For years, Sam Ahern imagined opening a place that felt less like a restaurant than a gathering spot.
Now, just a few doors from her first Philadelphia apartment, she’s done exactly that.
Lillian’s opened last week at 19th and Mifflin Streets in Point Breeze, transforming a onetime barbershop into a bistro and cocktail bar decorated like an old-fashioned living room parlor, complete with vintage furnishings and an evolving food program that will regularly hand over its kitchen to guest chefs.
Owner Sam Ahern and bar manager Avdo Babic at Lillian’s. They met while working at Fitler Club.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
“I wanted something that felt like you were hanging out in somebody’s house,” Ahern said.
Ahern took the name from her great-great-grandmother, who had a speakeasy in her basement in North Jersey and was known in the family as Diamond Lil. “The story goes that she would keep jewelry if you couldn’t pay with cash, and apparently she made her own gin,” said Ahern, who accepts cash and credit cards at Lillian’s.
The project is the culmination of a path Ahern never expected to follow. She studied graphic design and fiber arts in graduate school in Savannah, Ga., where she began helping a friend open a restaurant. Hospitality stuck.
After moving to Philadelphia in 2018, she worked behind the bar at Cicala at the Divine Lorraine, then at the private Fitler Club, before becoming bar manager at Fabrika in Fishtown.
She also put down roots in Point Breeze eight years ago. Her first apartment was three houses from where Lillian’s is now.
Three brioche toasts (anchovy, sardine, and enoki mushroom) at Lillian’s.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
During the pandemic, Ahern and friends hosted backyard supper clubs featuring rotating chefs. The dinners proved there was an audience for intimate, chef-driven experiences outside the traditional restaurant model.
When a property around the corner from her home came on the market, “it felt meant to be,” Ahern said. “At the same time, someone I knew was selling a liquor license and it also became available, so everything just fell into place.”
Rather than hire a permanent executive chef, Ahern decided to build Lillian’s around residencies. The idea, she said, is to tie the supper-club ethos into a neighborhood bar where someone can stop in for a martini and a sandwich one night, then return weeks later to discover a different chef, menu, or cocktail.
Chef Alejandro Martín Sánchez, who is location-shopping for his fine-dining restaurant Mesona, consulted on the opening menu, kitchen layout, and operations. Kitchen operations are managed by Isobella “Izzy” Ioffreda, while guest chefs rotate through for weekend or monthlong engagements.
Panzanella salad at Lillian’s.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
The opening menu is intentionally concise, built around Mediterranean-inspired snacks and light meals meant to accompany cocktails. It includes mixed pickled vegetables ($5); panzanella salad ($12) with optional toppings; brioche toasts ($6 each), topped with anchovies, sardines, or enoki mushrooms; shrimp cocktail ($15 for five); a cheese and charcuterie board ($25), and sandwiches including vegetable ($13) with whipped ricotta, roasted piquillo peppers, and confit garlic; prosciutto and Manchego ($15) with house-made fig jam; and grilled chicken salad with Calabrian tomato jam ($15), topped with arugula and Parmesan on brioche toast. Desserts include flavored shortbreads ($2 each), chocolate mousse ($11) with Marsala and pretzel streusel, and olive oil cake ($13) with orange syrup, fig jam, and Greek yogurt. The menu is expected to evolve alongside the rotating chef residencies.
The residency program begins this month with Miled Finianos’ Lebanese-focused Habibi Supper Club, which is on its way to a permanent location on Passyunk Square. On July 9-11, 17-18, and 23-25, Finianos will offer a six-course ticketed dinner at 8 p.m., preceded by a public happy hour from 5 to 7 p.m. featuring a more casual Habibi menu. August will be devoted to refining Lillian’s own operation before residencies resume in September.
Lillian’s at 19th and Mifflin Streets on June 30, 2026.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
The cocktail program comes from Ahern’s former Fitler Club colleague Avdo Babic. Like Ahern, Babic came to Philadelphia through the arts, arriving to attend art school before discovering bartending under Katie Loeb at the Trestle Inn.
The menu leans on classic cocktails interpreted through house-made ingredients. Babic prepares his own tinctures, bitters, shrubs, syrups, and cordials, drawing inspiration from Prohibition-era recipes as well as the homemade herbal infusions his family made while he was growing up in Bosnia.
The Ms. Martinez ($15), for example, infuses Beefeater gin with osmanthus flowers and linden honey to lend floral, honeysuckle notes to the classic cocktail. Persephone’s Garden ($14) turns the martini savory through clarified pickle juice, dill, celery, coriander, black pepper, caraway, and Greek yogurt. La Molina ($16), a pisco sour, grew out of a recent research trip to Peru while incorporating a lime cordial recipe Babic has refined over several years.
“We built it around seasonal ingredients, but the foundation is classic cocktails,” Babic said.
Lillian’s, 1900 S. 19th St. Hours: 5 to 11 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 5 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. Kitchen open to 10 p.m.
We knew that a list of 76 iconic Philadelphia foods would leave something out. It did. After hearing from readers — and revisiting a few of our own debates — we had to mention six items that deserve a place in the city’s culinary canon. They don’t replace the original 76; they just expand the conversation.
The ‘combo’: Hot dog and fishcake on a roll
The hot dog-fish cake combo topped with pepper hash at Lenny’s Hot Dogs in Feasterville.Michael Klein / Staff
Long before Philadelphia claimed the cheesesteak as its signature sandwich, another pairing drew a following: the hot dog and fishcake combo. Culinary historians generally agree that Abe Levis (rhymes with “crevice”) created it in 1895 by pressing a fried fish cake atop a grilled frank on the same bun at his luncheonette on Sixth Street near Lombard.
Instant surf-and-turf!
Levis also created Champ Cherry, the bright-red, cider-like soda that became the combo’s traditional companion. The Old Original Levis shop changed hands several times, spawned a few short-lived offshoots, and finally closed in 1992 under owner Elliott Hirsh, who later revived Levis as a store in Abington from 2012 to 2017 while marketing Champ Cherry in cans.
But tastes have changed and the brands are moribund, as Hirsh, now 80, acknowledged: “I’ve been actively trying to find someone that wants to take it over. And not even sell it. Just take it over. I’d hate to die and take it with me, but that’s what we’re going to do.”
The hot dog-fishcake combo, at least, survives. Just after World War II, Levis rival Lenny’s Hot Dogs, who also sold them from a stand nearby at Fifth and Passyunk.
Lenny’s secret sauce was the pepper hash — a sweet-and-sour relish of cabbage and bell peppers that cuts through the richness of the dish — created by owner Lenny Kravitz’s mother, Ida.
Kravitz expanded Lenny’s to several locations from Mount Airy to Margate, N.J. In the 1980s, he sold his final shop, at 6620 Castor Ave. in the Northeast, to Wayne Knapp. Kravitz died in 1998.
Hawk Krall’s illustration of the “surf ’n turf” Philly combo (fishcake and frank) was originally done for SeriousEats.com.Hawk Krall
Knapp later relocated Lenny’s to Feasterville. That shop, as well as Johnny Hot’s, John Danze Jr.’s truck stop on Delaware Avenue in Fishtown, are among the few standard-bearers of this classic. Be sure to add a squirt of yellow mustard and a smattering of diced onions, as illustrator Hawk Krall suggested in his 2009 poster print of the sandwich.
Chicken salad and oysters
Fried oysters with chicken salad from Oyster House.Craig LaBan / Staff
As for another curious combo, only in Philadelphia would someone look at cool, creamy chicken salad and crunchy fried oysters and think, “Of course those belong together.”
The unlikely pairing has been a local specialty for well over a century, dating to the city’s grand oyster houses, hotels, and taverns in the late 1800s. One popular explanation of its origin holds that tavern keepers paired cheap, plentiful oysters with more expensive chicken to stretch a serving. Food historian William Woys Weaver has noted that Philadelphia’s finest hotels elevated the dish, serving chicken salad dressed with tarragon mayonnaise and encircled by crisp fried oysters. More humble versions turned up in neighborhood brew houses and lunch counters across the city.
Similar dishes appeared in New York, Baltimore, and Boston, and some historians believe that Philadelphia’s influential Black catering families helped popularize the combination. What is certain is that chicken salad and oysters were served at an organizing meeting of Philadelphia’s Union League in 1862.
The combo’s popularity has ebbed in recent years, and its primary home is now Oyster House near Rittenhouse Square, whose family ownership dates back nearly 80 years.
Crazy Richard’s Peanut Butter
Crazy Richard’s Peanut Butter, founded in 1972, is still available on grocery shelves.Michael Klein / Staff
Life was all Skippy and Jif in the early 1970s when a Philadelphia music teacher decided to grind peanuts in his kitchen because he couldn’t find peanut butter that tasted the way he remembered.
Richard Marcus was a conductor, pianist, radio host, and founder of the Society Hill School of Music & Art. Frustrated by the sweetened, homogenized spreads that dominated grocery shelves, he bought five pounds of peanuts at Reading Terminal Market, roasted them, and blitzed them in his blender. The result was nothing more than peanuts — no sugar, salt, or oils.
Friends loved it. By 1972, they convinced him to package it. Marcus produced an initial run of about 144 jars, selling them through Philadelphia delis and health-food stores. He called it Crazy Richard’s, his wink to skeptics who thought he was nuts for marketing a peanut butter that separated naturally and required stirring.
Word of mouth did the rest. Marcus eventually gave up his music school to run the business full time, first contracting production in Conshohocken before opening plants in Pennsauken and later Bellmawr. At its peak under his ownership, Crazy Richard’s sold about 750,000 jars a year throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast and by mail. Marcus insisted that there was no secret recipe: “It’s just ground peanuts.”
In 1991, Ohio’s Krema Nut Co. bought Crazy Richard’s and kept Marcus’ one-ingredient recipe intact. Today, 12 years after his death, the brand is sold nationwide. The “Crazy Richard” on the label is still the Philadelphia musician who proved that sometimes the simplest ideas stick.
Fishtown Iced Tea
Canned Fishtown Iced Tea is poured by Interstate Drafthouse co-owner Mike McCloskey into a custom-made ceramic carton.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Long Island has its iced tea. Why shouldn’t Fishtown? Created in 2013 at Interstate Drafthouse on Palmer Street, Fishtown Iced Tea spikes a 16-ounce carton of Arctic Splash iced tea with a shot of Jim Beam bourbon, turning a childhood lunchbox staple into an adult version of the sugary, dangerously smooth cocktail. Its roots are distinctly regional. Besides milk, Lehigh Valley Dairy, Wawa, Swiss Farms, and Turkey Hill also sold iced tea in pint cartons that generations of Philadelphians grew up drinking.
During the pandemic, when Pennsylvania temporarily allowed to-go cocktails, Interstate sold enough Fishtown Iced Tea to keep the bar afloat. In 2022, the popularity inspired a canned version from Rectified Spirits, made with vodka, rum, tequila, and triple sec instead of bourbon.
In a twist, the ready-to-drink cocktail debuted just as Lehigh Valley discontinued Arctic Splash cartons, ending an era for the drink that inspired it.
Edamame dumplings from Buddakan
The edamame dumplings at Buddakan.Tim Tai / Staff Photographer
One of Buddakan’s signature dishes is the edamame dumpling, filled with mashed soybeans and served in a truffled Sauternes-shallot broth. Michael Schulson, then chef de cuisine at Stephen Starr’s Old City destination, came up with the idea in 2000 while developing the menu for Starr’s next project, Pod, whose opening in University City was six months away. “Every dish I made, Stephen would say, ‘We’re putting this on the menu at Buddakan,’” Schulson said. “I’d say, ‘What about Pod?’”
The original version was an edamame ravioli, featuring a yellow pasta wrapper in a caramelized Sauternes-shallot broth, transforming what was then an unfamiliar ingredient to many American diners — young Japanese soybeans — into one of Buddakan’s signature dishes. (It made it onto Pod’s menu, too.) When Buddakan New York opened in 2006 with Schulson leading the kitchen, the ravioli evolved into the translucent har gow-style dumpling that has since become its best-known form, before it later arrived on the menu in Philadelphia. It’s still a bestseller.
After leaving Starr, Schulson adapted the concept at his restaurant Sampan, serving edamame dumplings in a caramelized shallot and sake broth, and later at Double Knot with truffles.
Cheesesteak egg rolls
The cheesesteak egg roll from Continental Mid-town.Courtesy of Starr Restaurants
Stuff steak and cheese into an egg-roll wrapper, deep-fry it, and you’ve got one of Philadelphia’s signature mashups: the cheesesteak egg roll.
They’re everywhere now, from neighborhood pubs to white-tablecloth steakhouses, and go by “spring rolls” at some places, but their rise can be traced to two nearly simultaneous Philadelphia stories in the mid-1990s.
One unfolded at the old Four Seasons Hotel on the Parkway. Former chef David Jansen said that after preparing a banquet for the New York Rangers in 1994 or 1995, prep cook Mui Lim put leftover cheesesteak filling into spring roll wrappers and fried them as a snack for the kitchen crew. They went on the menu soon after at the hotel’s Swann Lounge. Today’s Four Seasons Philadelphia, now at the Comcast Technology Center, serves wagyu cheesesteak spring rolls with sweet-and-spicy pepper relish.
The other story played out in Old City, where the novelty became a menu staple at the Starr-owned Continental. In 1996, Starr hired Sam “Chef Sammy D” DeMarco to develop dishes for the year-old restaurant. DeMarco already served a Philly cheesesteak dumpling at First, his New York restaurant, but Starr wanted something original.
DeMarco turned the dumpling into a cheesesteak spring roll. “It was taking a classic, nostalgic American snack and presenting it in a fresh way,” said DeMarco, now executive chef at Bungalows Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Like the old Buzz Aldrin cocktail, the roll became a classic. Starr said Continental Mid-town, near Rittenhouse Square, now sells 500 a week.
From the Continental, the idea spread rapidly. Davio’s owner Steve DiFillippo was joining staff for a preshift meal at his former Center City Philadelphia location shortly after it opened in 1999 when chef David Boyle served cheesesteak egg rolls that his wife had made at home. DiFillippo insisted that they be added to the bar menu, overruling managers who felt that they were too déclassé for a posh steakhouse. The Boston-based Davio’s turned the line into a frozen-food item, selling millions through supermarkets and QVC until rising beef prices during the pandemic made them impractical, DiFillippo said. They’re still on the restaurant menus in King of Prussia and elsewhere.
Though DiFillippo copyrighted the name “Philly Cheese Steak Spring Rolls” in 2002, “I’m not going to claim I invented anything,” he said. “But I was the first one to take them into stores and really commercialize them.”
🍦 Stella’s Ice Cream out of Idaho (yes, Idaho) just opened on Front Street in Fishtown/Kensington, and Bea has the early scoop.
🍦 Winners, rocking a feel-good message, is new on South Street in Graduate Hospital. As Kiki Aranita says, Winners’ appeal is more than just the flavors, like Sweet Success S’mores.
🍦Our guide to our favorite ice cream is right here.
Critic Craig LaBan is back from his annual Jersey Shore exploration, and he’s shaking the sand out of his notebook. In Part One of his roundup, he heads to the mainland to find some gems. Read that here.
Looking ahead: Part Two, Craig’s reviews from Long Beach Island and thereabouts, will be online this weekend. On July 11, he’ll share his discoveries from points farther south in Part Three.
Ember & Ash on East Passyunk Avenue will be closed for an undetermined period after smoke and flames shot up through the ventilation last week just after closing time. No injuries were reported.
This weekend will see the debut of Broad Street Beer Garden at LOVE Park, the first phase of a planning reuse of the so-called flying saucer building at 16th and JFK. Here’s the long history of the city landmark.
We munched on fried silverfish that reminded us of French fries in Little Saigon, Argentine empanadas in West Philly, and a vegan po’ boy in Old City that tasted like the original.
Scoops
Intrigue! Albert Zheng, whose holdings include Javelin in Fairmount, is backing a yet-to be-named dual concept on the way to 808 Chestnut St., formerly a Dunkin’ Donuts. In front, the feature will be wagyu omakase, while the rear will be what he calls a Cambodian speakeasy. He says it’s six or seven months out.
Mylar Bar, a cocktail bar inspired by the spirit of South Philly’s Dino’s Party Center, is expected to open later this summer from hospitality veterans Liv Arterbridge and Gina Piccari. They bought the former building at Ninth and Morris Streets where Dino’s sold balloons, decorations, and party supplies for decades before it moved across the street. “We want the whole thing to feel like a party,” Arterbridge said. “Nostalgic, fun, a little silly, intentionally unserious — but not a theme bar,” Piccari said. Cocktails will include martinis, punches, and classic drinks, alongside draft beer and familiar favorites. A full kitchen, led by chef Colin White, formerly of Sally and Emmett, will serve shareable “party snacks” and larger plates. They plan to offer late-night desserts, so food will be available until 1 a.m. with the bar wrapping at 2. Arterbridge, whose resume includes Cry Baby, Poison Heart, and a.bar, met Piccari while working at Boot & Saddle, where Piccari was manager. Piccari is now behind the bar at Le Virtù.
Restaurant report
Sixteen restaurants, bakeries, cafes, and bars — including Lillian’s, shown above — are opening in July. Read on for the rundown.
Penny’s Bagels, on its way (for the last two years) to 212 Kings Highway East in Haddonfield, will hand out 250 red, white, and blue bagels on July 3 at the borough’s parade. The shop is eyeing an August opening, says owner Chris Fetfatzes.
Maru, a fast-casual Korean-inspired restaurant from David Backhus and the team behind the now-closed Oori, is expected to open in August in what is now Collective Coffee & Bakery, which Backhus also owns, at 2922 Conestoga Rd. in Glenmoore. Maru’s menu will feature Korean fried chicken sandwiches, wings, tenders, house-made mochi doughnuts, and specialty coffee, while continuing to serve Collective Coffee and honor existing coffee subscriptions.
Briefly noted
Ota-Ya in Newtown has announced that Friday will be its last day after 30 years with the retirement of owners Jeff Wong and Cindy Tam.
PETA is launching its “Nice Cream Trail,” highlighting 10 shops across the state serving vegan ice cream, and there are five local spots on the list: Dreams Ice Cream Factory in Glenside, Lu & Aug’s in Ardmore, the Main Freeze in Lansdale, Milk Jawn in South Philadelphia and Northern Liberties, and Scoop DeVille in Center City and Queen Village. The first Pennsylvania resident to complete the trail by visiting all 10 participating shops through August will win a vegan ice cream party with PETA’s “iScream” truck for themselves and up to 50 guests. Details are here.
Two local BBQ chefs, Matt Groark (Medford Lakes, N.J.) and Maxwell McGibbon (Newark, Del.), are competing on Food Networks’ Pitmasters, premiering July 13 at 9 p.m.
Diner en Blanc registration is still open. This year’s version of the pop-up picnic is Aug. 20.
Miller’s Ale House, in the shopping center next to the Home Depot in Springfield, Delaware County, closed this week after 13 years, while Fishtown is abuzz with speculation that Bottle Bar East, which opened at 1308 Frankford Ave. around the same time in late 2012, has closed. The phone is down, and owners could not be reached for comment
When is Adda ever going to open in Fishtown? — Rich C.
True, Adda has been a long time coming, since I initially wrote about it in June 2025 with an end-of-2025 target. Adda — from New York City’s Unapologetic Foods, whose establishments are acclaimed for their bold, no-holds-barred approach to Indian cooking — is now looking at a late-fall opening at 1700 Frankford Ave., the new building across from the Fishtown post office.
Corrigendum: Reader Stephanie points out that Kalaya is the third Philadelphia restaurant, not the second, to win the James Beard Award for outstanding restaurant, as I wrote two weeks ago. Zahav was the first in 2019, while Friday Saturday Sunday won in 2023.
📮 Have a question about food in Philly? Email your questions to me at mklein@inquirer.com for a chance to be featured in my newsletter.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
The Philadelphia area restaurant boom continues into the summer, with newcomers including a neighborhood cocktail bar, bakery/cafes, a suburban brewpub, a $2 million pizzeria, a vegan cafe, a destination dining room, and a fusion sandwich shop.
Chicken roulade with fava beans, gnocchi, and cauliflower at Academy Grill in Fort Washington.Michael Klein / Staff
Academy Grill(424 S. Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington): Fine Line Dining’s next project, an Italian-inspired, white-tablecloth restaurant, will serve seafood, steaks, and pastas in the former Cantina Feliz space near Germantown Academy (hence the name). Chef Jeff Power, formerly of Dettera in Ambler, is leading the kitchen. Owners Mike Sloane and Jay Rosenthal, who also own the casual Fort nearby and Jasper’s Backyard in Conshohocken, plan to open July 7 for dinner, July 9 for lunch, and then operate Tuesday to Saturday for dinner.
Banjara Indian Bistro (689 Berlin-Cross Keys Rd., Sicklerville): Vaneet Chopra, whose family owns Cross Culture in Haddonfield and previously operated Banjara in Chestnut Hill, is behind this Indian restaurant due to open soon in the strip center that also houses Gouldsburger’s, the Breakfast Nook, and Saladworks. Owners told 42Freeway that it was awaiting final inspections.
Bar Cicci is due to open in late July at 1620 Sansom St.Courtesy of Bar Cicci
Bar Cicci (1620 Sansom St.): Ellen Yin and High Street Hospitality Group are behind this Italian cafe-bar next to Uchi near Rittenhouse Square. Pronounced “chee-chee,” it is positioned as an all-day salon for espresso, pastries, panini, cicchetti, wine, and aperitivi. It’s due to open later this month.
Bart’s Bagels’ first shop opened in 2020 in the Powelton section of West Philadelphia.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Bluebird Distilling & Dough House is a $2.2 million expansion and renovation of the popular Phoenixville destination.Ed Newton
Bluebird Distilling & Dough House(100 Bridge St., Phoenixville): Bluebird’s $2.2 million expansion, Dough House, arrives July 7. It’s a neo-Neapolitan pizzeria and restaurant inside its downtown Phoenixville distillery, and adds an expanded cocktail bar, a 50-seat dining room, a chef’s counter, and an enlarged retail shop. Executive chef Devon Migeot, formerly of Zahav, Laser Wolf, Rosalie, and Tresini will serve naturally fermented pizzas, house-baked breads, and shareable small plates alongside the distillery’s cocktails.
Cheezy Vegan by Chef Reeky (1216 S. 17th St.): Now in soft-opening mode at 17th and Manton Streets in Point Breeze, this plant-based concept from Tarik “Chef Reeky” Ryant and Erin Mignogna-Dougherty (previously in Woodlyn, Delaware County) serves a full menu — breakfast, lunch, appetizers, coffee drinks, milkshakes, and smoothies — from a counter, with coffee beans roasted on-site. A sidewalk cafe is planned.
The pica pica sandwich at Chibanos, which comes with picadillo, Swiss cheese, mayo, and crispy taro sticks.Aya Iwatan
Chibanos(1127 Pine St.): Opening today at 8 a.m., this casual sandwich shop in Effie’s former Washington Square West building is an ode to owner Evan Jaroff’s multicultural upbringing, blending Chinese and Cuban flavors for a tight fusion menu. Breakfast sandwiches are made on Dodo Bakery bolo baos, there are pressed sandwiches like the pica pica (picadillo, swiss, mayo, crispy taro sticks) and mima frita (Chinese sausage croquetas, Swiss, mayo, cabbage, mojo vinagrette), plus salads, sides, and a robust drink list that offers both colada and black milk tea.
Comedian Meg Goetz entertains at a preview of Claude’s Comedy Club & Bar, 1123 S. Broad St.Reid Benditt
Claude’s Comedy Club & Bar (1123 S. Broad St.): Reid Benditt’s intimate South Philly venue for stand-up, in its opening days, sits alongside a bar serving cocktails, beer, and casual fare from 4 p.m. daily. He’s positioning this as an affordable alternative to larger comedy clubs, with modest ticket prices, no two-drink minimum, and a mix of touring performers and local comics.
Dublin Brewing Co., Brendan FitzGerald’s Irish pub, in Downingtown.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Dublin Brewing Co. (137 Wallace Ave., Downingtown): Irish-born homebrewer Brendan FitzGerald’s decade-in-the-making brewpub is designed as an authentic Irish pub, with an Irish dry stout, Irish red ale, IPAs, pale ale, Pennsylvania wine and spirits, and bar food. FitzGerald built the pub himself while continuing his day job, borrowing design cues from pubs in Howth and Dublin’s Temple Bar. It’s open for special events (check Instagram) while FitzGerald awaits final permitting.
Home Team Tavern (267 S. Black Horse Pike, Mount Ephraim): The short-lived Mount Ephraim Bar & Grill has been flipped into a compact, sports-minded neighborhood tavern from Greg Carta, who previously managed North Bowl and South Bowl in Philadelphia. He told 42Freeway that he’s aiming for an early July opening with a menu built around tavern pizzas, burgers, starters, and other game-day food.
Lillian’s, 1900 S. 19th St., during a preview on June 25, 2026.Michael Klein / Staff
Lillian’s Bar (1900 S. 19th St.): This week, Point Breeze got a cozy neighborhood cocktail bar at 19th and Mifflin Streets with an evolving kitchen concept from Sam Ahern, a former bar manager at Fabrika who also worked at Cicala at the Divine Lorraine and Fitler Club after hosting backyard supper clubs during the pandemic. Ahern has brought in chef Alejandro Martín Sánchez (Mesona) to set up the concise menu of Mediterranean-leaning bistro fare, including sandwiches, salads, tinned fish, charcuterie, and cheese boards with kitchen operations overseen by Isobella “Izzy” Ioffreda. Guest chefs will take over for weekend or monthlong runs. First will be Miled Filianos of Habibi Supper Club, whose six-course dinners and happy hours are scheduled for July 9-11, 17-18, and 23-25. Cocktail program is led by Fitler Club alum Avdo Babic. Opens at 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Luna at the Luxe (1705 N. American St.): Sarah Varisano expects to open her relocated Luna Cafe on Monday in the Luxe apartment complex in Old Kensington. The reboot keeps Luna’s familiar brunch, breakfast, and coffee-to-go identity, while adding a larger bar and beverage program, evening hours, and courtyard seating.
Bakery owner Saif Manna and his wife, Stefaniya Surikova, at their table at Headhouse Farmers Market.Michael Klein / Staff
Manna Bakery (110 W. Berks St.): Baker Saif Manna, shifting from pop-ups to a brick-and-mortar at the former Essen in Kensington, is looking for a late-month soft opening of his 50- to 60-seat bakery/cafe specializing in Levantine and Palestinian wares. It will initially open for daytime service, in addition to his farmer’s market stops. The menu expands to include individual manakish made in the style of Manna’s grandmother, rotating savory buns led by a chicken-sumac version, airy Palestinian-style brioche filled with seasonal fruit and creams, cookies, cakes, and gluten-free desserts such as a flourless chocolate cake and whipped rice pudding created in honor of Manna’s late father. The space also will host baking, cooking, coffee, and arts workshops with visiting chefs, bakers, artists, and baristas, and monthly supper clubs.
Bartender Euclides “Victor” Lopez behind the bar at Mixteca in New York City on June 4.Michael Klein / Staff
Mixteca (2113 E. York St): This agave-focused Mexican cocktail bar from New York’s Jeff Bell and Euclides “Victor” Lopez is taking over the former Martha in East Kensington. The Philly location, expected later in the month, marks the local debut for Mixteca and Apres Cru Hospitality. The plan includes tequila, mezcal, Mexican drinking culture, indoor-outdoor seating, and a reworked layout with an expanded bar and lounge.
Philly Po Boy Co. (102 W. Berks St.): Brothers Chris and Greg Lynch are looking for late month for their New Orleans-inspired sandwich shop under the Berks El stop, with po’boys, gumbo, jambalaya, beignets, and coffee from Applied Arts Coffee in New Orleans. Chris spent years cooking in New Orleans, while Greg’s Philly resumé includes Starr Restaurants and LMNO.
Sandpiper Cafe (1640 South St.): This all-day breakfast-and-lunch spot is due to soft-open Thursday at 1640 South St. It’s the latest from Gunawan Raharjo, who owns the West Passyunk Indonesian gem Indo Spice (noted in our list of Philly’s 76 most influential restaurants). Sandpiper’s American menu, served from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, will expand upon the menu at Raharjo’s other restaurant, Cafe Olivier in Old City. At Sandpiper, Raharjo is partnered with Deddy Pornomo.
Stella’s Ice Cream (1832 N. Front St.): This Idaho-based chain of ice cream shops planted its first East Coast location on June 27 in Kensington/Fishtown on what reporter Beatrice Forman has dubbed Ice Cream Row, mere blocks from Sweet 45 and 1-900-ICECREAM. Franchisee Shay Marlin had no prior ties to Idaho or the ice cream biz, but was drawn to Stella’s inclusive and family-friendly vibe. The shop offers 24 flavors of ice cream — including eight nondairy options — plus gluten-free waffle and sugar cones, sandwiches made on hulking brownies baked in-house, and yogurt-peanut-butter popsicles for pups.
Thirsty Turtle Tavern(270 White Horse Pike, Barrington): Just days old, this Camden County taproom in the former Chuck Lager/Wild Wing Cafe building near I-295 is the brand’s second, after Whitehall, Pa., and 42Freeway says it features a refreshed dining room, open kitchen, wood-fired pizza oven, sushi station, and patio.
333 Belrose Bar & Grill (333 Belrose Lane, Radnor): A slow-moving top-to-bottom renovation will add a larger bar, expanded kitchen, redesigned dining rooms, upgraded private-event spaces, and refreshed outdoor dining to this Main Line landmark, whose new American menu is overseen by chef Ross Esner.
Staff writer Beatrice Forman contributed to this article.
More than six decades after it landed in LOVE Park, Philadelphia’s long-shuttered “flying saucer” building is preparing for its next mission. The first step begins Saturday — not inside the circular glass pavilion itself, but with a new outdoor beer garden surrounding it.
Broad Street Beer Garden at LOVE Park is the opening phase of a food-and-drink operation led by Broad Street Brewing, the Bucks County brewery selected by the Philadelphia Department of Parks & Recreation as its operator after years of fits and starts.
Saturday’s debut, on the final FIFA World Cup game in Philadelphia and amid the hoopla surrounding America250 festivities, will feature a beer garden with a limited food menu. Two Philadelphia companies, Rival Bros. Coffee and High Street Hospitality Group, will be involved as well. High Street, which operates Fork, a.kitchen, and the Bread Room, will assume a larger culinary role when the restored pavilion itself reopens in early 2027 as a year-round cafe, restaurant, and coffee bar. Its name has not yet been announced.
Broad Street Brewing’s partners (from left) Ed Webber, Tim Lohse, and Brandon Wellington with brewer Andrew Balmer.Courtesy of Broad Street Brewing
For the Parks & Recreation Department, the concession is about more than filling the building at 16th Street and JFK Boulevard. Revenue from the operation will be reinvested in LOVE Park and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, helping fund programming, maintenance, and improvements.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Katie Burns Kays, the department’s director of business and event development. “Our goal wasn’t just to find somebody to fill the space. We wanted a strong partner who would bring the kind of energy and story we want to be telling at LOVE Park, for both residents and visitors.”
Kays said officials hope the arrangement becomes “a sustainable funding model for our public spaces.”
Broad Street Brewing, which opened three years ago in Bristol, emerged from a field of applicants that included Four Corners Management, operator of Parks on Tap; Triple Bottom Brewing Co.; Tica’s Taco; Bower Penn, which operates Bower Cafe locations; and Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie, according to city documents.
The center in November 2001, just before the Independence Visitor Center opened at Sixth and Market Streets. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Kays said the city used what it calls a “best value” procurement process, weighing community engagement, operational experience, partnerships, and programming alongside revenue. Financial terms were not disclosed. The department’s standard concessions run for one year with up to four renewals, and Parks & Recreation plans to seek City Council approval this fall for a longer-term agreement to support the investment, Kays said.
“It’s exciting to feature three local businesses rather than a national chain,” Kays said. “We really want visitors to experience Philadelphia through Philadelphia businesses.”
For Broad Street co-owner Brandon Wellington, the project is also something of a homecoming. When Wellington lived at Broad and Race Streets, he first began brewing beer before setting the hobby aside for more than a decade. During the pandemic, he and longtime friends Ed Webber and Tim Lohse left their previous careers to launch Broad Street. Although the brewery established its production facility and taproom there, Wellington said the long-term goal was always to return to Philadelphia. He reached out to High Street partner Ellen Yin — whom he knew through his commercial kitchen-ventilation business — about partnering.
The opening phase will occupy the terrace surrounding the pavilion and about a third of the adjacent lawn, with about 250 seats divided among cafe tables, picnic tables, and Adirondack chairs. Wellington said the goal was to create a gathering place for commuters, office workers, tourists, and park visitors while bringing regular live music and community programming to LOVE Park. The initial beverage program will feature at least eight Broad Street beers on draft.
Broad Street Brewing expects to operate the outdoor beer garden through late October, serving beer alongside grab-and-go items such as smash burgers and maintaining a presence during Christmas Village as the permanent indoor build-out continues.
Once the historic pavilion can be outfitted with a commercial kitchen, the partners expect to open a year-round operation with about 100 indoor seats. High Street will oversee the food program, while Rival Bros. anchors the cafe. Wellington said they also envision rotating guest chefs and an automated tap wall pouring Broad Street beers alongside selections from breweries across Philadelphia. The indoor operation is expected to debut around March 2027.
“I just don’t want people to think this is simply a beer garden,” Wellington said. “While it’s being quarterbacked by a brewery, this will be Center City’s ultimate open-air hub — an oasis where local commuters, corporate professionals, and tourists can relax and connect.”
On Aug. 4, 1957, The Inquirer reported the plan for what become the flying saucer-like building. In those days, Ben Franklin Parkway extended through what is now JFK Plaza to City Hall.Newspapers.com
Long before it became known as Philadelphia’s “flying saucer,” the pavilion was conceived in the late 1950s as the Philadelphia Hospitality Center at what was then the corner of 16th Street and Pennsylvania Boulevard. News accounts placed the price tag at $150,000, exclusive of the land provided by the city.
Designed by Roy F. Larson of Harbeson, Hough, Livingston & Larson, the circular building opened in 1960 as a visitor information center for an era when families increasingly arrived by automobile. Its broad cantilevered roof and nearly continuous glass walls embodied the optimism of the Space Age and Philadelphia’s postwar redevelopment under city planner Edmund Bacon.
The pavilion predates both Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture and the boulevard that now borders it. When it opened, the roadway, which bisected the plaza, was called Pennsylvania Boulevard. Following President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, it was renamed John F. Kennedy Boulevard, giving the plaza the name by which it is now universally known.
Renamed the Fairmount Park Welcome Center shortly after opening, the building later served as park offices, a cafe, a concession stand, and exhibition space. After the Independence Visitor Center opened at Sixth and Market Streets in 2001, however, it gradually lost its original purpose and sat vacant for years.
Its future appeared uncertain during LOVE Park’s 2016-18 reconstruction. Although some questioned whether the aging structure should be demolished, preservation advocates successfully argued that it was among Philadelphia’s finest surviving examples of midcentury modern civic architecture. The city instead invested about $5.6 million to restore the pavilion, replacing its roof, mechanical systems, and custom-curved glass while preserving its distinctive appearance. It was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 2025.
Last year, the city broadened its search, seeking a cafe, taproom, or other community-oriented food-and-beverage concept instead of a traditional restaurant. More than 50 prospective operators responded.
Kays said the city deliberately slowed the process to avoid repeating earlier missteps.
“The city has tried this before, and the business was not set up for success,” she said. “We wanted to be much more intentional this time.”
Daniel Martino didn’t set out to build an empire of pie shops. He just wanted somewhere to get coffee without leaving the neighborhood.
When he bought his home in Port Richmond in 2013, the closest coffee shop was an hour round trip, he said. “Selfishly, I thought, I can put a little coffee shop here.”
The takeout window at Little Susie’s flagship location at 2532 E. Lehigh Ave.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
And what goes better with a cup of coffee than pie? He had a recipe he’d been baking for family get-togethers.
Seven years after Martino opened Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie in the building next door to his house, his modest idea has grown into four Philadelphia locations, with a fifth expected to open Friday at the former Pop’s Bun Shop in Bella Vista, a franchise headed to Milwaukee, and plans for additional shops in Fairmount and Northern Liberties. All his stores run from takeout windows, requiring little more than coffee stations and electric ovens.
Today, the company employs 28 people and turns out about 1,200 pies a day from a bakery occupying two cramped rooms in the corner rowhouse on Lehigh Avenue.
Owner Daniel Martino with trays of pies at Little Susie’s.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Martino, 46, who grew up in Northeast Philadelphia, has spent much of his working life around food. As a teenager, he worked at a swim club snack bar before taking a kitchen job at what is now Jefferson Torresdale Hospital.
After studying film at Temple University, he joined Public House Investments, which ran City Tap House, as a DJ before becoming the hospitality company’s creative director, designing menus, logos, ads, and marketing material.
When the property next door to his house became available, Martino said he used a home-equity line of credit to buy it before securing a Small Business Administration loan to renovate it.
The takeout window at Little Susie’s. Hand-lettered signs advertise the specials.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
By the time Little Susie’s opened in December 2019, he said, “I had maxed out every credit card I had. I even had to go to the bank, hat in hand, and sign a signature loan for the last $10,000 just to get it open.”
His shop offered a simple menu, little more than coffees and lattes and four kinds of pies. There was a counter for seating. The first day brought in about $180, and “it was the greatest day of my life,” Martino said.
Then the pandemic arrived. When COVID-19 restrictions shut down indoor dining, Little Susie’s shifted to window service. Customers called in orders, paid over the phone, and picked up coffee and pies outside. Even after restrictions were lifted, the shop never reopened indoors.
It wasn’t what Martino had imagined. His idea was ”Cheers with coffee — the neighbors and the mailman talking about the weather,” he said.
Instead, customers embraced the walk-up model and the seating at a picnic table beneath a maple tree. The pies especially quickly caught on. The signature is the crust. Rather than trimming away the excess dough, workers twist it around each pie by hand, creating what Martino calls “a fluffiness that the fork doesn’t provide — that flaky tenderness you want in a pie crust. The twist is its own special treat in and of itself.”
Owner Daniel Martino (rear, right) with staff and pies at Little Susie’s, set up in a rowhouse.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
The pies, which are baked and not fried, are made with a simple crust of flour, butter, sugar, and salt. It’s a 48-hour process. Dough is mixed at the company’s Kensington location, where a 20-quart mixer runs nearly all day. The dough rests for 24 hours before it is brought to Port Richmond, where it is sheeted, filled, twisted, frozen, and delivered to the other stores to be baked to order.
Little Susie’s first menu included only blueberry, pork roll, apple, and mushroom Swiss fillings. Today, it offers about a dozen varieties, with eight available year-round and others rotating seasonally. “You can practically throw anything in this pie crust,” Martino said. “I haven’t been disappointed yet.”
Pies at Little Susie’s.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Pork roll remains the top seller, followed by apple, and a sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast pie encrusted with everything bagel seasoning. Seasonal flavors have included ham and Brie, chocolate-covered strawberry, and Cajun crab and corn. None are gluten-free because of the shop’s limitations, he said.
Not every idea works. “We tried to make a cannoli pie, but the cream just melted right out,” he said.
Each shop sells 200 to 300 pies a day. The production kitchen now employs 11 bakers, who track production on a whiteboard nicknamed “the Pieble.” Each variety get its own knife mark on top; an inverted V, for example, denotes mushroom Swiss.
The “Pieble” at Little Susie’s, the flagship pie takeout place located at 2532 E. Lehigh Ave., in Philadelphia, June 24, 2026.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Lena Hurchick, who has worked at Little Susie’s for three years, said she enjoys “the competition of filling all the shops” and watching customers eat pies she helped make.
“Susie” was the name of the dog that belonged to the former owner of the building. “When we had the community meeting here, I said, ‘I’m thinking Little Susie’s,’ and people started crying,” he said.
Lena Hurchick crimps mushroom pies at Little Susie’s.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Expansion has brought complications. A planned Fairmount location was nearly ready to open before the city determined that the property required zoning approval for food sales. “The city does not make it easy,” he said, adding that it will take months to get onto the zoning board’s calendar.
Even so, he expects the company to keep growing. He has a handshake deal for a spot in Northern Liberties. Milwaukee is planned as the first franchise — operated by a friend — while Martino has begun thinking about a larger bakery in Philadelphia.
“We’re basically bursting at the seams,” he said. “We’re probably going to need a 10,000-square-foot facility.”
Owner Daniel Martino at Little Susie’s.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
He wants that growth to remain slow enough that the pies are still made fresh every day. “I don’t want to get too far away from making them every day, because then it just becomes some frozen-food empire,” he said.
Little Susie’s Coffee & Pies’ locations are at 2532 E. Lehigh Ave. in Port Richmond, Second and Chestnut Streets in Old City, 1772 N. Front St. in Kensington, and 1754 S. Chadwick St. in Point Breeze. A fifth, at 800 S. Ninth St. in Bella Vista, is due to open Friday. Hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily.
Ember & Ash restaurant on East Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia is closed indefinitely after a late-night fire Wednesday sent flames to the roof through its ventilation system, its owners said.
No injuries were reported. Owner Lulu Calhoun said she, her husband and chef-partner Scott Calhoun, and another chef, John Forkin, were leaving for the evening through the kitchen door about 10:20 p.m. when they heard a loud sound from above.
Firefighters positioning a ladder outside of Ember & Ash, 1520 E. Passyunk Ave., on June 24, 2026.Lulu Calhoun
“We didn’t know what it was,” she said. “We thought maybe like a helicopter or a jet.”
Scott Calhoun looked up to see fire on the roof. He grabbed fire extinguishers and ran upstairs to try to put it out, she said.
The couple called 911, and firefighters arrived almost immediately. Ember & Ash is about two blocks from Ladder 11 at 12th and Reed Streets, a fire company that was restored in 2024 after having been shuttered for 15 years. “We’re just so grateful, because it could have been a much, much worse situation,” Lulu Calhoun said.
A charred portion of the ventilation system at Ember & Ash, 1520 E. Passyunk Ave., as seen June 25, 2026.Lulu Calhoun
Thursday morning, the full extent of the destruction was still being assessed, but she said the restaurant was facing professional cleanup for water throughout the building and repairs to the hood and roof. Fire damage was not apparent from the Passyunk Avenue sidewalk. The Philadelphia Fire Department said the fire was under control in about an hour and 20 minutes but had no information on its cause.
“That’s the part that’s the most heartbreaking,” she said. “It’s not only our livelihoods, but our entire team.”
She said the timeline for repairs was not yet known, adding that the duct work had been professionally cleaned recently as part of maintenance.
Ember & Ash, 1520 E. Passyunk Ave., on June 25, 2026.Lulu Calhoun
The hearth at Ember & Ash, a live-fire restaurant built around a custom wood-burning grill made by Grills by Demant, has been the center of the kitchen since the restaurant’s opening in late 2020.
Fires that travel through ventilation systems can sideline a restaurant for months because damage is not always immediately visible and insurance claims can drag on. Kampar in Bella Vista has been closed since a February 2025 fire and has not announced a reopening date. Black Sheep in Rittenhouse has been closed since a May 18 fire. Tequilas in Center City was shuttered for about two years after a 2023 fire, though owners spent some of that time creating a second restaurant, La Jefa, in its rear dining room.
Calhoun said Ember & Ash was contacting customers with bookings along with parties that had reserved private events in July and August.
Bolts of lightning from the ceiling, a Ferris wheel behind the bar for top-shelf pours, and the idea of a glamorous night out: Here’s a first look at the new Mr. Edison at the Bellevue.
But first:
😋 Have a fun food day. Take advantage of early-bird pricing right now on tickets to The Inquirer’s Food Fest.
Halal restaurants: Eight can’t-miss spots throughout the region.
Love and hot dogs:A restaurateur decamps to the Jersey Shore.
News: I have an exclusive preview of Known Associates (the cocktail bar from Forsythia chef Christopher Kearse, opening Friday). Read on for the first word of a luxe Korean restaurant on its way to Center City.
Jeffrey Chodorow has opened splashy restaurants all over the world. Here’s his latest, Mr. Edison, opening Thursday in his hometown. And it’s a dazzler.
Here’s some McGillin’s lore: If it’s McGillin’s Olde Ale House, why does the sign spell it “Old”? Pub historian Irene Levy Baker explains: It opened in 1860 as Bell in Hand, and the original wooden hand holding a bell still hangs inside. Founder “Pa” McGillin ran it until his death in 1901, when Catherine “Ma” McGillin took over. For the 50th anniversary in 1910, she renamed it McGillin’s Old Ale House — which regulars were calling it anyway (presumably because it was old even back then). The “e”was added in the 1990s for effect, but since the neon sign is a reproduction of the earlier version, it still reads “Old.”
Center City’s newest bar is The Monto (above), which opened Saturday at 226 Market St. in Old City under the stewardship of Fergus “Fergie” Carey and Jim McNamara. Alas, there’s a bit of drama unfolding. N.A. Poe of Poe’s Sandwich Joint, who was attached to the project to meld Philadelphia sandwich culture with Irish pub fare, has apparently bowed out. You’ll see they’ve opened up the old Mac’s Tavern by shifting the bar to the middle of the room. It’s open at noon daily.
The historic City Tavern, which closed six years ago, is back. Outside, anyway. It’s hosting a summertime pop-up in its garden, including food, drinks, historical interpreters, lawn games, and special events.
Hillary Bor, who co-owned Pumpkin BYOB in Graduate Hospital for two decades, has a new love and a new food business in Margate. Amy Rosenberg says Dock Dogs also has a stellar view.
Tacos al pastor at a little corner spot in Old City, a crispy bibingka waffle in the Fairmount area, and a soft-shell crab offered as a ritzy BLT in Rittenhouse were among The Inquirer Food team’s favorite bites last week.
Scoops
Arirang, an upscale Korean restaurant, is in the earliest stages of development at 1219 Locust St., in the former Papery of Philadelphia space next to Vedge in Washington Square West. Linda and Myung Kee Hwang, who own the Old Nelson delis around town as well as the building, are planning a traditional menu, as well as a liquor license to serve Korean spirits. “When we started looking at the Korean restaurant landscape in Center City, we realized there really wasn’t anywhere that, as Koreans ourselves, we would go for a truly authentic Korean meal,” Linda Hwang told me. “Everyone does Korean barbecue, and beyond the fact that it’s overdone, we simply didn’t want the grilling and smoke inside the building. The food will be very traditional. No fusion, no shortcuts.” The name is the folk song that is Korea’s unofficial anthem. There’s no timeline yet.
Take a first look inside Known Associates, the cocktail bar from chef Chris Kearse of Forsythia, opening Friday at the former Varga Bar in Washington Square West. Read on for the details.
Restaurant report
Il Gusto. Now open at 114 Chestnut St., Il Gusto brings a Southern Italian-leaning BYOB menu and white-tablecloth atmosphere to the Old City storefront that previously housed Karma.
Chef-owner Tony Krupa delivers big-portioned Italian American and Southern Italian standards and, he says, “nothing trendy”: grilled octopus with cannellini beans and artichokes, fried calamari, mussels, clams, and fried mozzarella, along with a full slate of pastas, and chicken, veal, and fish entrees such as salmon Livornese as well as barramundi with shrimp, capers, and cherry tomatoes over capellini (shown above). Entrees are in the $20s.
Il Gusto, 114 Chestnut St., 215-518-9092. Hours: noon-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, noon-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Briefly noted
Trattoria Totaro in Conshohocken reopens today, nearly three months after a fire.
The Buttery, the popular Main Line bakery/cafe, opened its third location last weekend in Bryn Mawr. There’s at least one more on the way, the owners told Denali Sagner.
Villa Nuova in Deptford will close soon after 26 years in business, as owner Peppe Scotto announced on Facebook.
Surfside has taken over the U.S. alcohol industry. But its founders told Erin McCarthy that the brand’s base is staying put in Philly.
Aneu Kitchen’s new location at Ardmore Farmers Market in Suburban Square will open at 8:30 a.m. Monday with comp samples of her YEU On-the-Go bites.
South Philly Barbacoa, James Beard-winning chef Cristina Martinez’s business, is now set up inside Triple Bottom on Spring Garden Street, writes Hira Qureshi. That means tacos, chips and guacamole, and sweet tamales on a permanent basis.
The H Mart in Cherry Hill has been expanded, and Hira offers a tour of the emporium, aisle by aisle.
Cult of Trees’ nonalcoholic spirits are packaged by hand in Kensington. Sande Friedman explains that at local bars, they’re already a hit.
❓Pop quiz
Wine writer Marnie Old believes that one country might be on its way to overtaking France as the pinot noir capital of the world. What is it?
Is Angelo’s Pizzeria ever going to open that new place in New Jersey? — Scott P.
Many of my articles are inspired by readers’ questions. Here’s a follow-up to a story I wrote last July, when Angelo’s owner Danny DiGiampietro said he was taking over the shuttered Di’Nics in West Collingswood Heights. Construction has just begun, and DiGiampietro believes that it will open in about two months. Meanwhile, Angelo’s is getting into the wholesale bread business out of its huge bakery in Conshohocken. Here is the update.
📮 Have a question about food in Philly? Email your questions to me at mklein@inquirer.com.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
Veteran restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow has spent decades in and around Philadelphia without ever opening a restaurant here.
That changes Thursday at the Bellevue, where the mind behind such destinations as China Grill and Asia de Cuba is opening Mr. Edison, a supper club-style restaurant and bar built around dinner, drinks, and live music.
Jeffrey Chodorow (left) with chef Matt Levin at Mr. Edison at the Bellevue.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Mr. Edison is also a throwback: a large, theatrical restaurant built as much for occasion as for dinner.
The room, in the former Polo Ralph Lauren store, announces itself immediately from the new Walnut Street entrance just west of Broad Street: a two-story space topped by a dense canopy of suspended Edison bulbs, clustered in branching formations that cast the dining room in a warm amber glow.
The ceiling seems to split open in places, allowing lightning bolt-like streaks of light through — all the work of Manuel Clavel of Spain’s Clavel Arquitectos. Behind the bar is a 12-foot-tall Ferris wheel, its dozen spokes each carrying a bottle of wine or spirits and turning the backbar into something like a stage set.
Caviar service at Mr. Edison.Courtesy of Mr. Edison
Building owner Dean Adler, who is investing millions in the Bellevue as part of its redevelopment, put the 160-seat restaurant’s price tag at $10 million. “I think I got my money’s worth,” he said Tuesday. Adler also plans to install a library bar off the Bellevue’s lobby on the Broad Street side, where the Palm was before its closing in 2020.
“I love history, so to take a genre — a 1940s-type environment — and bring it into 2026 has been really exciting,” said Chodorow, who of late has been shuttling between his Bucks County home and Miami Beach, where he opened China Grill Bar Harbour two weeks ago.
Mr. Edison — named for Thomas Edison, who helped bring electricity to the Bellevue in 1904 — is calibrated to the building’s long identity as a grand social address. It also carries a personal connection for Chodorow. In 1982, when he was a lawyer at Blank Rome, he rented the roof for his own Rio-themed engagement party to celebrate with his wife, Linda.
“This is not a tiny little neighborhood restaurant,” Chodorow said. “This is a place where you come to have a night.”
Bottles glow inside niches at Mr. Edison.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Chodorow built his reputation on restaurants that function as entertainment as much as dining. He rose in the business in the 1980s and ’90s with New York hotspots, such as Asia de Cuba, Kobe Club, and Red Square, and said he long avoided opening in the Philadelphia area because he wanted to keep work separate from family life.
With his children grown, that changed. At the Bellevue, Chodorow said, he saw an opportunity to build destination dining — a place where patrons might stop in for cocktails and snacks or settle in for dinner and stay long into the evening. The room is arranged to support both. A large bar runs along one wall; tables and banquettes wrap around in multiple zones and along a mezzanine; and a piano with an old-fashioned microphone sits on a platform to one side.
Chef Matt Levin at the stove at Mr. Edison.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
“We’re trying to create an experience,” he said. “Not just a restaurant.”
To run the kitchen, Chodorow recruited chef Matt Levin to come back downtown. Levin, who made his name at Lacroix at the Rittenhouse and later at Adsum in Queen Village, has spent much of the last decade in catering, consulting, and Bucks County restaurants. Chodorow found him at Pineville Tavern in central Bucks County, where Levin had been consulting and where owner Andrew Abruzzese is an old friend and neighbor.
Mr. Edison is more interested in reworking the classics than experimentation. Levin and Chodorow drew on dishes from Philadelphia landmarks, including the crab galette from Le Bec-Fin, where Levin worked for several years, the Milan salad from Jimmy’s Milan, and duck with orange sauce from La Panetière.
Edison bulbs provide the lighting at Mr. Edison.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Levin said the menu is a way of tapping into Philadelphia’s dining memory. “I think Philadelphia has a lot of shared history,” he said. “I think people will remember bits and pieces and say, ‘Oh, I remember that — let me try it.’”
The challenge, Levin said, was to build a menu flexible enough to support several kinds of nights at once. “You want to be able to have people come in and just have a drink and a couple of things,” he said, “but also have the people who are coming in to really have dinner.”
Jeffrey Chodorow in front of the bar and Ferris wheel at Mr. Edison.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Chodorow said average tabs would be $100 to $110 per person for a dinner experience. He said roughly 25 dishes can work as a grazing menu, alongside larger-format entrees, raw-bar offerings, seafood, and steaks. Levin also brought over a foie gras tartlet with cherries and pistachio, adapted from a dish he served at Moonlight.
The beverage program leans into the Edison theme with cocktails named for his inventions, including Patent Pending and Filament No. 6.
Filament No. 6 at Mr. Edison.Courtesy of Mr. Edison
For Chodorow, the point of Mr. Edison is straightforward: “I wanted something that felt special,” he said.
“I wanted people to walk in and say, ‘Wow.’”
Mr. Edison opens Thursday at the Bellevue, Broad and Walnut Streets. Hours are 4:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 4:30 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The bar will remain open later.
When chef Christopher Kearse was planning Forsythia, the French restaurant he opened in Old City in 2019, he had two ideas that could not fit into the same room.
One was Forsythia. The other opens in Washington Square West on Friday, seven years later.
Phoebe Schuh of PS & Daughters (left) with owners Lauren and Christopher Kearse toast on a banquette at Known Associates.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
It’s a 40-seat cocktail bar called Known Associates, taking over the corner space at 10th and Spruce Streets that previously housed Varga Bar. The concept is built around cocktails and a compact food menu rather than full dinner service, though the fare is substantial.
For Kearse, the opening is another chapter in a career that began far from cocktail bars and French dining rooms. He grew up in Levittown, one of eight children, and learned to cook while recovering from a serious car crash at 16 that left him with severe facial injuries. During that long recovery, he cooked for his parents and siblings. He later worked in some of the country’s most exacting kitchens — Charlie Trotter’s and Alinea in Chicago, and the French Laundry in California — before returning to the Philadelphia area to become sous chef at Lacroix and Blackfish, followed by 2½ years as chef de cuisine at Pumpkin. In 2012, at 28, he opened Will BYOB on East Passyunk Avenue, closing it to move uptown to open the French restaurant Forsythia in the former Capofitto space in Old City. Forsythia earned a Michelin recommendation last year.
The tile floor is one of the few elements saved from Known Associates’ previous incarnation, Varga Bar. Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
Known Associates is not intended to be an extension of Forsythia. Kearse and his wife, Lauren, who is also an owner, said the concept came into focus during their honeymoon trip through Europe, traveling by train from Zurich to Florence and spending time in smaller bars and cafés in places like Lake Como and Milan.
Lauren Kearse said one nearly empty bar in Como became the image they kept returning to: quiet, low-key, hospitable, and free of the sort of self-conscious “experience” building that now attaches itself to so many cocktail bars.
The bar at Known Associates, chef Chris Kearse’s new cocktail bar on 10th and Spruce streets, on Tuesday, June 16, 2026.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
That idea is reflected in the room itself, which was rebuilt almost entirely. Phoebe Schuh of PS & Daughters, who also designed Forsythia, said the black-and-white tile floors were among the few elements retained from Varga, an unassuming gastropub with serious beer chops that closed after the unexpected death of owner Rich Colli in February 2025.
The Varga Bar murals painted on the ceiling — the “Varga girls” that were part of the bar’s identity for years — were salvaged and may be auctioned, with proceeds going to a fund in Colli’s memory, Schuh said.
Crudite with potato puffs and caramelized sour cream and onion dip at Known Associates.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
The finished room is emphatically café lounge, not neighborhood drinking den. Floral wallpaper wraps the walls. Patterned banquettes line marble-topped tables. Mustard velvet chairs sit beneath wall sconces, with checkerboard flooring underfoot and a red-and-white striped canopy treatment stretched overhead. The overall effect is layered and slightly theatrical.
Schuh said her working relationship with Kearse is built on familiarity. “Chris and I just kind of speak the same language because we’re both artists,” she said. “We’re not that great at talking about our work, but we’re great at producing our work.”
The location — within blocks of Jefferson, Wills Eye, and Pennsylvania Hospitals — also helped shape the project. Lauren Kearse said they envisioned a room that could work for after-work drinks and dinner-adjacent snacking as much as destination cocktail traffic.
That balance shows up on the food menu, which is limited to 10 savory dishes and two desserts. Kearse said the kitchen’s role is to support the bar rather than turn it into another restaurant. Still, the menu is more ambitious than standard bar snacks and has some of Forsythia’s cheffy feel.
Cool ranch peas at Known Associates.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
The burger that is a signature at Forsythia appears at Known Associates as burger au poivre, topped with Comté, cut in half, and served cut-side down in a pool of peppercorn reduction ($20). Char siu duck legs ($22) come on a pretzel milk bun with fish sauce and pickles. There’s also a chicken club ($23) with green goddess dressing and Benton’s bacon.
Lighter dishes include black-eye pea falafel with muhammara and green-scallion hummus ($15); hamachi toast with hard-boiled egg and piri piri ($22); pomme frites with Comté cheese foam ($10); and freeze-dried cool ranch peas meant for snacking with drinks. Seasonal crudité ($12) comes with potato puffs and a caramelized sour cream and onion dip. Desserts ($12) are limited to two: toasted rice milk ice cream with sesame and peanut brittle, and triple chocolate mousse with dulce de leche and toasted hazelnut.
The kitchen is led by chef Brandon Brokenbough, formerly of Enswell and Scarpetta.
Chefs Christopher Kearse (left) and Brandon Brokenbough at Known Associates.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
Beverage director Chris Harrop’s cocktails are built around prep work and technique. The TNT ($18) — tomato and tonic — uses clarified tomato water made from tomato, red bell pepper, shallot, fennel, and cucumber. The solids left behind after clarification are dehydrated and served as chips alongside the drink. Harrop said the same clarified base can also be used as a zero-proof savory soda.
The Bittered in Bond ($20), a Boulevardier variation, is made with a house mezcal amaro, Bonal Gentiane, Cappelletti Aperitivo, Licor 43, and salt. It is bottled in a small flask with a batch number and bottling date and poured tableside, a nod to bottled-in-bond whiskey labeling.
Between Harvest ($19), meanwhile, is a Martinez variation with Hayman’s Old Tom gin, Luxardo Maraschino liqueur, Nardini Rabarbaro, and muddled cucumber. Harrop said the name came from a Forsythia customer’s observation that rhubarb and cucumber almost never overlap in season — one fading as the other begins. For summer, he said, the bar has a frozen zombie ($19) assembled to order, with the rum blend kept separate from the slush machine so each drink can still be measured and built fresh.
The name Known Associates carries a passing wink to spy movies — the Kearses are fans of Bond films — but Lauren Kearse said the bar is not built as a themed concept.
“We have no interest in doing that,” she said. “We wanted something punchy that had a little bit of mystery to it.”
Known Associates, 941 Spruce St., opens June 26 and will be open daily from 3 p.m. to midnight.
