All the new restaurants, with a cherry on top | Let’s Eat
An award-winning restaurant prepares to shut down; see the Southeast Asian Market in a whole new way; and check out the new Eataly store.
Happy October. I’m tracking 40 or so new restaurants on the way for fall, typically high season for newcomers.
But first: Get your tickets to The Inquirer’s Food Fest now. The all-day event at the Fillmore on Nov. 15 will gather dozens of top Philly chefs for exclusive collabs, off-menu dishes, special bites, and my onstage chat with restaurateur Stephen Starr.
Also in this edition:
Inside Eataly: The Italian marketplace opens Thursday at King of Prussia Mall.
See SEA Market: Check out our cool interactive for a virtual visit to the Southeast Asian Market.
Major closing to report: Cantina La Martina, the home base of award-winning chef Dionicio Jiménez, is winding down.
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A broad collection of new restaurants — more than 40 of them — is coming our way in the next 60 days or so. I’ll start with two from this week’s bumper crop:
💣💣 Bomb Bomb Bar has returned under chef Joey Baldino (Zeppoli, Palizzi) with South Philly seafood swagger and a sundae for dessert.
🕺🤖 dancerobot, the izakaya from chefs Jesse Ito and Justin Bacharach as an ambitious sequel to Royal Sushi & Izakaya, is brand new in Rittenhouse.
Read on for the whole kit and kaboodle.
Here it is, opening tomorrow: 21,000 square feet of Italian breadcrumbs, sauces, and oils, wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano, pastries, fresh pastas, sandwiches, cheeses, salami, snacks, caviar tins, wines, coffee, gelato, and pizza. Oh, and a 200-seat restaurant. Check out the new Eataly.
Take a few minutes to enjoy an exclusive interactive tour of the Southeast Asian Market in FDR Park, the handiwork of Inquirer staffers Jasen Lo and Gabe Coffey. The market is open weekends through Oct. 25, and if you’re never been, let this be your starting point.
Let’s catch up with critic Craig LaBan’s most recent reviews:
Leo, at the Kimmel Center, is an improved second act for the former Volvér space, but he thinks it has room to grow into a showstopper.
La Grange, near Yardley, is well positioned to bœuf bourguignon its way into Bucks County hearts. “The potential is clearly there,” Craig writes. “But the kitchen is off to a rocky start.”
For 10 weeks each year, home winemakers flock to South Philly to see Lenny Procacci and pick up cases of grapes and old-fashioned advice. At 80, he’s retired but assuredly not retiring. Mike Newall takes us into his world.
Scoop
James Beard-nominated chef Dionicio Jiménez and his wife, Mariangeli Alicea Saez, say they will not renew their lease for Cantina La Martina, the groundbreaking Mexican restaurant they opened in March 2022 under the El in Kensington. Jenn Ladd has the details about the impending closure.
Briefly noted
Fiore in Kensington is switching up some things. With chef-owners Justine MacNeil and Ed Crochet preparing for their second child, they’ll be taking parental leave. This means they will pause dinner service (the finale will be Oct. 18). Starting Oct. 22, they’ll add specials to the lunch menu, including handmade pastas, Roman-style sandwiches, and Italian street foods, offered Wednesday to Monday starting at 11 a.m.
Javelin in Fairmount is hosting a five-course Japanese-inspired collaboration dinner with chef Alex Vazquez (5 p.m. Oct. 6), the first of a planned series. Vazquez’s background includes three years at Vernick Food & Drink, followed by four years at Friday Saturday Sunday. It’s $85 plus tax/tip. Details are here.
Oyster House’s Guest Chef Lobster Roll Series will host Paffuto chef/partners Daniel Griffiths, Jake Loeffler, and Sam Kalkut. This one is poached lobster warmed in fra diavolo butter (fermented Fresno peppers, garlic, shallots, and oregano) and topped with chives and Paffuto’s house giardiniera. Proceeds ($39) will benefit Philabundance. Launch will be a happy hour at Oyster House (1516 Sansom St.) from 4-6 p.m. Oct. 7. The special will run over lunch and dinner through Oct. 10.
Uchi, the Austin Japanese restaurant due to open a branch in Rittenhouse this fall, will pop up at South Philly’s River Twice for a seven-course tasting menu (plus optional drink pairings) on Oct. 22; it’s $125 plus tax/tip for the dining room and $150 for the counter; seatings from 5:30-9:30 p.m., bookable on Resy.
All Aboard Candy will open a pop-up store at Comcast’s Campus (the former Starbucks with entrances off Comcast Center Plaza and Comcast Center lobby, 17th and JFK) from Oct. 15-Feb. 15 for what we’ll call the sugar-rush holidays, Halloween through Valentine’s Day.
❓Pop quiz
A new ice cream parlor in Kensington has what feature?
A) a cat-adoption room
B) a listening room with a DJ
C) a batting cage
D) bowling lanes
Find out if you know the answer.
Ask Mike anything
Chestnut Hill checking in. What’s the latest with the Blue Warbler, that all-day cafe at Germantown and Willow Grove Avenue? — Ernie B.
Fred Mogul, who’s behind the long-planned restaurant (theme: “edgy, eclectic comfort food” accompanied by coffee, cocktails, wine, beer, and nonalcoholic drinks), says he’s looking at “this winter.”
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