Table Talk: British comforts at Stargazy

What this town needed, London-raised chef Sam Jacobson had been saying to anyone who would listen, is a pie and mash shop. And so he has opened Stargazy at 1838 E. Passyunk Ave. (215-309-2761), a simple spot with cases and counters, with mirrors and assorted woodwork by friends Craig Parahus and Owen Mercurio (a.k.a. Hoboglyph). Much of the business is takeout; there are a few tables for dine-in. Jacobson hands out free hot tea.

The fare is similarly low-key: pies and mash provides low-cost, savory sustenance to the masses. Meat pies are served with a side of mashed potatoes with parsley liquor (a sauce made of parsley - no alcohol involved). It's open Tuesday to Sunday.

Jennifer Carroll, the sassy, Northeast Philly-bred Top Chef regular and 10 Arts alumna, is moving her base to the Washington-northern Virginia area. Her Top Chef castmate Mike Isabella, on an expansion streak, has signed her as chef for his forthcoming French-Mediterranean restaurant, Requin, which is to open in mid-2017 at the Wharf in Washington. In the interim, Carroll will run a Requin pop-up restaurant set to open in October a half-hour away at the Mosaic District in Merrifield, Va.

Seven years in, Jose Garces and crew have turned the first floor of the University City flagship of Distrito, his flamboyant Mexican eatery, into a taqueria. The refined small-plate menu remains on the second floor. The downstairs menu offers a choice of nine proteins (pork, chicken, beef, goat barbacoa, and tofu chorizo) that can be prepared various ways - in tacos, in a Mission-style burrito, in a burrito Suiza with cheese and red chili sauce, as nachos, or in quesadillas. A few appetizers round out the list. The bar list is pretty simple: margaritas, wine/sangria, six beers on tap, six beers in cans (and buckets of five beers), and beer towers - that is, 128 ounces of cerveza served in a tap container placed at the table.

Saxbys Coffee has opened at the southwest corner of 11th and Locust Streets. Next to open is an outlet at Bethlehem Pike and Butler Avenue in Ambler, where it will replace the shuttered Ambler Donuts (and an adjacent Subway) and will have a drive-through window.

Gene and Amy Giuffi and crew have moved Square Pie's ovens etc., from Sixth and Catharine Streets across the intersection to the pizzeria's new home, in their former Cochon BYOB at Passyunk Avenue and Catharine Street in Queen Village.

Kenny Poon, who owns five restaurants in Center City and Northern Liberties, wants to open Chinatown's first food court. Chinatown Square is pegged for February in the former Shanghai Bazaar, a longtime gift shop at 1016 Race St. Poon expects some restaurants will open early and others will stay open late - "that way, we'll make it open 24/7," he said, adding that he wanted it to be more than a neighborhood destination.

The Fairmount Park Welcome Center on JFK Plaza - the so-called spaceship at the corner of 16th Street and JFK Boulevard - will become a restaurant after the park is renovated next year. The Fairmount Park Conservancy is looking for a tenant.

Spice Kitchen in Lansdale has its first franchise location. It's in Mamaroneck, N.Y.