January means a full plate of restaurant openings

Coming off a busy year for restaurant openings in the Philadelphia area, 2019 is starting out with a bang.

Take a look:

Makhani Modern Indian (7 N. Third St., 267-534-5097), which opened in late November in the former Bistro 7/Dos Rosas space in Old City, will grand-open Friday.

The cozy, colorful BYOB is the first solo restaurant from Shafi Gaffar, who owned Tandoor. Chef Sanjoy Banik, whose past includes Desi Village in King of Prussia, Khajuraho in Ardmore, the Laxmi’s Indian Grille locations, and Tandoor, works in an open kitchen and cooks to order. Most of the entrées are gluten-free.

Specialty is North Indian curries that usually have thick, moderately spiced and creamy gravies.

Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch, dinner from 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Neighborhood Ramen (617 S. Third St.) has become quite the late-night chef’s hangout in its opening week in a boldly muraled Queen Village shop.

With five kinds of ramen and a few snacks, Jesse Pryor and Lindsay Steigerwald — local chefs who started offering ramen to their friends and then to the general public on a pop-up basis — are keeping things simple.

Hours are 5 p.m. to midnight Wednesday to Friday and 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday and Sunday.

Da-Wa, a sushi-ramen specialist, has replaced a Venezuelan arepa shop in a hole-in-the-wall spot beneath the Market-Frankford El’s Girard station at 1204 N. Front St. Not surprisingly, the Fishtown/Northern Liberties crowd has packed in.

Chef/owner Joe Kim, working with brothers Jimmy and Steve, dishes simple displays of high-quality fish, some hard to find, as well as pork-belly bao buns, the Korean dumplings, and blueberry cheesecake for dessert, in an overly snug room with a sushi bar and a few tables that accommodate only two people; best to call 215-278-7671 to snag a reservation.

The brothers plan to expand into adjacent storefronts. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, and 3 to 9 p.m. Sunday.

N.B. The neighborhood is getting a posher option, Hiroki, supposedly next month behind Wm. Mulherin’s Sons at Lee and Master Streets.

The Common, a sleek, new-American bar-restaurant with Mediterranean influences, this week replaced the short-lived Danlu at 3601 Market St. in University City.

It’s the same partnership — chef Patrick Feury and Henry Chu, Kenny Huang, and Michael Wei — that also is behind Nectar, the long-running French-Asian fusion restaurant in Berwyn.

Executive chef Lucio Palazzo’s menu prices range from $5 to $12 for appetizers, $9 to $14 for sandwiches, $12 to $17 for pastas, and up to $27 for large plates. It’s open from lunchtime through late night daily.

Pelicana Chicken (4002 Spruce St., 267-969-6956), one of the oldest Korean fried chicken eateries, has set up a bar-restaurant in an underground space next to the West Philadelphia location of Copabanana.

The franchise offers regular and extra-crunchy varieties of chicken pieces and boneless nuggets, with a long list of sauces. The menu also includes a few nonchicken Korean items, such as a bulgogi cheesesteak.

Hours are 4 p.m. till late, though lunch is supposed to start soon.

The Post (129 S. 30th St., 267-353-8521) is a 7,000-square-foot fun house on the ground floor of the Cira South parking garage from the operator of the nearby Walnut Street Cafe. There’s plenty to do, see, eat, and drink, including a two-sided bar, a menu of elevated bar food, and games, including table hockey, Skee-Ball, a shuffleboard court, competitive basketball, and Ms. Pac-Man.

Low-tech board games such as Connect Four, Cards Against Humanity, Drunk Stoned or Stupid, and Trivial Pursuit are supplied at the front dining tables, as is a tabletop shuffleboard table.

Patrons order food from a large window, not unlike that at a sports venue, and get a number for their table. Most seating is at long communal tables, though some booths are available.

Hours are 3 p.m. to midnight Sunday to Thursday, till 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Cry Baby Pasta (Third and Bainbridge Streets, 267-972-9496), an energetic, family-friendly Italian bar-restaurant, marks a return to the Philadelphia restaurant scene for Bridget Foy and husband Paul Rodriguez. Not that they left by choice. The nearby restaurant founded by her parents — Bridget Foy’s, at Second and South Streets — burned down in October 2017.

While they rebuild Bridget Foy’s, they’re at the former Judy’s Cafe/Ansill/Ela corner spot, teamed with chefs David Gilberg and Carla Goncalves, who ran Koo Zee Doo, a Northern Liberties BYOB. Their menu includes house-made pastas, sides, starters, bruschettas, and large plates. There are a 12-seat oak bar and five-seat drink rail. There’s a full line of spirits, six craft beers by the draft, four wines on tap (about $8 a throw), 35 wines by the bottle, and an Italian-inspired cocktail menu (about $10 each).

Bar starts at 4 p.m. and dining room opens at 5. Kitchen will stay open till 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, till midnight Friday and Saturday. Lunch and brunch are on the way.

Fiore (757 S. Front St., 215-339-0509), an all-day Italian restaurant in the old Kanella South from New York-pedigreed chefs Justine MacNeil and Ed Crochet.

When the liquor license arrives, so will dinner. The restaurant greets the day at its bar at 8 a.m. with splendid baked goods and ramps up the savory fare over lunchtime. It wraps by 3 p.m. For now, it’s open Wednesday to Sunday.