On one block of Martha Street, it feels like Christmas came early. Panettone — sliced and dolloped with whipped cream — is already officially for sale.
Matty, who oversees the pastry program for Defined Hospitality restaurants including Suraya and Condesa, said Formosa is shorthand for Aquaformosa, the tiny mountain village in Calabria, Italy, where his grandfather was born. Likewise, the pop-up’s menu spans bread-forward (and seasonally anachronistic) sweets that are meant to evoke a sense of warmth. There are oversized cinnamon rolls swirled with blueberry jam, a sticky-sweet plum upside down cake, and doughnut shop-style maple pecan cruellers, among other delights.
At Formosa inside Picnic, pastry chef James Matty’s panettone will be served as $9 slices topped with whipped cream.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
The panettone is Formosa’s crown jewel. Flecked with dark chocolate chips, pecans, and Luxardo cherries, Matty’s version splits the difference between classic and new-aged panettones, which tend to be airier and more voluptuous. His bread is buttery soft and light, with a crackly crust that’s fun to peel off.
To me — a panettone novice — it tasted like a cross between the world’s moistest poundcake and a sourdough loaf.
Matty, who grew up in Trooper, Montgomery County, was also not raised in a panettone family. His fixation with the bread began in adulthood while studying at the Culinary Institute of America, where he became enamored with the craftsmanship good panettone requires.
Pastry Chef James Matty poses inside Picnic, the restaurant hosting his Formosa pastry pop-ups during October 2026.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Panettone is “like the mountaintop” of bread, said Matty. “It’s the most difficult to pull off consistently.”
Formosa’s version takes the equivalent of a work week to prepare. The dough must ferment for three days, said Matty. It takes another two to proof and bake. The most stressful test comes at end: Panettone must hang upside while cooling so it doesn’t collapse inward under its own weight.
The first time Matty made panettone, he said called it a “complete flop.”
Formosa’s panettone takes five days to prepare.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
“It literally flopped out of the mold,” he said. Upwards of twenty retries later, and Matty’s panettone hangs steadily on the cooling rack, sort of like muffin-shaped bats.
At Formosa, Matty’s panettone will be served in $9 slices topped with whipped cream. As for selling whole rounds in time for the winter holidays, Matty said to “wait-and-see.”
For now, I’ll just be adding it to the top of my wish list.
Formosa at Picnic, 2421 Martha St., instagram.com/formosa.philly. Hours: 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. (or sell out) Saturday – Sunday from Oct. 3 to Oct. 25.
Panettone’s real test come at the end: To cool, the Italian sweet bread must hang upside down. If prepared incorrectly, it flops.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Zoe Tanner’s handiwork is immediately recognizable: Cloudlike cold foam puffs flecked with sprinkles that adorn the lattes at Loretta’s, the Society Hill cafe at the epicenter of Philly’s little treat boom.
Loretta’s sells about 200 specialty lattes on a busy day, Tanner estimates.
This September, Tanner spent hours in Loretta’s basement making bite-size uncrustables to top the coffee shop’s PB&J latte, which comes with Concord grape syrup and a peanut butter cold foam. In May, the drink du jour was a black-raspberry-maple concoction topped with a nutty tahini whip and sprinkles shaped like spring flowers. Next month, Tanner is whipping up a banana latte decorated with pretzel rod ghosts. Proceeds from each creation have gone to local charities such as ACCT Philly and the Eagles Autism Foundation.
“Say what you want about the girls that come in from Instagram, but they’re making a difference by buying a drink,” Tanner said. “That matters to me.”
Tanner, 31, serves as the operations director of all three of Bush and Morris’ businesses, splitting her days between training staff, managing inventory, and developing latte recipes. Barista-ing at Loretta’s, however, is the best part of her job.
“I love connecting with people,” said Tanner. “And coffee is so cool because it goes through so many processes to get into your cup, but everyone who touches it is really important, from the grower to the roaster to the barista.”
Zoe Tanner pipes marshmallow whip onto a speciality latte at Loretta’s, a coffee shop in Society Hill.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Tanner, who moved to Philly in 2015 from a small town in Maryland, fell into coffee by working at Starbucks while attending the University of Valley Forge. After, she worked her way up from being a barista at La Colombe’s Dilworth Park location to account manager for the local coffee chain, where she was responsible for convincing mom-and-pop shops to use the brand’s products. She started at Loretta’s when they opened.
The job fuels Tanner’s second career as a self-made musician who writes, records, and mixes all her music. This fall, Tanner will release her fifth album as Mommy Rockstar Bitch, the grunge persona that has helped Tanner find power in her role as the self-proclaimed “mom friend.”
Tanner said working at Loretta’s keeps her grounded like the novelist Charles Bukowski, who kept his job as a mailman during his early days as a writer. It’s also brought her unexpected fame.
Zoe Tanner plays guitar in the living room of her apartment in Olde Kensington.Rowan Ohara
“I was running in Fishtown the other day when a group stopped me and were like, ‘Can we take a picture with you? You’re the Loretta’s girl,’” Tanner said. “Never did I think coffee would be how I build my brand.”
So, how does Philly’s most famous barista spend a perfect day in the city? It involves sharing human food with her dog, running a half marathon, and mixing music from her home in Olde Kensington.
5 a.m.
I generally wake up at 5 a.m. with my dog Barrett — a 6-year-old German shorthaired pointer — barking at me to give him pets. I automatically smile; one of my biggest accomplishments in life is that he’s so well-behaved because GSPs are such a tough breed.
After a quick morning walk with Barrett, I’ll head to a 6 a.m. Heated Power Strength yoga class at Monarch Yoga in Kensington. I go without having any coffee, which is so unnatural for me, and then when I get out, I feel so awake and alive. The music is also so upbeat and fun for a strength class, but since it’s a yoga studio, [the instructor] still gives us a spiritual concept to focus on.
Tanner likes to share food with Barrett, her 6-year -old German shorthaired pointer. His favorites include banh mi from Ba Le and pizza from Pizzeria Beddia.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
7:30 a.m.
Next, I’ll grab Barrett for a long walk that’s mostly about him being the center of attention. People might say that I’m a bad dog mom for this, but I share my food with him.
I’m not even embarrassed by this because Barrett has good taste: When we go on long runs, we always stop at Ba Le Bakery in South Philly for a lemongrass and beef banh mi, and when we walk down Frankford Avenue, he will literally yank me across the street for Huda Burger. I even gave him a Pizzeria Beddia birthday party. I promise he’s a healthy dog.
Anyway, on our long walks we will either stop at Rival Brothers Coffeefor a short Americano and so Barrett can look out the window, or Càphê Roasters to split a fried chicken sandwich. It’s funny because I used to joke about never wanting to be a regular somewhere, but now I walk into these places and it feels like I’m talking to my siblings. It’s a beautiful way to start my morning.
The inside of Càphê Roasters in Kensington, where Tanner and her dog Barrett are regulars.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
10 a.m.
After also feeding Barrett real dog food, I head down to Loretta’s to clock in for a shift. On a perfect day, work involves barista-ing a little bit, doing latte research, and filming content for social media.
All of our specialty lattes involve a specialty syrup and cold foam, and they take about three iterations each to get right. I love it because I feel like I’m in a lab, trying to find the right balance of fun and sweetness without just serving people sugar just because it looks pretty … [Kelsey Bush] and I are both very anti-unicorn frappuccinos.
As director of operations at Loretta’s, Zoe Tanner says the best parts of her job include working on latte recipes and barisa-ing.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
At some point, I will stop for lunch. I’m in a protein era right now, so I like to order the Emma, which I equate to Loretta’s version of a chicken Caesar salad wrap. I also love our Rice Krispies Treats. They’re just perfectly done. Packaged Rice Krispies Treats are always so dry.
2 p.m.
It is officially time for me to go on a long run — 13.1 miles at minimum because I’m a distance diva.
My go-to route is river to river: I’ll run from my apartment to Penn Treaty Park, down to the Headhouse Shambles, across South Street to Schuylkill Park, up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and back.
While I’m running, I like to listen to a lot of my raw mixes to get a sense of what needs work, but if I’m trying to have a really blissful run, I’ll listen to Dean Blunt or Sade. If you run by the river and put on Sade, you’ll feel like the hottest person in the universe. Trust.
Tanner likes to run along the Schuylkill River, the Delaware River, and through Penn Treaty Park.TYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer
I also like to think of my runs as quests. I will deliberately only bring my phone and headphones so I’m forced to stop for the things I need to keep going, like a snack or electrolytes. It’s fun because it helps me get to know the city better, even after more than a decade. … I think people get tired of Philly because they don’t chew down on it enough.
Running this way has also made me a public bathroom expert because peeing, of course, is always part of the quests. My hot tip: Never count out a Whole Foods.
6 p.m.
After my run, I like to get dinner and drinks with my friends.
Our go-to is Monk’s Cafe, which I recently learned might be haunted? I typically order the Thai curry mussels, a saison, and fries.
I know there’s a lot of discourse about Monk’s having the best fries, but I want to make clear that I do NOT play that game. Fries come in all shapes and sizes, and they’re all good. I would never body shame a fry. It’s like trying to say a basketball player is more athletic than a football player. How could you?
A pot of mussels in Thai curry broth at Monk’s Cafe.Craig LaBan
If we want to have a less chill night, my friends and I will go to Johnny Brenda’s— I had my first ever legal drink there, and they make a great steak. For a more chill night, we like to eat at Phở 75. I want my pho with dark meat chicken and all the fixings — jalapeños, bean sprouts, cilantro, sriracha, hoisin. Barrett, of course, will probably have a piece of the chicken.
9 p.m.
I like to end my day with music, either by practicing with my band or mixing my album, which reminds me a lot of coming up with drinks for Loretta’s since both start with me asking the same question: What can I do to make this thing pop?
Sound mixing is so similar to food and beverage because it’s very easy to sense when you’ve done too much and need to pull back. Things often taste and sound the best when they’re at their most natural.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Alexander “Chicken Man” Tominsky walked into the Museum of the Philadelphian in a Canadian tuxedo and a baseball hat with “Phillies” written on it in marker on Tuesday and was blown away to find his name on a plaque alongside other local legends like Benjamin Franklin and Philly Elmo.
“No way! Oh my gracious! Who would have known when I was a little kid crying in my pillow something like this would happen,” he said, pointing to his name.
Tominsky — who became renowned throughout the land in 2022 for eating 40 rotisserie chickens in 40 days, culminating with a public noshing of a chicken on an abandoned Walmart pier in South Philly — was invited to a preview opening for the museum by its founder and creator, Brian Adoff.
Founder and creator Brian Adoff outside his Museum of the Philadelphian in Fishtown.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
“The museum is about the personality and attitude and conduct of Philadelphians,” Adoff said. “My personal hope is that you leave inspired to really be the best version of yourself, the best Philadelphian you can be.”
Located in a 300-square-foot storefront that was previously Adoff’s office on East Girard Avenue in Fishtown, the free, temporary “micro museum” is just down the road from another Philly landmark — the “I Hate Bank of America” sign. The large, yellow banner was put up by a homeowner in 2007, after the bank branch across the street ticked him off. The branch closed many years ago, but the sign remains, a grand tribute to Philadelphians’ spite.
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What makes Philadelphians this way? And what makes it so oddly endearing? These are questions Adoff explores in his absurd and unexpectedly heartwarming museum, which opens Friday.
“There’s an emotional narrative arc the museum takes in its 300 square feet, where it ends with literally a book of Philadelphians who exhibit five qualities that I’ve determined, with my crack team of curatorial advisers, that make up a Philadelphian,” Adoff said.
As of a student of the Philadelphian who’s written hundreds of profiles of the everyday people who make me love this city more every day, I thought Adoff had set a lofty goal for himself when we first met earlier this month. How do you distill what it means to be a Philadelphian in 300 square feet? And how do you decide who makes the cut?
At the preview Tuesday, I was pleased to find that over the course of about 20 exhibits in the space, Adoff skillfully addresses the Santa-hating-battery-throwing-robot-killing tropes that haunt Philadelphians, while also getting to the oddly-touching truths behind those, and other very Philly stories.
Visitors browse the Museum of the Philadelphian.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
And while Adoff and his team have compiled a “Register of Philadelphians” with more than 50 names and stories of local folk heroes who epitomize what it means to be a Philadelphian, their best decision may have been to include cards for visitors to nominate their own quintessential Philadelphian. Because if one thing is certain, Philly is going to have thoughts.
Grease the pole
Guests are greeted in the museum’s front window by a re-creation of the death of hitchBOT, the hitchhiking Canadian robot who traveled across the country on human kindness, only to be dismembered and beheaded in Philly. In the accompanying plaque, Adoff notes that Philadelphians offered to rebuild the robot, and that a Philly police detective jokingly blamed the crime on New Jerseyans.
A re-creation of the death of hitchBOT is displayed in the front window of the Museum of the Philadelphian.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Once inside the museum, two large papier-mâché sculptures immediately catch the eye — one, of a Philadelphian climbing a greased pole, and the other of Jason Kelce during his Eagles Super Bowl speech. In the first, guests are invited to “grease the pole” with a paintbrush and clear goo from a nearby can (you know I did it!), and at the latter, visitors can stand under a sound dome (fancy!) in front of the sculpture to hear Kelce’s “Hungry Dogs” speech.
A papier-mâché sculpture of Jason Kelce during his 2018 Eagles Super Bowl speech is featured in the Museum of the Philadelphian.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
In the center of the room is a freestanding wall with a rearview mirror on it. The accompanying plaque tells the story of Ted Passon, whose parked car was flipped in the aftermath of the Phillies 2008 World Series win. Passon created a blog asking Philadelphians who enjoyed the spectacle to help pay for his vehicle, and through the generosity of donors, he was able to get a new car and give $3,000 to someone else whose car was flipped. On an iPad at the exhibit, visitors can play a YouTube video of the flipping and read Passon’s blog.
I remembered the story well because I interviewed Passon about it in 2008. Seeing him at the event Tuesday was a full-circle Philly moment for both of us. Passon, who’s now an Emmy Award-winning documentarian, said he was happy to loan the mirror of the vehicle Philly claimed from him to the museum.
“It’s an honor to be included in the story of Philadelphia,” he said. “If I can be a footnote in the city’s history, I did something right in my life.”
‘Booing is my love language’
Other exhibits explore Philadelphians’ history with booing, our history of throwing things, and the five qualities Adoff and his team have decided make a Philadelphian, with number one being, “Does not wait for permission.”
The “Register of Philadelphians” on the wall and accompanying book begins in 1731 with Benjamin Franklin and ends this year, with Jameka Wilson, the woman who went viral for her TV interview about kicking a man in a Chucky mask who was terrorizing pedestrians.
The Register of Philadelphians features notable Philadelphians ranging from Ben Franklin to Jameka Wilson. To the left of the register is the museum’s official portrait gallery, which can be seen through two ViewMasters. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
I was excited to see a couple people I’ve written about on the list, including Paul “Jelloman” Vile and the late Gilbert Hilton, who turned heads across the city for years in his “Badillac” car, which was covered in items from Goodwill, and who was one of the most Philly people I’ve ever met.
There’s also a portrait gallery by the Rev. Michael Alan of seven Philadelphians in the register that can only be seen through an old-school ViewMaster, which were a hit with the crowd.
“It was a small space and this was a way to make something look bigger without being bigger,” Alan said.
Creator and founder Brian Adoff talks about the Museum of the Philadelphian in front of the museum’s gift shop. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
The tiny museum even has a gift shop with shirts that say “I greased the pole at the Museum of the Philadelphian” and bumper stickers that read “Booing is my love language.”
‘The most Philadelphian thing’
The museum was funded by Adoff through his experience design studio, Architects of Human Connection, and admission is free because he believes “the Philadelphian has paid enough.”
The museum is a culmination of Adoff’s many endeavors over the years, from music, clowning, absurdist theater, and working as a tour guide for the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, to managing a software business and, most recently, creating events that connect Philadelphians.
In 2023, he cofounded the Fishtown Choir,and last year, Adoff created Join Philly, which connects Philadelphians with area clubs and groups.
The idea for the museum came to Adoff in June, as he was trying to think of uses for his storefront office space. With the help of five paid collaborators, Adoff built the museum in less than three months, which is impressive, given the amount of research that clearly went into the exhibits, plaques, and bios.
“It started kind of absurd and silly until I was like, ‘Oh, this is just like everything else I do. It matters and it actually has heart and it has meaning,” he said.
Brian Adoff in the Museum of the Philadelphian he created in Fishtown. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Here’s the potentially scandalous thing — Adoff isn’t a Philly native. He’s originally from Long Island, moved to Cherry Hill as a kid, and came to Philly to attend the University of Arts. He spent time in Chicago then returned to Fishtown 20 years ago, where now lives with his wife and son.
Knowing how nativist Philly can be (my native colleagues said transplants can “never” say they’re from Philly if they moved after the age of 13), I had to ask Adoff what gave him the gall to open the museum.
“Because I express the qualities that make a Philadelphian,” he said.
“But you decided those qualities, right?” I asked. (They are: 1. Does not wait for permission 2. Decides for themselves what is worth doing 3. Keeps going whether encouraged or not 4. Does not care what anyone thinks 5. Believes, in their heart, the work is needed).
“Yes, which is the most Philadelphian thing I could have done,” he said.
Adoff wants people to leave his museum feeling as inspired as he did after watching the opening of the Obama Presidential Center on TV. He dreams of Rob Mac narrating an audio tour of the exhibit, like Steve Buscemi does for Eastern State Penitentiary. And his longterm goal is to open a more universal experience one day — a fart museum. Everybody isn’t lucky enough to be a Philadelphian, but everyone farts.
I imagine Benjamin Franklin, a fellow Philly transplant who once wrote a satirical essay about flatulence, would think that’s a gas.
Darrin Rowland (left), and Leslye Rowland grease the pole sculpture at the Museum of the Philadelphian on Tuesday. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Know before you go
The museum, 454 E. Girard Ave., is open Fridays (5 to 8 p.m.), Saturdays (noon to 5 p.m.), and Sundays (noon to 5 p.m.) Sept. 25 through Nov. 1.
Admission is free, but timed reservations online are recommended. Opening night is already booked and only a few spots remain for this weekend.
Like Philadelphia, there is a lack of public bathrooms at the museum, in that there are none.
The museum is wheelchair accessible via a temporary ramp. Email visit@museumofthephiladelphian.org prior to visiting so staff can have the ramp ready.
All ages are welcome, but some exhibits do include profanity.
Every week, Amaryllis “Amy” Rivera-Nassar hand-shapes and deep-fries around 2,000 pastelillos at her Fishtown takeout joint, Amy’s Pastelillos.
Rivera-Nassar opened the bright pink storefront at 2001 Memphis St. in 2024 after spending years as the neighborhood’s “pastelillo lady,” selling the Puerto Rican turnovers — filled with classic chicken stew, guava BBQ pork, and truffled mushrooms, among others — via pop-ups. But 2026 is the year things really started to click.
The only hitch: Rivera-Nassar says she’s running out of room to keep up. Her kitchen barely has enough space for two burners, two fries, a pair of fridges, and an oven.
“It’s like a little tiny shoebox. We do so much with so little,” Rivera-Nassar said.
Luckily, Rivera-Nassar now has a big team in her corner: This week, the Philadelphia 76ers and Bank of America announced that Amy’s Pastelillos won the Enrich Program competition, making the takeout shop an official Sixers partner for the upcoming NBA season.
A spread of dishes including pastelillos at Amy’s Pastelillos, now an official partner of the Philadelphia 76ers for the 2026-27 NBA season.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
The prize package is valued at approximately $250,000, and includes a year of marketing support, business consulting, and strategic networking from both Bank of America and the Sixers. As an official partner, Amy’s Pastelillos brand will be promoted to 76ers fans through a mix of TV, social media, and radio ads, plus appearances.
The opportunity, Rivera-Nassar said, couldn’t have come at a better time.
“I had been spending all year trying to secure support and funding for my business, and had been getting constant ‘nos,’” she said. “I just can’t believe that we won.”
Amaryllis “Amy” Rivera-Nassar, owner of Amy’s Pastelillos, found out her business was an Enrich Program winner during Game 4 of the Sixers playoff series against the Boston Celtics at the Xfinity Mobile Arena.Courtesy Philadelphia 76ers
Bank of America and the Sixers started the Enrich Program during the 2020-21 basketball season as a way to uplift small, local, and underrepresented business owners in and around Philly. Previous winners include East Falls coffee shop Thunder Mug Cafe and the late Charisse McGill’s Lokal Artisan Foods, the brand behind the popular French toast bites stands previously located at Spruce Street Harbor Park and the Christmas Village.
The program is competitive: 175 businesses applied earlier this spring, a Sixers spokesperson said via email. After submitting an application detailing their growth plans, selected business owners must pitch Bank of America and Sixers executives. Enrich’s two other finalists, the Northern Liberties gift shop Laser Philly and the popular Kensington gelato shop Cloud Cups, also received $10,000 cash prizes.
“Amy’s story stood out to us,” the Sixers spokesperson said. “Her vision extends beyond the restaurant itself — she is passionate about creating a space where Philadelphians can experience and connect with Puerto Rican culture and community. That combination of entrepreneurial growth [and] cultural purpose … made Amy’s journey one we were excited to support.”
Amaryllis “Amy” Rivera-Nassar holds three pastelillos from the menu outside her restaurant, Amy’s Pastelillos. She estimates the storefront sells just under 2,000 Puerto Rican turnovers per week.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
“We did 700 pastelillos in two hours for just Super Bowl parties alone,” she said. “But the aftermath was super-exciting. A lot of people were like, ‘Oooh, Puerto Rican food’ and really wanted to explore the culture.”
Rivera-Nassar believes the support from Bank of America and the added visibility from the Sixers can help Amy’s expand to a larger off-site prep kitchen —even if she can’t bear to leave her bright pink storefront.
“I’m attached. It’s my baby,” she said,at the same time acknowledging that, space-wise,“we’ve hit our ceiling.”
Amaryllis “Amy” Rivera-Nassar works in the kitchen at Amy’s Pastelillos. Now an Enrich Program winner, Rivera-Nassar is hoping to expand to a larger, off-site prep facility.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Rivera-Nassar is most excited to see her business’ name in lights inside the Xfinity Mobile Arena. She learned about winning the Enrich prize while sitting courtside with her 10-year-old daughter at Game 4 of the Sixers playoff series against the Boston Celtics.
“I was already overwhelmed by the fact that Tyrese Maxey and [V.J.] Edgecomb were right in front of us. And then the Sixers reps came out and congratulated me,” Rivera-Nassar said. “I was floored.”
“There never really was a Fishtown, government-wise. It was a localism,” explains Kenneth Milano, a Kensington-born historian and cofounder of the Kensington History Project. Perhaps this is why it’s hard to know exactly where Fishtown’s boundaries are.
“No one [in the old days] would ever call above York Street ‘Fishtown.’ That would have been sacrilege,” Milano said. “With the new folks, they don’t know. The [real estate agent] told them.”
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Decades of gentrification in the River Wards have blurred the lines as developers tagged their properties with the coveted Fishtown brand, even as they ventured into what were generally defined as sections of Kensington. (And which Kensington? East Kensington? Olde Kensington? South Kensington? How about Norris Square? And Olde Richmond? And Port Richmond?)
The argument is about more than what to call a few blocks: A neighborhood name can shape a place’s identity, its perceived desirability, and even how it is marketed and valued.
Click anywhere on the map to start drawing your Fishtown boundary
Milano said parish boundaries originally helped reinforce neighborhood identity. Milano, 67, has lived on York Street since age 5 and described the conventional Fishtown as a triangle bounded by Norris, Frankford, and the Delaware River.
The Inquirer’s map of neighborhoods agrees with Milano — although it’s worth mentioning that this map, used internally to help our reporting stay consistent, was created in the 1980s. The Milano-Inquirer definition is definitely conservative when compared to more recent attempts to set boundaries.
By contrast, Zillow’s Fishtown is nearly twice the size. The real estate website includes not only Front Street to the west, but also goes as far north as Lehigh Avenue.
Zillow maintains its own set of neighborhood boundaries “by reviewing sources such as city maps, the Census Bureau, and neighborhood associations,” Zillow spokesperson Briahna Healy said.
There’s some overlap between Zillow’s boundaries and the 19125 zip code. While residents might feel a strong attachment to the last five digits of their address, zip codes exist solely to help route mail. This makes it hard to use 19125’s scraggly borders to define Fishtown — especially when sections that reach that far north are Kensington by any definition.
Somewhere in the middle is the Fishtown Neighbors Association border — sticking with Front Street to the west but extending only as far as York Street to the north. These boundaries “go back about 20 years when FNA was a community organization that needed boundaries to help dictate what projects to work on,” said John Scott, current president of the FNA.
Their boundaries are a single piece in a jigsaw puzzle with surrounding neighboring associations. It explains why some streets are included and others aren’t. For example, the area between Front Street and Frankford Avenue is included because “if we didn’t include them, they would probably be stateless,” Scott said.
This also means that a lot of boundaries are largely codified because the FNA can’t expand without encroaching on neighboring associations — unless, that is, new streets are built, like those in the Northbank development on the Delaware. Now the FNA is about to adjust its boundaries for the first time in a quarter-century to encompass streets south of Schirra Lane.
If we look at all of these definitions at the same time, there is a clear overlap that we can safely call Fishtown.
However, much of the fringe is up for debate. Does Fishtown stop at Front or Frankford, for example? Is York the border, or is it Norris, or even Lehigh?
It’s time for some good, old-fashioned, boots-on-the-ground reporting.
A defining feature of Fishtown are the whimsical fish signs on house facades. Our theory: Surely a painted fish wouldn’t make sense in Kensington. We hit the streets and logged every house that had a fish sign.
Largely, the signs are contained to the FNA-defined borders. But we found a large pocket of signs east of York Street and even a few signs north of Frankford — although they are outnumbered by milk bottle signs to honor Kensington’s old Harbisons Dairy plant.
Fish signs are only one way to delineate Fishtown boundaries. We also looked at restaurants and what neighborhood they describe themselves as belonging to: Fishtown, Kensington, or unsure.
Fishtown has been known for its dining scene since Johnny Brenda’s established the beachhead in 2003. As development marched on, restaurateurs and dining guides followed the cue of developers and real estate agents: We’re in Fishtown.
Today, that’s not entirely the case, as even upscale restaurants are comfortable calling themselves Kensington, though they could claim Fishtown. At Fiore, chefs Ed Crochet and Justine MacNeil use East Kensington for their Italian restaurant north of the York Street roundabout. Directly across is Emilia, chef Greg Vernick’s popular new Italian spot, which doesn’t state its neighborhood in its marketing materials. Resy, its reservation booking platform, calls it Fishtown-East Kensington.
Seemingly everyone says Middle Child Clubhouse is in “Fishtown.” But by dint of its location on the west side of Front Street, it’s arguably in South/Olde Kensington. Yuhiro, a sushi restaurant on Susquehanna Avenue just west of Frankford, markets itself as Fishtown but it could be considered in Kensington.
Then there are the restaurants where it’s even more unclear because they list multiple neighborhoods, or none at all. For example, Picnic, on Martha Street, uses East Kensington in its Instagram bio but has used Fishtown in public relations campaigns. Where is Meetinghouse, a noted bar at Memphis and Cumberland Streets? Chef/co-owner Drew DiTomo thought for a moment: “Its parish is St. Anne’s and I quite like that.”
Finally, we decided to ask people in the gray areas a simple question: “Where are we?”
We found Matt Murphy and Kaitlin Dirkx at Hagert and Tulip Streets — south of Lehigh, north of York, still in 19125. “It’s kind of a curious pocket of the River Wards,” said Murphy, who emphatically called the area “Olde Richmond.” But, as Dirkx added, “they let me into the Fishtown Neighbors Facebook group. My address must have fallen in line.”
Mark Opdyke, who lives on a side street just west of Frankford Avenue near Norris, insisted that his side of Blair Street is in Fishtown. He pointed across the street toward the Blair Garden townhouses, built in 2018 and sold as “Fishtown,” chuckled, and called that side “Kensington.”
At Frankford and Dauphin, Nick Campione’s family has owned AC Auto Repairs for 70 years. Its facade boasts a mural proclaiming, “Welcome to the Neighborhood” with an inscription explicitly describing it as “Fishtown and East Kensington.” Campione won’t take sides: “This is the best of both worlds here.”
Finally, we caught up with Stephanie Goodman and Justin Frye on the west side of Frankford Avenue near Dauphin, in front of the Groove Hound, a doggie day care. Goodman called that stretch Fishtown, adding that it’s two blocks from the house she bought in 2018 across from Philadelphia Brewing Co., which proudly says it belongs to East Kensington. Though Goodman said the real estate agent advertised her block as Fishtown, Frye believes it’s in East Kensington. “Ten different people and 10 different answers,” he said.
So it’s now time for you to decide. Let us know where you think the boundaries of Fishtown are by drawing on the map.
Thanks for drawing your boundaries. Please reach out to interactives@inquirer.com and let us know why you believe these are the boundaries of Fishtown.
This is where the average reader submission currently lays.
Staff Contributors
Design, Development, and Reporting: Sam Morris
Reporting: Michael Klein
Sign Auditors: Sam Morris and Jasen Lo
Illustration: James Olstein
Editing: Charmaine Runes
Copy Editing: Brian Leighton
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Fishtown Books opened last weekend, the neighborhood’s fifth bookstore. In Manayunk, one couple opened two bookstores on the same street. The August opening of a West Chester fantasy shop wrapped a line around the building, ending early when the shelves were nearly emptied.
Across Greater Philadelphia, bookstores are back.
And despite the growing competition, many sellers said sales are up, mirroring national trends: The Association of American Publishers found the number of books sold via physical retail grew almost 34% over the past five years, outpacing online retail.
“I did not plan for it to be so busy,” said Jackie Botto, 41, of Capricorn Books, which expanded its Jenkintown storefront in July. “We’ve almost doubled our business.”
Capricorn Books owner Jackie Botto chats about the books and customers’ love of reading on Sept. 17 in her Jenkintown bookstore.William Thomas Cain / For The Inquirer
Screen fatigue, a hunger for community, and a desire to support local businesses are fueling the surge, said sellers — many of whom are investing in niche genres and hosting creative events to meet their customers’ needs.
Readers are reading, book people say
The reading boom isn’t limited to stores. At Jenkintown and Abington libraries — which sit along the same corridor as Capricorn and a newBarnes & Noble — patronage is growing, and bothlibraries are mulling expansion.
Adult print circulation is up 10% in Abington, and children’s circulation is up 50% since last year. “People are consuming more literature and media in general,” said Abington’s head of circulation, Marcus Palm.
And parents are prioritizing reading for themselves and their kids, said the Abington library director, Elizabeth Fitzgerald: “There is a bit of backlash to the doomscrolling.”
At Bookmarks in West Chester, some customers have tried ebooks and are returning to print.
“They spend all day working on the computer,” owner Lisa Strohl said. “They’re tired of being on the screen.”
But some apps like TikTok — and its algorithmic niche known as BookTok — are also driving readers to the stacks.
BookTok and tailored offerings draw young readers
“The screen is helping them get back into reading,” said Charity Herndon,ownerof Austen’s Shelf in Bordentown. “[BookTok] was the only way to reach the younger generation of readers.”
Charity Herndon, owner of Austen’s Shelf, stands in the entrance of her shop in Bordentown on June 13.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Sellers like Herndon and Anthony Long — who opened Thrillerdelphia in Manayunk last year after helping his wife open romance-focused Cupid’s down the street — are using both digital and analog strategies to turn new customers into loyal fans by delivering the community hubs they crave.
In a recent Instagram reel, a Thrillerdelphia staffer played a guitar riff to match each book cover he displayed. In November, the store is hosting the horror punk band Blitzkid, a member of which is also an author.
“I know my customers,” Long said. “You can get the eyeballs, but you have to build the intrigue and make people want to come in.”
Active support from local residents is key, many sellers said. Literary agent Eric Smith decided to start the Philadelphia Book Crawl a few years ago. It’s become a kind of Black Friday for bookstores; several said it’s their best day of the year.
“I’m terribly invested in how things go for our local indie bookstores,” Smith said. “I want to see them thrive.”
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“[BookTok] was absolutely a key point, especially during COVID,” said Barnes & Noble vice president Janine Flanigan. “I’ve never seen the conversations around books the way we see them now.”
The chain has taken notice of successful indies: A news release for the new store in Abington — where a Barnes & Noble had closed more than a decade ago — highlighted plans for local author events and book clubs.
The Abington store’s stock will be selected more locally, Flanigan said. “The store managers are deciding what to put in front of their customer.”
The private equity-owned company’s shift to localized control only highlights the value of independent sellers, said Buffy Hastings, a co-owner of Farley’s Bookshop in New Hope.
“They got beat by us,” he said.
Botto, who owns Capricorn Books near the new Abington Barnes & Noble and has fond childhood memories of the chain, is optimistic that there’s room for everyone.
“Looking at our numbers we have no reason to be worried, which is great,” she said.
People buying books despite affordability crisis
Richard De Wyngaert, whose Queen Village store Head House Books opened during the online and big-box-bookstore boom of the early aughts, said those initial customers would always compare him to online vendors.
“Price was all that mattered,” he said. “That two-dollar savings.”
But a few years ago, he noticed a shift — “a new generation who wasn’t raised to think you had to match Amazon,” De Wyngaert said. “By then, we all knew the horrors.”
Mila Panchev (center), 9, and her father, Nikolay Panchev, look at the book “The Scroobious Pip” by Edward Lear and illustrated by Charles Santore and Nicholas Santore before a reading by Nicholas Santore at Head House Books in the Queen Village neighborhood on Jan. 25, 2025. Nicholas Santore finished the illustration started by his father, Charles Santore.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Sellers say book prices have shot up in recent months, but the customers keep coming.
The relative price hike for other consumer luxuries like airfare may be part of the reason: The consumer price index for “recreational books” has yet to return to its 30-year peak in 2009.
“I have seen this summer someone who’s like, ‘I can’t go on vacation, so I’m going to read about Italy,’” Herndon of Austen’s Shelf said.
Readers want to ‘escape’, booksellers say
The genres driving much of the growth in stores with broad selections, sellers said, are romance — especially when mixed with fantasy, a subgenre known as romantasy — and horror.
There are also the blockbuster books they can’t keep in stock, like the sci-fi fantasy series Dungeon Crawler Carl, and a return to the classics.
What these books have in common, sellers said, is they’re totally disconnected from everyday life — or, as Hastings put it, “the realities of living in America in 2026.”
The bestsellers at Austen’s Shelf are “books that allow people to escape,” Herndon said. “People just want to tuck themselves into a different world.”
When Head House Books opened in 2005, “people thought I was nuts,” De Wyngaert said. “Today you see bookstores … springing up everywhere.”
It’s “good news,” he added, “for a world that needs some good news.”
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Football and the Eagles are back, and every week fans will be packed into tailgates, living rooms, and watering holes to watch the Birds’ potential path back to the Super Bowl.
Philly has hundreds of spots to catch a game, from breweries with wall-size projectors to restaurants streaming the broadcast over the bar. Here are some of the top picks — big venues, sports bars, breweries, and restaurants — to help you plan your game day.
Eagles fan Justin Ghee (right) gets in the face of his friend Packers fan Ronald Roberts when the Eagles sacked the Packers quarterback in the first half of the Eagles vs. Packers NFL playoff game. The friends were viewing the game at XFINITY Live! Philadelphia on Sunday, January 12, 2025. Both men are formerly from Philly, attended Howard University and now live in Washington, D.C.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Big venues, bigger screens
Live! Casino
Right next to the South Philadelphia sports complex is the fairly new Live! Casino and Hotel, with at least two venues located within the casino to watch the games. Take your pick between the 52-foot screen at Sports & Social, or Luk Fu, the casino’s pan-Asian restaurant with game-day specials.
So close to the Linc that you can hear the stadium roar from the patio, Stateside Live! (formerly Xfinity Live!) has a 58-foot screen and dozens of TVs in its bars.
Watch the Eagles play on a massive HD video wall at BetRivers Sportsbook inside Rivers Casino in Fishtown. Game-day beer specials and giveaways will be available, plus each game brings a chance for fans to win tickets to a forthcoming Eagles game.
Craft Hall is a massive beer hall, with family- and pet-friendly fixtures, equipped with two projector screens and several TVs lining the walls playing every Eagles game. Enjoy $5 draft beers and $15 beer pitchers with under-$20 food specials, including wings and pizza.
Classmates from the Philadelphia area attending East Carolina University in North Carolina meet at Founding Fathers on South Street to watch the Eagles. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Sports bars and breweries
Cavanaugh’s Headhouse & Rittenhouse
Cavanaugh’s sports bars are some of the best venues to be at on game day, with locations in Rittenhouse and Headhouse Square off South Street. The Rittenhouse location will offer Bud Light in $5 cans and in $22 bottle buckets. Headhouse will have $4 draft Michelob Ultras and $20 buckets of Bud Light.
South Street’s premier sports bar with TV-lined walls, an extensive bar-food menu, and a draft beer list that offers popular craft beers and local talent.
Philadelphia’s oldest craft brewery invites you to their Washington Avenue brewery and bar every game day to watch on their wall-size projectors alongside food and drink specials.
📍2118 Washington Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19146, 📞 215-337-3103, 🌐 dockstreetbeer.com
Evil Genius Beer Co.
This Fishtown taproom will treat you to Evil Genius’ celebrated classics and latest craft brews while watching the game on a 16-foot screen. Game-day specials include $42 beer towers and $45 Stateside buckets.
📍1727 N. Front St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19122, 📞 215-425-6820, 🌐 evilgeniusbeer.com
Lucy’s Bar
This Rittenhouse sports bar has a 16-foot screen and game-day deals, including a $40 appetizer platter stacked with wings, cheese curds, onion rings, and pretzels. Drinks include a $6 citywide (dubbed the “buddy system”) and $10 to $12 cocktails.
Philadelphia’s largest brewery is delivering specials every game day at its Spring Garden Street taproom, including $6 Trash Talks, an IPA made especially for the Eagles season.
A block away from the Girard Avenue BSL station is an Asian-fusion sports bar with a curated craft beer list, several TVs playing the Eagles on game day, and a slew of specials: $1 Jell-O shots, $20 beer pitchers, $10 wings, and more.
Manayunk’s Bayou Bar & Grill has been playing every Eagles game for decades. Enjoy its festive atmosphere, and a weekly Eagles merchandise giveaway all season long.
A Center City open-air beer garden with every Eagles game projected onto a big screen along the wall, accompanied by domestic beers on tap, cocktails, and classic pub grub.
Chinatown’s premier sports bar, Bar-Ly carries a whopping 60 beers on tap with TVs and large screens lining the walls. It gets busy on game day, so call ahead to reserve a table.
Every Eagles game day at the Rook in Manayunk, fans can watch the game while taking advantage of the $12 domestic beer pitchers and a $12 “Philly Special” pulled pork sandwich, with broccoli rabe, roasted long hots, and provolone.
Jaffa Bar will be playing every Eagles game on the bar’s TVs and offering a bevy of game-day specials: $12 black lime pepper wings with herbed labneh; $2 raw bar items (oysters, New Jersey top neck clams, and shrimp cocktail), and $6 french fries with tehina ketchup. Plus, $9 specialty cocktails.
📍1625 N. Howard St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19122, 📞 267-857-9944, 🌐 jaffabarphilly.com
Positano Coast
Aldo Lamberti’s Positano Coast in Old City will offer a rotating menu of specials, with games playing across the bar’s TVs.
Patchwork, nestled inside Rittenhouse’s Hyatt Centric, will play the Eagles games all season long, offering $10 citywide, $11 Super Lyte (Blue Chill), and $13 seasoned crinkle-cut fries.
The vintage and collectible cars stacked behind glass at Fishtown’s new Cannonball club may be the obvious attraction, but founder Chris Allen thinks people need another reason to stick around — and, more important, to come back.
That’s where the focaccia sandwiches come in.
Cannonball, the new private club for car enthusiastsnear the Fillmore, has brought in Focaccia Affair — a fledgling business from Anthony Santucci and Gianluca Mazzarelli — to run its food operations. The club, housed in the sprawling former Morse Elevator Works at 1105 Frankford Ave., combines car storage with social and coworking space, a bar, and a public-facing cafe where you can gawk at classic cars through the window while sipping espresso.
Focaccia Affair’s cafe at Cannonball serves walk-ins.Michael Klein / Staff
The cafe, open to anyone, is where Santucci’s focaccia sandwiches take center stage. He’s offering two sandwiches, plus cookies and coffee, to start.
Santucci, whose family operates Santucci’s Original Square Pizza, developed the bread after moving to San Diego before the pandemic. He had initially considered expanding his family’s pizza business there but began experimenting with focaccia as table bread and as a possible addition to the pizza operation.
The experiment eventually became something else.
Santucci and Mazzarelli, a former VIP manager at Barstool on Sansom Street, were friends whose common bonds include hockey and Italian food. After Santucci returned from a 2024 trip to Italy raving about a focaccia sandwich he had eaten, the two made one using the recipe he had been developing.
Focaccia Affair’s Anthony Santucci (left) and Cannonball founder Christopher Allen in the mezzanine seating area.Michael Klein / Staff
Focaccia Affair grew from there, although quietly. Santucci and Mazzarelli started testing the sandwiches over the last year through small catering orders and by dropping off food for restaurant staffs around Philadelphia.
The business is now making its formal debut on two fronts: at Cannonball, where it’s open daily, and at Barstool Sansom Street in Washington Square West. The Barstool menu, which started Thursday, is more extensive than Cannonball’s: six focaccia sandwiches, crostini (on focaccia), burgers on brioche buns, salads, and appetizers.
Santucci said the bread — which took months of development — is baked after a 48-hour cold fermentation. The result is focaccia with a crispy crust and fruity olive oil flavor. Its sturdy interior holds up to substantial fillings without turning the sandwich into a sloppy mess.
Seating on the mezzanine at Cannonball, 1105 Frankford Ave.Michael Klein / Staff
Cannonball’s cafe will generally offer two or three focaccia sandwiches at a time, rotating them seasonally. Currently, the Muse combines mortadella and stracciatella, a pairing that puts the bread’s structure to good use. (It also survives a test that many sandwiches do not: refrigeration. Gently reheated in a toaster oven the next day, I found the bread just as good.) The Situationship layers sliced turkey, goat cheese, arugula, and fig jam between focaccia, the jam’s sweetness playing against the peppery greens and tangy cheese.
Santucci has begun developing breakfast versions; the first combines soft-scrambled eggs and bacon with house-made Calabrian chile-infused hot honey. Pastries are being developed, too, including a pumpkin cinnamon roll with brown-butter icing.
Cannonball’s members-only bar overlooks the car storage.Michael Klein / Staff
Focaccia Affair also oversees food for Cannonball members and their guests upstairs. Dinner starts at 4 p.m. daily with a six- to eight-item menu modeled on Italian aperitivo culture: smaller dishes designed for sharing rather than conventional entrées. Fresh pastas and additional desserts are expected to join the menu in October.
Allen said food was essential to his plan for Cannonball, because even a spectacular collection of automobiles has limits as a daily attraction.
“You can visit the most amazing car collection in the world, but after 15 or 20 minutes, you want to sit down, have a coffee, and eat a sandwich,” he said. “Most of all, you want a reason to come back tomorrow.”
Focaccia Affair, 1105 Frankford Ave., instagram.com/focaccia_affair. Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays; 8 a.m. until roughly 3:30 or 4 p.m. weekends.
The Philadelphia band fronted by songwriter Adam Granduciel has released its first new music in five years.
The band’s new single, “Who’s That,” is a synth-heavy slow-building rock song that starts off big and only gets bigger as it builds to a powerful crescendo, War on Drugs-style.
Recorded at Granduciel’s studio in a warehouse in Burbank, Calif., the song features the Drugs leader playing nine instruments in a typically layered, meticulous arrangement.
The “Who’s That” recording includes band members Dave Hartley, Eliza Hardy Jones, Jon Natchez, and Anthony LaMarca, with the latter playing drums rather than the band’s usual drummer, Charlie Hall or sometime studio contributor Patrick Berkery.
The song arrives with a video directed by Max Flick that features Granduciel walking the streets of Burbank on a dark night of the soul. At one point, a newspaper blows into his face. At another, he picks up a guitar out of a trash bin and plays a solo.
“‘Who’s That’ was written in 10 minutes somewhere between first coffee and school drop-off,” Granduciel said in a statement.
“Itʼs a song about trying to love yourself despite things we canʼt always control, like the anxiety, depression, and self-doubt that may stand in the way of living the life we truly desire.”
“There’s a lion hangin on my neck, I can tame it, but he might break free,” Granduciel sings. “Who’s that? It’s only my depression, baby.”
Is “Who’s That” the first song from a forthcoming War On Drugs album, which would be the band’s first since 2021’s I Don’t Live Here Anymore?
No word on that yet. The group is going out on a fall tour, though, which begins with two semi-local dates.
On Sept. 18, the Drugs are playing the Queen in Wilmington. That is followed by a gig the next night on the Asbury Park beach at the Sea.Hear.Now festival on a bill that headlined by Mumford & Sons and also includes the Offspring, Chaka Khan, and Shaggy, among others.
The artwork for The War On Drugs’ new song “Who’s That.”Courtesy of the Artist
Since I Don’t Live Here Anymore, The War On Drugs put out a live album, Live Drugs Again, in 2024. Granduciel also produced two standout releases: British singer Sam Fender’s People Watching, which won the prestigious Mercury Prize last year, and Always Been, the Delaware- and Philly-connected solo album by Craig Finn of the Hold Steady.
Last holiday season, The War on Drugs, who were founded in Fishtown in the mid-2000s and won a best rock album Grammy in 2018 for A Deeper Understanding, played a three-night A Drugcember to Remember stand at Johnny Brenda’s. The shows benefited Philly public schools and included guests such as Finn, Joe Walsh, and Kurt Vile.
Bagel shops come in all stripes. There are sandwich shops and schmear shops, shops that will gladly toast your bagel, shops that will refuse to scoop it, and shops with service so curmudgeonly it comes across as endearing.
Call Your Mother, the latest bagel chain to hit Philly, isn’t trying to be any of those. Instead, it is America’s preppiest bagel shop, closer to a viral tween clothing store than a neighborhood deli.
The shop’s newly opened Fishtown location looks like a boutique that just so happens to serve bagels, its bubblegum pink storefront sporting a mural of a cream cheese-and-lox bagel and a latte alongside a school of cartoon fish.
The meatball sub bagel and banana bread-matcha latte at Call Your Mother during its Fishtown soft opening on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Shortlisted as a candidate for Bon Appetit’s best new restaurants list in 2019, Call Your Mother is now synonymous with the private-equity bagel boom: The shop went from a handful of locations in D.C. to 28 across Maryland, Virginia, Colorado, Illinois, and Pennsylvania after the investment firm Invus, an early Cava investor, purchased a stake in the company at the start of 2025.
To be fair, Call Your Mother is making an effort to blend into Fishtown. The inside of its 1500 Frankford Ave. space doubles down on the whimsy with kitschy wares — Phillies bobbleheads, a tiny Liberty Bell, and a bedazzled basketball — procured from local thrift stores such as Thunderbird Salvage. A tasteful merch wall abuts the cash register, where customers can purchase pastel-colored dad hats and tees alongside jars of Fishtown Pickle Project and One Trick Pony, the peanut butter brand that Dana and Moreira also co-founded. (The bathroom, however, sticks out: it’s wrapped in a Lilly Pulitzer-style tropical wallpaper.).
Customer Allison Mattiola wins a free T-shirt after spinning the wheel with Shay Wireman (center) and Annie Leder (right) on the Call Your Mother marketing team. Behind them is a display of kitschy thrift shop finds.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerThe line waiting to place their orders during the soft opening on Tuesday.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerFounder and co-owner Andrew Dana (right) greets customers with COO John Murray.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerFrankford Ave is reflected in the window as customer Jordan Price has her bagel, at the counter seating facing the street.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerWith a backpack insulated dispenser, corporate IT manager Osman Mohamed pours free coffee for customers waiting outside.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerVice president Kristine Denicourt (left) and COO John Murray (right) greet customers leaving with their bagel orders.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerThe all-gender restroom.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerCustomers Ethan Haymes and Carrie Bliss Brooke (right) eat their breakfast bagels from Call Your Mother (rear, right) in the park across the street during their Fishtown soft opening Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Indoor seating is limited, split between a few two-tops and counter seating. That didn’t stop influencers from flooding the space during a soft opening. They were after the money shot: carefully pulling apart a steaming breakfast sandwich to create a dramatic cheese pull.
Neighbors were more skeptical.
“How many bagel and coffee places do we need in Fishtown?” said Gabriela Rivera, a decades-long resident who wandered in Tuesday morning during her morning walk.
It’s a fair question.
Call Your Mother’s first Philly location is smack in the middle of the city’s bagel renaissance. The shop is surrounded by outposts of Philly Style Bagels, Bagels & Co., and Kismet, three local chains. It’s also on a strip of Frankford Avenue that has seen an influx of corporate chains, from the controversial Starbucks across the street to New York City’s venture capital-backed 7th Street Burger, which opened four blocks south last month.
Call Your Mother offers nine bagel varieties, which can be ordered plain, with schmears, or as part of sandwiches.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
“For a long time, [Fishtown] was small businesses … the more big stuff that comes in, I worry the neighborhood is going to become less community-centered,” said Justin Berger, Rivera’s fiancé, who also lives in the area.
Both of them still ordered breakfast sandwiches. They were free, after all.
New York-style with a hint of Montreal
Call Your Mother’s bagels split the difference between New York-style — the classic fluffy-yet-crusty kind — and Montreal-style, which are smaller, sweeter, and denser.
Bagels are made on-site using a recipe developed by Moreira, an Argentinian-born chef who never ate a bagel until building Call Your Mother with her husband. The chain’s are still hand-rolled and kettle-boiled with a simple honey-sweetened dough.
The Sun City bagel at Call Your Mother during its Fishtown soft opening Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Their bagels come in nine flavors, ranging from classic plain and everything and to cheesy garlic bread, maple sea salt and pepper, and salt-crusted pretzel. You can order them with a schmear, though most customers go for the sandwiches, which range from $9 to $15 in Philly.
The chain’s menu includes 19 sandwiches, categorized indiscriminately as those with “breakfast-y vibes” and “lunch-y vibes.” (You can order both all day.) Some fuse Dana’s half-Jewish upbringing with Moreira’s Argentinean palate, like the Jetski, which features sofrito-seasoned brisket and pastrami. Others, like the Don Cesar — literally a grilled chicken Caesar salad on a bagel — are somewhat light, while some are downright decadent. Case in point, the fall special:meatballs, marinara, and mozzarella on a bagel.
Customer Shannelle Palmer takes a photo outside Call Your Mother as she leaves with her bagel order during its Fishtown soft opening Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The Thunderbird (chicken sausage, eggs, American cheese, cheddar cheese, and spicy honey, recommended on a maple sea salt bagel) tastes “like a happy accident,” said Jordan Price, a local content creator who lives in Fishtown. “It reminds me of when all the stuff on a breakfast platter mixes together and gets syrupy.”
Berger, on the other hand, was sure he could taste a bit of the private equity.
“It tasted like it was made somewhere else and shipped here,” he said after biting into his lox and cream cheese on yuca bread, Call Your Mother’s gluten-free bagel alternative.
The Chai Latte and Jetski bagel at Call Your Mother during its Fishtown soft opening Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Price doesn’t mind. The chains are already here, she said. At least this one has bagels she thinks her kids will like.
“There’s literally a Sweetgreen down the street. We are surrounded by so much private equity,” Price said. “If it was the first of that sort of thing in the neighborhood, I’d be more upset.”
Call Your Mother, 1500 Frankford Ave., 215-703-3254, callyourmotherdeli.com. Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday; 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday to Sunday.
