🎃 9 spooky Halloween spots in Philly | Let’s Eat

The smell of pumpkin spice is everywhere, and that also means Halloween bars are in full swing. This week, we run them down and share word about a major Center City restaurant opening on the Main Line, find Georgian food at Reading Terminal Market, and enjoy a favorite restaurant in its new location.

Don’t miss the Inquirer’s 2022 Let’s Eat Philly Dining Guide in home delivery Thursday, Oct. 6. This year’s glossy magazine will feature the best of Philly’s world-class dining scene, including Craig LaBan’s Top 10 restaurants, great places for coffee and cocktails, and our readers’ favorites. Visit inquirer.com to subscribe.

And read on for restaurant news.

❓ But first, a quiz: For its 25th anniversary, a Philadelphia bar teamed with Vermont’s Hill Farmstead Brewery to create a beer that was aged for about five years in wine barrels. What’s the bar?

A.) Applebee’s

B.) Monk’s

C.) Cheesecake Factory

Get the answer and check the backstory from critic Craig LaBan.

📝 Send me tips, suggestions and questions here.

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— Mike Klein

If you’re looking for Halloween-themed cocktails, witchy brews, and interactive events in Philadelphia, colleague Hira Qureshi tracked down nine spots, including Cauldron Magical Pub, where the drinks are smoking. They’re not the usual haunts.

On the family-friendly side of Halloween, contributor Michelle Reese offers 24 venues near Philly for pumpkin picking, hayrides, corn mazes, and more — pumpkin ice cream included.

Red October, upon us for the first time since 2011, will send Phillies fans to sports bars to catch the playoffs. Colleague Henry Savage offers 17 destinations where you’re allowed to celebrate (but probably not as joyously as centerfielder Brandon Marsh did in the clubhouse the other night).

Jose Garces is spreading his Amada brand, the Spanish restaurant that put him in the map in 2005. A new spot is under construction in Radnor, which will add to the roster of downtown Philly chefs venturing out to the Main Line. And what a year for Garces. Last October, he opened Hook & Master, a pizzeria in Kensington. Then came a rejuvenation of Volvér at the Kimmel Center with a series of visiting chefs, a comeback for Garces Trading Co. in new digs at the Cira Centre, and a major expansion for his Buena Onda taquerias — new locations at 20th and Sansom Streets in Rittenhouse and at 226 N. Radnor-Chester Rd. in Wayne, plus more on the way at the concourse of the Comcast Center and at the Wells Fargo Center, where next week Garces will open Garces Eats, a stand in the arena’s club level. Further down the road, I see that the Kimmel Center’s lobby is showing signs of yet another Garces Trading Co. I’ll catch you up here.

It’s the question no one wants to hear after a long day of juggling work, school, and extracurricular activities: “What’s for dinner?” Local chefs Jamela Bilal and Aziza Young share ideas for fast, easy, affordable, healthful meals.

What a smart move, writes critic Craig LaBan in his review of The Dutch, which a few months ago moved into the corner occupied by sibling restaurant Fond. “Now you can still have that shatteringly crisp-yet-tender pork belly Fond once made famous, and eat your Dutch babies for brunch, too.” 🔑

Siblings Donna and Michael Kolodesh grew up in Northeast Philadelphia and became designers. A 2016 trip to their family’s homeland of Georgia inspired the new Saami Somi, their stand at Reading Terminal Market, selling portable comfort foods (plus groceries and housewares) from the former Sovietnation. You need to try the hot breads, such as the khachapuri, which has two cheeses, an egg, and a pat of butter in the middle. Stir it up, dunk the bread, add some pickles, and there’s your lunch.

Philly native Nano Wheedan went to Austin out of college and came home 15 years later with an idea for a breakfast-taco stand. Taco Heart opened a couple of weeks ago in South Philadelphia, serving handmade flour tortillas filled with breakfast ingredients like eggs, cheeses, avocado, and meats Wednesday through Sunday mornings. Here’s what you need to know. (“Nano” happens to be a childhood nickname for Nathaniel Whitman. At his 2019 wedding to Carinne Deeds, the couple asked guests to vote on a new last name for them; the results were tabulated and “Wheedan” won out.)

Also in the taco realm: Jeff Newman of Hi-Lo Tacos, who dazzled with tortillas last spring with a pop-up at Sarvida in Fishtown, is getting closer to signing a lease for his own place. During that pop-up, Newman was joined by Matt Saperstone, whose company, Nilaa Coffee, sold the coffee. Saperstone just went the brick-and-mortar route in Lansdowne with Camellia Coffee House (20 N. Lansdowne Ave.), serving Nilaa coffee and house-made pastries and other foods. It’s part of Utility Works, a collaborative space operated by the Lansdowne Economic Development Corp.

Two entrepreneurial chefs are doing joint pop-ups to gain exposure for their respective businesses. Chef Reuben (Reuben Asaram, above at left) handles the savory side of Asian-inspired tacos, while Make’m Bake’m (Cory Powell) goes sweet with miniature cheesecakes. Their next outing will be 2-7 p.m. Oct. 9 at Jet Wine Bar, 1525 South St. Their fine-dining backgrounds led to their meeting in the kitchen of Buddakan.

Also on the pop-up circuit: Alice Chang and Shea Roggio’s Soko Bag, the Korean fried chicken business I told you about last month, will be back for preorders at Manayunk’s Pizza Jawn on Sunday, Oct. 9. The previous pop-up sold out quickly; you still may be able to reserve your boneless bird now.

Pizza and barbecue share the menu at the new University City branch of The Lucky Well, opening officially Oct. 6 at 3432 Sansom St., a former Bernie’s Pub and the long-ago La Terrasse across from Penn Law School. Lucky Well’s Chad Rosenthal has brought in Steven Seibel, who wowed critic Craig LaBan earlier this year with his pies at Hook & Master before he moved on. At this LW location, Seibel offers light and crispy but sturdy 8-by-12-inch grandma pies serving as the canvas for regions such as Texas (brisket) and Kansas City (pork belly burnt ends, shown above). There’s also a BBQ spaghetti pie with half tomato and half barbecue sauce and pork shoulder. All pies are $20, and to start will be served in-house only in quarter-sheet pans.

Barbecue platters, mac and cheese, tots and sandwiches round out the menu. You’ll find two burgers: the University City burger (shown below), a double patty with Cooper Sharp Cheddar, red onion, Memphis pepper relish, house-made pickles, and onion, and the McLucky, a single patty with American cheese, yellow mustard, ketchup, onion, and pickles offered for $6 at happy hour.

The Lucky Well, 3432 Sansom St. Hours: 4-9 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, 4-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday,

Restaurant news

Manatawny Still Works’ Main Line tasting room will open Oct. 7 at 49 W. Lancaster Ave. in downtown Ardmore. This is its first suburban location, accommodating 50 people for cocktails highlighting its small-batch spirits, plus a semiprivate, glass-walled breakout room in the back for up to 12 people for events, classes, and tastings. Hours: 5-10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 5-11 p.m. Friday, 2-11 p.m. Saturday, and 2-8 p.m. Sunday.

Last call at Devil’s Den at 11th and Ellsworth Streets will be Oct. 9 as Erin Wallace heads to a new chapter. There’s a new owner in the wings.

Bibou, the much-honored French BYOB in South Philadelphia, is officially closed after 13 years. It pivoted at the outset of the pandemic to charcuterie and other provisions to go. Owners chef Pierre Calmels and his wife, Charlotte, are putting it up for sale and will soon sell off the furnishings. (Stay tuned.) Pierre Calmels, meanwhile, is chef at a private club, where Charlotte handles events.

Hop Sing Laundromat, the Chinatown cocktail bar, will reopen Friday, Oct. 7 for a Friday-Saturday schedule. Starting in November, it will add Thursdays with the services of noted bartender Toby Maloney, who is setting up a residence.

Gin Rickey’s, a sing-along bar combining live music and classic cocktails from the team behind Wild Honey Smokehouse & Tavern, opens Oct. 6 at the Quarter at Tropicana in Atlantic City.

Grace & Proper, the upmarket Bella Vista neighborhood bar that has been “on the way” to the corner of Eighth and Carpenter Streets since April 2015, is finally nearing the finish line. Owner Chris Fetfatzes expects to open at the end of October.

Kismet Bagels will collab with Mike’s BBQ on a burnt-ends BBQ bialy ($10) from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 7 at Kismet’s shop, 113 E. Girard Ave. in Fishtown. Kismet is on track to open a bialy stall later this fall inside Reading Terminal Market.

Caribbean cuisine combines many cultures, and Trinidad-born Anthony Logan bridges the islands with Asia at his week-old Washington Square West location of Flambo, taking the former IndeBlue at 205 S. 13th St. Logan founded Flambo six years ago at 820 N. Broad St. That location, which closed over the summer as he and son Kevin Ramlochan prepped this new spot, is expected to reopen soon under Ramlochan (at right in photo below).

Meanwhile on 13th Street, Flambo has a chill vibe, a small bar serving tropical drinks (Sex on the Boat, for example, is a rum-and-melon concoction served in a porcelain boat), and a menu that’s all over the map, with nods to Logan’s Indian roots: tandoori-grilled lamb chops (shown above); pholourie (fried split-pea balls); barbecue pigtails; oven-roasted boneless pork in soy sauce; curry lamb; butter chicken; chow mein; and Hyderabadi biryani, plus three kinds of roti. Entrees range from $20 to $31 for oxtail.

Flambo, 205 S. 13th St. Hours: 4-11 p.m. daily.

Middle Eastern food is on the menu at Twenty Manning, the durable bistro at 20th and Manning Streets, near Rittenhouse Square. Reader @julianneweinman_ is all about the hummus tehina, studded with chickpeas, dusted with za’atar, and served with warm pita. And you may have tucked into a tuna tartare or two in your time. At Lark in Bala Cynwyd, it’s mixed with basil, white strawberry, and serrano pepper, much to the delight of @phillyonafork.

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