The truth about restaurant gift cards | Let’s Eat
Marra’s is closed (but maybe not forever), EMei is on the rise, and Chip Roman tries to explain why he’s closing Blackfish BYOB.
How is a restaurant gift card like a bunch of arugula? I can explain.
Also in this edition:
Marra’s closes: But the family may not be done.
EMei rising: Owner Dan Tsao, who bought the Marra’s building, has big plans for growth.
New restaurants: Eight are on the way this month.
Scoops: The fish market Ippolito’s is back, and I’ll tell you why Blackfish BYOB is closing after 19 years.
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If you get a restaurant gift card this holiday season, there’s one thing you must do immediately: Use it. They go bad quicker than you may realize.
Marra’s closed Sunday after 98 years, but don’t count out Philly’s oldest pizzeria just yet. The family hopes to come back in a new location with better parking. Meanwhile, let me take you on a tour of East Passyunk for a little South Philly history.
EMei, one of Chinatown’s finest Sichuan restaurants (below), not only plans to open another location this winter on Marra’s site but has a third teed up for Ardmore.
If you’re a fan of very thin-crust pizza, call Sebastian and reserve a Roma pie. His one-man shop, Apizzeria 888 by Sebastian, is surrounded by an air of secrecy.
Chef Amanda Shulman of Her Place Supper Club puts together a collection of dozens of cookies every year to raise money for a project called Cookies 4 Coats, benefiting Broad Street Love and the Sunday Love Project.
🍪 Jenn Ladd asked Shulman for her favorites from last year’s box (and baked a few of them). She shares the recipes.
🍪 Amanda’s recipe for sourdough chocolate chip cookies should be yours, too.
Have we been eating well! Craig LaBan loved this cheesesteak banh mi special, Jenn Ladd is sweet on a sweet potato, and I’ll tell you about a crudo that rocked my world.
Scoops
Ippolito’s, the South Philly market founded a century ago by immigrant fishmonger Giuseppe Ippolito, has reopened at 13th and Dickinson Streets after a seven-year hiatus. (In the meantime, Ippolito’s grandson Sammy D’Angelo and family had opened Giuseppe’s Market for retail alongside their Samuels Seafood Co. wholesale operation at 3400 S. Lawrence St., off of Oregon Avenue.) Hours for now are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. It’s a fish market with some specialty-fish cutting on premises, though the focus is on grab-and-go. There are a few seats if you want to pause for shellfish on the half-shell or perhaps a sandwich or poke bowl. More seating is expected in January.
Revolution Taco in Rittenhouse will close in early January, but owner Carolyn Nguyen isn’t going anywhere. Kiki Aranita learned that she’ll retool it into Carolyn’s Modern Vietnamese, where she’ll cook the Cajun Vietnamese food of her Louisiana youth.
The week brought word of two additional noteworthy closings:
Mama’s Pizzeria in Bala Cynwyd closed last week after 67 years — and sooner than Paul Castellucci Sr. had planned. Tommy Rowan explains that the longtime owner is facing heart surgery.
Blackfish BYOB in Conshohocken will wrap its 19-year run on New Year’s Eve as chef-owner Chip Roman says he just wants to do something else. Read on for his poignant story.
Restaurant report
This is a Bloomin’ Shroom, and it’s just one dish that chef Chance Anies will offer at Manong, his Filipino steakhouse opening Saturday on Fairmount Avenue. Anies told Kiki that Manong’s kitchen alone is bigger than all of Tabachoy, his first restaurant.
Eight new restaurants are on the way this month, and it’s an exciting collection. Butter chicken bao buns, anyone?
Briefly noted
Steve Sillman, a fixture of the Northeast Philly restaurant scene and the Fox Chase community, and a manager at Joseph’s Pizza Parlor, died last Sunday.
Chef Dominic Piperno’s signature orecchiette dish at his restaurant Hearthside in Collingswood informs a pizza special this month at Corio, chef David Feola’s University City pizzeria. Billed as Dom’s Pie, the collab features Hearthside’s fennel sausage, broccoli rabe, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheeses, long hots, and a touch of chili oil.
Ranstead Room, behind El Rey in Center City, will mark the 92nd anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition on Friday from 8 p.m. to midnight with a $150pp party (including food, open bar, and live jazz). Period dress is encouraged. Details here.
Chris Kearse’s monthly “French AF” dinner series at his Michelin-recommended Forsythia next Wednesday is themed to cochon, e.g. pig. Five courses for $95pp with an optional wine pairing available for $65. Reservations via Resy.
❓Pop quiz
This Philadelphia restaurant was just named to Esquire’s list of the best new restaurants in America. Name it.
A) The Harvey House
B) The Garden
C) Emmett
D) Shoyer’s
Find out if you know the answer.
Ask Mike anything
I am looking for the name of the French restaurant that preceded Zinc at 246 S. 11th St. in Center City. — John U.
As a Philly native, I enjoy tracking down this kind of stuff. The short answer is La Boheme Cafe, a lovely little Franco-Algerian BYOB that ran from 2000 to 2006. Chef Olivier Desaintmartin, who also owned the nearby Caribou Cafe (which he sold two years ago), took it over, secured a liquor license, and refashioned it in 2007 into Zinc Bistro a Vins, a Le Marais-style wine bar. Zinc’s run ended in 2018. It then briefly housed Lee’s Hoagies and Huff & Puff BBQ before its current occupant, Oishi Yakitori Sushi, opened in 2023. (Before La Boheme, in the 1990s it was Shishkabob, a kosher restaurant, and Hog Island Foods, a hoagie shop.) Side note: From 1876 through the mid-1960s, the address was home to C.D. Williams & Co., a manufacturer of clothing, including nurses’ uniforms — a logical location as it’s across from what was then known as Jefferson Medical College and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
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