Philly’s most exciting new bar | Let’s Eat
Backyard Cravings goes legit; Craig LaBan finds a winning Indian restaurant; a diner gets 86ed; and Fishtown is getting more new food options.
Field Day is the most-talked-about bar to open this year. Not only does Jenn Ladd take you inside, but she also tells you about its mastermind and his mission.
Lots to cover this week.
But first, allow me to remind you that The Inquirer Food Festival is headed toward a sellout. It’s Nov. 14 at the Fillmore. Tickets and details are here.
Also in this edition:
Out from the shadows: The mysterious cheesesteak and pizza purveyor known as Backyard Cravings has gone legit.
Indian delight: Craig LaBan finds a winner in South Jersey.
86 the diner: Zoto’s has shut off the lights after 53 years.
News and gossip: Read on for news of a new Italian restaurant in East Market, a new home for Kouklet, a local bar on its way to a small town in South Jersey, and a matcha cafe adding a third location.
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Field Day, now open in Northern Liberties, showcases 45 cocktails built around regional ingredients, from birch bark to foraged mushrooms. Jenn Ladd takes us inside the ambitious new bar from James Beard Award-winning bartender Danny Childs and his wife, Katie. Food? There’s Beard-nominated chef Melissa McGrath’s tomato pie, steamed clams, and Lebanon bologna sandwiches.
There’s more: Jenn traveled to Tales of the Cocktail with Danny Childs to explore his Slow Drinks philosophy and mission to change cocktail culture.
🍸 Check out our picks for Philly’s best cocktail bars.
It’s a small miracle that Sal Burgese got away with running a social-media-star cheesesteak and sandwich pop-up out of his backyard. He is now aboveboard with Backyard Cravings, whose shop opened last weekend. Read on for his only-in-Philly story.
Steve and JoAnne Zoto can talk all day about the diner business. When I wrote last week about Zoto Diner’s closing after 53 years, I had room for only so many of stories they shared. Here’s one more I’m sure you’ll enjoy:
During the gas shortages of the 1970s, when business slowed, the Zotos had fallen behind on their loan. Hats in hands, the couple went next door to their lender, Union National Bank & Trust Co. Founded by local farmers and businessmen, it was a classic small-town bank. The Zotos handed over the diner’s keys, and the bankers handed them right back. “We don’t know how to run a restaurant,” Steve recalled them saying. “Hang in there.” The bank, now Univest, suspended their payments until they got back on their feet. “Today, that would never happen,” he said.
Read about the couple’s remarkable run and what’s next.
A fiery goat curry made with 27 spices is the draw at Nagpuri Saoji in Voorhees, where chef Swapna Sagdeo showcases the little-seen flavors of Central India. Critic Craig LaBan finds plenty more to savor, including crisp tapioca fritters, rustic flatbreads, and richly flavored vegetarian dishes.
Legal woes are making headlines in Philadelphia’s restaurant scene. A jury ordered Fearless Restaurants to pay $200,000 in a sexual harassment case, while Forsythia chef Christopher Kearse faces assault charges and nearly $925,000 in bank judgments over allegedly unpaid loans for both Forsythia and his cocktail bar, Known Associates.
Every part of the chicken gets its due in dancerobot’s $35 Wednesday-only yakitori special, from crispy skin and glazed wings to liver mousse and rich broth. Kiki Aranita calls the elaborate spread a tasty and remarkable bargain.
Scoops
Dave Goldman and his wife, Tara, who own Urban Village Brewing Co. in Northern Liberties, have a project closer to home in Williamstown, Gloucester County. They’re hoping for a fall 2027 opening of Goldie’s (rendering shown above), a neighborhood restaurant and bar with an English-pub feel, at Main and Hall Streets. It’s a ground-up project, on the former site of the town’s public library. The brick building, totaling slightly more than 5,000 square feet, will have a 60-seat bar area, a similarly sized dining room, an upstairs mezzanine with a small bar and room for 60, and a 32-seat front porch. Groundbreaking is scheduled for December.
Del’s II at Front and Tasker Streets in Pennsport has been shuttered for nearly 25 years. And now, news: Joe Dougherty and associates from Waltz, the homey Italian newcomer in deep South Philly, have bought the pile. Plans? “A retro-style diner serving breakfast and lunch is the leading idea,” he told me, “but nothing is finalized.” Stay tuned.
Donburi, Japanese rice bowls topped with meat, seafood, or vegetables, will be the specialty at Nomu Nomu Don, an 18-seat BYOB opening in mid-November at 2026 Frankford Ave. in Fishtown-Kensington. Owner Sarah Qi, who also owns Cake & Joe two doors away, plans a menu featuring bluefin tuna, salmon five ways, grilled eel, and steak, with premium additions such as uni and caviar; 10 counter seats; and lunch and dinner daily.
Kouklet, the Brazilian bakery from Mardhory Santos-Cepeda, is moving up East Passyunk Avenue, where it will become an all-day cafe. It’s taking an auspicious location.
Restaurant report
Corte, an Italian restaurant from the team behind Corio in University City, opened yesterday in East Market. Here’s a view from inside.
Front Street Cafe in Fishtown-Kensington is being sold, and the new owner is the Washington, D.C., group that runs the Michelin-acclaimed Tiger Fork. Here’s what we know.
William Penn Inn in Gwynedd, scene of an Oct. 9 fire, is on its way back. Its website says it’s now serving buffet lunch and dinner, pending a return to full dining room service.
Bower Cafe at 1213 Walnut St. will close Saturday after three years. Owner Thane Wright, citing stiff competition in the neighborhood, low foot traffic, and “astronomical” rent, will carry on with his shop at Penn Medicine in University City. He’s also developing a restaurant with his brother in Point Breeze.
Hart of Catering at 21st and Sansom Streets will close its public cafe at the end of business Sunday after four years. Kevin Hart will expand his off-site catering business into the cafe. Hart said he would continue to offer free community dinners on Thursday evenings.
Amanda Shulman and Alex Kemp of Her Place, My Loup, and Pine Street Grill have applied for a liquor license at the shuttered Barclay Pharmacy at 18th and Spruce Streets. The timeline is unknown, and they’re playing the concept close to their chefs’ jackets. I would not be shocked to see Her Place move there, given that Shulman’s supper club is busting at the seams on Sansom Street and that the license is in the “Her Place” name.
Briefly noted
The Philadelphia Food as Medicine Coalition has been formed to improve health through nutrition. Kayla Yup sat down with the organizers.
Chef Phila Lorn of Mawn and Sao has teamed up with meal-delivery service Home Appétit on two dishes: Mawn nyawm salad with young papaya, carrots, and pickled cherry peppers, and Sunday chicken curry served with an Italian Market baguette. The curry is inspired by Lorn’s childhood Sundays, when his mother made the dish and sent his father to Sarcone’s Bakery for bread. A portion of sales will benefit Saturday programming at Francis Scott Key Elementary School, which Lorn attended. Orders can be placed through Thursday at homeappetitphilly.com, with delivery Monday. The minimum order is $100.
Jeremy Intille, executive pastry chef at Osteria and owner of the bakery pop-up JerBear Bakehouse, will compete on season 13 of Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship, premiering at 8 p.m. Monday and streaming the next day on HBO Max.
Le Virtù (1927 E. Passyunk Ave.) will offer an entirely gluten-free menu from 5-9 p.m. Nov. 5 and 19. The restaurant will deep-clean its kitchen, bar, and prep areas before each dinner. The à la carte menu will feature gluten-free versions of Abruzzese dishes, including spaghetti with goat ragù, buckwheat tortiglioni with octopus ragù and cuttlefish ink, toasted gnocchi, and red wine-braised beef shoulder. No tickets required; reservations through Resy.
❓Pop quiz
Magnolia Bakery from New York City is opening two shops in the Philadelphia region in coming months. What’s its specialty?
A) two-pound chocolate chip cookies
B) strawberry tarts
C) banana pudding
D) beignets
Find out if you know the answer.
Ask Mike anything
What’s happening at Frankford and Berks in Fishtown, where Taylor Chip was? It looks like something is on the way. — Maria O.
Your instincts are correct. Matcha Panda Cafe, whose 2022 opening in Chinatown makes it one of Philly’s first matcha-only shops, is taking 1828 Frankford Ave. Matcha Panda is known not only for its in-house pastries and ground-on-premises matcha (imported from Japan) but for the stuffed animals that are part of the whimsical atmospherics — an offshoot of cofounder Damian Huang’s business as a toy manufacturer. There’s a second store at 2033 Chestnut St. in Rittenhouse, too. Huang says he’s targeting spring for the opening. Building owner Jordan Claffey says Huang is bringing “a highly sought-after category” to Fishtown.
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