East Market gets a splashy Mexican restaurant from D.C., and it’s a homecoming for its owners

Jason Berry came up to Philadelphia for a Wharton reunion and wound up leaving with a restaurant.

Berry, a 2002 graduate, runs the Washington, D.C.-based Knead Hospitality & Design, with his husband, Michael Reginbogin, a Starr Restaurants alumnus.

Berry was staying at the Loews hotel during his 2022 reunion weekend when a real estate broker mentioned an available space across the street at National Real Estate Development’s $400 million East Market project. “I said, ‘It’s literally right there — let me go look,’” Berry said last week.

Nearly four years later, Berry and Reginbogin have opened Mi Vida, a splashy Mexican restaurant with moody lighting and rich pops of color, next to the Canopy by Hilton hotel. It’s tucked behind the shuttered Mulherin’s Pizzeria and Iron Hill Brewery (likely to reopen), just off of 12th and Market Streets.

The Philadelphia outpost is the fourth Mi Vida location and the 16th restaurant from Knead since its founding in 2015; most are in or near the District. It’s also five blocks from the former Starr restaurant Washington Square — the space that later became Talula’s Garden — which Reginbogin helped manage two decades ago.

Mi Vida’s menu, developed with culinary director Roberto Santibañez, balances traditional Mexican cooking with contemporary touches. There are about 130 tequilas and mezcals at its expansive, 23-seat bar.

For dinner, especially, Mi Vida seems to be built with groups in mind. A $29 starter called Un Poco de Todo — a platter with huevos rellenos, croquetas de esquites, tacos dorados, empanadas de mariscos, and pork chicharrones — is aimed at three people. There are enchiladas, queso fundido, taquitos, and seafood dishes such as aguachile. Berry said per-person check averages are about $50, plus tax and tip.

There are at least two splurges: the pasilla chili- and coffee-marinated Roseda Farms rib-eye ($69 for two) and a 40-ounce Roseda Farms tomahawk served with charred onions and chiles toreados for $149.

Mi Vida serves lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch, with weekday happy hour from 2 to 6 p.m. Early response has been encouraging, he said.

“We’ve had a lot of nurses coming in from Jefferson [Hospital] after work, which is wonderful to see,” Berry said. (A group of managers from Starr Restaurants was spotted dining there last week — logical, since El Vez is three blocks away.)

Reginbogin oversees Knead’s designs, working with architects. The Philadelphia location includes a private dining room and an enclosed patio-style loggia with seating for about 60 guests, plus heaters, fans, and drop-down curtains to extend the dining season. The dining room also features a live-edge communal table and woven chairs, elements introduced in some of the group’s newer locations.

Berry and Reginbogin have another Philadelphia spot — a casual Tex-Mex restaurant called Mi Casa — due to open toward the end of the year at 3151 Market St., part of a rapidly developing corridor of offices and life-sciences buildings in University City.

Berry said developers were also trying to interest them in the Mulherin’s space, which has been empty since February 2025. Knead’s portfolio includes a variety of concepts, including Succotash (Southern), Bistro du Jour (French), and the Grill (wood-fired American). The Mi Vida concept — which he said is the group’s most scalable — also reflects his own background in Mexican cuisine: Before launching Knead, Berry spent about a decade with “elevated fiesta” chain Rosa Mexicano, where he served as chief operating officer during the brand’s national expansion out of New York.

Berry described an expansion to Philadelphia as “practical — it’s a two-hour drive, easy to get to, and a market we understand and respect,” he said. “And the food scene is fantastic. What doesn’t work for one of our concepts might work for another. It’s a market we’d like to keep growing in.”

Mi Vida, 1150 Ludlow St. Hours: 11:30 a.m. 4 p.m. weekdays (lunch); 4-10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 4 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday (dinner); and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekends (brunch). Happy hour: 2 to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday. Reservations via OpenTable.