HARRISBURG ― Pennsylvania’s Judicial Conduct Board on Thursday urged a judicial disciplinary court to permanently remove a Philadelphia judge from the bench, saying he had displayed a pattern of unethical and “boorish” behavior that culminated in an effort to influence a colleague’s decision in a criminal case last year.
Common Pleas Court Judge Scott DiClaudio showed “little respect for the court and little respect for the rules of the court,” said Elizabeth Hoffheins, deputy counsel for the Judicial Conduct Board.
DiClaudio had a history of disciplinary issues, she said, and he had not taken adequate responsibility for his actions.
“Anything less than removal would fall short of restoring the public’s trust,” Hoffheins said.
The board’s request came after two days of testimony before the Court of Judicial Discipline, which is expected to determine DiClaudio’s fate as a judge in the coming months.
DiClaudio acknowledged Thursday that his remarks to fellow Common Pleas Court Judge Zachary Shaffer were improper, but insisted it was a complete misunderstanding and was never meant to tilt the scale of justice.
“I wish I never said it. I regret ever saying it,” DiClaudio said of the comments to Shaffer. “I wasn’t thinking.”
Shaffer testified that he was on the bench in his courtroom on June 12, 2025, when DiClaudio’s personal assistant, Gary Silver, walked in and said DiClaudio wanted to see him.
Shaffer said he and his clerk, Nicole Vernaccio, had been in touch with DiClaudio that week about buying T-shirts from the cheesesteak shop owned by DiClaudio’s wife. They assumed the request was to go pick them up.
The exchange occurred in the robing room of DiClaudio’s former courtroom inside the city’s criminal courthouse. Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
The two walked to DiClaudio’s courtroom, then gathered in his robing room. They spoke for several minutes about various topics, he said, before DiClaudio asked Vernaccio to leave. Vernaccio also testified that she was asked to step out.
Shaffer said DiClaudio then pulled out a piece of lined paper with “Dwayne Jones, courtroom 905, and Monday’s date” written on it.
DiClaudio held it out at his side, he said, then looked at him and said, “OK?”
Shaffer said he was confused, and hesitantly said, “OK.”
He said DiClaudio ripped up the paper and threw it away.
As Shaffer started to leave, he said, DiClaudio told him: “‘You probably would have done the right thing anyway.’”
Shaffer said he was shocked and believed DiClaudio was suggesting he should give a favorable sentence to Jones, who was scheduled to appear before him in the coming days on charges of illegal gun possession connected to a fatal shooting.
Shaffer reported the conversation to his supervisors the next morning, and they referred the matter to the Judicial Conduct Board. He recused himself from Jones’ case.
The board charged DiClaudio with multiple ethical violations last September. He was later suspended without pay.
All of this came to be, DiClaudio said, after he attended the Roots Picnic in June 2025 — where he said he hung out backstage with Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill. In the common area, he said, Jones approached him and said he had a forthcoming sentencing before Shaffer.
DiClaudio said he didn’t know Jones, and told him only that his colleague was “a good judge who would do the right thing.” When Jones handed him his business card, he said, he put it in his wallet, not wanting to be rude.
DiClaudio denied that he later summoned Shaffer to his courtroom, despite an audio recording that showed that shortly before his assistant went to retrieve Shaffer, DiClaudio asked: “Is Judge Shaffer on the bench right now? Can you call down there and see if he’s still on the bench please?”
DiClaudio said he only asked about Shaffer because he had just addressed a case where a defense attorney Shaffer is dating did not appear in court. He said he wanted to ask Shaffer why she didn’t show. (The courtroom audio confirmed that DiClaudio addressed the woman’s case just before inquiring about Shaffer.)
He said he did not instruct Silver to visit Shaffer, and was surprised when the judge walked in.
Once inside the robing room, DiClaudio said, he, Shaffer, and the clerk discussed various topics. It was only as Shaffer went to leave, he said, that he picked up his phone and wallet holding Jones’ business card, and remembered the concert exchange.
He said he took out the card and told Shaffer: “I saw this guy at a concert. I told him you’re a good judge and you’d do the right thing.”
Then, he said, he tossed it into the trash.
“It was improper and wrong. There was no good reason to say that even though it wasn’t my intention to influence the case,” he said Thursday, adding: “I never wanted him to do anything with that statement other than to say thank you.”
The board had initially said that DiClaudio sought to sway the case because Jones was a friend of Meek Mill. Jones, in an interview last year, also said he was a friend of the artist’s.
DiClaudio, too, is close to Mill.
But Hoffheins did not introduce evidence of that during Thursday’s hearing. She said this week that the board still believed that to be true, but did not need to prove a motive in its case.
Common Pleas Court Judge Scott DiClaudio speaks with rapper Meek Mill on Facetime outside the Philadelphia courthouse on Sept. 16, 2025. DiClaudio, while on the call, approached the family of Tyree Musier, whose murder conviction was overturned, and said he thought they would appreciate Mill saying hello.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
“This remark was not simply a compliment, not simply an off-the-cuff remark,” she said. “It was calculated to occur three days prior to this man’s sentencing.”
DiClaudio was elected to Common Pleas Court in November 2015, and took the bench in January 2016. Before his suspension last year, he mostly heard cases filed by people seeking to have their murder convictions overturned.
He presided over many high-profile exonerations and wrongful-conviction cases, and approved the release or resentencing of dozens of people who had been serving life in prison.
DiClaudio was known for working long hours, moving cases efficiently, and thoroughly explaining his decisions to the families of victims and the defendants. But he was also unconventional in his at times brash communication style on the bench.
That was on display again Thursday. He often rambled in a stream of consciousness from the stand, breathlessly veering between accepting responsibility, disputing Shaffer’s testimony, and even relaying his colleague’s dating history. His attorneys, Samuel Stretton and George Bochetto, struggled to reel him in.
“Just stop,” Stretton interjected several times.
Hoffheins pointed to the display, as well as DiClaudio’s previous disciplinary record, as proof of a pattern of misconduct.
Before becoming a judge, DiClaudio was censured by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for “serial misconduct,” including violating legal ethics rules. Shortly after he took the bench in 2016, Hoffheins said, the Judicial Conduct Board sent him a private disciplinary letter for engaging in “boorish behavior” toward his court staff.
Then, in 2020, the Court of Judicial Discipline determined that he violated the code of conduct for judges when he failed to report debts on annual financial disclosure forms and repeatedly defied a judge’sorders to pay thousands of dollars in overdue bills to a Bala Cynwyd fitness club. He was suspended for two weeks, and placed on probation through 2026.
And last April, the Judicial Conduct Board accused him of using his position as a judge to promote his wife’s cheesesteak shop, eroding public trust in the judiciary, and abusing the prestige of the office for personal gain. DiClaudio has denied the allegations, and the case remains ongoing.
“What I am hearing, what I am feeling, is a persistent theme of your doing things and saying things … that are not wise,” said Judge Charles L. Becker, of the disciplinary panel.
Judge Carolyn Nichols called it “a painful trail of incidents.”
In a final plea, DiClaudio, 63, said if he returned to the bench, he would only work the few weeks necessary to secure his pension and lifetime health insurance to support his wife and two young children. Then he would retire, he said.
He teared up as he spoke of his children and defended his integrity and career.
“I talk a lot, but it’s my greatest strength and my greatest weakness,” he said. While he might be a “crazier judge,” he said, he’s “a judge who makes the right decisions.”
“That may be an explanation,” Becker said, “but, frankly, I’m not sure that’s a defense.”
Stretton, in his closing remarks, asked the panel for mercy.
“Yes he did something bad. And some of his conduct here can get a little rambunctious,” he said. “… But I see a great, decent judge. He’s done a lot of good in the community and on the bench. He’s well-respected.”
The tribunal will now weigh the matter, a process that could take months.
Mike Bowe, 76, of Audubon, Camden County, longtime local disc jockey and popular radio show host at WMGK, WPEN, WHAT and other stations, Army veteran, devoted Phillies fan, and proud son of Gloucester City, died Monday, Sept. 14, of complications from cancer at his home.
Mr. Bowe enjoyed music and socializing as a teen at Gloucester Catholic High School, and was skilled at chatting with people about their favorite songs and other interests. So he was a natural fit later as a radio show host and disc jockey for more than 40 years in studios and at remote appearances, dance parties, charitable fundraisers, and other events.
“I like to think I communicate with people,” he told the Courier-Post in 1987. “I think I can relate the same way to somebody whether he’s on Ninth Street in South Philly or at a bank in Center City.”
Fellow DJ Chris McCoy said. “He had something intangible. He made you feel like he knew you, and you knew him.”
Using what his fans and colleagues described as a “calming and smooth voice” and “velvet intonations,” Mr. Bowe hosted music shows at WMGK from 1977 through the early 2000s, at KISS 100 in the 1990s, and at WPEN and WHAT between 2000 and 2011. Colleagues called him “loyal, dedicated, witty” in online tributes, and praised his “down to earth and friendly style.”
They credited him with making WMGK’s Saturday Night ’70s show a hit in the mid-1990s. “He was the very foundation of that success,” McCoy said.
Listeners called him “truly a master of this craft,” “one of the best ever,” and “a memorable radio legend.” He worked after 2011 at other local stations and iRadioPhilly.com.
He teamed up with other popular DJs on morning, afternoon, and evening shifts, interviewed performers, took phone calls from listeners, and broadcast from Phillies games and charitable benefits. In 1989, he dressed up as George Washington to cross the Delaware River when the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge was finally reopened after repairs.
He liked to air remotely from his favorite clubs and pubs, and ride shuttle buses with listeners to concerts. He also worked DJ dance party gigs at nightclubs, holiday parades, and private events in Philadelphia and South Jersey.
Mr. Bowe appeared often in The Inquirer and Daily News, including in 1987 (above) and 1989 (below.)Newspapers.com
His favorite song was “Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got)” by his favorite group, the Four Tops. “He knew Philadelphia from A to Z,” McCoy said. “He brought a smile to your face.”
Mr. Bowe served three years in the Army, 11 months and 11 days in Vietnam in 1968-69, and earned several medals and service stars, and an achievement badge. Fellow DJ Sue Serio said online that she enjoyed annual Veterans Day lunches with Mr. Bowe, “a treasured tradition that we never took for granted.”
One day, a former WMGK colleague said online, Mr. Bowe took him to Mr. Bowe’s favorite three local landmarks: the Melrose Diner in South Philadelphia, Mel’s Italian restaurant in Bala Cynwyd, and the pool table at the VFW in Gloucester City.
“Mike was a gift to Gloucester City and to the Delaware Valley professionally and as a man,” longtime friend Patrick Healey said. Longtime friend F. Emmett Fitzpatrick III said: “He prized honesty of character above all else.”
Mr. Bowe, right above, was an avid Phillies fan. Below, he worked morning, afternoon, and evening shifts in the studio.F. Emmett Fitzpatrick III
Mr. Bowe’s niece, Debra Ann Leblang, said: “He lived the ultimate American dream.”
Michael Joseph Bowe was born Nov. 4, 1949, in Gloucester City. He graduated from Gloucester Catholic in 1967, studied broadcasting in Minnesota, and worked his way through the radio ranks in South Jersey and Philadelphia.
Mr. Bowe and his wife, Debbie, married in 1985. Where one of them went, family and friends all said, the other followed. F. Emmett Fitzpatrick III
Off the air, Mr. Bowe played softball and enjoyed visits to Atlantic City and Brigantine. He was a Sunday morning usher at St. Mary’s Catholic Church and belonged to the Townsend C. Young VFW post.
He used to take dates to Jim’s Pizzeria in Gloucester City, and he told The Inquirer in 1994 that he enjoyed the place’s acerbic camaraderie. “Gloucester’s always been like that,” he said. “People love it. It’s a sarcastic, get-under-your-skin kind of thing. You don’t even get to order your own food.”
His family said: “He was funny, quick-witted, sentimental, outspoken, and unforgettable. He carried his South Jersey roots with him wherever life took him.”
In addition to his niece, Mr. Bowe is survived by a sister, a brother, and other relatives. Two brothers died earlier.
Visitation with the family is to be from 8:45 to 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, at the McCann-Healey Funeral Home, 851 Monmouth St., Gloucester City, N.J. 08030. Funeral services are to be at 11 a.m. at Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 350 Province Line Rd., Wrightstown, N.J. 08562.
Sixty restaurants are on the slate for this fall in Philadelphia and its suburbs on both sides of the river, with cuisines that span the map: Vietnamese, Lebanese, Greek, Caribbean, Cajun-Creole, Palestinian, Mediterranean, and contemporary American cooking, along with bagel shops, bakeries, breakfast concepts, wine bars, and cocktail rooms.
Heavy Metal Sausage was ordered to stop serving dinner. Beatrice Forman says this may spell doom for the acclaimed South Philly butcher shop/restaurant.
The Michelin-starred Friday Saturday Sunday secured a $1.5 million state grant to expand into the rowhouse next door. Beatrice unpacked the process — and the reaction.
When does a tea shop require security guards? When it’s heytea —just one of a slew of hyped Chinese beverage chains hitting Philly. Kiki Aranita reports on the hottest thing going in Chinatown.
There was a lot of crunching going on as critic Craig LaBan tucked into the Vietnamese fried chicken platter at South Philly’s Phở Duyên — which he dubs “my No. 1 food deal for $15 in Philadelphia right now.”
Scoops
Edd’s & Flo’s Artisan Bakery Cafe plans to close its Lancaster operation on Sept. 20 in advance of a relocation to Fishtown next year. Meghan Young and Sebastian Schuck are still working on a lease, so the location is under wraps. Edd’s & Flo’s, which started in their hometown as Wish You Well Bakery in 2021, found its niche in croissants, savory pastries, and weekend brunch. This move will be a Philly comeback for Young, a Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College graduate who worked at Darling’s Cheesecake Cafe, Green Line Cafe, Barbuzzo, Suraya, John & Kira’s Chocolates, and One Shot Coffee. Young and Schuck rebranded in 2024 with a name that’s both a nod to life’s ebbs and flows and a tribute to Young’s childhood cats, named for the musical duo Flo & Eddie. Stay tuned.
You’ve seen the months of construction along Columbus Boulevard at Penn’s Landing for the park that will cap I-95 and link Old City to the Delaware River. The Delaware River Waterfront Corp. just applied for building permits for the Pavilion and Café (rendering above), which will be part of Penn’s Landing Park when it opens in 2029-2030 at Market Street. The project’s operator has not yet been identified.
Restaurant report
While chef-owner Liz Grothe of Scampi in Queen Village travels in Italy, chef RJ Smith of Ocho Supper Club will take over the restaurant for a five-course Afro-Caribbean tasting menu Sept. 18-21. The $130 menu includes curried oxtail, madai aguachile, plantain coco bread with crab, berbere-spiced duck breast, and turmeric tart. An optional Pennsylvania wine pairing is $50. Seatings are at 5 and 8 p.m., and à la carte dishes will be available on the patio. Reservations are on Resy and OpenTable. Smith is still leading his residency at the Rittenhouse Hotel; the space, which was Scarpetta, will become a steakhouse called Ruxton by next summer.
Old Original Nick’s Roast Beef sets up starting Thursday at Live! Casino & Hotel’s 10th Street Market, where it will follow South Philly Barbacoa’s residency. Besides roast beef, Nick’s will deal in roast turkey, roast pork, baked ham, broccoli rabe sandwiches, and long hot peppers. The pop-up will be open from 5 p.m. to midnight (or sellout) Thursday and Friday, noon to midnight Saturday, and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday, through the fall.
Briefly noted
The Big Dill will mark National Pickle Day with a nine-hour pickle festival Nov. 14 at Stateside Live! in South Philadelphia, closing its 2026 national tour there. More than 50 vendors will offer pickle-themed food and drinks, while 20 pickle brands serve unlimited samples of more than 100 varieties. Entertainment includes the World Pickle Eating Championship, brine-chugging, live music, DJs, games, and mechanical pickle rides. Organizers also hope to break a record by gathering more than 888 people dressed as pickles; the first 1,200 ticket buyers receive numbered costumes. The event runs from 1 to 9 p.m., with early entry at noon. Tickets go on sale Sept. 15 at bigdill.com/tour.
Mish Mish is launching Daydreamers, a quarterly series that will turn the East Passyunk restaurant over to chefs, makers, and other hospitality pros for one-night interpretations of their dream concepts. The first installment, with seatings at 5:30 and 8 p.m. Sunday, features sous chef Koby Epstein serving a six-course, late-summer tasting menu paired with Pray Tell Wines. Seatings, at 5:30 and 8 p.m., are $120 plus tax, tip, and drinks.
Kennett Square’s annual Mushroom Festival is set for Saturday and Sunday with foods and goods from 220-plus vendors, including Aimee Olexy’s Talula’s Table. Signature bite: The restaurant’s so-called “World Famous Riz-Mac,” which places mushroom risotto and mushroom mac and cheese side by side. Festival details are here.
Les Dames d’Escoffier Philadelphia’s Heritage Dinner is 4-7 p.m. Sunday at Glen Foerd, 5001 Grant Ave. More than two dozen chefs will participate, serving Sweet Amalia oysters, chicken mole, seared salmon, Vietnamese vegetable curry, beef tenderloin, and desserts honoring The Cake Bible author Rose Levy Beranbaum. Also honored are Canal House’s Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton and caterer Michele Leff. Tickets start at $200; a $300 ticket includes preferred seating and Beranbaum’s new memoir. Proceeds fund scholarships for women entering culinary and hospitality fields.
Bite for the Fight Food Festival returns for a seventh year from noon to 4 p.m. Sept. 19 at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks with tastings, cooking demos, and a silent auction benefiting the Fight On Makenna Foundation, which supports pediatric cancer patients and their families at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Featured chefs are Brian Duffy, Ariane Duarte, Kenneth McDuffie, and David Schorn. Tickets start at $120.
Top Chef winner Nick Elmi will prepare smoked ribs, whole chicken wings, pork shoulder, brisket, cornbread, baked beans, mac and cheese, apple crisp, and soft-serve for the KB Foundation’s fifth annual BBQ Experience, Sept. 24 at the Pump House in Bala Cynwyd. VIP service begins at 6 p.m. with lobster pies, fried chicken with caviar and white barbecue sauce, smoked foie gras mousse, and oyster fritters; general admission starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $175, or $250 for VIP. Proceeds support youth-mentoring programs.
Uchi in Rittenhouse will launch a fall collaboration series Sept. 24 with Kevin Yanaga of Yanaga Kappo Izakaya. He, Uchi head sushi chef Josephine Fry, and chef de cuisine Ford Sonnenberg will serve 10 courses starting at 6 and 8:30 p.m. Tickets: $175 at the sushi bar, $150 at tables, plus tax/tip; an optional sake pairing will be available. Additional dinners will follow in October and November.
Staff and friends of the recently shuttered Jose Pistola’s have organized a GoFundMe campaign for support (separate from an earlier one created by management).
❓Pop quiz
Name the $88 dish that Kiki Aranita checked out recently at a Philadelphia restaurant.
A) a tasting of New York strip steaks from Urban Farmer
Is ReAnimator Coffee really opening in Manayunk? — Jennie O.
ReAnimator, the Philly-bred coffee brand founded in 2010 by Mark Capriotti and Mark Corpus, has indeed committed to a Manayunk location at 4226 Main St., which was last an art gallery. Capriotti optimistically thinks opening is six months away. “We just opened in Mount Airy and it took us a year,” he said. “But we’re hoping we can learn from our experience.”
📮 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.
This fall’s restaurant openings reflect an industry hedging its bets: established operators expanding into the suburbs and repurposing familiar spaces, and newcomers pursuing narrowly drawn concepts built around omakase, caviar, Korean barbecue, cocktails, and live-fire cooking.
I count about five dozen restaurants in the region’s pipeline, with Italian concepts (no surprise), all-day service, and experience-driven dining recurring throughout the list. In addition to 60 restaurants opening between now and late December, two other restaurants are expanding: Lovat Square in Chestnut Hill is adding dinners and Palm Vintage across from City Hall is adding nighttime sushi service.
By comparison, last year’s fall roundup covered 53 restaurants. All of those opened except for three that are now a full year behind schedule: Adda in Fishtown is shooting for October, Ayat near Rittenhouse Square is aiming for November, and Brunch Bulls in Point Breeze is targeted for December. (Although this year has seen its share of closings, especially among longstanding restaurants, each of last fall’s restaurants is still open.)
Brand new and notable
Aogami (4343 Main St.): Underground sushi is coming to Manayunk as chef Tom LoMonte joins chef Moon Krapukthong to offer a 16-course omakase in a 20-seat BYOB setting beneath Krapukthong’s Yanako and neighboring Chabaa Thai Bistro, starting Sept. 25. LoMonte — a veteran of Zama, Izakaya by Yanaga, Pod, and Yanaga Kappo Izakaya — will lead the omakases at 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; reserved sushi-bar seatings will run Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays alongside hand rolls and à la carte service. LoMonte describes the atmosphere as energetic and less formal than typical omakase counters. Upstairs, Yanako will continue serving rolls, sushi platters, udon, tempura, and yakitori.
The Buttery (1099 Germantown Ave.): Malvern-based bakery and cafe the Buttery is preparing a Philadelphia location at Piazza Alta in Northern Liberties, near Scusi and Terra Grill. It recently opened a Bryn Mawr location and expanded its original Malvern operation into dinner service with Neapolitan pizza and shareable plates. An opening date has not yet been shared.
Nick & Nora’s Oyster Dive (560 Stokes Rd., Medford): Michael and Jeniphur Pasquarello (La Chinesca, Piccolina) are bringing a raw bar and American kitchen to a corner space with a large deck at Ironstone Village. The broader menu will include steak frites, burgers, fish, vegetables, and small plates, says Michael Pasquarello, who hopes to open in 60 to 90 days.
Chef Chaz Brown (left) is partnered with his brother Clifford Brown (center) and John Skeele in Rumblefish, 1700 N. Third St.Mike Prince
Rumblefish(1700 N. Third St.): Chef Chaz Brown is targeting November for this 900-square-foot, fast-casual Caribbean fish-fry restaurant at Third Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue. Brown — a Trinidadian American chef whose resumé includes Nobu, Le Bec-Fin, Fatty Crab, and television’s Top Chef — will focus on invasive species such as lionfish, snakehead, green crab, and Chesapeake Bay blue catfish when available. (The catfish turned heads at the recent Oxtail Exchange at Forman Arts Initiative.) Brown uses gluten-free corn flour with Trinidadian spice blends and serves the fish on po’boy-style rolls baked by Angelo’s Bakery in Conshohocken. The mostly takeout operation will have counter seating, a 25-seat covered patio, slaws, fries, sea-moss drinks, and Solo Kola Champagne.
Pennsylvania suburbs
Alessandro’s Enoteca (915 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr): Alex Fiorello’s third restaurant will bring a bar-focused Italian concept to the former Enoteca Tredici space in Bryn Mawr Village in mid-to-late October. Fiorello and culinary director Matt Arcomone, whose resumé includes Osteria, Vetri, and Palladino’s, are planning house-made pastas, wood-fired pizzas, live-fire cooking, and dry-aged meats. It’s intended to have a stronger evening and bar scene than Fiorello’s Wayne restaurants.
Bruzi (281 Montgomery Ave., Bala Cynwyd): Two couples with Calabrian roots plan to open this Southern Italian restaurant in the former Aldar Bistro in late fall. Expect house-made pastas and Calabrian dishes such as fusilli with slow-cooked meat sauce, baked lamb, and grilled tuna, plus cocktails and an opening list of about 100 Italian wines.
Capperini (137 S. Easton Rd., Glenside): Eastern Montco will get an upscale Italian-Mediterranean destination with a liquor license from Ilya Vorobey and partners including members of the team behind Capri in Queen Village. Vorobey is aiming for October or November.
Casa de Fehu, 482 Jacksonville Rd., Hatboro.Michael Klein / Staff
Casa de Fehu (482 Jacksonville Rd., Hatboro): Hatboro couple Anthony Shalamov and Anastasia De Roy are developing this polished restaurant with European-inspired cooking and an upscale atmosphere, possibly with a tie-in to a local brewery that would allow alcoholic drinks. Shalamov is targeting an October soft opening.
Cecilia (266 E. Fourth St., Bridgeport): The team behind Blue Bell Inn and the Copper Crow is just about ready to open this contemporary American bar-restaurant in the extensively renovated former Taphouse 23. The roomy property includes a large patio and a wood-burning oven. The menu emphasizes familiar American dishes, positioning this as an all-purpose neighborhood destination.
Donatelli’s (1 Washington Ave., Newtown): Restaurateur Habib Troudi, who owns Panache and Ristorante Castelloin Blue Bell, is behind a top-to-bottom overhaul of the former Rocco’s at the Brick in downtown Newtown. He said he is hoping to open the Italian steakhouse in October.
Rendering of the Garden by Pieri Winery, 127 E. Elm St., in Conshohocken.Courtesy of Christina Pieri
The Garden by Pieri Winery (127 E. Elm St., Conshohocken): Winery owner Christina Pieri and restaurateur Brian Pieri (StoneRose, Bar Lucca, Cerdo) are targeting a mid-October opening of their year-round indoor-outdoor restaurant beside the Schuylkill River Trail, an offshoot of Christina’s Coopersburg winery. A wood-fired kitchen will serve seasonal American food, including brick-oven pizzas, focaccia sandwiches, salads, steaks, and fish, at lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday. The property will include a covered patio, fire tables, a turf area, and pickleball and bocce courts.
The Hungry Hub (11 S. Orange St., Media): Media native Cassidy Moretti and her mother, Glenda, are taking over the former Rivalry Cafe with a family-run breakfast and lunch operation. The Hungry Hub also plans later hours and a late-night menu, broadening its role beyond that of a conventional daytime cafe. An Oct. 1 opening has been announced.
The Iron Oven (58 S. York Rd., Hatboro): Alex Nalbandian’s Southampton bar-restaurant — known for an expansive American menu, cocktails, craft beer, brunch, and dishes ranging from wings and burgers to flatbreads and entrees — is adding a second location in eastern Montco: the former Ross & Co. He’s aiming at November.
Lazy Dog(160 N. Gulph Rd., King of Prussia): The California-based bar, known for Rocky Mountain lodge imagery and a broad American menu, is targeting late 2026 at the King of Prussia Mall.
Luna (129 E. Butler Ave., Ambler): FineLine Hospitality, which recently opened Academy Grill in Fort Washington, is behind a stylish revamp of Dettera in downtown Ambler. Chef Marie Lavizzo-Mourey will base her menu on the 20-plus countries bordering the Mediterranean. The project is on track for fall.
Martini & Roz(523 W. Lancaster Ave., Wayne): Fearless Restaurants is turning Wayne’s former Bertucci’s into an ambitious, 300-seat Southern Italian restaurant named for founder Marty Grims’ parents, Martin and Roslyn. Menu will include crudo, oysters, steaks and chops, wood-fired pizzas, house-made pastas, and charcuterie. It will feature two open kitchens, a cheese cave, a tasting counter, and extensive outdoor seating.
Maru (2922 Conestoga Rd., Glenmoore): David Backhus and the team behind the former Oori restaurants are in the early days of a fast-casual Korean-inspired restaurant at their former Collective Coffee & Bakery. Think Korean fried chicken sandwiches, wings, and tenders, supplemented by mochi doughnuts and specialty Collective coffee.
Nudy’s Cafe (122 Park Ave., Willow Grove): Prolific suburban breakfast-and-lunch operator Ray Nudy hopes for late September for his latest diner, across from Marshalls in Willow Grove.
Old Friend (166 E. Lancaster Ave., Wayne): Childhood friends Larry Kagan and Chas McFeely are behind this contemporary American grill, with former Fork executive chef Sam Henzy leading the kitchen. The 86-seat restaurant will center on live-fire cooking in a Josper oven, with dry-aged fish, poultry, and larger proteins intended for sharing. Its compact wine list will be closely tied to the food. A late-fall opening is planned in the Apartments at Wayne Station.
Opus (201 Birch St., Kennett Square): Square Roots Collective will open this 125-seat New American restaurant Sept. 11 in the former temporary home of Hank’s Place, next to the Artelo hotel. Executive chef Matthew Anderson, formerly of Longwood Gardens and Winterthur, plans seasonal dishes, such as Kennett Square mushroom bisque, butternut squash agnolotti, herb gnocchi, and dayboat scallops. The two-story space includes a cocktail lounge, terraces, and work by local artists. Profits will support community projects and nonprofits.
Salt (840 W. Lancaster Ave., Devon): Rich Kim of North Wales’ acclaimed Salt predicts late December for his redevelopment of Devon’s former La Jonquille and Shiraz property into a second Korean barbecue concept, followed in 2027 by Yugo, a carousel sushi restaurant, upstairs.
The Still on State (18 W. State St., Doylestown): Only days open at the Doylestown Inn, this Irish pub-inspired bar/restaurant fills the former Hattery Stove & Still space; it’s paired with an on-site microdistillery called the Tilted Brim.
Taco Heart (120 Coulter Ave., Ardmore): Nano Wheedan is bringing his South Philadelphia breakfast-taco shop to the Ardmore Farmers Market, its first expansion beyond its East Passyunk-area home. Expect Austin-style flour tortillas and breakfast tacos built around eggs, potatoes, beans, bacon, brisket, and house salsas. Opening is set for Oct. 5.
Top Dog Cocktails (110 E. State St., Kennett Square, and 2012 Frankford Ave., Fishtown): Ken Smuckler’s cocktail company plans two vinyl listening rooms this fall inspired by Japanese jazz kissas. Kennett Square’s 750-square-foot space partners with local music venue Kennett Flash, while Fishtown’s 350-square-foot flagship — arguably the neighborhood’s smallest bar — will feature a 15-seat bar, two-turntable DJ station, and retail.
Tusk (50 N. Main St., Doylestown): Mike and Joy Grafenstine, owners of Roberts Block in Glenside and Bonnet Lane Family Restaurant in Abington, are taking over the former Water’s Edge wine bar, combining the martini-and-wine-bar airs of Roberts Block with approachable upscale American comfort food. Target is October.
Vintner’s Table (24 Cricket Ave., Ardmore): Andrea and Marco Folino, behind Kutztown’s Folino Estate Winery, are opening a third location of their Italian-inspired wine bar, salumeria, and lifestyle boutique in downtown Ardmore in October.
New Jersey suburbs
Akira 70 Omakase (249 Marlton Pike, Cherry Hill): Ming “Frank” Zheng is expanding his Japanese holdings — he owns Akira Sushi in Voorhees and Moorestown — with an omakase experience in a former fur salon.
Banjara Indian Bistro (687-689 Berlin-Cross Keys Rd., Sicklerville): Vaneet Chopra, whose family operates Cross Culture in Haddonfield and previously ran Banjara in Chestnut Hill, is bringing the Banjara name to Sicklerville; its dine-in starts Thursday.
Freckled Jawn Brewing(1003 N. Evergreen Ave., Woodbury): Woodbury residents John Wagner and Colleen Gibson are taking over the former Eight & Sand Beer Co., which closed in June after 10 years. Targeting the first week of October, the brewery will introduce new branding and a fresh lineup of approachable beers, emphasizing natural and locally sourced ingredients when possible.
Irishtown Steaks (155 S. Burlington St., Gloucester City): Donkey’s Placealumnus Dave Murphy is targeting Halloween for his steak shop, joining recent Gloucester City entries Lillo’s and Pudge’s Pub. Murphy will use rolls from Boaggio’s, which has a bakery in town.
Penny’s Bagels (212 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield): Chris Fetfatzes and the Happy Monday Hospitality Group (Wine Dive, Grace & Proper) are developing this long-delayed bagel shop in downtown Haddonfield, now with an October target.
Pizzeria Cusumano (872 Haddon Ave., Collingswood): Announced back in September 2021, this passion project from South Jersey’s Sal Cusumano is finally about to start offering his Roman-inspired squares and neo-New York rounds, but “I don’t want to box myself into a certain style.” Cusumano, a third-generation pizzaiolo, is planning a small shop with limited seating. This week, he said it will open in October for sure.
Philadelphia
Adda (1700 Frankford Ave.): New York’s Unapologetic Foods — behind Dhamaka, Semma, and the original Adda — is bringing its energetic Indian cooking to Fishtown, across from the 19125 post office. Expect regional dishes in an informal setting, continuing the restaurant group’s practice of pushing beyond familiar Indian American standards. Originally expected in fall 2025, the Philadelphia location is now targeting an October opening.
Ayat (2021 Sansom St.): Abdul Elenani’s New York-based Palestinian restaurant — first announced in spring 2024 — is looking at a November opening in the former Roxy Theater near Rittenhouse Square. Ayat is known for generous portions of mansaf, maklouba, mezze, grilled meats, and other homestyle Palestinian dishes.
The bar at Bar Caviar, 256 S. 16th St.Kenneth Schutz
Bar Caviar (256 S. 16th St.): Opening in early October in the Dwight D Hotel in Rittenhouse, this bar will pair caviar and seafood with 50 varieties of Champagne and a full wine program in a setting that’s more neighborhood than hushed luxury lounge. Executive chef Greg Vassos’ contemporary American menu, informed by classical French technique and Japanese precision, will feature raw-bar selections, caviar-focused dishes, and seasonal small plates. The restaurant also will operate Parallel, a caviar program emphasizing careful sourcing and extended maturation. In 2027, Vassos plans to follow with Fall Line, a Mid-Atlantic-focused tasting-menu restaurant.
Brunch Bulls (1638 W. Passyunk Ave.): Brothers Derrick “Dee” Long and Jarrick “Jakk” Long are behind this all-day brunch/dinner/dessert restaurant in Point Breeze. They say they’ll be open by December.
Call Your Mother (262 S. 19th St., 1500 Frankford Ave., 12th and Sansom Streets): The lively, Washington-based “Jew-ish” bagel chain is making a three-location push into Philadelphia, starting this week with its Fishtown debut. Menu includes bagel sandwiches, schmears, latkes, coffee, and deli-inspired specials.
Carolyn’s Modern Vietnamese (2015 Walnut St.): This week, chef Carolyn Nguyen opens her deeply personal successor to Revolution Taco, which she co-owned in the space for a decade. Her menu brings together her family’s Vietnamese cooking, the seafood boils and Southern food of her Louisiana childhood, French culinary technique, and the freewheeling flavor combinations that defined her earlier ventures. The 33-seat restaurant serves dinner, and alcohol, in a spare, contemporary dining room.
Corte (1175 Ludlow St.):Corio partners Ryan Mulholland, chef David Feola, and James Smith are taking over the former Mulherin’s Pizzeria at East Market, between Iron Hill Brewery and Mi Vida. Feola will lead a menu built around house-made pastas plus proteins, vegetables, and small plates cooked in the large Mugnaini wood-burning oven. Mulholland will oversee daily operations and oversee an Old World-leaning wine list and cocktails inspired partly by forgotten recipes from century-old books. The dark-wood, earth-toned restaurant is targeting a fall opening.
DiDi (3748 Lancaster Ave.): DanDan owners Kevin and Catherina “Cat” Huang say they are “within a month or two” of opening their fast-casual pan-Asian concept at the Triad apartment building in Powelton Village. DiDi will join Kabobeesh, Karak Cha House, Shibam Coffee, Two Locals Brewing, and other businesses in the growing complex at 38th and Lancaster.
Divers Club (733 S. Fourth St.): Queen Village is in line to get a neighborhood wine bar from Susan Freeman, Chris Fetfatzes, and Heather Annechiarico (Grace & Proper, Wine Dive) in a former hair salon that sits on the same stretch as Famous 4th Street, Southwark, Ambra, and Fitz on 4th. Fetfatzes describes the mood as “dark, scrappy, and European — somewhere between a Paris backstreet wine bar and a graffitied Berlin hangout.”
Eggcetera Haus (625 S. Sixth St.): Husband-and-wife team Rey Tamaka and Vina Kencana soon will turn the former Redcrest Kitchen into an all-day bar-restaurant. Tamaka, previously the chef at an Old City brunch restaurant, plans breakfast, lunch, and dinner, moving from specialty coffee and morning dishes into pastas, steaks, cocktails, and comfort food at night. The couple expects daily service, giving the Queen Village-Bella Vista border another full-day neighborhood option.
Field Day (923 N. Second St.): James Beard Award-winning bartender and author Danny Childs and his wife, Katie, have a fall opening targeted for their casual regional cocktail bar in Northern Liberties, next to Cescaphe Ballroom. Childs’ drinks will use locally farmed, foraged, and fermented ingredients. Executive chef Melissa McGrath, known for her work at the idled Sweet Amalia Market & Kitchen, will offer Pennsylvania Dutch-inspired snacks, sandwiches, and tomato pies. Highballs, house-made sodas, boozy gelati, and walk-in seating will help keep the mood informal.
Habibi Supper Club (1515 E. Passyunk Ave.): Miled Finianos is giving his itinerant Lebanese dinner series a permanent home on East Passyunk — possibly by the end of year — serving late breakfast and lunch before he offers ticketed, multicourse suppers.
HYO (1222 Walnut St.): Nightlife veteran Justin Jordan plans an October opening for this Korean tabletop barbecue restaurant behind Hearsay, his indoor-outdoor sidewalk bar and listening lounge. Guests will enter HYO through a phone booth inside Hearsay. The restaurant is part of Jordan’s multilevel entertainment complex, which also includes Celine and the forthcoming Chancellor Room event space and karaoke lounge.
Jean (161 W. Girard Ave.): Emmett chef Evan Snyder and partner Julian van der Tak are going upstairs with a 15-seat tasting menu restaurant opening this fall. Snyder and chef de cuisine Antonio Pizzo will prepare a 12-course menu centered on a 7-foot wood-burning hearth, drawing on Algeria, Tunisia, coastal Morocco, and the southern Mediterranean for culinary influences. A tagine will roast throughout dinner before being served family-style.
Kato (1832 Frankford Ave.): Mei Meichef-owner Jay Ho is taking over the former Izakaya Fishtown space for a restaurant inspired by his Taiwanese father and the food Ho grew up eating. Influences from Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese cooking will broaden the menu. Ho, who hopes to open in late fall, plans to retain the front bar while replacing the rear sushi counter with additional seating that can double as a private dining area.
Lovat Square(184 E. Evergreen Ave.): Former Four Seasons sommelier Damien Graef and journalist Robyn Semien opened this Chestnut Hill wine shop and tasting room in February, offering small-production bottles, wines by the glass, and light fare. The couple, who also own Brooklyn’s Bibber & Bell wine shop, will debut a full dinner menu by the end of September.
Macaluso’s (3101 S. 13th St.): Realtor Joel Gruenke and restaurateur Mark D’Andrea, long-ago roommates at Valley Forge Military Academy, are looking at an early October opening of this white-tablecloth Italian restaurant at 13th Street and Packer Avenue, near the sports complex. D’Andrea’s family owns RoadHouse in Staten Island, N.Y. Gruenke says the moderately priced menu will stick to traditional Italian cooking and offer a full bar. Parking will be available across the street.
Mylar Bar (1636-38 S. Ninth St.): Hospitality veterans Liv Arterbridge and Gina Piccari are turning the former Dino’s Party Center into a festive neighborhood bar inspired by the building’s history. They promise something nostalgic, playful, and deliberately unserious. Drinks will include martinis, punches, classics, and draft beer. Chef Colin White, formerly of Sally and Emmett, will oversee shareable “party snacks,” larger plates, and desserts available late.
Nippy’s on South (1312 South St.): Nurse and first-time restaurateur Nikia Peterson has purchased the former Ms. Tootsie’s building for an ambitious restaurant and bar. Peterson plans a polished setting with seafood towers, steaks, Asian and Caribbean influences, a substantial happy hour, and weekend brunch. The project will revive a prominent South Street property that had remained closed since restaurateur KeVen Parker’s death in 2021.
O’Morrey’s (1720 Sansom St.): Chefs Biff Gottehrer and Kenjiro Omori are developing a cocktail bar on the former site of Genji, the Japanese restaurant created by Omori’s father. The name is a cheeky rendering of the Omori family name. Plans call for a comfortable neighborhood bar in the spirit of the Ripplewood, where both chefs work, with cocktails and a serious food component. Their second joint project, Tako Taco, is months away at the former Bing Bing Dim Sum in South Philadelphia.
Palm Vintage (1414 S. Penn Square): Houston Yang and Mike Beja, who opened this day-to-night cafe and cocktail bar across from City Hall in the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, are close to expanding into a nighttime scene with cocktails, sushi, oysters, caviar, and light food in a lush, tropical-inspired room meant to offer an escape from Center City.
Panco (2300 S. Croskey St.): Chef Ryo Igarashi, whose background includes Tokio Global and Maru Global (noted for its takoyaki balls), is behind a corner shop in West Passyunk whose menu will focus on Japanese cutlets. He says it’s opening soon.
Philly Curio (2240 Frankford Ave.): Tattoo Arts Convention founder Troy Timpel is creating an intimate Kensington restaurant-bar around his private collection of curiosities (think tribal masks, skeletal displays, taxidermy, and glass-topped tables containing preserved animals). Inspired partly by Savannah’s Alligator Soul, Timpel has discussed a Cajun-Creole menu with small plates and unconventional proteins such as rattlesnake. Drinks are expected to include cocktails, wine, bottled beer, and limited drafts. Target is November.
Philly Po’Boy (102 W. Berks St.): Brothers Chris and Greg Lynch are bringing a taste of New Orleans to the storefront beneath the Berks station of the Market-Frankford Line. Chris spent years cooking in New Orleans, while Greg’s Philadelphia background includes Starr Restaurants and LMNO. Plans call for classic powdered-sugar-dusted beignets, gumbo, and a mix of classic and specialty po’boys like fried shrimp, oysters and roast beef “debris,” plus fries, Creole potato salad, and café au lait from coffee roasted by Applied Arts in New Orleans.
Santé Social(1546 E. Passyunk Ave.): Sommelier Daniel Solway is giving his roving dinner series a permanent home across from the Singing Fountain. The approximately 30-seat space will function less like a conventional restaurant than a flexible hospitality venue, hosting wine dinners, tastings, classes, collaborations, private events, and some walk-in service. Cocktails are being developed with Danny Childs of Slow Drinks and Field Day, while changing chefs and collaborators may shape the food programming.
Somedays Bakery (1601 Walnut St.): Hand-laminated croissants are the foundation of this Queens-rooted bakery, which deals in sandwiches, salads, soft serve, and coffee. It’s targeting the end of the month.
Thalassa (918 N. 28th St.): Matt Maltepes is looking at late October or early November for his Greek-inspired cafe in Fairmount that will serve baklava, croissants, and house-made ice cream in flavors that change weekly. Savory offerings will include small plates such as feta grilled cheese with honey, avocado toast, and bagels with cream cheese. The drinks menu will feature European-style coffee preparations, including frappes and Freddo espresso.
Looking ahead
Two major projects are now on the docket for January, as the owners don’t want to compete with the holiday-season madness:the Pelican Club, Stephen Starr’s flashy Greek-themed restaurant taking shape in the former Devon Seafood Grill on Rittenhouse Square, and the yet-to-be-named “punk French” restaurantthat chefs Justin Bogle and Arthur Cavaliere are creating at the former Winnie’s Manayunk.
The long-closed Mermaid Bar in Mount Airy will retain its name under the new ownership of pizzaiolo Dan Gutter and business partner Alex Carbonell of Circles & Squares and Pizza Plus. The project, announced earlier this year, is aiming at a summer 2027 rollout.
CyclistsAlvin Morris and Rick Young departed Philadelphia via Shawmont Avenue on the Schuylkill River Trail on Tuesday morning for a heart-pumping, 75-mile round trip ride.
On previous trips, they, like thousands of otherriders, had to stop at a gate where the trail abruptly ended near Pottstown and decide whether to risk traveling a busy alternate route.
No more.
Schuylkill River Trail organizers are celebrating the completion of a nearly one-mile connector in Montgomery County that gives cyclists a clear 70-mile path from Philly to Reading. The connector took about 10 years from planning to its Aug. 19 opening.
“I just found out about the connector Sunday,” Young said. “I love it. I told Al about it. We’re preparing for the [city-to-Shore] MS ride, so we need to get in some distance.”
The duo planned to continue on the Schuylkill River Trail for a few more miles past the connector before returning to Philly.
A Montgomery County Planning Commission map of the new Schuylkill River Trail connection between Industrial Highway and the Route 422 bridge near Pottstown. The 0.9-mile section of paved asphalt trail is now open, providing an unbroken path from South Philadelphia to Reading.Frank Kummer
‘A really, really big deal’
Elaine Paul Schaefer, executive director of the nonprofit Schuylkill River Greenways, says the connector is more than just a new trail segment.
“It’s a really, really big deal,” Schaefer said. “On many, many levels.”
Schaefer and others believe the unbroken 70-mile stretch could be a tipping point for cycling tourism because it is long enough for cyclists to plan trips that allow them to linger in towns for brews and food, or overnight stays, she said.
“At that point, the economic impact to towns along the way really exponentially increases,” she said.
Her group manages the Schuylkill RiverGreenways National Heritage Area,connecting people to the river and trail. Schuylkill RiverGreenways has its office in Pottstown, but manages 40 miles of the trail in Berks and Schuylkill Counties, raising money to help maintain it.
The new connector allows riders pedaling south from Chester County to ride parallel to Route 422 in Pottsgrove Township, Montgomery County, then loop under the busy highway and continue into Pottstown Borough.
“The trail now connects the population centers of Philadelphia to Montgomery County and Reading,” Schaefer said. “Soon, it will connect beyond that.”
Elaine Paul Schaefer, executive director of the nonprofit Schuylkill River Greenways, speaks with Sue Shellman, foreground, and her husband, Bill Shellman, in yellow, both of Skippack, at the new connector.Frank Kummer
A boost for Pottstown?
Schaefer believes the new connector will lure cyclists willing to stop and spend money in Pottstown, a former steel town whose sizable downtown contains restaurants, inns, and breweries. Pottstown’s Riverfront Park along the trail is already widely used.
Peggy Lee-Clark, executive director of the nonprofit Pottstown Area Economic Development Inc., said it is too early to judge the impact of the connector, but there is “excitement.”
“I think that always any connection for the trail is an economic boost,” she said.
Commuting workers also use the trail, Lee-Clark noted.
“The river is an important asset to us, as is the trail,” Lee-Clark said. “The connector is just one more thing that brings people to the area and exposes them to all of the other opportunities here in Pottstown.”
When complete, the Schuylkill River Trail will run about 120 miles from Fort Mifflin near Philadelphia International Airport to Frackville, Schuylkill County. About 80 miles of paved and crushed stone trail are currently open. A swing bridge connecting Grays Ferry to Bartram’s Gardenis nearing completion.
Jason Brudereck, of the nonprofit Schuylkill River Greenways, rides new the Schuylkill River Trail connector as it crosses from Chester County into Montgomery County.Frank Kummer
How the connector got built
Montgomery County is planning a formal ribbon-cutting on Sept. 29 for the connector, which is alreadypopular. On Tuesday, dozens of cyclists were riding at midday.
Scott France, executive director of the Montgomery County Planning Commission, said the county started trying to acquire rights-of-way to the land a decade ago.
“We are super excited this is open,” France said. “It’s been a long time in the works. This has had its share of challenges, but the fact is that we got there.”
The connector cost $1.28 million, France said. Most of it was paid for from a $550,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and a $542,000 grant from the William Penn Foundation. The county funded the balance.
Although the connector is less than a mile, it was a challenge, France said.
This is the sign cyclists and pedestrians once had to stop at before the connector was finished.Frank Kummer
The county had to build around a state-owned bridge, work with Peco and Verizon to move utilities, and obtain permits to build in a flood zone. Additionally, crews had to stop work during the breeding season of the northern red-bellied turtle,a threatened species common in the area.
Bill Hartman, trails and open space planning manager for the commission, said the connector serves another key role.
“It provides full access to a number of other trails,” Hartman said, including the Cross County and Perkiomen Trails.
Further, Montgomery County Commissioner Neil Makhija noted that the connector and Schuylkill River Trail are also part of the much wider Circuit Trails network, a planned 850 miles of interconnected trails in the Philadelphia region, including South Jersey.
Makhija said he plans to celebrate his 40th birthday on Sept. 13 by riding the inaugural Tour de Montco, a 40-mile ride from Pottstown to Bala Cynwyd.
The new trail segment, Makhija said is, “not just a trail in the woods — it’s a connection, bringing us closer to Philly and Reading and connecting the two.”
Sue Shellman, foreground, and her husband, Bill Shellman, in yellow, both of Skippack, ride from Chester County onto the new Schuylkill River Trail connector into Montgomery County.Frank Kummer
Since the beginning of 2025, nearly a dozen bagel shops have opened or leased space in Philadelphia and its suburbs, bringing new locations from local operators as well as fast-growing out-of-town brands that see the region as fertile ground for expansion.
Jacob and Alexandra Cohen, owners of Kismet Bagels, at their location on Girard Avenue in Fishtown in 2024.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Kismet Bagels has opened its fourth and fifth shops, in Manayunk and Collingswood. Bart’s Bagels, which has shops in West Philadelphia and Bella Vista, recently expanded to the founders’ hometown of Bala Cynwyd. PopUp Bagels, the Connecticut-born chain that built a following on social media, made its local debut in Ardmore this spring and has signed a lease for a Rittenhouse shop as part of a larger regional expansion.
And Washington, D.C.-based Call Your Mother is preparing three soon-to-open Philadelphia locations — in Fishtown (due first), Rittenhouse, and Washington Square West — committing to all three before serving its first Philadelphia bagel.
Call Your Mother bagel sandwich shops have a subtropical feel.Courtesy of Call Your Mother
That tally doesn’t include all of the stores that could follow. Florida-based Jeff’s Bagel Run has announced a 10-unit development agreement for Eastern and South Central Pennsylvania, while PopUp franchisee Brian Harrington is scouting additional territory in the Philadelphia suburbs.
All this raises an obvious question: How many bagels can Philadelphia eat?
Plenty, apparently — at least for now.
Jacob Cohen, who started Kismet six years ago with his wife, Alexandra, said the company has seen sales increase even as new bagel shops have entered the market. “I don’t think they’re just dividing the same customer base, because we’ve already had new shops open in Philadelphia and we haven’t seen a decrease in sales,” Cohen said.
But Cohen, who rapidly expanded Kismet before putting thebrakes on growth earlier this year, also sees a limit. “More is not always better,” he said. “I obviously don’t have a crystal ball, but I have a feeling that some of these private-equity bagel companies coming are going to learn that the hard way.”
Bagels are having a moment
Philadelphia is part of a much broader bagel boom. The U.S. bagel market generated an estimated $3.17 billion in revenue in 2025 and is projected to reach $4.51 billion by 2033, according to Grand View Research, a market-research firm. That represents annual growth of about 4.6%. Worldwide, the firm values the bagel market at $5.8 billion in 2025 and projects it will reach $8.6 billion by 2033.
Customers lining up for the grand opening of PopUp Bagels in Ardmore in March.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Mike Kostyo, vice president of Menu Matters, a Vermont-based food-industry consulting firm, sees the current surge as the convergence of several trends rather than the sudden discovery of a new food. Artisan baked goods have been rising in popularity for years, he said, after the pandemic produced a generation of home bakers and pop-ups experimenting with sourdough and bagels. At the same time, café culture and the rise of the “little treat” have made consumers more willing to spend on premium versions of everyday foods.
“At its core, the bagel has always been a blank canvas for lots of flavors and toppings,” Kostyo said. “But now, instead of sesame seeds, you see them topped with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.”
The traditional formula — bagels by the dozen, cream cheese, lox, and coffee — also has evolved into something closer to a breakfast-and-lunch fast-casual restaurant.
The Ramen Thing bagel sandwich from Cleo Bagels in West Philadelphia.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Bagels become vehicles for egg sandwiches, smoked salmon, avocado, specialty cream cheeses, and elaborate combinations that can command substantially more than a plain bagel and schmear. And operators increasingly are looking beyond breakfast.
“The sandwich factor is so important,” Kostyo said. “You need something that you can sell across multiple occasions, not just to commuters in the morning.”
That versatility helps explain why investors have noticed.
“Investors are always looking for that next category that could blow up,” Kostyo said. “They want Call Your Mother or PopUp Bagels to be the next 7 Brew or Dutch Bros.”
From pandemic project to expansion vehicle
Some of the brands now expanding grew directly out of the pandemic.
The Cohens started Kismet as a pandemic project before turning it into a brick-and-mortar business and eventually growing to five locations — down from seven after the company shuttered a stand at Reading Terminal Market in 2025 and closed a shop in Ventnor earlier this year.
Jacob Cohen of Kismet Bagels holds an everything bagel.MONICA HERNDON / Staff Photographer
PopUp followed a similar trajectory. Founder Adam Goldberg began baking bagels at home during the pandemic and developed the idea into a business built around an unusually stripped-down concept: hot bagels and schmears, rather than the sprawling sandwich menus associated with many modern bagel shops.
Customers are encouraged to “grip, rip, and dip,” tearing apart the bagels and dipping them into containers of cream cheese.
The company’s first Philadelphia-area shop opened in the spring in Suburban Square in Ardmore. Harrington, the franchisee developing PopUp in this region, said sales have remained strong even through the summer.
“We anticipated a little bit of pullback with a lot of our core [teen] clientele getting jobs in Avalon and down the Shore, and with vacations and things like that,” Harrington said. “But it’s been very, very steady.”
In more than 25 years in the restaurant business, Harrington said, he has typically seen sales soften in late June, July, and early August. “We’ve not seen that,” he said.
PopUp has signed for the former Starbucks at 1709 Chestnut St. in Rittenhouse, as reported by the Philadelphia Business Journal. Harrington said he has a deal for a location in Lawrence Township, N.J., near Princeton, that is awaiting its permits. Another South Jersey deal is close, he said, and he sees additional potential in Montgomery County.
Despite the influx of bagel shops, Harrington said he believes PopUp occupies a somewhat different niche.
“We’re not making sandwiches,” he said. “So far, people have found us and enjoyed the way that we do it, and it doesn’t preclude them from going and getting a bacon, egg, and cheese somewhere else.”
Three stores before the first bagel
Call Your Mother is making an even larger initial bet on Philadelphia. Founded in Washington in 2018 by Andrew Dana and his wife, chef Daniela Moreira, the self-described “Jew-ish” deli has expanded beyond the Washington area as New York investment firm Invus acquired a majority stake in the company in January 2025.
Call Your Mother has signed three Philadelphia leases: 1500 Frankford Ave. in Fishtown, the former Metropolitan Bakery at 262 S. 19th St. near Rittenhouse Square, and 12th and Sansom Streets in Washington Square West. Dana said the decision to enter Philadelphia was considerably less scientific than the three-store commitment might suggest.
“My mom grew up there, my grandparents lived there, and I’ve been there so much visiting my friends,” Dana said. “I’ve been in Fishtown on a Sunday when it’s popping, and I’ve been in Rittenhouse Square when it’s super-crowded on the weekend and the market’s going. A lot of it is just gut and feel.”
Dana does not believe Philadelphia lacks good bagels. On a recent trip, he tried Bart’s and came away impressed.
“I think a lot of people are doing a great product in Philadelphia,” he said, “but there’s always room for a different bagel shop. At least I hope so.”
Dana also rejects the idea that taking investment inevitably leads to runaway growth or declining quality.
He described Invus as “patient capital” and said the investment agreement carries no requirement that Call Your Mother open a prescribed number of stores.
“We’re going to do what we can do while still keeping the quality of the food and the service top-notch,” Dana said. “And if that ever slips, we have the ability to hit the pause button.”
Local operators dig in
For some Philadelphia bagel operators, however, the arrival of heavily financed brands is cause for skepticism.
Cohen, at Kismet, is particularly wary.
“I think it’s the rare exception when private equity marries itself to a food brand and they continue to do good things,” he said. “I’d like to keep private equity out of bagels.”
He stressed that Kismet remains owned solely by him and Alexandra, financed through bank loans rather than outside investors.
David Fine, owner of Schmear Bagel Parlor, is also watching the expansion. Fine entered the business in 2013 with his Schmear It food truck and has since acquired the shops owned by Philly Bagels, giving the company eight locations in Philadelphia.
David Fine of Schmear with his son.Courtesy of David Fine
Fine said those stores have not appeared to steal business from one another.
He thinks part of the bagel’s appeal is almost mundane: It is familiar, relatively accessible, portable, and infinitely customizable.
“They’re comfort food at their very core, and they can really appeal to such a wide variety of customers,” he said.
He is less certain about the economics behind the rapid expansion of some competitors.
“The buildouts are expensive,” Fine said. “You have to be quite profitable for quite some time just to recoup that investment.”
Schmear is expanding, too, Fine said, renovating its original brick-and-mortar location at 36th and Market Streets. But he believes that being local gives the company an advantage as more national and regional shops arrive.
“There’s a keen allegiance to local brands,” Fine said.
Built for the feed
Bagels also have another quality particularly suited to the moment: They look good on a phone.
Kostyo points to the now-familiar image of a bagel sandwich sliced in half and held toward the camera, its fillings and schmear exposed.
“The visual factor is also so important in today’s social media age,” he said. “That picture … is the type of indulgent food that people go out of their way for today.”
The lines themselves become part of the marketing. A crowd outside a shop signals that the food is worth leaving home for, he said, while arguments over the proper density, crust, schmear, toppings, and even whether a respectable bagel can be made outside New York keep the category in the conversation.
“In the end, it’s all advertising and marketing,” Kostyo said.
But social media enthusiasm is fickle — witness the rise and fall of cookies and cupcakes — and Kostyo sees the flood of investment and expansion as carrying the seeds of an eventual shakeout.
“This is a pretty classic bubble where some of these brands that are doing a great job and really resonate with people will survive, but a lot will overexpand and shut down in the next few years,” he said.
Cohen, meanwhile, has decided not to test Kismet’s limits.
After years of opening shops, Kismet entered 2026 determined to improve what it already has rather than add more locations. The company is focusing on consistency, profitability, new products, employees, and customers, he said.
He is happy to see Philadelphia’s bagel culture growing and says he does not regard every new shop as a competitor. Years ago, Cohen recalled, Inquirer restaurant critic Craig LaBan told him that Philadelphia did not have enough bagels per capita.
“We might be starting to get there now,” Cohen said.
An unusually visible collection of Philadelphia-area restaurant institutions is reaching a turning point at the same time — with some closing for good and others seeking buyers as a generation of longtime owners reaches retirement age.
At Kelly’s Seafood, the end is definite. The Northeast Philadelphia restaurant will close this month as its owners retire, ending a run spanning three generations of the Kelly family. So will Steve Stein’s Famous Deli, whose history in the Northeast also reaches back nearly 70 years.
Elsewhere, the outcomes are less certain.
Cherry Street Tavern has been around for a century at 22nd and Arch Streets.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
The Pub, the sprawling Pennsauken steakhouse known for its open hearth, medieval decor, and thousand-plus seats, is on the market. The restaurant, which dates to 1951, is not closing: It is on its customary summer break and is scheduled to reopen Sept. 18.
The owners of Cherry Street Tavern, the Logan Square bar that has operated for more than a century, are looking for a buyer after 50 years of stewardship by the Loughery family. The buildings that housed Mamma Maria’s, the East Passyunk Italian restaurant that opened in 1992, went up for sale this month. Aldar Bistro in Bala Cynwyd has been sold after 34 years and will give way to an Italian restaurant called Bruzi.
McGlinchey’s, the Center City dive that closed last year after nearly 90 years, is back on the market after a prospective buyer walked away from a deal for the building.
McGlinchey’s, at 259 S. 15th St., after its closing in August 2025.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
And the nearly 40-year-old Jake’s & Cooper’s Wine Bar in Manayunk is being marketed for sale as owner Bruce Cooper looks toward retirement.
Restaurants have always turned over, and the recent activity does not appear to reflect a restaurant market in retreat. The Inquirer counted 86 Philadelphia-area restaurant closings in 2025, while more than 100 new restaurants and bars were on the drawing board for 2026. What distinguishes many of the businesses now closing or being sold is their longevity: They survived for decades, weathering the pandemic and recent increases in food and labor costs, before their owners reached retirement.
‘The gray wave’
People in the restaurant, liquor, and real estate businesses say the turnover is part of a broader generational transition among small businesses as longtime owners reach retirement without children interested in taking over.
Jim Creed, handling Jake’s listing, calls it the “gray wave.”
“You’ve got operators who have been in business 40 or 50 years, and they don’t have heirs who want to take over the business,” said Creed, a senior vice president with CBRE.
His father, also Jim Creed, knows the issue from the other side. He opened Creed’s Seafood & Steaks in King of Prussia in 1982 and, at 78, has no immediate plans to sell. “I go to the restaurant every night,” he said. “It’s actually fun.” But when he does decide to close, he said, his children don’t want to take over.
For the counterexample, consider McGillin’s Olde Ale House in Center City. Open since 1860, it has survived through generations of owners; the Spaniak family has run it since 1958, with Chris Mullins Jr. now the third generation involved. There are no plans to sell. “It’s part of my DNA, part of our customers’ DNA, part of our staff’s DNA,” Mullins told The Inquirer this year.
Irene Levy Baker and Chris Mullins Jr. lead a toast at McGillin’s on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026 in Philadelphia. Attendees gathered for a book talk on “Cheers to McGillin’s: Philly’s Oldest Tavern” on Tuesday.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Ed Taraskus has watched generations of restaurant and bar owners come and go over 50 years of practicing liquor licensing law. He could not say whether the current number of sales and closings constitutes a statistical trend, but said the succession problem is familiar.
“The parents retire and the children don’t want to get into the business — because it’s a hard business,” he said.
Taraskus said the hours can be punishing for small family operators. His clients also complain about finding employees willing to work nights and weekends. Drinking habits have changed, he said, and some businesses are still feeling the effects of the pandemic.
Taraskus knows the succession question personally. His South Philadelphia family owned a small restaurant and tavern, but his father discouraged him from entering the business. When his parents retired in the 1960s, they sold.
Real estate on the line
Retirement can present a second question for operators who own their buildings: What, exactly, are they selling?
A restaurant may have value as a going business, but decades of appreciation can make the underlying real estate a substantial part of an owner’s nest egg. Sometimes the economics favor a different restaurant — or an entirely different use.
Douglas Green, a principal at commercial real estate brokerage MSC, said the value of restaurant real estate is closely tied to the sales a location can support and, consequently, the rent an operator can afford.
“The more volume they do, the more rent they can pay,” Green said.
That means a location can be worth more to another restaurateur if the existing operator is underperforming. And in some cases, Green said, a restaurant may no longer be the property’s most valuable use at all.
“At some point, perhaps the building becomes obsolete,” Green said. “Perhaps the highest and best use of the real estate is no longer a restaurant.”
Those possibilities are playing out among the region’s longtime establishments.
The Pub restaurant near the former Airport Circle in Pennsauken in 2024.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
At the Pub, the Gelman family is seeking a buyer for the restaurant and its roughly 6.3 acres on Kaighns Avenue near the former Airport Circle. The family has operated it since Marc Gelman bought it in 2000.
“I don’t think there’s one thing in general why we’re selling, but it’s time for a new steward — if you will — of the business, or the property,” Marc’s son David Gelman said.
At Cherry Street Tavern, at 22nd and Arch Streets, the Loughery family hopes to find a buyer who understands what generations of regulars value about the place.
McGlinchey’s illustrates the other possibility. Its nearly 5,000-square-foot property at 259 S. 15th St. is listed for $2.45 million, including the liquor license, bars, and McGlinchey’s name, as either a turnkey bar and restaurant or a redevelopment opportunity.
Decisions for buyers
Creed said longevity itself can tell a prospective buyer something about a restaurant property.
“Anytime you have operating longevity, that speaks to the real estate,” he said. “When you have a concept that has been in operation for 40 years, clearly the real estate has something to do with that, too.”
The retirement of one operator does not necessarily mean the end of restaurant use.
The former Mixto space is set to become the revival of South Philadelphia bar Toll Man Joe’s.Charles Fox / Staff Photographer
Mixto closed July 12 after nearly 24 years at 1141 Pine St. Within weeks, restaurateur Lori Penrose bought the property and announced plans to revive her former South Philadelphia sports bar, Toll Man Joe’s, there.
The exterior of Marra’s Restaurant on East Passyunk Avenue is due to become a branch of Dan Tsao’s burgeoning restaurant group. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
“There are pros and cons to both,” Tsao said of taking over an existing restaurant rather than starting with a new space. “But with an existing restaurant space, especially a legacy restaurant, it already has a place in the neighborhood, and a place in the memories and hearts of generations of customers.”
Such properties may also have much of the expensive infrastructure required to operate a restaurant.
But for Tsao, the attraction isn’t purely economic.
“I also like the idea of preserving some of that history,” he said, “while giving the space a new chapter.”
Would you go months without talking to your bestie if they didn’t congratulate you on an Eagles win?
Well, die-hard fan Rob Evors did. And the fallout was captured by camera crews.
The Bala Cynwyd native stars in House of Stassi, a new Freeform and Hulu unscripted show that follows former Bravolebrity and Vanderpump Rules “It girl” Stassi Schroeder as she attempts to come back from cancellation and cement herself as the next Kris Jenner. There’s relationship and friendship drama, explosive fights and humble reconciliations, and elaborate parties — all the trappings of binge-worthy reality TV.
Rob Evors is captured Tuesday, July 28, 2026 , at a cocktail party celebrating Freeform and Hulu’s “House of Stassi” in New York City.Courtesy of Disney/Arthur Gareev
But a through line of the inaugural eight episodes is an ongoing rift between Evors and Schroeder’s husband, Beau Clark, sparked by a perceived slight against the Philadelphia Eagles.
An exasperated Clark explained in episode two: “I haven’t talked to [Evors] in nine months because during football season, I didn’t congratulate him on his team’s wins on a couple group chats.”
Schroeder declared, “This is not about f-ingfootball, and I won’t let either of them convince the world that it is.”
What was left out, however, is that Clark, a Rams fan, actually failed to congratulate Evors — who “bleeds green” and has Boathouse Row and the Eagles logo tattooed on his arm — on the 2025 Super Bowl win.
“It wasn’t like it was Week Six and I was like ‘you’re not texting me about my football team’ — it was winning the Super Bowl,” Evors said in a phone interview.
“I might as well have given birth to a child and you didn’t reach out.”
So, yeah, the snub went deeper than pigskin: Evors and Clark’s decades-long friendship has ebbed and flowed, and Evors ultimately just wanted Clark to take an interest in his life, he said. (Spoiler: The men hashed out their evolving dynamics on camera, and Evors said the duo are cordial — even after a tumultuous season finale.)
Evors, 50, moved to Bala Cynwyd as a toddler and grew up a “stone’s throw” from City Avenue, he said. He graduated from Episcopal Academy and left the Philadelphia region for Syracuse University, eventually landing in Los Angeles to pursue acting full-time. He now lives in Austin, Texas.
His career, however, started on the Main Line doing community theater and training at the Actors Center in Old City. Evors remembers stopping at Roy Rogers on weekly drives to New York City and eventually taking the Peter Pan Bus alone to the Big Apple for auditions; he landed a Dorney Park commercial that “paid for college.”
Rob Evors pictured in his Philly gear.Courtesy of Rob Evors
Reality TV is a new world for Evors, who has since racked up acting credits in scripted shows like Criminal Minds, All American, and FBI: International and the 2012 movie Project X, according to IMDb. He also won a game on Wheel of Fortune.
On a mild April day, 12-year-old Sam Okyere reviewed his wish list with his mom during their drive to the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s Bala Cynwyd office.
First choice: Legoland andDisney World.
Second choice: meeting Eagles Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley.
Third choice: hanging out with Philly rapper Lil Uzi Vert.
But when Sam, his mom, and two members of the Make-A-Wish crew squeezed into the office’s tiny Lego-themed room for the official discussion, something different flashed to mind.
“I want to help the homeless,” Sam told them.
Sam has sickle cell disease.He’s endured a lifetime in and out of hematologists’ offices, white-knuckling through blood transfusions and bursting into hospitals when “pain crises,” agonizing sensations caused by disruption in the blood flow, tore through his body. This was his chance to do one completely selfish thing, and he chose to be selfless.
“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” Maude Gambrah, Sam’s mom, asked as she started the car to drive them home to Drexel Hill. She knew Sam had a soft spot for homeless people. He was always encouraging her to give money to panhandlers around Philly. But this was his only wish.
“Yeah, Mommy,” he responded. “This is what I want to do.”
Make-A-Wish settled on Families Forward Philadelphia, a homeless shelter in West Philly, as the recipient of Sam’s wish and hosted a monthlong donation drive for the facility leading up to “Sam’s Perfect Day” last month. The carnival-style extravaganza on the shelter’s front lawn, attended by dozens of families experiencing homelessness as well as Sam and his family, featured Lego displays, a petting zoo, a Lego-inspired bounce castle, and water ice provided by Sam’s family’s Southwest Philly water ice business, Willkay’s.
Making a wish a reality
Word of the wish quickly spread around the office of Make-A-Wish Philadelphia, Delaware, & Susquehanna Valley following the April meeting. Anika Goyal, one of the staffersresponsible for carrying out wishes, knew this one had to be hers.
The chapter, which grants about 335 wishes a year, regularly fulfills shopping sprees, vacations to Disney World, and room makeovers, but it rarely gets one like Sam’s, Goyal said.
So Goyal got to work. Sam emphasized that helping homeless children, specifically, was important to him, so Goyal selected Families Forward as the beneficiary shelter because it emphasizes keeping families intact during their stays.
She reached out to small businesses and nonprofits — as many as she could find that also had Make-A-Wish connections. Oshun Family Center, which Goyal asked to host a table on Black maternal health and to distribute childcare kits, was founded by a mom of a Make-A-Wish recipient. Jam-Rock Kitchen, a local Jamaican restaurant owned by another Make-A-Wish family, slathered up their jerk chicken and spiced up their rice and peas for the big day.
Goyal also looped in staff at the King of Prussia Lego store, a former contestant on the reality TV competition series LEGO Masters, and Swoop, the Philadelphia Eagles mascot, to make the event quintessentially Sam.
Alana Deluca, manager at King of Prussia’s Lego store, talks to Sam Okyere, 12, during his Make-A-Wish donation drive and block party.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
“It’s not about him,” Goyal said. “But it is about him.”
As Goyal and the Make-A-Wish team prepared the logistics, Sam contended with a life-altering decision. Sickle cell can be treated through a bone marrow transplant. The ideal donor is a sibling who is a match. Will Okyere, Sam’s 25-year-old brother, was. So Sam and his family scheduled a transplant for the end of August. The process starts with chemotherapy and ends with in-home isolation for several months, requiring Sam to miss most of his seventh-grade year with his friends.
“It’s a bummer,” Sam said. “But, it’s like, anything to get me better.”
“I just want to get sickle cell over and done with,” he added.
Sam Okyere, 12, hanging out with his friend Mosiah Saddick, 12, during Sam’s Perfect Day at Families Forward Philadelphia homeless shelter.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
While sickle cell disease is not inherently fatal, it can increase the risk of life-threatening infections, acute chest syndrome, stroke, and chronic organ damage, particularly without medications or interventions such as a bone marrow transplant or gene therapy.
Cynthia Norris, Sam’s attending hematologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who referred Sam for the wish, said he stood out among all her eligible patients because he has the most severe variation of the disease and has had a number of complications. His grace and thoughtfulness, she said, also set him apart.
“He’s just a very special young man,” Norris said. “He has so much empathy.”
Sam Okyere, 12, with his dad Akwasi Okyere, Delaware Blue Coats mascot Coaty, and Philadelphia Eagles mascot Swoop during Sam’s Perfect Day Make-A-Wish donation drive and block party at Families Forward Philadelphia homeless shelter.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Living out a perfect day
After months of waiting and preparation, Sam’s Perfect Day finally arrived.
Shiny new yellow, red, and blue soccer balls and Hula-Hoops lined the main hall of the Families Forward office building. Tubs along the mirroring wall brimmed with sunscreen bottles, toothbrushes, and soap. A giant poster sandwiched in the middle bore Sam’s likeness in Lego form — tiny Afro and all.
Some of the donations for Sam Okyere’s Perfect Day Make-A-Wish donation drive and block party.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Families Forward could never have afforded this bounty on its own, said Jessica Main, the nonprofit’s chief development officer. Grant money the shelter receives is often tied to specific types of services like mental health and education. Its budget for toys and recreational materials is around $3,000 annually, Main estimated. That would probably barely cover the glimmering new basketball hoop and sports equipment Sam’s donation drive brought in.
Sam Okyere, 12, with his sister, Kayla, at the petting zoo during his Make-A-Wish donation drive and block party at Families Forward Philadelphia homeless shelter.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Sam nestled into a blue canvas chair in the petting zoo as two goats nibbled food out of Dixie cups he held in each hand.
“I’m naming this one Ashton,” Sam announced to no one in particular, looking at a brown and white goat.
“Food! Anybody want food,” he shouted to the tiny goats (one wearing a feathered bowler hat), bunnies, and one black pig that dragged its rotund paunch on the ground wherever it went.
Sam Okyere, 12, is holding Penelope the pig at the petting zoo during his Make-A-Wish donation drive and block party at Families Forward Philadelphia homeless shelter in Philadelphia, Pa., on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
“Zane, Kai, Lloyd,” he said, pointing at two goats and then the pig, naming all after characters on his favorite show Ninjago, which the uninitiated will be unsurprised to learn is a show about Legos.
Soon a 3-year-old named Saga, wearing a white dress smattered with images of heart-shaped lollipops, entered the petting zoo enclosure, mouth agape as she stood eye-to-eye with the recently named Ashton the goat and gently patted the silver nubs on either side of its bony head. This was her first experience with farm animals.
Her mother, Quechera Jowers, 32, followed closely. The pair have lived at the shelter for about four months.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s a little nostalgic,” Jowers said, taking in the carnival sights as they waited in line for cotton candy, which, based on crystallized red formations encrusted around Saga’s mouth, it appeared she’d already indulged in.
Throughout the afternoon, gleaming toddler cheeks transformed into butterfly wings, kitten whiskers, and dragon scales with face paint. Pink and purple beads were strung into friendship bracelets, and technicolor swimsuits (each child got one through Sam’s donation drive) grew soaked from a sprinkler raining down on the kids as they descended an inflatable slide adjoined to the bounce castle. Navigating the pipe system of the old converted asylum-turned-shelter facility was the challenge of the morning, Main said.
Beyoncé blared from a portable DJ booth, chubby fingers grasped balloons on strings and absentmindedly released them into the stratosphere, and a topless toddler with wild curls boogied near the mouth of a bubble machine, a diaper band peeking out from his khaki shorts.
Sam Okyere, 12, is trying out the DJ set with Nashirah Felder, of Fishtown, during his Perfect Day Make-A-Wish donation drive and block party at Families Forward Philadelphia homeless shelter in Philadelphia, Pa., on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Sam, meanwhile, alternated between the Lego games, petting zoo, and basketball station.
After discreetly lowering his game controller in the middle of a Lego joust, allowing a friend to overtake his spacecraft and win the game, Sam sauntered over to the goats situated in a kennel in the back of a truck to bid them farewell.
Sam Okyere, 12, plays against Corey Samuels, 41, of Princeton, N.J., a LEGO Masters winner, during his Make-A-Wish donation drive and block party at Families Forward Philadelphia homeless shelter in Philadelphia, Pa., on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
“I don’t want them to leave,” he mused as he delicately scratched a tan one on the chin and, with an understated graciousness rare to find in adults, let alone children, allowed the petting zoo staff to take them away.
As the afternoon drew to a close, Sam settled into a chair in the hallway full of donations and futzed with a small Lego vehicle. An event organizer informed him that the Lego store employees offered to gift him all the leftover toys. Sam politely declined and requested they instead be given to the kids at the shelter.
Asked in the final moments what could have made Sam’s Perfect Day more perfect, he contemplated.
High Street Hospitality founder and James Beard Award winner Ellen Yin is just about ready to hit Rittenhouse with Bar Cicci, an all-day drop-in for espresso and pastries by morning, sandwiches by day, and spritzes, cicchetti, and small plates by night. Join Beatrice Forman on Sansom Street for your first look.
Shore season isn’t done yet, and neither are farmers markets, which have seen an uptick in business locally in the midst of a cyclospora outbreak. Hira Qureshi maps out where you can buy local produce, baked goods, and more at markets down the Shore.
Besides Bar Cicci, a half-dozen new restaurants are on tap this month, including Recipe Philly in Center City, Cecilia in Bridgeport, and Mixteca in East Kensington, where the red, white, and green of la bandera figures into the signature cocktail.
Lancaster Avenue in Ardmore, one of the Main Line’s busiest commercial strips, is now home to two new dessert shops. Denali Sagner explains that one specializes in tea, cakes, and buns, while the other celebrates the mango.
Canned-cocktail brand Top Dog is setting up listening rooms in Kennett Square and Fishtown, embracing the Japanese jazz kissa model — a music cafe or bar that’s focused on listening to vinyl records. Brooke Schultz chatted up Top Dog’s Ken Smukler, who aims to deliver an “analog feel in a digital world.” The Fishtown location is tiny. It used to be an ATM.
The handmade tarts from Market Day Canelé layer summer tomatoes over a corn custard with cremini and button mushrooms, herb-roasted cotto ham, eggs, and Gruyère in a flaky crust. Kiki Aranita says you have to act fast to snap one up.
Scoops
Two chefshave made big professional strides from their roots in Roxborough, and now they’re coming home to Manayunk to take over the Winnie’s space with a “punk French” eatery.
Aldar Bistro in Bala Cynwyd is giving way after 34 years to a white-tablecloth Southern Italian restaurant called Bruzi.
Does a spateof restaurant-closing announcements — such as Hiroki, Federal Donuts & Chicken,and the Lodge by Two Robbers — portend industry doom? No, and I’ll explain why not.
Restaurant report
Gabriella’s Vietnam in South Philadelphia is counting down to closing in mid-December as the new owner of her building is planning a restaurant of their own. Chef-owner Thanh Nguyen told Kiki Aranita that she is looking for a new spot.
Side Eye, the Queen Village bistro, gets a bit of side eye from critic Craig LaBan, who likes the vibe and pricing but thinks the execution could be sharper.
New drive-thru coffee option: The syndicated 7 Brew has opened at 4000 Woodhaven Rd. in Northeast Philadelphia’s Knights Road Shopping Center.
More bagels are coming round: Central Florida-based Jeff’s Bagel Run — schmeared with private-equity investment — has cinched a franchisee for 10 stores from the Harrisburg area east through Reading and the Lehigh Valley to suburban Philadelphia. No leases have been signed, the company announced in a press release.
Briefly noted
Cantina la Martina’s fourth annual Cemita Festival returns from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at the Garden Center across from Mural City Cellars (1825 Frankford Ave). Six restaurants will each serve interpretations of Puebla’s iconic cemita sandwich for $16: Cantina la Martina, Gilda, Bolo, Vientiane Bistro, Cinteotl Tamalli, and Los Cuatro Soles Restaurant. Also: beverages from Mural City Cellars, DJ Cali Rumba, dance performances by Danza Tonantzin Cultura, face painting, and artisan vendors. It’s pay-as-you-go. Some cemita vendors are cash only.
Post Haste in East Kensington will become Philadelphia’s only participant in the inaugural Global Pay What You Can Day on Aug. 26, joining restaurants from Mexico City to Mumbai in a one-day effort to make dining more accessible. Guests can order whatever they’d like and pay what they can (excluding alcohol), building on chef Ari Miller’s weekly pay-what-you-can program launched earlier this year. (Miller is married to Inquirer staff writer Kiki Aranita.)
The Fishtown Pickle Project is taking its annual pickle-themed dinner outside of Fishtown for the first time. The Aug. 27 edition will have founders Niki Toscani and Mike Sicinski in Rittenhouse to collaborate with Uchi on a nine-course, pickle-centric tasting menu (e.g. oysters with giardiniera, yellowtail with pickled peach, salmon with pickled enoki, and a dessert featuring pickle jam). Seatings: 6 and 8:30 p.m. Tickets: $125 per person, plus tax and gratuity.
Chef Chaz Brown, in partnership with Forman Arts Initiative, will present the third annual Oxtail Collective from 1-5 p.m. Aug. 30 at the Substation in Kensington. Titled “The Hercules Posey Celebration” — after George Washington’s enslaved chef — the event will bring together Black chefs, historians, artists, and entrepreneurs to explore the intersections of food, culture, business, and history while serving as an early public introduction to Forman’s future 100,000-square-foot arts campus. Participating chefs include Chad Williams of Friday Saturday Sunday, Omar Tate and Cybille St. Aude-Tate of Honeysuckle, and Shola Olunloyo of Studiokitchen. PBS NewsHour’s Geoff Bennett will moderate panels, and the program also includes tastings from 15 chefs, cooking demos, and a marketplace featuring Black-owned businesses. Tickets ($92.55, including fees) are on sale.
Delicious City Philly Podcast’ssecond annual Hoagie Throwdown has a date: Sept. 27, from noon-4 p.m., at Other Half Brewing in Fishtown, drawing 20 chefs, restaurants, delis, and sandwich makers to compete. There will be unlimited hoagie samples, beer/soft drinks, and pro wrestlers grappling. (Last year’s outing was a scene: The Inquirer’s Craig LaBan, in a Zorro mask and big hat, went through hoagie-making boot camp.) The podcast has made 500 tickets available and early pricing starts at $55.
❓Pop quiz
Which Pennsylvania farm crop is in the crosshairs of the U.S. Department of Commerce?
What is going on at 117 Chestnut St.? The restaurant 117 is closed already and it just opened. — Chris D.
Old City restaurant 117, which opened only last November, posted a note on Instragram last week that it had closed “due to circumstances beyond our control.” According to Philadelphia court records, the restaurant was evicted over back rent.
The space’s previous occupant, the Avery, also had a very short run last year. Previous occupants had better luck: 2nd Story Brewing Co. closed in 2024 after a decade and was the last to use the brewing equipment installed by Triumph Brewing Co. for its own run from 2007 to 2014.
Adding intrigue now is the liquor license application that was filed at 117 Chestnut St. last week in the name “Finish Your Champagne LLC.” Finish Your Champagne is the name of the long-in-the-works Columbus Boulevard cocktail bar project from Kevin Dolce, owner of Center City’s Taste Cheesesteak Bar and Savù. Dolce declined comment.
📮 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.
