up.
It’s called a Tush Push Tater, and it starts with a fried baked potato, then layers on breaded chicken cutlets and pimento mac and cheese, and finishes with hot honey-bacon jam. Ariel Simpson checked in on the Eagles’ new menu at Lincoln Financial Field and explains what’s in store this season. Go Birds.
A spring freeze ruined much of the local apple crop this year. Sarah Nicell writes that farmers are getting creative, but they say they’re not sure if the experiments can fully make up for the apple losses.
There’s retro style and there’s genuine 1950s retro: We can attest that the Charcoal Pit in Wilmington, where a teenage Joe Biden once lodged a civil rights protest, still delivers quality burgers and ice cream.
Scoops
Fiorella, Marc Vetri’s bustling Italian Market pasta bar, is getting a big expansion. Big by Fiorella standards, at least. The 14-seat dining room, in the old Fiorella’s butcher shop at 817 Christian St., will allow an additional six to eight diners after an interior wall is popped out into part of the adjoining alley. Bonus: A six-top table will be available for a larger party. (There’s also a 30-seat streetery.) Vetri says he expects the project to be finished in a few weeks.
Lost Time Brewing Co. in Kensington is adding a second taproom, as it replaces Our Time Brewery at 1519 Ridge Ave. in Francisville. Partner Andrew Mattes expects a mid-0ctober opening, “once we put our lipstick and fingerprints on it.”
Restaurant report
🤤 Butter chicken served on a cheesesteak is the secret-menu attraction at Pronto Pizza on South Street near Broad. Owner Umair Cheema explains its long path from Pakistan to his mom’s kitchen in Northeast Philadelphia.
☎️ Call Your Mother’s first of three Philly locations opened last week in Fishtown. Beatrice Forman calls it “America’s preppiest bagel shop, closer to a viral tween clothing store than a neighborhood deli.”
😟 “The building may be gone, but our dream is not,” say the owners of Roxborough’s 76-acclaimed White Yak, who were weeks away from opening a second location in Montgomery County before fire destroyed it. Jess Rohan has the story.
💣💣 Bomb Bomb Bar was the only Philadelphia spot to make the New York Times’ best restaurants list this year.
🏆 Honeysuckle chef/owners Omar Tate and Cybill St.Aude-Tate were named to Food & Wine’s annual Best New Chefs list, putting them in august company. The McDonald’s Money Burger (shown below) wowed the magazine, in particular.
🥟 Little Susie’s, the coffee-and-pie mini-chain, has overcome the zoning issues that delayed its Fairmount opening for months. Owner Daniel Martino says he expects to open the window at 2206 Fairmount Ave. by Halloween.
🛫 Workers at five airport restaurants have asked management to voluntarily recognize their affiliation with Unite Here Local 274.
Briefly noted
Sisterly Love Collective’s fourth annual Cookbooks & Convos series returns Oct. 25-Nov. 7 with more than 15 events pairing cookbook authors and food personalities with Philadelphia women-owned restaurants, bars, and businesses. Guests will include Toni Tipton-Martin, Katie Button, Kay Chun, and Mia Castro, with dinners, tastings, demonstrations, and happy hours around the city. The Oct. 25 launch is a 5K/10K Bakery Run stopping at women-owned bakeries with an afterparty at the finish line featuring a book-signing by Alex George. Tickets and the schedule are here.
Paws in the Vineyard brings adoptable Brandywine Valley SPCA dogs to Penns Woods Winery in Chadds Ford, from 5-7:30 p.m. Oct. 2. Guests can “check out” a shelter dog for a walk through the winery’s normally private vineyard, then stick around for music, wine, and food trucks. Tickets are $35, including a glass of wine, with proceeds benefiting the SPCA and Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association’s Brandywine Valley Chapter. Tickets ($35) include one glass of wine; info is here.
Feastival, the FringeArts’ fundraiser that fuses Philadelphia’s performance and culinary arts under one roof across from Penn’s Landing, will return for its 15th year on Oct. 28, starting at 7 p.m. Tickets ($200 for general admission, and $350 for VIP) are here.
The pop-up PHS Beer Garden in Manayunk will close permanently in about three weeks because its site is in line for development. Meanwhile, PHS is scouting a new location.
Two Robbers Spirits Co. has teamed with the Eagles on two co-branded canned-cocktail variety packs of its 4.5% ABV vodka-soda, iced tea, and lemonade drinks. The Philly company, which also operates a bar-restaurant in Fishtown, started partnering with the team last year. Fan events are planned this fall, with individual Eagles-branded cans coming later in the season.
The Cacia’s Bakery location in Haddonfield appears to be permanently closed.
❓Pop quiz
What’s driving Reading Terminal Market’s latest honor?
A) its complement of cheesesteaks
B) a record for foot traffic
C) a food-waste program
D) a move to a 4 a.m. opening time
Find out if you know the answer.
And in more Reading Terminal news: Here are the dramatic results of an economic-impact study.
Ask Mike anything
We are subscribers at Lantern Theater and before/after theater dining options a close walk away have really narrowed with the closing of Barra Rossa, Iron Hill, and Jones. Any suggestions? — Russ W.
Good point about relatively few dining options right by 10th and Ludlow, though I will point out that Iron Hill has reopened. Before an evening show, I’d suggest High Street (Ellen Yin’s bistro), Oloroso (Townsend Wentz’s Spanish restaurant), or Mi Vida (the stylish Mexican newcomer in East Market). For later, I’d suggest the charming Soufiane at the Morris House or a stop amid the 13th Street dining cluster, such as Bud & Marilyn’s, Pearl & Mary, Darling Jack’s, or Charlie was a sinner.
Does 333 Belrose plan to return to serving lunch or is that a thing of the past? — Fred M.
Chef Ross Essner at the Radnor landmark, which reopened over the summer, says lunch will come back in “early fall,” though the date is still in flux.
📮 Have a question about food in Philly? Email your questions to me at mklein@inquirer.com for a chance to be featured in my newsletter.
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