Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Middle Child: A 'modern Little Pete's' coming to 11th St.

"Nobody's making super-creative breakfast or lunch," he says. "How much French toast and red velvet pancakes can we eat? Philly is such a traditional, blue-collar town, but I think it's ready for something different."

Petit Roti, 248 S. 11th St.
Petit Roti, 248 S. 11th St.Read moreMICHAEL KLEIN / Staff

Matthew Cahn is cooking up what he calls "a modern version of a classic Philly diner" at 248 S. 11th St., the erstwhile home of French rotisseur Petit Roti.

Middle Child is on tap for this fall.

Cahn is, in fact, a middle child who grew up in Cherry Hill – a son of Cherry Hill Mayor Chuck Cahn – and a graduate of Penn Charter. He's a front-of-the-house veteran of such New York establishments as Court Street Grocers and Superiority Burger. He graduated from Boston U and worked in advertising in New York City before falling in love with the restaurant business while flipping burgers in Colorado.

Also informing the Middle Child name is what Cahn says is breakfast and lunch's lowly reputation in the food chain. Simply, he says, breakfast and lunch are the "middle child" to dinner.

"Nobody's making super-creative breakfast or lunch," he says. "How much French toast and red velvet pancakes can we eat? Philly is such a traditional, blue-collar town, but I think it's ready for something different."

So… think Sqirl, the edgy L.A. diner, meets Little Pete's (he was there on the 17th Street location's last day).

Also coming up (just up the street) is Ugly Duckling, The Blue Duck's edgy sibling (with a bar) at 212 S. 11th St.

Michael Kahan of Colliers handled the real estate transaction.