EMei owner leases Bookbinder’s space in Old City, his fourth landmark restaurant acquisition in a year

Dan Tsao, the owner of the Chinatown Szechuan restaurant EMei, has leased the former Olde Bar at Second and Walnut Streets in Old City. It’s the fourth landmark restaurant property he has taken on in the Philadelphia area in the last year.

The building, home to Old Original Bookbinder’s for generations before becoming Olde Bar in 2009, joins the former John Henry’s Pub in Ardmore, Marra’s in South Philadelphia, and Irish Pub in Rittenhouse in Tsao’s portfolio.

Tsao said this deal marks the end of an expansion plan driven by the long lines and limited capacity of the basement kitchen at his restaurant at 915 Arch St. EMei is one of Philadelphia’s most acclaimed Chinese dining rooms, earning a spot on The Inquirer’s 76 list of essential restaurants in 2024.

“People see Bookbinder’s as another restaurant,” Tsao said. “I see it as the large production kitchen we’ve been dreaming about. We’ve insisted on making everything from scratch — our chili oil, dumplings, egg rolls, scallion pancakes, sauces — you name it. We’ve never wanted to cut corners. This gives us the space to keep doing things the way we’ve always believed they should be done.”

“From the outside, it may look like we’ve been on an acquisition spree, but that really wasn’t the goal,” Tsao told The Inquirer. “Our focus now is opening these locations one at a time and making sure each one succeeds before we think about anything else.”

Each property will have a different role, Tsao said. The former John Henry’s, on Cricket Avenue, and Marra’s, on East Passyunk Avenue, are both destined to become future EMei restaurants. Old City will first serve as a commissary kitchen before adding a dining room, bar, and event venue, while the former Irish Pub — a mixed-use building spanning 2007-11 Walnut St. — is being developed as a broader hospitality concept rather than another EMei location.

Tsao, who emigrated from China in the 1990s and graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1999, owns EMei and nearby TingTing’s Cafe, along with New Mainstream Press, publisher of Metro Chinese Weekly and Metro Viet News. His mother-in-law, Jinwen Yu, and chef Yongcheng Zhao opened EMei in 2011; Tsao and his wife, TingTing, took over the business in 2019.

Tsao said the acquisitions were never intended to happen simultaneously — several independent opportunities simply surfaced within a short period. “It may look like we’re expanding quickly, but internally we’re actually slowing down,” he said. “Most of these are long-term investments, so we’re in no rush. Our focus now is taking the time to get each project right and opening them one at a time.”

“The way I look at these projects is that I’m buying them partly as a long-term real estate investor and partly as an owner-operator,” he said. “That gives us the flexibility to move at our own pace, take the time to figure out each space, and make sure we do it the right way instead of rushing to open.”

The Olde Bar/Bookbinder’s property is different from the others: Rather than purchase the condominium space outright, Tsao signed a lease with an option to buy. The Philadelphia Business Journal first reported EMei’s application for a liquor license at the address.

The biggest draw wasn’t the stained glass and landmark dining rooms, decked out in late-19th-century furnishings — it was the kitchen. Spanning 2,800 square feet, it includes five walk-in refrigerators and freezers and two 32-foot cooking lines beneath exhaust hoods, allowing Tsao to begin operations without the extensive demolition and rebuilding required at his other properties.

“If not for the kitchen space, I would not consider it,” Tsao said. “It is very hard to find such a large kitchen in Center City.”

The property, at 125 Walnut St., includes about 13,000 square feet on the ground floor, plus 5,000 square feet of basement storage. The first phase will be largely behind the scenes: Tsao plans to use the building as a commissary kitchen to relieve pressure on the Chinatown restaurant, while also running takeout and delivery as EMei Old City. Later, he expects to open a roughly 60-seat dining room and bar, followed by an event venue. He’s considering calling the overall complex The Bindery and the bar The Publisher Bar — nods to both the building’s Bookbinder heritage and his own nearly two decades in publishing.

The vertical neon Bookbinder’s sign on the east corner of the property “has to stay,” Tsao said.

Work has begun at all four properties, but Tsao said they will open one at a time. Because the kitchen is largely intact, the Old City site may be the first of the new locations to begin limited operations, with dining and event spaces to follow as renovations continue in Ardmore, on Passyunk, and in Rittenhouse.

Old Original Bookbinder’s traces its roots to an oyster saloon that Samuel Bookbinder opened in 1893 at 525 S. Fifth St. before moving to 125 Walnut St. in 1898. Over the next century, it became one of Philadelphia’s signature restaurants, drawing presidents, politicians, celebrities, and generations of diners for oysters, lobster, and its famed snapper soup. For many, it was their first dress-up dining experience in the days when people dressed up for dinner.

It also spawned a crosstown rival after a family split. Bookbinders Seafood House opened in 1935 at 215 S. 15th St. and closed in 2003. It was later an Applebee’s, which ran from 2005 to 2020, and is now a music bar called Vinyl.

» READ MORE: From 1999: Critic Craig LaBan compares the two Bookbinder's restaurants

After a major renovation and condominium conversion in the early 2000s, Bookbinder’s struggled financially and closed in 2009 amid bankruptcy. The Taxin family still owns an Old Original Bookbinder’s restaurant in Richmond, Va., which opened in 1999.

Chef Jose Garces revived the landmark in 2015 as the Olde Bar, preserving much of the historic architecture while reimagining it as a contemporary oyster house and cocktail bar.

The restaurant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2018 and later was acquired by investors. The restaurant closed for public dining in 2024 but continued as an events venue and served as headquarters for Garces Events, the catering company founded by Garces and owned by Compass Group USA. Compass closed both Garces Events and The Olde Bar last year.