Change comes to Pat’s Steaks | Let’s Eat

Pat’s King of Steaks, where the steak sandwich was invented in 1930, makes two bold changes.

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— Mike Klein

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It’s only taken 96 years, but you can now get a seeded roll for your steak at Pat’s King of Steaks. Frank Olivieri explains this and one other seismic shift at the shop that invented this storied sandwich.

Hira Qureshi is fasting for Ramadan, and she shares her guide to fasting and celebrating. Above is the lagman soup from Uzbek standout Plov House in Northeast Philadelphia.

➕ Where to break the Ramadan fast around Philadelphia.

Kiki Aranita sat down for Del Frisco’s $39 martini/oysters/Caesar/fries bar special. It’s a ready-made “girl dinner” that social-media consumers are eating up.

With Di Bruno Bros. gone from Ardmore and Wayne, Denali Sagner visits the homegrown Carlino’s Market to scope out its line of Italian specialty foods.

Manakeesh Cafe Bakery & Grill — home of fine Lebanese treats such as the qatayif shown above — has ended its 15-year run at 45th and Walnut Streets. Management cites a rent increase, and Andrew Kitchenman explains the family’s next steps.

La Chingonita will wrap its four-year brick-and-mortar run in Fishtown with burrito offerings on Wednesday, Feb. 18 (burritos) and Friday, Feb. 20 (birria), from noon-6 p.m. or sellout. Rebecca Baez and Omar Martinez, who started the business in 2020 as a food cart, said they decided it was best “to prioritize our family, bow out gracefully, and end things on a high note.” They said the decision to shut down “did not come lightly, but we recognized that it was time to close this chapter with intention and gratitude, before burnout set in further.” They say they think they’ll do popups but have no plans to open another restaurant in the near future.

Here’s what we enjoyed during our various local travels: Craig LaBan is delighted by the bise bele bath (above) — a comforting porridge from southern India — at Exton’s Malgudi Cafe. Also: Bedatri Choudhury enjoyed a goat with spicy scallop creole at a Honeysuckle collab dinner with New York’s Kabawa, while Jenn Ladd says she visited Bomb Bomb Bar and had what might be the best crab cakes she’s ever had. That’s high praise coming from someone who lived and worked in Baltimore. (To enjoy more of our “Best Things,” click here.)

Craig, meanwhile, found “something magical about the mole poblano” for his review of Tlali, a modest Mexican BYOB in Upper Darby, where the Sandoval family is cooking its heart out.

Beatrice Forman touts the smashburgers at the new El Sazón R.D. in Northern Liberties, which are topped with a pad of queso frito and tangy mayo-ketchup to bring Dominican flavors to an American classic.

Chef Dominique Shields, founder and former owner of North Philly’s Pretty Girls Cook (at left with her staff when she was featured last year on the Fox show Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service), will oversee weekend brunch at the new Savú (208 S. 13th St.) as chef-in-residence. The brunch service starts Feb. 28.

The Broad Street Diner will yield to a new six-story hotel, as Jake Blumgart found in new city documents. What could that mean for the Melrose Diner site, also owned by Michael Petrogiannis?

Imminent openings include Mi Vida (the swank Mexican restaurant out of D.C.), coming to 1150 Ludlow St. in East Market on Feb. 22, and Bar Tacconelli, the cocktail lounge from the pizza family in the former Versa Vino at 461 Route 38, Maple Shade, on Feb. 25.

Root & Sprig, Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio’s health-forward fast-casual restaurant, has been booked for the Shop Penn retail district in the Perelman School of Medicine’s Kelley Research Building (421 Curie Blvd.) later this spring. There’s also a location at the Penn Medicine Food Hall.

Sports bar P.J. Whelihan’s will replace the shuttered Iron Hill Brewery in Newtown, Bucks County.

Maddy Rose at the Landing has replaced the Landing restaurant on the Delaware River in New Hope, which closed in late 2024. It’s a second Maddy Rose location (after Jersey City) for Frank Cretella of By Landmark, who also runs the nearby Logan Inn, Hotel du Village, and Anzu Social. The open dining room faces the Delaware and the New Hope–Lambertville Bridge, with indoor dining, bar seating, and deck dining planned as part of a second renovation phase. Mediterranean-influenced menu includes dinner entrees priced in the high $20s (white bean ravioli, Bolognese), the $30s (roasted chicken, baby back ribs), and occasional gusts into the $40s and higher (dayboat scallops, prime rib).

Maddy Rose at the Landing, 22 N. Main St., New Hope. Hours: 4-10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 4-11 p.m. Friday, noon-3 p.m. and 4-11 p.m. Saturday, and noon-3 p.m. and 4-9 p.m. Sunday. Reservations via OpenTable.

Cake & Joe owners Sarah Qi and Trista Tang open their third location at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 1735 Market St. with free cakes for the first 100 people. The specialty coffee-and-dessert shop started in Pennsport in December 2020 and added a second in Fishtown in June 2023. The Center City location, open daily from 7 a.m.-7 p.m., features more grab-and-go options as well as a larger focus on Chinese food.

Besides Cake & Joe, the Center City West coffee scene is broadening. Last week, Mahmood Islam and Samina Akbar opened a M.O.T.W Coffee (Muslims of the World Coffee) franchise at the Murano (2101 Market St.), next to Trader Joe’s, with Arabic baked goods alongside specialty coffee in chill environs. Two Yemeni coffeehouses are planned nearby: As I reported a few weeks ago, Haraz Coffee House is applying for zoning to open at 1822 Chestnut St., while Rittenhouse Ramblings says Jabal Coffee House has a deal at 1524 Chestnut St.; Jabal’s corporate website suggests a fall opening.

West Chester Restaurant Week will run from Sunday, Feb. 22 to Sunday, March 1 with 30 restaurants offering multicourse menus priced from $40 to $60.

East Passyunk Restaurant Week returns for its 14th year: Monday, Feb. 23 to Friday, March 6 at 21 participating restaurants with prix-fixes of $20, $40, and $60.

Filipino stylings are on the menu Wednesday, Feb. 18 at Breezy’s Deli (2235 Washington Ave., 10 a.m.-7 p.m.) and Porco’s & Small Oven Pastry (2204 Washington Ave., 4-8 p.m.). Owner Chad Durkin is collaborating with the visiting Mike and Eylonah Strauss — formerly of Mike’s BBQ and Sidecar Bar — who in 2023 moved to Bacolod City, Philippines, where they run Sugaree Gelato Bakery Cafe.

Gilda in Fishtown will have help from Cantina La Martina for Gilda’s first-ever Tuesday service, on Feb. 24. Expect Mexican specialty drinks, pastries, sandwiches, and more with a Portuguese twist. Menus will be released on their Instagram accounts. It’ll be pay-as-you-go; dine-in or takeaway.

At Amá, chef Frankie Ramirez’s Taco Tuesday special, Taco Novela, brings in a guest chef every month for a special weekly taco, with proceeds benefiting a charity. Juan Carlos Aparicio of El Chingon launched the series this week with a taco de lobster zarandeada (a full 1½-pound Maine lobster, charred cabbage sancocho, squink ink sofrito, and chiltepín mayo on squid ink corn tortillas, priced at $42). It will be repeated on Feb. 24. Esperanza Immigration Legal Services is the beneficiary.

Cuba Libre in Old City is marking its first quarter-century with an open house noon-4 p.m. Saturday, March 7 (snow date, Sunday, March 8) with comp tastings of the restaurant’s original menu items plus rum tastings, cocktail samples, beer, wine, and sangria. No reservations, but those who register will get a $25 gift voucher.

Convenience chain Sheetz is scouting Wawa territory hard for a new location— as in “a site five miles down the road from Wawa HQ” hard. Erin McCarthy shares the intrigue.

What new policy is in place at Philly dive bar Dirty Franks?

A) Customers must be at least 25 to enter

B) One additional hour of happy hour daily

C) Free drink for anyone with Frank in their first or last name

D) Non-U.S. beers only

Find out if you know the answer.

I saw a posting at the former Devon Seafood Grill on Rittenhouse Square with an estimated investment of $3.2 million. Any insight? — Woody R.

Stephen Starr is developing a restaurant — concept is TBD — at the former Devon Seafood Grill at 18th and Chancellor Streets, as I reported nearly a year ago. What you’ve spotted in a window is a printout of a city commercial building permit. The “$3.2 million” cited is the estimated cost of the general work — just a fraction of the total budget, including major categories such as equipment, furnishings, and architectural and design work. Starr would not disclose the budget. It’s probably safe to say it won’t be $20 million, the sum he and partners invested in Borromini, which opened last year across the way.

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