Exclusive: The making of Stephen Starr’s new Borromini | Let’s Eat

Let’s go inside Borromini, the new Stephen Starr restaurant, for an expansive first look.

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— Mike Klein

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When we heard two years ago that Stephen Starr was opening an Italian restaurant on Rittenhouse Square, I wondered what it would take to build it. I tagged along for more than a year, following not only Starr’s creative process and getting to know Keith McNally and the Starr team but learning just how much pasta humans can consume.

On the eve of the opening of his biggest restaurant ever — I can give you 20 millions reasons why — here’s a rare glimpse into both Starr’s brain and the making of Borromini.

📷 See our Borromini photo gallery

Frankie’s Summer Club, from the creators of Bok Bar, is an accidental secret worth exploring in Center City. Jenn Ladd gives it a 10/10.

Craig visits the new Percy on the Kensington/Fishtown restaurant strip and finds a hodgepodge of trends — sound lounge, craft coffee, a notable pancake — and a serious brunch, if not a dinner destination.

Medium Rare is not a typical steakhouse. For starters, it only serves steak frites (or a portabello mushroom for vegans). Second, it’s a good value. There’s also a sense of humor at work here.

To me, nothing around here says “summer” more than a New Jersey farm stand, ripe with produce. Check photographer Tom Gralish’s lovely images from a day on the road, and you’ll see why he’s outstanding in his field.

Schmaltz will be a Jewish-inspired breakfast and lunch spot at 1300 S. 18th St. in Point Breeze (formerly the Pharmacy) from spouses Jeremy Asch and Abby Armstrong. Asch, who previously worked in clinical research at Penn Medicine, left his job during COVID to pursue cooking, starting out in the kitchen at Grace Tavern. He and Armstrong, who live in the neighborhood, bought the property in December 2023 and have been renovating it as a passion project. Opening later this year, Schmaltz will serve coffee, egg-and-cheese sandwiches on house-made English muffins (with pickle-brined crispy tofu as a vegan option), latkes, and blintzes. Follow along on Instagram.

DiDi will be the name of the fast-casual Asian concept that DanDan owners Kevin and Cat Huang are building at 3748 Lancaster Ave. in Powelton Village. Target is late 2025.

The old Mermaid Bar at 6745 Germantown Ave. in Mount Airy is being redone by pizzaiolo Dan Gutter and business partner Alex Carbonell, who have no name yet but say the concept will resemble Circles & Squares, the Kensington shop that became Gutter’s first brick and mortar location in 2019. (Gutter also has Pizza Plus in South Philly.) There will be a full bar, a large outdoor patio, and two levels: a bar downstairs and a dining room upstairs.

JJ Bootleggers, the Old City watering hole, has announced that its finale will be Aug. 23. Over its 12 years, the bar has been assessed more than $10,000 in fines by the state for infractions such as serving minors and noise. In a Facebook post, management promised “something brand new.”

YoMi Milk Tea. Thy Lam and her mother, Hanh Tran, ran a bubble-tea business in Vietnam. But when they immigrated to the United States in 2019, they gave it up. When Steven Huynh met (and married) Lam, he urged them to revive it. And so they started small, opening a stand at the Southeast Asian Market at FDR Park in South Philadelphia in 2022.

This is no cookie-cutter bubble-tea operation. Lam and Tran use none of the milk powders and other shortcuts that many shops rely on: The tea is steeped on ice for at least 24 hours, and the assortment of toppings is vast; besides the chewy, conventional boba, you can top drinks with crystal boba, cheese boba, cheese jelly, water chestnut boba, and Thai tea jelly — all house-made — as well as chè khúc bach, a lychee dessert molded into shapes like labubu, banana bears, and cat paws.

Last weekend, the family opened the first shop in a strip center in the city’s Lawndale section, next to a Mr. Wish drink shop.

In addition to the drinks, Tran and her sisters make snacks, including the deliciously crunchy hollow doughnuts called banh tieu ($1.50) and banh tet ($4), the savory log-like cakes made with glutinous rice.

They’re continuing the SEA Market stand as a pop-up at least through the end of the season.

YoMi Milk Tea, 5520 Whitaker Ave. Hours: 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday.

Dîner en Blanc’s 2025 edition is Thursday night at an undisclosed location; it was at Love Park last year and Memorial Hall the year before. This year’s mystery-dinner theme is Gatsby flair, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Great Gatsby and Art Deco. Need a last-minute ticket? You might try the event’s Instagram.

Vita, the Italian restaurant tucked behind a Ferrari red refrigerator door in a gelateria at 261 S. 17th St., has started aperitivo hour from 5-7 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays with cocktails, spritzes, and small bites; there’s also live jazz (think Italian mambo instrumentals) from 6 p.m. to close on Wednesdays.

Santucci’s Original Square Pizza’s location at 1710 Clements Bridge Rd. in Deptford grand opens on Thursday with an 11 a.m. ribbon-cutting and pizza and dessert samples.

Digital creator YoungGotFlavors has organized a food truck festival from 1-8 p.m. Saturday at 1447 N. American St., outside of Es Cafe Lounge in Kensington. YoungGotFlavors promises at least 15 trucks and vendors, a live DJ and games, and a bookbag/school supply giveaway while supplies last.

The Heritage India Festival, the D.C. area’s South Asian festival, will stop at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center (100 Station Ave., Oaks) from noon-9 p.m. Saturday and noon-7 p.m. Sunday with 150+ booths of shopping and food. Admission is $5, with kids under 5 free. Parking is also free.

Ember & Ash will partner with Di Bruno Bros. on a collaborative, summer themed menu featuring items found in the South Philadelphia cheese shop (with chef Scott Calhoun’s live-fire spins), starting at 5 p.m. Aug. 28. It’s a la carte, though there also will be a tasting menu. Resy has the details.

Manayunk Restaurant Week returns from a five-year slumber, offering discounted meals from Sept. 8-14. The reservation book is open now.

Bite for the Fight Food Festival, the main fundraiser for the Fight On Makenna Foundation, will gather 50 restaurants and vendors from noon-4 p.m. Sept. 13 at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center & Fairgrounds in Oaks. The headliner is chef Brian Duffy. It’s equal parts cooking demos and walk-around sampling; tickets are $100. The foundation supports pediatric cancer programs that collectively reach nearly 20% of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s patient population each year.

The Chef Assembly is the new name of the Chef Conference, which former Drexel U professor Mike Traud founded 10 years ago. Its debut will be Oct. 20 at ChowNow’s headquarters in Los Angeles. It will return to Philadelphia next March 22-23 and will head to New York on May 4.

Want to own an ice cream shop? Zsa’s in Mount Airy is closing at the end of the year, but owner Danielle Jowdy is still hunting for a buyer.

The Carter family of West Philadelphia has sold watermelons for years. What do they is the secret to finding the perfect one?

A) the striping

B) the shape

C) the presence of a field spot

D) a certain sound when you thump it

Find out if you know the answer.

Is Randi’s in the Northeast gone? Seems to be closed permanently. — Addam S.

Randi’s ended its 20-year run in Grant Plaza in Bustleton abruptly on July 12, three days after the landlord filed a judgment seeking more than $82,000, according to Philadelphia court records. The restaurant, known for its live entertainment, changed hands after its namesake, Randi D’Amico, died of cancer five years ago.

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