THIS is pizza?! | Let’s Eat
A loaded-potato shop gets a new home, Philly restaurants see some out-of-town love, and what in the name of pastrami is going on at the Kibitz Room?
Mozzarella has been bumped from the group chat. We’ll tell you why the pizza cheese that everyone is trying is ... Cooper Sharp (!?)
Also in this edition:
It’s a sign: Meet the artists whose restaurant lettering work we love.
The perfect mash: A shop serving loaded baked potatoes is opening on South Street.
Deli drama: The Kibitz Room is evicted in King of Prussia, but plans a return in Cherry Hill.
Urban winery tour: It’s a first and it steps off in May.
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Cooper Sharp cheese has conquered cheesesteaks. And now, as Beatrice Forman learned, it’s become a favorite pizza cheese. Even traditionalists seem to be down with it.
More national plaudits for Philly’s dining scene:
😋 Food & Wine calls Philly the No. 8 food and drink city in the United States, and ranks Kalaya at No. 8 among all restaurants.
😋 Two publications — the New York Times and Washington Post — hopped on the Acela and now offer up their Philly favorites.
You probably see the artwork of Gibbs Connors and Christian Cantiello all the time. Adam Clair tells us about the team behind the city’s most iconic restaurant signs.
The Kibitz Room shut down in January in Cherry Hill, and now the owner’s son plans to step in and revive it. But first, his unrelated Kibitz Room location in King of Prussia was ordered shut down Monday. Read on, and I’ll unpack this deli drama.
Philly’s first urban walking wine tour launches in May. Kiki Aranita features Tiny Table Tours’ Fishtown Wine & Drinks.
This week, our writers found joy in a Puerto Rican feast, a warm bowl of congee, and famous vegan buffalo wings. And how hard is it to sneak a banh mi into a movie theater?
Scoops
Mod Spuds, which chef Ange Branca ran as a holiday pop-up, is opening as a permanent fast-casual location. We will see if South Street is ready for loaded baked potatoes.
Mays 12 is being positioned as a hip, 12-hole golf club on the former site of Mays Landing Country Club in Hamilton Township, Atlantic County, N.J. (Casino executive Frank Ruocco bought the spread in early 2024.) A LaScala’s restaurant will be part of it; owner Rob LaScala said he’s hoping for a May 12 opening, but doesn’t think it will make that auspicious target.
Wilmington doings
Angelo’s Pizzeria has set up a stall near its cheesesteak stand in DECO Food Hall (111 W. 10th St.), a partnership between Bardea Restaurant Group and Angelo’s.
Kingston 11, Abigail Bloomfield’s Jamaican spot in Southwest Philly, is a few weeks from opening at 3301 Lancaster Pike in Wilmington. Initially, she had intended it to be a location of her other brand, Jerk Fry City.
Opening updates
Bar Cicci (1620 Sansom St.): The all-day café from Ellen Yin’s High Street Hospitality Group is targeting early June. (By day, expect Italian-inspired pastries and breads, focaccia sandwiches, and a espresso-based drinks. By evening, it will transition into an aperitivo bar pouring wine and cocktails alongside cicchetti and other snacks.)
Biederman’s Rittenhouse (20th and Spruce Streets): Lauren Biederman is saying “May” for the new outpost of her South Philadelphia appetizing shop.
Recipe Philly (Broad and Arch Streets): The restaurant (and docuseries) building its menu around Philly family recipes is now aiming for Aug. 1.
Restaurant report
Iron Hill Brewery in East Market (shown here in January — remember snow?) will reopen Sunday, seven months after the chain shut down abruptly. Erin McCarthy reports that other locations will return soon.
Briefly noted
Kelliann’s Bar & Grill, at 16th and Spring Garden since 1994, has expanded to Pennsport, taking over McKenna’s Pub at 153 Snyder Ave.
StrEAT Food Festival will return to Main Street in Manayunk on Sunday with 70-plus food trucks and 20 food vendors, plus shopping and music, from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Grace & Proper’s Basque in the Spring will turn the corner of Eighth and Carpenter Streets in Bella Vista into a Basque-style festival with pintxos, Spanish-inspired cocktails, and Txakoli wines (including porron service) from 2 p.m. till after sunset Tuesday. Custom wooden nickels ($5 each, available for preorder) can be traded for food and drinks; dishes will include jamon Iberico, Manchego cheese, pickled vegetables, piri piri honey chicken skewers, mortadella skewers, gildas, beef empanadas, Spanish tortillas, tinned fish, Marcona almonds, squid ink focaccia with a duo of anchovies, and grilled cod filet on toast.
❓Pop quiz
Sally, the Fitler Square pizzeria, has launched a sideline. What is it?
A) Dubai chocolate
B) cookies
C) doughnuts
D) budino
Find out if you know the answer.
Ask Mike anything
What’s happening at the old Pizza Brain location in Kensington? — Adrie P.
It will become the Philly outlet of Mr. Fries Man, a fry franchise out of Gardena, Calif. Galen Thomas, whose Cloud Cups gelato has part of the space at 2313 Frankford Ave. (along with Philly Cheesescake Lady), is working with chef Donte Fassett and Muhammad Lewis on the project. They plan to Philly it up by adding cheesesteak fries to the menu shortly after its late-April opening. They’ll give away fries to the first 150 people at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. April 24.
As for the “old” Pizza Brain: Co-creator Joe Hunter is behind Cerveau, the pizzeria/bar at 990 Spring Garden St., and he’s planning three ghost kitchens out of there — branded as Pizza Brain, Jane’s Vegan, and the gluten-friendly Crunchies. Hunter also just brought on Steven Seibel, who crushed the Chicago-style pies at the late Hook & Master in Kensington before stops at Broad Street Ministries, the Lucky Well and Sonny’s Cocktail Joint.
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