Figo, an Italian restaurant and pizzeria, adds 250 seats to the Northern Liberties dining mix
It’s the ninth restaurant opening in the last 16 months for owners Tim Lu and Derek Gibbons of Glu Hospitality, whose holdings include Vesper Day Club, Germantown Garden, and Izakaya by Yanaga.
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Pastas and pizzas, Instagrammable flights of spiked coffees and sodas, two bars and two dozen beer taps, 250 seats inside and outside.
Yes, Figo (”cool” in Italian), now open in the long-empty Wahlburgers space at the edge of the Piazza in Northern Liberties, is a monster.
It’s the ninth restaurant opening in the last 16 months for owners Tim Lu and Derek Gibbons of Glu Hospitality, who now control a healthy chunk of the corridor along Second Street south of Girard Avenue: Bagels & Co., Vesper Day Club, Germantown Garden, Germantown Garden Grille, plus stakes in Anejo Philadelphia and SET NoLibs. They also opened Izakaya by Yanaga in Fishtown in September.
The area, whose population began to swell nearly 15 years ago with the openings of Liberties Walk and the Piazza, is in the midst of a construction boom, with thousands of newcomers expected in the next two years.
Figo originally operated as a delivery pizza business out of Germantown Garden and Vesper Dayclub’s kitchen about a block away. Its brick-and-mortar home has inside and outside seating and is open from 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday; late night, happy hour, and brunch service will begin later in the fall.
There’s a kid’s menu, too.
Next door, Figo’s pizzeria side, which has a few high-top tables but is intended for grab-and-go, offers pies and stuffed hoagies from noon to 10 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday.
Chef Hee “Chino” Chang’s menu has the classics, including fried calamari, grilled octopus, baked meatballs, and beef carpaccio as appetizers, and entrées such as pollo al mattone, herb-breaded salmon, chicken parm, pork Milanese (all in the mid-$20s), plus a 32-ounce porterhouse for two (priced at $92).
Bar manager Ryan Fenton’s bar menu includes two dozen wines by the glass and bottle. The espresso cocktail flights (including a frozen espresso whose brew is made at Glu’s nearby Bread & Co.) and mix-at-the-table Italian soda flights (which can be done as mocktails) appear to be popular, based on friends-and-family test meals.