12 new restaurants you may have missed this summer | Let’s Eat

Simple and fancy, lavish and chill. Here are 12 new restaurants that opened over the summer.

💡 Come back next week for an exclusive rundown of the dozens of restaurants due to open this fall.

Also in this edition:

— Mike Klein

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In our quest to keep you up to date on the restaurant scene, here are 12 spots that opened in the last few months. One example is Ogyu (shown above), which took over Ardmore’s former Iron Hill Brewing. It’s a grill-it-yourself Japanese steakhouse from the owner of the nearby Osushi.

Two reviews from critic Craig LaBan:

BAR ilu and Grace & Proper deliver Spanish tapas and Portuguese bifana sandwiches that are a natural fit in today’s bar scene.

Mr. Edison is flashy and ambitious, Craig finds, but as for the rest ...?

You have to be in shape to lug around 100-pound salmon and tuna. Kiki Aranita found a group of sushi chefs who routinely lift weights. As they say in the maki game: no pain, no grain.

A couple didn’t want their local drinking spot to shut down for good. Sarah Nicell writes that they found a solution: They bought it.

The lines are long, and the branding is adorable. Kiki Aranita visits Kyo Matcha in Chinatown.

Pinot grigio is wildly popular for a good reason, and wine writer Marnie Old explains where the best ones come from.

Sandwichmeister N.A. Poe will expand the hours of his kitchen operation at Poison Heart next week while preparing to open a new Poe’s Sandwich Joint location by the end of the year.

Starting Tuesday, Poe’s will operate seven days a week out of Poison Heart, 931 Spring Garden St., where he’s run the cocktail bar’s kitchen since last September. Daytime service will be pickup, takeout, and delivery only; Poison Heart itself will not open for daytime bar or dine-in service.

Poe, the nom de plume of Richard Tamaccio Jr., is not disclosing the new joint’s location or opening date. “We look forward to the freedom to do things our way without interference or apologies,” he said.

The move follows Poe’s split with Human Robot Brewing Co., where he had operated since 2019. His last day at Human Robot’s Kensington location is Thursday. Cantina La Martina will take over Human Robot’s kitchens at both Kensington and Brewerytown. Poe also parted company with the Monto, a new Old City bar.

At Poison Heart, Poe’s will operate from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Poison Heart’s regular Wednesday-through-Saturday evening service will continue, with Poe’s classics and specials added to the menu.

Two tasty bright spots of a staycation for Emily Bloch and her boyfriend included hamachi collar and poolside swordfish skewers. In other words: There’s great fish to be had in Fishtown.

Old Friend, an upscale restaurant with a wood-fired grill and a chef with a Center City pedigree, is coming to the Main Line later this year.

Corte, on its way to the former East Market home of Mulherin’s Pizza, will have an Italian backbone, focusing on handmade pasta and cooking from the wood-fired oven. If that sounds like University City’s Corio, that’s because the same crew is behind it.

Big Charlie’s Saloon, the nationally known Kansas City Chiefs-theme bar in South Philadelphia that closed with the owner’s death last December, is under agreement of sale. The buyers’ plans don’t include NFL memorabilia.

We’re in a New York state of mind:

Dorade asado and pork belly al pastor (shown above) are two dishes offered at the new Mixteca, the Kensington offshoot of a Manhattan agave-focused coctelería from two James Beard Award-winning bartenders. Beatrice Forman heads to the former Martha for a look around.

Smash burgers and fries are the hook at 7th Street Burger, a fast-growing Manhattan-based burger chain that just opened the first of four Philadelphia-area locations in Fishtown. Kiki Aranita takes a bite.

Jose Pistola’s 19-year run in Center City has ended. Its related bars in Fishtown and South Philadelphia are unaffected.

Mount Masala Himalayan Cuisine (300 White Horse Rd., Voorhees) will host a Nepal disaster-relief fundraiser on Thursday, Sept. 10 from 5 p.m. to closing under the auspices of South Jersey Food Scene. It’s a $25 buffet of Nepali-Himalayan dishes for dine-in or takeout, with all sales donated to the Nepalese government for flood relief.

The shuttered McMillan’s Bakery in Haddon Township has opened as Del Buono’s. If the doughnuts look familiar, that is no accident.

Fishtown Pickle Project plans to invest $2 million in a new production facility and a pickle tasting room. This is kind of a big dill.

Where to pick apples? We’ve found seven farms near Philadelphia.

Horsham Township Restaurant Week, with 13 restaurants, is Sept. 13-18. Details are here.

Conshohocken Restaurant Week, with 16 restaurants, is Sept. 21-27. Details are here.

According to legend, this will happen if Collingswood lifts its ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages:

A) the High-Speed Line stop shuts down

B) the borough secedes from Camden County

C) Knight Park becomes available for development

D) liquor stores in neighboring Haddon Township create an alliance

Find out if you know the answer, provided by The Inquirer’s Lacey Latch.

🥂 New Jersey has permanently allowed the sale and delivery of to-go alcoholic beverages in towns that permit it.

Did Philip Korshak ever open his store, Korshak Picnic Provisions? — Joan M.

Back in February, Phil Korshak, the poet-baker who left town in 2023 after closing his cult-favorite Korshak Bagels, thought he’d open his quirky corner store at 13th and Reed Streets by May. However, “you have no idea how many contractors, electricians, and plumbers go to Europe and Japan in the summertime,” he told me in June. This week, Korshak said the store — now called Korshak Parkside Provisions — is in the health department inspections queue and he’s expecting equipment deliveries. “Let’s call it October,” he told me.

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