Old City, which has taken its lumps since a fire on Chestnut Street last month, has new restaurant activity on the way, including a French brasserie and bar. Also this week, we visit a quaint bruncherie in Fort Washington, a sultry steakhouse in Society Hill, and a cozy bagel shop in Marlton. If you need food news, click here and follow me on Twitter and Instagram. Email tips, suggestions, and questions here. If someone forwarded you this free newsletter and you like what you're reading, sign up here to get it every week.
A shot in the arm for Old City
Old City seems to be on an upswing, aside from a fire last month that displaced dozens of residents and knocked several restaurants offline. On Second Street, Nick Elmi's Royal Boucherie is packing them in, and Miguel Toro's new Vista Peru is making piscos cool. Today on the blog, I dropped word of a Latin/Asian spot, Ardiente, expected to open later this month next to JJ Bootleggers, around the time that the taps begin flowing at Glory Beer Bar & Kitchen at 126 Chestnut. For good measure, Jolly Weldon is preparing yet another incarnation of Jolly's Dueling Piano Bar at 110 Chestnut St.
Which brings us to that luscious French onion soup and Chez Ben, a brasserie, and its stylish bar, M Brown's, now in soft-opening mode on the ground floor of the newly rebranded Renaissance Philadelphia Hotel at Fourth and Chestnut Streets (the former Omni and later the Franklin).
Chef Paras Shah is doing the local-sourcing thing from breakfast through dinner. Prices are decent, too. "Ben" is Ben Franklin, and there's Franklinana all over the place – including bifocal glasses welded into a railing and a mini-gallery of portraits of his mistresses. One quibble: The Breton-striped shirts on the waiter uniforms have a Where's Waldo? vibe.
What we’re drinking
Sangria at Rouge
Sangria, that wine and fruit punch rooted in the Iberian peninsula, is not what you might think about Rouge, the lightly French destination on Rittenhouse Square. On a brutal late winter's day, Rouge's version – best enjoyed at one of the square's most social upmarket bars – is a bold, spicy reminder that spring will be here. At some point.
Where we’re eating: Zakes Cafe, Malbec, Rey Bagel Bistro
We in the burbs live in Chain World, which makes a family-owned spot like Zakes Cafe in Fort Washington all the more special. Set in a frilly Victorian building off Bethlehem Pike, it comes off as the quintessential ladies-who-lunch destination. But it's far more. Its bakery creates luscious cakes, pastries, and bread, and its menu (American with a dose of Vietnamese specialties) has something for everyone – including kids. Breakfast/brunch is offered daily, and dinner, offered Wednesday to Saturday, is a particular value.
Romance and grilled meats deliciously collide in Society Hill at Malbec, a sultry Argentine steakhouse at Second and Pine Streets, across from Head House Square. Get behind juicy steaks as well as signature Italian dishes, including gnocchi served on the 29th of the month as tradition dictates. Happy hour at the copper-clad bar brings $6 wines, $6 cocktails, and discounted nibbles including $3 empanadas.
Wood-fired Montreal-style bagels – crunchier than their Brooklyn cousins – are the specialty at the warm and cozy Rey Bagel Bistro in Marlton Crossing Shopping Center. Rey's twist is the Mexican accent provided by Reynoldo Cruz, who took over the short-lived Mount Royal Bagel Co. Get any breakfast sandwich, particularly the one with avocado slices and jalapenos tucked inside the egg and cheese. At $6.29 with a side of potatoes, it's a deal. And at what other bagel shop can you pick up a bag of buñuelos, the crispy fritters?
This week’s openings
Chez Ben | Old City
French brasserie at Fourth and Chestnut Streets. (See above.)
Goose Island Brewhouse | Fishtown
The Chicago brewpub sets up a bright, open destination near The Fillmore.
La Roca | Manayunk
Union Taco, at 4161 Main St., has yielded to a high-energy taqueria/bar.
Tipsy Bistro | University City
A casual bar-restaurant says March 9 for its opening at 3131 Walnut St., where The Fat Ham was.
This week’s closings
Blackbird | Society Hill
The Sixth Street building occupied by this vegan pizzeria needs repair, so it is closed for the foreseeable future. Its Northern Liberties location is open.
Jin House | Washington Square West
End of the road for the Chinese spot at 1117 Locust St., which in 2003 was burned out of its previous location at 1034 Spruce St.
Phoebe's BBQ | South Street West
Management says it's closed until March 16, when it plans to reopen.
Your dining questions, answered
Question: With all the big internet kerfuffle recently about the rise of "Brooklyn BBQ," I was wondering who makes the best BBQ in Philly?
Craig: I'll admit I got a hoot out of the internet furor last weekend over the Vice piece about Brooklyn BBQ "taking over the world." The Washington Post had a particularly fun and snarky piece riffing on people's outrage that Brooklyn should be given international acclaim for a genre perfected by so many other places of America. The Brooklyn hate is strong!
I get that regional pride when it comes to barbecue – especially when you have distinct traditions as deeply cured as they are in Memphis, North Carolina, Kansas City, and Texas. In truth, Brooklyn is a modern 'Q mecca in its own right: I just had an amazing meal at Hometown Bar-B-Que in Red Hook. Also, the picture attached to the Vice story that stoked so much "prison tray" mockery happens to have been taken at Fette Sau in Williamsburg – whose Fishtown Fette Sau branch happens to be one of Philly's best spots, where the coffee-rubbed smoked short rib is one of my frequent happy-birthday-to-me indulgences.
I've long complained that our BBQ scene is otherwise not as deep as I'd like. But we do have some longstanding classics. Sweet Lucy's Smokehouse in Northeast Philly is one of our best all-around destinations, and I'm particularly fond of their Carolina-style pulled pork (with vinegar sauce) and also the chickens.
Henri's Hotts in Folsom, South Jersey, is one of my regular stops on the way back from the Shore, for the ribs, the smoked jerked chicken, and the brisket, but also an incredible weekend buffet that's one of the greatest soul food displays in the region (owner Doug Henri would make my Top 10 fried chicken list, too).
In the Pennsylvania suburbs, try the smoked baby backs at Uncle B's in Phoenixville. I'd also like to get back to the Lucky Well in Ambler, which is planning a city branch on Spring Garden soon, too. In fact, I am detecting a sudden resurgence in exciting, new city-based smokehouses. Prime among them is the new Mike's BBQ near East Passyunk in the former South Philly Barbacoa space, where Mike Strauss is not only making a full range of legit smoked meats (including house-made sausages), he makes a smoked brisket cheesesteak that's one of the city's new must-eat sandwiches. (I still need to try the Manayunk version of this sandwich from Deke's Bar-B-Que.)
Meanwhile, I am looking forward to yet another promising barbecue destination called the South Philly Smökhaus, a pop-up that is slated to open permanently this spring in the Bok Building on South Ninth Street. Pitmaster Eric Daelhousen was giving away samples of his smoked wings at a recent farmers market there, and … well, I took one deeply smoked bite and had a visions that South Philly barbecue was about to take over the world! No, wait…
Email Craig here, and join his chat at 2 p.m. on the first Tuesday of the month at Philly.com/food.