🔔 Craig LaBan has ditched his review ‘bells’ | Let’s Eat

Big news from the Food team, as Craig LaBan has chosen not to resume his Liberty Bell rating system. Allow him to explain. Also this week, we tell you about a drink getting a TikTok revival, Philly’s best fall beers, a new cookbook by a Top Chef alumnus, and a second-generation Italian restaurateur opens a pizzeria.

But first: You need to get to FDR Park right now for free avocados. I did just say free avocados.

And second: Philly Burger Brawl, which had been set for this Sunday outside Xfinity Live!, has been postponed till Nov. 6 because of the possibility of a Phillies playoff game across the street.

⬇️ Read on for restaurant news and a quiz.

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— Mike Klein

Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan announced this morning that he will not resume his “Liberty Bell” restaurant review ratings, which he had suspended in March 2020. (Last one: Canal House Station, with three bells.) The zero-to-four-bell scale, which he began when he joined The Inquirer in 1998, ”no longer applies meaningfully to today’s mercurial restaurant world,” he writes, adding that his motivation is to be more useful to readers.

What do you think? Read his logic here, gather your thoughts, and let me know.

From our archives:

Top Chef alum Chris Scott, out of Coatesville, has a new cookbook that is part memoir, part history of soul-food cooking in Pennsylvania. Columnist Elizabeth Wellington chatted with Scott, who illustrates this culinary style with a story about his grandmother: She would hit watermelon with salt and hot sauce, and eat it ice cold.

How about a dozen new cookbooks that will keep you cooking all fall and winter, writes colleague Hira Qureshi.

The Negroni sbagliato, the cocktail from the late ’60s that swaps out a regular Negroni’s gin for sparkling wine, has made a comeback, thanks to TikTok. My colleague Emily Bloch talked to bartenders, who help her explain the trend.

With this cold snap of autumn comes a wave of pumpkin tastes flowing in tap rooms all over Philadelphia. Colleague Henry Savage found 10 beers worth bending an elbow for.

Philly Cider Week starts Oct. 23, and Hira rang up cofounder Amy Hartranft to preview the 20 events on tap. How about dem apples?

Marcello Giordano, a longtime produce wholesaler, is getting into the retail side with Venditore, which opened last week on Rittenhouse Square. The flaming trash barrel outside is a prop, a nod to his family, which has owned produce stands in the Italian Market since 1921.

Second-generation restaurateur Anthony Borda, who was in kindergarten when he started making pizzas with his pop, Franco, recently opened Borda’s Italian Eats, a tiny, walk-up pizza shop on the side of their temporarily shuttered Francoluigi’s at 13th & Tasker. Borda, 28, does crispy, light slices, rounds, squares and stromboli for now (that’s the loaded-cheesesteak pie above), as well as house-baked ciabatta panini. It’s open Tuesday-Saturday. The full restaurant next door won’t reopen for at least another year.

Briefly noted

Have you browsed our 2022 Dining Guide?

If you need print copies of the Dining Guide, act now. Supplies are limited.

Alaska’s snow crab season has been canceled. Or is that cant-shelled?

Actor Kurt Russell will sign bottles of his GoGi Wines beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday at TASTE! Philadelphia Festival of Food, Wine & Spirits at the Valley Forge Casino Resort (1160 First Ave., King of Prussia). The bottles of Goldie Chardonnay Santa Rita Hills 2018 ($49.99) and Erinn Pinot Noir Santa Rita Hills 2017 ($69.99) must be purchased on-site.

Fishtown Pickle Project owners Mike Sicinski and Niki Toscani have partnered with WMMR’s Preston Elliot to create a sweet-and-spicy pickle flavor called Preston’s Picks, with a portion of sales donated directly to Philabundance. It’s keyed to the Preston & Steve radio show’s annual Camp Out for Hunger (Nov. 7-11, outside Xfinity Live!). They’re available at $14.50 a jar online or via farmer’s markets.

Kaiseki, the sushi takeout in the 990 Spring Garden building, has opened a four-seat sushi bar. First come, first served, and there are some dine-in-only specials.

Newtown Square now has a branch of West Chester’s Mercato Ristorante, complete with high energy, a Southern Italian menu, an enormous, TV-ringed bar, a raw bar, and red Piaggio scooter with a sidecar parked out front. It’s at 4799 West Chester Pike, replacing Trattoria Giuseppe.

Honeygrow will open its 29th location on Oct. 28. It’s in Collegeville’s Providence Town Center.

Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar will open its ninth location Nov. 8, also in the Providence Town Center in the former Champps space.

Nobu Atlantic City, the celeb-owned Japanese brand, will open Oct. 21 at Caesars Atlantic City. A Nobu Hotel within Caesars is on track for a spring opening.

Restaurant closings to note: The Bertucci’s in Sicklerville is all buttoned up, while The Pop Shop’s Medford branch marks its finale Oct. 26.

Is Conshohocken, which has long enjoyed a solid downtown dining scene at assorted price points, ready for a restaurant that serves a $99 burger wrapped in gold? That’s only part of the menu at the new Hook & Ladder, one of two restaurants at the new Hotel West & Main. The burger may be hype, but it’s not totally off-concept at this high-end seafood/steak house.

There’s nothing traditional about the seafood dishes at Vernick Fish, on the ground floor of the Comcast Technology Center at 19th and Arch Streets. Case in point, via @tabriola: scallop carpaccio, with coconut, serrano, and Thai basil. Speaking of nontraditional: Samuel’s (1523 Sansom St.), the Jewish-ish deli/all-day cafe from Michael Schulson on the street level above Giuseppe & Sons, where @thebrittsknees enjoyed the latke royale — latkes topped with sour cream, lox, and caviar. Serious baking program, as evidenced by the corn rye used for a turkey pastrami reuben and desserts including pumpkin dulce de leche cake, a jelly doughnut, and apricot pecan rugelach.

The cabernet blanc grape is known for:

A.) extreme fungus resistance

B.) berrylike aroma

C.) susceptibility to frost

Check your work and learn about a $13.99 bottle that wine writer Marnie Old recommends with Thai and Vietnamese cuisines.

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