Is the Main Line ready for a bagel luncheonette? It’s one of many new restaurants on the way to the Philadelphia area.

People are dining again in one of the loveliest garden settings in Washington Square West. A new coffee shop in Pennsport specializes in doner kebabs, while a few blocks away, two friends from a small town in Mexico have opened a taqueria-slash-pizzeria. A long-forgotten corner in Old City now has a coffee shop serving panini and crepes. Umbrella-tipped drinks are flowing at a tiki-inspired bar across from LOVE Park. An entrepreneurial sushi chef’s Center City salon serves a 15-course omakase in just an hour.

They are among the new Philadelphia dining options in just the last few weeks, riding a soaring wave of new restaurants.

But wait, there’s more: Thursday will see the debut of a nightspot in the middle of Center City promising live music four nights a week. This weekend may mark the reopening of Cafe Lift in a larger, more visible location in the Loft District on Spring Garden Street. Next week is expected to bring yet another Italian BYOB to Rittenhouse Square, an ice cream parlor to Ardmore, and a West African restaurant to Old City.

I’ll run down the new restaurants, but first, here is some fresh dish about forthcoming projects in the city and suburbs:

Kismet Bagels, the fast-growing shop from Alexandra and Jacob Cohen, will enter the Main Line with an expanded concept called Kismet Bagels Luncheonette, opening late September or early October at 801 Montgomery Ave., the former Ginza, in Penn Valley. This will be Kismet’s first sit-down spot and will do baking on premises (bagels plus a new line of pastries), a full coffee program, expanded lunch menu, and 25 parking spaces. With Manhattan Bagels across the street and Spread Bagelry taking over for Delancey Street Bagels less than 10 minutes away, a Main Line bagel battle might be coming ’round.

Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie, Daniel Martino’s hand-pie specialist, will open a third location around Labor Day at Moore and Chadwick Streets (between 16th and 17th) in South Philadelphia.

Baby’s Kusina and Market, the brick-and-mortar home of longtime Filipino food pop-uppers Tam and Raquel Dang, is hoping for an early-fall opening at 2816 W. Girard Ave. in Brewerytown. They’ll offer retails sales and primarily counter service with an all-day menu of classic and contemporary Filipino dishes. On weekends, they plan a supper-club experience similar to those from Tita Emmie’s, their pop-up.

The Mainland Inn in Harleysville, Lansdale-has-closed.html" target="_blank">closed for six years, will come back this fall. Developer Bill Bonenberg, who acquired the property, is building upscale apartments (Creekside at Mainland) to complement the renovated restaurant, to be called the Mallard at Mainland Inn. Manuel and Cindy Jiménez, who operate La Provence in Ambler, will run the restaurant.

The long-closed landmark Society Hill Hotel at Third and Chestnut Streets is being renovated for a late-2023 comeback by Mike Cangi and Brian Linton, former owners of the United by Blue lifestyle brand. Besides 15 guest rooms on the three upper floors, they are refashioning the street-level taproom into Booz Bar — named after 19th-century distiller E.G. Booz — with a full menu, open from morning to night.

Samuel G. Gritz Public House will be a corner pub from the Institute’s Charlie Collazo and Neil Campbell (Race Street Cafe), plus Institute manager Frank Bell III, at Second and Bainbridge Streets in Queen Village, the former Irish Times. They’re targeting November. Gritz’s name is carved into the top of the building, which a city history says he bought in 1926.

Dan Clark of Center City’s Trattoria Carina and Pub & Kitchen is headed to Bryn Mawr (likely late 2023 or early 2024) for an offshoot of Carina — name TBA — with a 15-seat bar and pizza oven at 864 W. Lancaster Ave., the former Bryn Mawr Flower Shop and an adjacent print shop.

Flight Club, the internationally syndicated darts bar, is targeting Philadelphia in 2024 with a location at 1417 Walnut St. Michael Gorman, who helped broker the real estate deal with Scott Benson, noted that the location is a bull’s eye in the middle of Center City’s “social-competition” district, including Five Iron Golf (2116 Chestnut St.), SPIN Philadelphia (211 S. 15th St.), and a soon-to-open Puttshack at Liberty Place (1625 Chestnut St.).

Chains are getting into the act: Sedona Tap House just applied for a liquor license for a location in Newtown Square, near the Whole Foods. Capital Grille just clinched approval in Bucks County’s Newtown Township for the former Pier One Imports store at the Village at Newtown shopping center. Local retro favorite Nifty Fifty’s is a few months from shake-slinging at 1140 Old York Rd. in Abington.

The Morris House Hotel at 225 S. Eighth St. in Washington Square West, under new ownership as the Morris, has refurbished its eponymous restaurant, reopening its early American dining room and its leafy, white-draped garden (also used for private events) as a neighborhood steak house with house-aged beef at less-than-splurge prices. Kenny Bush, who recently took over the FringeArts’ indoor-outdoor bar as FringeBar, has installed Grant Lloyd as chef, Chris Harrop as general manager, and Klara Ladyzhensky as manager/bartender — all veterans of his previous stops at La Peg and Gabi. It’s now open Wednesday to Sunday for dinner.

Unlike most Philadelphia coffeehouses, Rebel & Wolf Cafe, now open daily at Morris Street and Moyamensing Avenue, across from Dickinson Square Park in Pennsport, claims doner kebabs as the house specialty. Wei Yee was studying in Rome when she met Malte Thies, a German. As poor students, they ate doner kebabs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They also offer comfy seating and Bean2Bean coffee. It’s open daily.

Many Mexican chefs and restaurateurs in Philadelphia hail from San Mateo Ozolco in Puebla. Odilón Sandoval and Israel Cortes actually lived across the street from each other in that pueblacita. After helping a friend open El Mezcal Cantina in the city’s Point Breeze neighborhood, they have set out on their own with Tonalli Philly, a cheery BYOB at Front and Morris Streets, whose previous occupants include Musi and South Helm. It’s a taqueria and pizzeria. Cortes’ four brothers each own a taqueria back home, “and I took the best recipes from each of them,” he said, winking. You can go the taco route (his trompo is loaded with pork for al pastor), the pizza route, with the borrego barbacoa (for example); or with an entrée (the molcajete caliente for $35 is a feast for two with shrimp, chorizo, rib-eye, salsa, beans, etc.). It’s open daily.

Teddy Sourias has fashioned a 3,000-square-foot tiki-inspired bar next to Uptown Beer Garden at 1500 JFK Blvd. Kedera has palm trees, thatched roofs, and a tropical menu. It’s open at 4 p.m. weekdays, and at 11 a.m. weekends.

Sushi chef Jeremy Zhu has come down from New York to offer one-hour omakase experiences daily at Kichi (112 S. 12th St. in Washington Square West). He and a crew knock out the 15 pieces for $95 a person, including premium dishes with uni, caviar, and A5 Wagyu. Reservations are a must. Philly will be getting additional “express omakase” spots, including a few locations of New York-rooted Sushi by Bou, plus Yuhiro, coming this fall to Susquehanna Avenue and Blair Street in Kensington.

Cuor di Caffe is a new coffee shop serving panini, crepes, and house-baked pastries in a sunny, high-ceilinged space at the corner of Front and Market Streets, which had been vacant for decades. (The old-time “BAR” sign remains outside.) Owner Jorin Gerveni also serves Pascucci coffee. It’s open daily.

PJ Hopkins and Matt Budenstein have moved Liberty Kitchen, their Fishtown sandwich shop, a block and a half north into the former Good Spoon Soupery at Front and Master Streets. With the larger space (including cafe), they have longer hours and a larger selection. It’s open Wednesday to Monday.

Philip Breen and chef Elijah Milligan have unveiled Rosemary at 25 E. Hinckley Ave. in Ridley Park., offering locally sourced, modern American cuisine with global influences and cocktails in a stylish setting. It’s open daily.

Veteran chef Dave Conn’s long-awaited bistro, Alice, is packing in crowds at 901 Christian St., a restaurant-rich part of the Italian Market. The cozy bar gives great views of the open kitchen; it’s open Wednesday to Sunday for dinner.

Tired Hands Brewing Co. opened a 15-acre beer park at 4901 West Chester Pike in Newtown Square, formerly an ice rink. It’s open at 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday, from noon on weekends.

Thursday will see the debut of Vinyl, a night spot at 215 S. 15th St., promising live music four nights a week, from Rob Wasserman (Rouge, Twenty Manning) and Josh Zwirzina (the Ave Live), bottle service plus cocktails, and light bites from chef Matt Moon.

Ash and Pretha Kailath have targeted July 27 for the opening of Lu & Aug’s, their ice cream parlor at 28 Rittenhouse Place, Ardmore, named after their teens, Laiyla (“Lu”) and Augustine. Specialty will be affogatos.

Osteria Ama, out of Chadds Ford and West Chester, will enter the Center City Italian BYOB scene with a new location due to open next week at 1905 Chestnut St. (This space was Square on Square, which moved nearby in 2019.) Owner Genti Mataj also owns Trattoria La Tavola in Kennett Square.

Eatwell Philly (106 Chestnut St.), an offshoot of the original in Irvington, N.J., pairs two Nigerian cousins — chef Aisha Wahab and Stephen Oyelakin — in a 65-seat BYOB serving West African cuisine. It’s due to open July 30, joining a busy block with the newish Amina next door at 104 Chestnut, Han Dynasty moving down the street into 110 Chestnut in October, and a chicken shop called BlackHen on the way later this summer to 120 Chestnut.

Blue Point Grill, the Bucks County spawn of Jack Morrison’s Princeton seafood house, is now looking at a mid-August opening in Newtown at 3 West Rd., the former Corner Bakery next to the Acme.

Raquel Villanueva Dang of the Filpino Baby’s Kusina + Market is looking at a late-September opening at 2816 W. Girard Ave. in Brewerytown.

Mid-August is the projected debut of Enswell, a cafe, bottle shop, and cocktail bar from Rival Bros Coffee at the Touraine, 1528 Spruce St.

Christophe Mathon and Soufiane Boutliliss are looking at August to debut their French-Moroccan cafe, Sofi Corner, at 1112 Locust St. in Washington Square West.

Alex Malamy targets Sep. 9 for the rollout of Cleo Bagels at 5013 Baltimore Ave. in West Philadelphia.

Justin Coleman hopes to have Bake’n Bacon, his bacon-theme bar at the former Devil’s Den at 1148 S. 11th St. in South Philadelphia, open by Labor Day.

Loch Bar, the Baltimore-based seafood specialist, is on schedule to open just after Labor Day at the Arthaus at Broad and Spruce Streets, across from the Kimmel Center.

» READ MORE: Even more new restaurants are on the way in Philadelphia and the suburbs

High Street Philly’s expanded version at Ninth and Chestnut Streets is expected to open in September.

Chef Wyatt Piazza is aiming at mid-September for Kiddo, serving contemporary American fare with an emphasis on vegetables, at 12th and Pine Streets, the former Pinefish, in Washington Square West. Meanwhile, Wilder, near Rittenhouse Square, is teaming up with Kiddo for a five-course, $85-a-head collaborative dinner on Aug. 7 to preview it.

Dan Katz (West Avenue Grille and Pizza Wheel in Jenkintown) is hoping for a fall opening of the Highland Glenside Restaurant & Bar at 391 Highland Ave. in Glenside, replacing a shuttered Bernie’s Pub. Another shuttered Bernie’s, at 4411 Main St. in Manayunk, is expected to get new life this fall as an Italian restaurant called Mia Ragazza from the Goat’s Beard crew.

Royal Tavern at 937 E. Passyunk Ave., which closed early in the pandemic, will reopen in November, said co-owner Stephen Simons. Nick Macri will be chef.