Here are the summer’s hottest restaurant openings | Let’s Eat

About 60 restaurants are teeing up to open this summer, and I’ll run down the list. Also this week, a local brewery has major plans for Manayunk, Herr’s has put three more local brands into chip form, and the Biscuit Lady is crushing it in Montgomery County.

— Mike Klein

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Dumplings roll off the machine at the soon-to-open Luscious Dumplings in Chinatown. Restaurants keep opening in the Philadelphia area one after the other, as well. Follow along as I run down the list of 60 openings expected this summer.

Potato chips inspired by cheese ravioli and marinara from Talluto’s, stromboli from Romano’s, and Mom-Mom Kitchen’s pierogi are competing in this year’s Flavored by Philly contest’s voting. $10,000 and pride are at stake.

Have $150,000? You could buy the rights to operate a giant pink ice cream cone on the corner of Longshore and Frankford Avenues in Northeast Philadelphia. Beatrice Forman dishes on this uniquely Northeast Philadelphia real estate offer.

Wednesday night is pasta night in Christina Zani’s world. That’s when her friends and customers pick up boxes of her handmade pastas.

Zani, a South Philadelphian who uses her nonna’s hand-cranked machine, posts the week’s selection the weekend before on Instagram, then fields orders via direct message. It could be as simple as busiate — a long, egg-less macaroni — or a luscious, filled variety, like the two-sided (“doppio”) beauties shown above, with roasted beet, whipped ricotta, garlic oil, and cumin on one side and mascarpone with mint, pistachio, lemon, and clementine zests on the other. Just pop in boiling water for a couple of minutes, add a sauce, make yourself a salad, and that’s dinner. Figure on $10-$15 for two to four people. In addition to pasta, she makes trays of baklava and spanakopita from recipes from her husband’s side.

“I’m kind of like a stereotypical Italian American,” said Zani, a former modern dancer who teaches cooking to kids as part of the Vetri Community Partnership. “My family talks about food when we hang out together. While we’re eating, we talk about food and when we’re finished, we still talk about food.”

A four-story bank on Manayunk’s Main Street is being reimagined as Source Brewing’s newest beer production facility, neighborhood restaurant, and local watering hole. Henry Savage reports it also will have a roof deck overlooking the canal when it opens in 2025.

Bistrot La Minette’s 16-year run at Sixth and Bainbridge Streets will wrap July 31, as chef-owner Peter Woolsey announced this week.

The South Philly gluten-free gods giveth and taketh away. Incoming: Flakely, the Manayunk bakery, has opened a smart-freezer ATM inside Salt & Vinegar (905 S. Ninth St.) to sell its goods. Outgoing: Taffets Bakery says it’s being forced from its home on Ninth Street after 13 years with only 30 days’ notice.

The South Philadelphia restaurant space at 757 S. Front St. that over the last few decades has been Frederick’s, the Little Owl, Kanella South, and Fiore Fine Foods has been sold. Due later this summer is Capri, whose Italian and Mediterranean menu will be joined by foods from the owners’ native Albania.

Plymouth Meeting has a new breakfast outlet. Tara Torrence has moved her popular biscuit biz — the Biscuit Lady — from a shared space in Lucky’s Last Chance in Roxborough to a freestanding restaurant on Plymouth Road just off the Blue Route. Four mornings a week, she bakes sweet and plain biscuits, including sandwiches, and doughnut-like biscuits called Holy Biscuits, plus coffees and beverages. (You may remember Jenn Ladd’s ode to the Biscuit Lady’s Uptown Girl sandwich, which includes bacon, egg, and cheese topped with PBJ.) There’s plenty of dine-in space. Lines greet the opening and sellouts are common, so get there early.

The Biscuit Lady, 115 Plymouth Rd., Plymouth Meeting. Hours: 7:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Thursday-Sunday.

Fitz on 4th, Alison Fitzpatrick’s vegan bar-restaurant at Fourth and Fitzwater Streets in Queen Village, will host its inaugural Summer Solstice Block Party along Fourth Street between South and Catharine from noon-8 p.m. Saturday. The restaurant is also harvesting microgreens from a terraponics unit in the basement and has a new garden outside.

Kismet Luncheonette (801 Montgomery Ave., Penn Valley) has opened an ice cream window with soft serve and shakes from 4-8 p.m. daily, through Halloween.

Cosmi’s Deli in South Philly has named two sandwiches after Eagles’ muscle “Big Dom” DiSandro, and it’s sending a cut of proceeds to the Eagles Autism Foundation. Gabriela Carroll tried them out.

Kosher food is now available at Citizens Bank Park for Phillies games. Try the hot pastrami on rye.

Chef Evan Snyder, developing his restaurant Emmett, will join chef Cristina Martinez at Casa Mexico for a five-course collaborative dinner on July 18. The menu features tomato with strawberry matbucha and labneh; encachuatado with quail and peanut sauce; masa gnudi with corn velouté and blue crab; cabrito with baby goat, almonds, and hand-made tortillas; and sesame tres leches with brown butter corn ice cream. Four seatings, 20 guests apiece; prepaid reservations ($85) are now up on OpenTable.

If you venture into a Wawa during Hoagiefest and order a “Jason” (as in Kelce), what will you get?

A) a hoagie with American, Swiss, provolone, lettuce, and tomato on a wheat roll

B) a hoagie with Italian meat with mayo, provolone, tomato, and banana peppers on a white roll

C) a hoagie with chicken cutlets, lettuce, tomato, onions, and hot sauce on a white roll

D) a puzzled look from the people behind the counter

Find out if you know the answer.

What’s happening at 1024 Race St. in Chinatown? Appears to be a restaurant under construction. — Gilbert H.

It will be the new home of Dim Sum Garden, moving two doors west after 11 years and gaining a private dining room. Owner Sally Song said she is targeting late September for her Shanghai-style menu, including her signature xiaolongbao.

Help! Where can I eat vegetarian for Center City District SIPS? — Samantha D., Lower Gwynedd

I ran this one by the district’s Giavana Suraci, who happens to be vegetarian. Her picks: Bar Bombon’s sweet plantains; 1225 Raw’s edamame, shishito peppers, kimchi fried rice, and avocado cucumber roll; Lucky Strike’s Bavarian pretzels and crispy cauliflower bites; Miss Saigon’s grilled tofu skewers, tofu skinni mini banh mi, and tofu & mushroom bánh khọt; Bodega Taco Bar’s veggie empanadas and chips & guac; Bud & Marilyn’s street corn hummus; Gran Caffe L’Aquila’s bruschetta, truffled Parmigiano fries, carciofi fritti (fried artichokes); the Morris’ Caprese salad and charred broccoli; and Pizzeria Vetri’s marinara and margherita pizzas. SIPS runs Wednesdays through the summer.

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