End of a restaurant era | Let’s Eat

Nothing lasts forever, friends. Including your favorite restaurants.

Also in this edition:

— Mike Klein and Kiki Aranita

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

Nothing is forever, especially restaurants. This summer, a rash of restaurants are hitting the market or closing altogether, including some longtime favorites. Here’s what’s going on.

💔 Northeast Philly will lose its last Jewish deli this weekend. We visited Steve Stein’s Famous Deli for a final slice or two of corned beef.

🍝 After being closed for six years, Mamma Maria’s is on the market, with its three adjoining buildings on East Passyunk Avenue and Jessup Street listed separately.

An ideal day for Binding Agents owner Catie Gainor involves pastries, pilates, happy hour, and of course, cookbooks.

And interestingly, it’s not green. Stephanie Farr investigates the limited-edition Phanatic Caramel Curveball Cream Smoothie.

Stephanie Farr and cheesesteak connoisseur Tommy Rowan debate where to take a visitor for a true Philly cheesesteak.

Chicken from a restaurant that turns out steaks, chops, and house-made pasta? At Academy Grill, chef Jeffrey Power turns out a roulade that’s a throwback to his Le Bec-Fin days.

Fairmount’s London Grill, which has sat dark at 23rd Street and Fairmount Avenue since closing in May 2019, is being readied for a new tenant, building owner Jack McDavid told Mike this week. The concept, bearing a new name, has not been nailed down. McDavid, who with a partner bought the property from longtime owners Michael McNally and Terry Berch McNally in 2019, said he was overseeing a rehab. There’s no timeline. In 1991, the McNallys took over the mid-19th-century building — then known simply as London — and helped turn Fairmount into a dining destination. McDavid himself is a Fairmount pioneer, as he founded Jack’s Firehouse down the street in 1989, two years after he opened Down Home Diner at Reading Terminal Market.

What’s new can feel old. Craig LaBan finds South Philly nostalgia at Waltz, which opened five months ago at 2351 S. Front St. The menu was designed by Eric Leveillee, formerly of Lacroix at the Rittenhouse, and hits the right notes with sourdough pizzas, bouncy pastas, and a 14-ounce strip steak.

Read Craig’s review of Waltz here.

Craig also found delicious nostalgia of a different sort at Chinatown’s Lau Kee, a specialist in both Peking- and Cantonese-style roast ducks. The owners hail from Fujian, a completely different province than that of their succulent ducks.

Read Craig’s review of Lau Kee here.

Bridget Foy’s will turn Headhouse Plaza (Second Street north of South) into four pickleball courts Thursday for its third annual tournament, timed to National Pickleball Day. The 4-to-8 p.m. event includes a hospitality-industry tournament, free open play, a live DJ, pickled snacks, prizes for the best-dressed duo, and cocktails. Day-of registration at Bridget Foy’s, 200 South St. Rain date: Aug. 27.

Philadelphia Zoo’s Summer Ale Festival, postponed due to severe weather, returns Aug. 22 with more than 100 beers, ciders, seltzers, meads, spirits, nonalcoholic drinks, food trucks, and live music. Early admission is 6 to 10 p.m.; general admission is 7 to 10 p.m. Taps close at 9:30. Tickets, which include zoo admission, are $75-$99 for early admission, $65-$85 for general admission, $45 for nondrinkers. Tickets must be purchased in advance through the zoo; the event is rain or shine and 21-plus.

Honeysuckle, the North Philadelphia restaurant from James Beard finalist chef couple Omar Tate and Cybille St.Aude-Tate and a regular on The 76, will launch Honeysuckle Midday on Sept. 17, offering a pay-what-you-can, three-course lunch service Wednesday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Diners can choose to pay $20, $35, or $55 for a menu that includes Blackcaesar salad, epis-roasted chicken, BBQ sweet potato, escovitch mussels, and beef and broccoli, followed by bean pie or water ice. Honeysuckle favorites including the Goat Bun, Fish Hoagie, and McDonald’s Money burger will be available for an additional charge. Tables are up on OpenTable.

Cannonball Club, a sort of members-only car museum, will have food and a bar when it opens next month in Fishtown. Our auto columnist, Scott Sturgis, takes you inside.

Kiki says she has found the best chicken sandwich in Philly. Where is it from?

A) Raising Cane’s

B) Jollibee

C) Dave’s Hot Chicken

D) a corner store with a mysterious name

Find out if you know the answer.

📮 Have a question about food in Philly? Email your questions to Mike at mklein@inquirer.com for a chance to be featured in the newsletter.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.