Philly’s big Michelin night! | Let’s Eat
How Philly's restaurants fared in Michelin's regional debut. Plus: Our favorite pie purveyors.
What a night! Nearly three dozen Michelin restaurants in the 215!
Also in this edition:
Our favorite pies: It was a crumby job, but someone had to do it.
Mmm. Milk buns: This new burger shop bakes its own.
Changeover: A new BYOB from a Mexican chef.
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For the first time ever, Philadelphia has a Michelin star. Three, in fact. Plus 31 other restaurants with Michelin acclaim, including three cheesesteak spots!
We lay out last night’s winners and what it all means. (Beyond the fact that you might never be able to be a walk-in anymore.)
You say you’re not baking this year? No worries. We scouted outlets for pie, and we’ve found bakeries that are a cut above. Check out our map.
Sunday’s Philadelphia Marathon wends from Old City out to Manayunk. If you’re watching with kids, here are 10 restaurants that can accommodate everyone relatively painlessly.
Chef Yehuda Sichel of the sandwich shop Huda has gone into the burger biz with Huda Burger, set right in the middle of everything in Fishtown. The secret sauce, as it were, is his fluffy, house-made milk buns.
🤤 A recap of some of the tastier bites from last weekend’s Inquirer Food Fest.
🧁 Watch Eagles star Jordan Mailata and his wife, Niki, judge the Great Inquirer Bake-Off.
Scoops
Luna Cafe in Kensington is making a short but substantial move, ceding its home at Third Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue for a new space two blocks away at the Luxe (1705 N. American St.), allowing owner Sarah Varisano to grow the brand without leaving the neighborhood she’s called home for 13 years. Varisano, who started Luna in Old City 10 years ago as a new Drexel University MBA grad, will close the current cafe after brunch service on Dec. 14 and expects an April reopening. Luna’s familiar identity — full-service brunch, breakfast, coffee-to-go — will remain, while its bar and beverage program will expand. Evening hours will be added Thursday through Saturday. A key Luxe draw is the large outdoor courtyard, which Varisano expects to activate with about 50 seats for brunch, evening service, collaborations, and pop-ups.
Palm Vintage Cafe — cafe by day, high-end cocktails and sushi by night — is on the way this winter to 1414 S. Penn Square (next to La Colombe and across from City Hall at the Residences at the Ritz Carlton). Houston Yang, who also owns the new Fushimi sushi counter at Two Liberty Place, and friend Mike Beja, an engineer, plan to offer pastries, breakfast sandwiches, salads, lunch sandwiches, and coffee from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Then it goes to cocktails, sushi, caviar, oysters, and light food till 10 p.m. The tropical motif is meant to evoke a relaxed island escape in the middle of Center City.
Mei Mei in Old City is undergoing renovations. Meanwhile, owner Jay Ho is taking over the former Izakaya Fishtown space next spring with Kato, an homage to his Taiwanese father and the food he grew up eating, amped by his love of Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese cooking. Ho plans to keep the front bar intact but will transform the back sushi counter area into additional dining space with the option for private dining.
Capperini, a luxe spot serving an Italian-Mediterranean menu with a liquor license, is on its way to 137 S. Easton Rd. (at Wesley Avenue) in Glenside. Co-owner Ilya Vorobey, whose partners include the crew from Capri in Queen Village, says it should open next spring.
Restaurant report
Antonio Garcia, longtime chef of Italian restaurant Ariano in downtown Media, will open his own BYOB, Taquero, on the same block. The menu will pay homage to his Mexican roots. Above is fideo seco — noodles in a chipotle broth, served with queso fresco, crema, lump crab, and avocado. Read on as Lisa Dukart runs down the other specialties in advance of Taquero’s opening Monday on Veterans Square.
Briefly noted
Rocket Cat Cafe is not coming back to Fishtown. The long-delayed LeoFigs decided to have some fun with its neighbors with a bit of a ruse.
Percy in Fishtown has rebranded to all-day diner after mixed reviews. Pancakes for dinner under the El!
Nan Xiang Soup Dumplings, the acclaimed Shanghainese restaurant that scored a “Michelin-recommended” tag at its flagship in Queens, has set Thursday for the opening of its first Delaware location in the Christiana Shopping District, 101 Geoffrey Drive, Newark.
St. Oners, Tired Hands Brewing Co.’s eatery at 2218 Frankford Ave., will mark the release of its cannabis-inspired beer Stoner Hands on Thursday (3-10 p.m.) with an a la carte Mexican pairing menu from chef Antonio Hidalgo. Attendees get a sample pint of Stoner Hands, a 5.5% ABV terpene-infused pale ale.
Chef Nana Araba Wilmot, whose cooking is shaped by her Ghanaian heritage and informed by French, Spanish, Southern, and Asian traditions, will host a Love That I Knead Supperclub installment themed to the cultural and culinary ties between Ghana and Jamaica. The BYO dinner, hosted by 5to9 Hospitality Group, will be from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Fishtown. It’s three courses plus welcome bites ($120 for chef’s table, $95 for general seating). A portion of proceeds benefits the Walkgood Jamaica Hurricane Relief Fund. Details are here.
Paris Baguette’s first South Jersey location will ribbon-cut at 3:30 p.m. Monday at Moorestown’s East Gate Shopping Center (105 Mall Link Rd.). Franchisees are IT professionals Ami and David Shah.
Tickets for the James Beard Foundation’s Taste America: Philadelphia 2026 — it’s March 18 at the Grand Belle at the Bellevue — are now online.
❓Pop quiz
What is the manufacturer PepsiCo doing with Doritos and Cheetos to make them more healthful?
A) frying them in avocado oil
B) baking them first in olive oil
C) eliminating artificial colors
D) making the chips thinner
Find out if you know the answer.
Ask Mike anything
What is happening on Washington Avenue near Front Street? It looks like a huge space, and yet from what I can tell online, it is a coffee shop? — Amanda J.
It will be the first Philadelphia location of Trung Nguyên Legend, the powerhouse Vietnamese coffee brand behind the G7 instant line and animal-free “weasel” coffee. Grand opening is noted in its social media as Nov. 29. It started in 1996 in Vietnam’s Central Highlands and has grown into a global chain of philosophically themed cafés and franchises, now pushing into the United States. “Weasel coffee?” you ask. That’s Vietnam’s famed civet-style brew; traditionally made from beans eaten and excreted by civets, it’s now recreated by Trung Nguyên through an enzyme-fermentation process that mimics the flavor without using animals.
📮 Have a question about food in Philly? Email your questions to me at mklein@inquirer.com for a chance to be featured in my newsletter.
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