What to order at restaurant week | Let’s Eat

So many restaurants are on board for Center City District Restaurant Week. I went through the menus to share some favorites.

🔔 Keep an eye on Inquirer.com today, as the James Beard Foundation announces its list of semifinalists.

Also in this edition:

— Mike Klein

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After scouring 120 menus offered for the 2026 edition of Center City District Restaurant Week, I will share some great values, old favorites, and even a few novel dishes that go beyond the same old. Read on for 26 dishes that caught my eye.

🍽️ Here’s everything you need to know about restaurant week.

😋 Media is brimming with happy-hour specials.

🤤 Ambler has its own restaurant week right now.

Restaurants are rethinking their menus amid a rise in the use of appetite-suppressing GLP-1 medications and a drop in alcohol consumption. These trends are on display at Philly-area bars and restaurants, and Erin McCarthy spoke to owners trying to keep up.

“If I closed my eyes, I could very well think I was dining at Le Virtù,” writes Kiki Aranita, who was, in fact, tucking into osso buco with goat cheese polenta, gremolata, and crispy potatoes at a senior-living community on the Main Line. Just try cracking the reservation book.

This Algerian-style beef couscous at Algerino’s in South Philadelphia impressed Craig LaBan. Also on our plates last week: lomo saltado from Kiko’s in Collingswood and a beef rendang hoagie from Sego, a street cart in Center City.

Scarpetta is on its way out of the Rittenhouse after nearly a decade. The new occupant will be the Ruxton, a posh steakhouse from Baltimore’s Atlas Restaurant Group, owners of Center City’s Loch Bar. The Ruxton is not due till 2027. From February through July, chef RJ Smith of the hot Ocho Supper Club will be in residency at the space. Read on for the details.

Harlem Shake, the cult-favorite New York burger-and-shake concept, is looking at December for its opening at 1330 Walnut St. Restaurateur Jelena Pasic says she founded Harlem Shake in 2013 to honor disappearing community landmarks such as Lenox Lounge and M&J Diner, bringing on chef/food writer J. Kenji López-Alt to develop the menu of pasture-raised beef burgers, organic milkshakes, fries, and sodas. She says the space will be a full build-out, including a mezzanine, but that it will not include a bar — unlike previous occupants such as Level Up and Toasted Walnut. Pasic told me she would rather target clubgoers and downtown diners looking for a high-quality late bite. This will be a franchise location, operated by Shakawat Hossain.

Somebody might scrape together $2.45 million and buy the bar that was McGlinchey’s, which closed over the summer. The building at 259 S. 15th St. just hit the market officially.

Love City Brewing is making a move to Manayunk for a second location, as Jenn Ladd reports among other brews news.

Mac Mart, the mac-and-cheese specialist, closed up shop in Rittenhouse Square. Sisters Marti Lieberman and Pam Lorden have turned up three blocks away in a kiosk, where they offer not only bowls but a broader food mission.

The reservation book for Greg Vernick’s new Italian restaurant Emilia just opened, in advance of its opening Monday in Frankford-Kensington. Longtime Vernick chef Meredith Medoway will run the show. Here’s the backstory.

An entrepreneur wanted to bring fresh doughnuts, soft serve, and coffee to his hometown. It’s called Happy Place Homemade.

Sontuosa, chef Ernesto Guzman’s fusion BYOB in Bryn Mawr, has closed after nine years. He didn’t return a message seeking comment.

The Rook on 4th, a sandwich shop in Olde Kensington, has closed after a year and a half. Management, which has locations in Manayunk and Wildwood as well as a catering arm, calls it “a step forward” on social media.

Pops Trattoria in Audubon, N.J., closed Sunday, in advance of a move to a still-undisclosed location.

Frank P. Olivieri, who ran Pat’s King of Steaks for decades and was the son and uncle of its founders, died Sunday. Here’s the obit.

The two locations of Bomba ¡Tacos + Tequila! will show off their new look with open houses from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at 2930 S. Eagle Rd. in Newtown and on Feb. 15 at the Grove (30 Liberty Blvd.) in Malvern. Expect comp tastings of new dishes, tequilas, and cocktails (ages 21+, of course).

Cantina la Martina is collaborating with the Lighthouse to host its fourth annual La Tamalada, a family-friendly festival, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb. 1 at 101 E. Erie Ave. Lineup includes tamales ($6 each), music, drinks, and activities including games, artisan vendors, hayrides, barrel rides, and a petting zoo. Some vendors are cash only, and parking is $10.

Nominations for the Tasties, the restaurant awards handed out by the Delicious City podcast, are closed. So now we wait for the gala, at Live Casino on Feb. 1, where winners in nine categories will be unveiled. New this year is the Future Tastemaker Award, a hospitality scholarship recognizing rising stars under age 30 with $1,000 grants. The evening promises lots of food and drink; tickets are still available.

The internet seems obsessed with what new fast-food restaurant in the city?

A) McDonald’s at 16th and Chestnut

B) Taco Bell at 39th and Chestnut

C) Raising Cane’s at 39th and Walnut

D) Arby’s on Franklin Mills Boulevard

Find out if you know the answer.

Bar Lesieur on Sansom Street is now “the Lesieur.” What’s that about? — Steve H.

A rep for the Schulson Collective calls it “merely a name change to equally emphasize the overall dining experience — food and drink.“ The restaurant opened in November 2023 as a French bar above Schulson’s subterranean Italian spot Giuseppe & Sons, but it is now billed as a French steakhouse.

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