Mount Airy’s dining scene suffered a big loss in September 2025, when chef David Jansen closed his eponymous French-inspired restaurant, which tony Northwest Philadelphians and beyond had loved for a decade.

Luckily, the neighborhood didn’t have to wait too long for another date-night destination to step in. Doho, a chic 41-seater, opened in October 2025 with a dimly lit bar and dining room marked by marble tables, gold accents, and plush seats.

Doho’s modern aesthetics stand out in this part of town as much as its globally influenced menu, whose supporting ingredients are always on the move: Delicate masa gnocchi studded with Tajín-laced corn nuts and queso fresco in late summer turns to tomato masala and pickled tomatillos as temps fall; duck gets plated with charred peaches in one season and charred apples in the next; the sungold tomato sauce dressing the housemade “rad” noodles (stretched-out radiatori pasta) in early October shifts to a chorizo-laced red curry number by November.

“There’s a lot of care that goes into everything here,” says chef de cuisine Lee Richards, who was preparing handmade shrimp dumplings late last month for a mid-autumn menu debut.

Richards leads the kitchen at Doho, which is attached to owner Peter Loevy’s Catering by Design at Germantown Avenue and Hortter Street. Though executive chef Roth Perelman oversees both operations — and directs much of the cocktail menu at Doho — the two outfits don’t mix much otherwise. (Meaning catering clients can’t order Doho food for their events — yet, Loevy says.)

“We kind of pull away and do our own thing,” Richards says, adding that Doho’s staff, which works in a separate kitchen area from Catering by Design’s team, does get to enjoy an abundance of cookware.

My favorite way to play this globe-hopping, tradition-mixing menu is to focus on the interesting lineup of small plates. There’s usually about 10 items to choose from, including oysters, fish crudo, tuna tartar, Badger Flame beets, and a Caesar salad (whose greens change regularly). You never know what might round out the rest — be it a shrimp quesadilla griddled in paratha bread, a blue crab-stuffed Vietnamese crepe, or a crescent-shaped pretzel roll served alongside mushroom pâté. (There are even more creative bites during the bar’s four-night-a-week social hour, from 5 to 6:30 p.m.)

At my most recent visit, we grazed on tender lamb ribs glazed in a savory-sweet fish sauce caramel as well as crispy sweet-potato tostones generously dusted with chipotle-suya spice mix. The lamb ribs and tostones are both fixtures in the small-plate set, but Richards tweaks the tostones preparations seasonally, swapping in caramelized onion aioli, say, for a miso ranch dipping sauce.

Even tastier was the pretzel banh mi, served on shio pan, or Japanese salt bread, a cushiony, salt-speckled bun that tastes like it’s part pretzel, part croissant, and part Parker House roll. The bread, which gets spread with that same fish sauce caramel (in place of pâté), cradled a salty slab of pork belly, threads of pickled carrots and daikon radish, cilantro leaves, and thin slices of jalapeño. The only flaw I could find — other than the banh mi’s limited availability on the social hour menu — is that you will not want to share it, even with your partner.

Doho’s cocktails are well matched with these boldly spiced dishes. You can’t go wrong with their very gingery Penicillin riff (the Electric Touch), but I was especially taken with a Tajín-rimmed corn margarita (Don’t Leave Me Now) made with tortilla-infused tequila, corn liqueur, and sweet corn. Alas, it was off the menu just a few weeks later. Not to worry: There’s always something new and intriguing here to keep the locals coming back.

“One great thing our neighbors say is that it’s a Center City restaurant that [they] don’t have to go to Center City for,” Loevy says.

Doho, 18 W Hortter St., 267-892-6829, dohorestaurant.com