When Amber Ayrer bought her Vineland home 25 years ago, she envisioned growing old there, enjoying lazy afternoons with the windows open and a view of farmland from her front door.
After her adult daughter, Ally, suffered a traumatic brain injury, Amber made the rancher accessible, installing a ramp that aides use to push Ally’s wheelchair outside for her daily walks.
The place had all the makings of a forever home, Amber Ayrer said — until a massive AI data center moved in across the street.
Now, the 71-year-old looks out her front windows at the hulking DataOne facility, a windowless compound surrounded by walls and metal fences.
In recent months, Ayrer said, the 2.4-million-square-foot complex has emitted a near-constant hum. She struggles to sleep, she said, and has suffered from headaches. She turns the TV on to mask the sound.
Residents who live farther away have also complained about the noise, including in a recent lawsuit that was thrown out due to procedural issues. In the suit, residents said the Cumberland County Department of Health measured the hum as higher than 50 decibels a mile away in the middle of the night. A sound higher than 50 decibels is equal to a running refrigerator and is 10 times louder than a typical suburban area at night.
Ayrer, who was not involved in the lawsuit, said she doesn’t want to move, even as she sees neighbors sell their homes to the data center developers.
“In order to get another home, I’d have to get one built” to be accessible, Ayrer said, standing in her entryway. She shrugged, adding, “I need to be here for my daughter.”
The noise had quieted, she noted, since around Sept. 22. That’s when the New Jersey DEP ordered the data center to pay a $1 million fine for running 62 gas generators without the required permits. She isn’t sure why the hum stopped, or whether it was related to the fine.
By late Wednesday, the sound had returned, she said, and she worried it would be even louder when the center is fully operational.
The Ayrers are some of the first Philly-area residents to live in the shadow of a massive AI data center. Only a handful of homeowners live within eyesight of DataOne’s South Lincoln Avenue complex in Vineland.
They used to have more neighbors. But since 2025, DataOne Vineland and LJR Real Estate — which is registered to the address of Northeast Precast, a local company that has partnered with DataOne — have purchased at least five surrounding homes for a combined $3 million, according to online property records.
DataOne and Northeast Precast did not respond to requests for comment about the acquisitions. Several former Vineland residents who sold their homes to these companies could not be reached or declined to comment.
Asked about residents’ concerns, DataOne spokesperson Naomi Rice shared a previous statement, which said in part that the facility was “transitioning to low-emission, quiet fuel cells.” These generate energy through an electrochemical reaction rather than combustion, pistons, or rotating machinery.
Nebius Group, which is operating the center’s internal AI infrastructure, says the fuel cells from Bloom Energy — a company expanding locally — and enhanced sound mitigation will make for a quieter environment than what residents experienced during construction, according to spokesperson Ava Iuliucci.
Charles-Antoine Beyney, DataOne’s founder and chief executive officer, previously said the Vineland center would use “breakthrough” technology to reduce its environmental impact. He said the complex would be a good neighbor, promising a vertical farm — which uses technology to grow crops indoors — to help feed Vineland residents in need.
“Most of the data centers that are being built today suck, big time,” Beyney said in January.
“No freaking way am I going to do what the entire industry is doing … just killing our communities and killing our lungs to make money.”
What it looks like near a South Jersey data center
The Vineland DataOne center, as seen in June, could be finished by the end of the year, developers have said. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The dark exterior of DataOne abuts busy South Lincoln Avenue, towering above homes and farms on the outskirts of Vineland City. In spots, rows of crops extend to the data center’s walls.
On a recent day, the data center appeared abuzz with activity, although residents said it was relatively quiet, as cars and yellow school buses drove in and out of its gated-off parking lot. Giant “no trespassing” signs are prominently displayed.
While the front portion of the data center appeared complete, cranes farther back reached into the sky.
Meanwhile, several large homes across from the entrance — purchased by the data center developers and associates — appeared abandoned, with recycling cans askew in the driveways, indoor and outdoor lights on in the middle of the day, and swing sets sitting empty in the backyards. No one answered the doors.
At another home, a woman shook her head, saying she’d lived there forever and would never speak publicly about the development across the street.
DataOne, a French company that manages advanced data centers, is the owner, operator, and builder of the Vineland data center. Its client, Nebius Group, an Amsterdam-based AI-infrastructure company, operates the center’s internal technology, which fuels Microsoft’s AI tools.
As demand for these facilities has surged, so has the controversy surrounding them. Across the country, proposed complexes have received fierce pushback from nearby residents concerned about environmental, noise, quality-of-life, and property-value impacts.
Several of these facilities have been proposed in the Philadelphia region, from King of Prussia to Limerick. But few plans have been approved.
DataOne Vineland could become the region’s first hyperscale AI data center. The developers have said the complex is partially operational, and they expect it to be complete by the end of the year.
Construction continued on the DataOne center as seen from a nearby home in June.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Theresa Lewis, who has owned her home for 47 years, said living by the data center has gotten worse in recent months.
Stepping outside and seeing the building, “I think of a prison, and I’m the prisoner with the noise,” said Lewis, 74, who compares the sound to a tractor trailer idling outside her home all day and night.
“You get up in the morning and you’re in a foul mood,” Lewis said.
Both she and Ayrer said they have called the Cumberland County Department of Health to report excessive noise in the middle of the night, but doing so comes at a cost. They said they then have to get up, get dressed, turn the lights on, and wait for an official to come take a decibel reading, making for another sleepless night.
Data centers are being built in different communities
The view outside the Keystone Trade Center in Falls Township. Amazon is building a data center inside the private complex.Erin McCarthy/Staff
The scene in Vineland is vastly different from the one outside Amazon’s 2-million-square-foot data center campus in Falls Township, Bucks County, the Philadelphia region’s other facility nearing completion.
That data center sits deep inside the Keystone Trade Center, an industrial hub surrounded by water, with no homes in sight. On a recent day, tractor trailers whizzed by Keystone’s main entrance. Only the transmission wires overhead hinted at what may be inside the private property.
In Vineland, Lewis said she wishes she and her neighbors had a chance to push back against the data center before it was built. Residents were first asked to provide input about the project at a contentious town hall in January, more than a year after the project was approved by city council and months after construction started.
“I don’t want to move — and who is going to pay what the house is worth with that right there?” Lewis said, motioning to the data center across the street. “But I wake up angry.”
She added: “I can’t imagine living next to this for the rest of my life.”
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that the noise from the data center returned Wednesday, according to Ayrer.
Brandon Parish, former owner of the Kibitz Room in King of Prussia and deli manager at the original Cherry Hill location, has filed for personal bankruptcy, months after his Montgomery County restaurant closed amid mounting debts.
Parish owes creditors nearly $1.8 million, including $1.2 million to Hanover Community Bank for a small-business loan, and has about $15,500 in assets, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The 33-year-old King of Prussia resident filed for bankruptcy in early September, five months after he and his father, Neil, were evicted from their storefront in the Valley Forge Center on U.S. Route 202. Their landlord won a judgment for more than $194,000 in rent and fees.
The restaurant was in business for a year.
Brandon Parish sits at a table at the now-closed Kibitz Room in King of Prussia in April 2025.Kriston Jae Bethel / For The Inquirer
The restaurant also owed more than $135,000 to distributor Foods Galore, a debt listed in Parish’s personal bankruptcy filing alongside more than $140,000 owed to other business vendors and related services.
The King of Prussia location’s debts are “going to take some work to clean up,” Brandon Parish said in April, noting the expansive full-service restaurant strayed too far from its over-the-counter roots. “Obviously, it’s been a disaster since day one. Nothing went as planned. But we’ll have to figure all that out.”
Meanwhile, the Cherry Hill Kibitz Room — a separate business that had been owned by Brandon Parish’s mother, Sandy — abruptly closed and filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Neil and Brandon Parish, backed by outside investors, negotiated a deal in bankruptcy court to buy the Cherry Hill equipment and sign a new lease there, though neither Parish would be an owner. The Springdale Road deli reopened in May, with the Parish men behind the counter.
Brandon Parish (right) waits on a customer at the Kibitz Room in Cherry Hill on May 1. Michael Klein / Staff
Brandon Parish’s personal bankruptcy case will not impact operations at the Cherry Hill deli since he is only an employee, according to a spokesperson.
The Kibitz Room has been part of the Parish family for more than two decades.
Brandon grew up at Kibitz, standing on milk crates to wash dishes for his father. Ever since he was a kid, delis were his “comfort zone,” Brandon said in 2025.
A pastrami sandwich at the now-closed Kibitz Room in King of Prussia. Kriston Jae Bethel / For The Inquirer
After Brandon’s mother and father split about a decade ago, his dad moved back to the Baltimore area, and Brandon continued to run the Cherry Hill restaurant with his mom. But he was itching to open his own place, he said.
In 2025, Brandon left his post in Cherry Hill to open a Kibitz Room in the former Michael’s Deli in King of Prussia. The business was an independent venture with his father, who had returned to the Philly area from Baltimore. The senior Parish was in charge of the menu, but his son was the boss: “This is Brandon’s store,” Neil said at the time.
The pair said they were excited to open a full-service restaurant that was about four times the size of the Cherry Hill deli and could seat 200 people.
The Kibitz Room in King of Prussia was about four times the size of the original deli in Cherry Hill, a separate business not owned by Brandon Parish. Kriston Jae Bethel / For The Inquirer
They created a giant menu full of staples like corned beef and pastrami sandwiches, matzo ball soup, knishes, and chicken pot pies, as well as elevated items like garlicky flank steak. They planned tableside chopped liver service.
“I feel like this really encapsulates the Jewish deli as a whole experience,” Brandon Parish said at the time. “The old, the new, the vibe, the aesthetic, the personality, the quality, the menu mix.”
And he scoffed at occasional reports that Jewish delis were going out of style: “I think if you do it well, then you never have to worry about failure.”
The University of Pennsylvania Health System and Independence Blue Cross, the Philadelphia area’s largest insurer, have formed a new company with plansto open at least 18 regional surgery centers.
The for-profit company announced Thursday is part of an effort by Penn and IBX to bring lower-cost procedures closer to patients, while maintaining quality and safety, officialssaid.
For Penn, the venture represents a financial leap, because it means the nonprofit health systemwill intentionally accept significantly lower payments for part of its business.
“We need to work on affordability in healthcare. It’s too expensive. It’s bankrupting families,” Penn health system CEO Kevin Mahoney said.
Medicare and private insurers like IBX who pay the healthcare bills “want to move to less costly settings,” he said,and Penn needs to be ready to capture that business.
IBX’s CEO Kelly Munson emphasized the importance of partnerships to tackle rising healthcare costs. She noted that shifting care to ambulatory surgery centers from hospital departments can generate as much as a 50% discount.
A third investor in the company is Regent Surgical, a Tennessee firm with private equity investors that will manage the local centers. Its tasks include forcing efficiency. Regent already manages 40 sites in 15 states. Penn clinicians will provide services.
Regent’s CEO, Travis Messina, called the new company the first of its kind nationally. “I’ve yet to see one that has involved both a payer, a provider, as well as a management company,” he said.
Key details — such as the for-profit company’s name, the ownership percentages, and the time frame for opening the anticipated facilities — were not disclosed.
The first local facilityis expected to open next year, but officials did not say where.
The Penn-IBX initiative doesn’t fit into the typical playbook for ASCs, said Dan Grauman, a healthcare consultant based in the Philadelphia area.
Usually, physicians are also involved as owners. “They’re part owners of these surgery centers, and they drive the volume,” said Grauman, a managing director at VMG Health, a national healthcare consulting firm.
Asked if non-Penn doctors could be involved in or be investors in the new centers, Penn and IBX said they are evaluating all options for future growth.
The case for more ASCs in the Philadelphia region
Southeastern Pennsylvania already has more than 100 ambulatory surgery centers, many of them specialized in gastroenterology and mainly focused on colonoscopies, state heath department data show.
Yet the region lags the nation in the shift to lower-cost surgery centers.
Data provided by Regent show that in 2023 and 2024 only 33% of ASC-eligible procedures in the Philadelphia region had migrated to the ASCs, compared to 56% nationally. Regent uses data fromKythera Labs, a company that analyzes health insurance claims.
Messina attributed the slower adoptionof surgery centers to the concentration ofphysicians employed by localhealth systems. “That tends to limit the amount of ASC availability in markets across the country,” he said.
Historically, Philadelphia-area health systems tended to concentrate servicesin their hospitals, which have expensive fixed overhead, and in facilities that charge hospital rates. Executives focused on protecting revenue, so they could maintain broad hospital offerings, rather than on offering lower-cost options.
“We’ve been trying to deconstruct away from hospitals for a long time, and this is a natural step on that continuum,” he said.
Penn previously invested an undisclosed amount of money in the Ambulatory Cardiovascular Center of Pennsylvania near King of Prussia. That facility is a partnership that also includes Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia, Cardiovascular Logistics, and SCA Health.
To incentivize more surgery centers and reduce costs for employers, IBX introduced a policy this year that it will only pay for certain procedures if they are done in a low-cost ASC. At the same time, IBX does not force patients to change doctors if their provider does not have privileges at an appropriate ASC.
How Penn could go about opening centers
Mahoney called the initial target of 18 locations the start.
“Eighteen is half of what I want to do. These are not mega hospital buildings,” he said. “They’re going to be convenient. They’re going to be spread throughout the five counties, easy for people to get to, close to their homes.”
The new centers won’t always require new construction, as is typically the case for Penn’s large outpatient centers, such as the one going up in Montgomeryville.
The new ASC company could also acquire existing ASCs or change the billing practice at a Pennsurgery center that currently charges higher hospital rates, Messina said.
A surgery center on the campus of Penn’s Doylestown Hospital closed last year. Penn could relaunch it under the new company.
New Jersey could also see new surgery centers from the Penn expansion.
New Jersey has fined the developers of a data center in Vineland more than $1 million for violating clean-air laws.
State officials say DataOne, a French company that is building the Cumberland County facility, installed and operated 62 large natural-gas power generators without the required DEP permits.
“This enforcement action — by far the largest ever taken against a data center in New Jersey and possibly one of the largest such actions in the nation — sends a clear message that these facilities will not be constructed or operated with impunity in this state,” New Jersey DEP Commissioner Ed Potosnak said in a statement.
During a site inspection July 29, state DEP officials saw the generators, which had not been there during a December visit, according to the enforcement document. Operating such machines — which emit carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and other pollutants — without the required permits violates the New Jersey Air Pollution Control Act.
The state’s announcement comes weeks after an investigation by Floodlight and the Guardian, in which the news outlets used thermal drone footage to show the Vineland data center was operating at least 45 of its generators without permits.
DataOne spokesperson Naomi Race said company executives “disagree with the temporary generator determination” but will apply for the needed permits. Race did not respond when asked whether the company planned to pay the fine.
DataOne may request a hearing on the matter within 20 calendar days, according to the state’s enforcement document.
The Vineland data center is shown during an earlier stage of construction. It sits on a former industrial park.Courtesy of DataOne
As for the facility’s permanent power source, the company is “transitioning to low-emission, quiet fuel cells,” for which they “have the necessary approvals in place,” according to Race. Fuel cells generate energy through an electrochemical reaction rather than combustion, pistons, or rotating machinery.
The Vineland facility is on South Lincoln Avenue, off State Route 55, on the site of a former industrial park. The property was sold to DataOne in a private transaction, the details of which Charles-Antoine Beyney, DataOne’s founder and chief executive officer, previously declined to disclose.
He also has not disclosed a price, saying only that the project would be privately funded. Beyney said he turned down a nearly $6.2 million loan from the city due to community pushback.
Some Vineland residents have voiced concerns about the environmental, financial, and quality-of-life impacts of having a data center in their neighborhood. Opponents also took issue with the fact that DataOne did not seek their input until the facility was already under construction.
Some Vineland residents have put up signs like this one opposing the AI data center under construction nearby. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
At a contentious town hall in January, Beyney tried to assuage these concerns, telling residents they had nothing to worry about because his center would use “breakthrough” technology.
“Most of the data centers that are being built today suck, big time,” Beyney said at the meeting. “No freaking way am I am going to do what the entire industry is doing … just killing our communities and killing our lungs to make money.”
The Vineland facility has been under construction for more than a year. In January, DataOne executives said they expected the project to be complete by November.
Amid the global boom in data center demand, several hyperscale facilities have been proposed in the Philadelphia region, from King of Prussia to Limerick. But few have been approved and begun construction.
The Vineland site is one of them. Once fully operational, it could be the region’s first hyperscale AI data center.
The only other local facility nearing completion is Amazon’s 2 million-square-foot data center campus in Falls Township, Bucks County. As of last month, Amazon was awaiting a decision from the Pennsylvania DEP on permit applications for hundreds of proposed backup natural gas generators.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro shifted his stance on data centers last month and instituted new restrictions, which included the removal of Amazon from the state’s fast-track permitting process.
Tiny Bridgeport, tucked off Route 202 between King of Prussia and Norristown, has long had its food landmarks. Since 1955, it’s been the home of Suzy-Jo Donuts and Franzone’s Pizzeria.
Now comes the polished Cecilia, which opened Monday in the former Taphouse 23, following an extensive renovation by Scott Dougherty and Bruce Goodman, whose holdings include Copper Crow in Horsham and the Blue Bell Inn in Blue Bell (featured in The Inquirer’s 2024 edition of The 76).
Lounge at Cecilia, 266 E. Fourth St., Bridgeport.Michael Klein / Staff
Chef Peter Sherba, the Blue Bell Inn veteran who oversees the group’s kitchens, created Cecilia’s contemporary American menu. Early favorites during weekend previews included a wagyu French dip sandwich; a tuna tataki appetizer, whose seared rare ahi slices are topped with avocado, ponzu, Fresno chilies, and compressed pineapple; pierogies from Ambler’s Pierogie Kitchen napped in braised short rib, Cooper Sharp sauce, caramelized onions, and roasted long hots; and two hearty, autumnal entrees: a beef bourguignon-style short rib called “Meat and Potato” (the potato here is gnocchi), as well as a 12-ounce apple cider-glazed pork chop over Yukon Gold mashed potatoes. There’s brick-oven pizza, too. Prices range from the high teens for appetizers to just over $30 for mains.
The roughly 300-seat restaurant represents a substantial makeover of Taphouse 23, which closed last year. Judi Goodman, who designs the restaurant group’s interiors, shrank the main bar by about 40%, making room for banquettes and lower dining tables. The partners also installed new lighting, wall coverings, furniture, artwork, TVs, and sound equipment.
Cecilia, 266 E. Fourth St., Bridgeport, on Sept. 16, 2026.Michael Klein / StaffLounge at Cecilia, 266 E. Fourth St., Bridgeport, on Sept. 16, 2026.Michael Klein / StaffCouscous at Cecilia, 266 E. Fourth St., Bridgeport, on Sept. 16, 2026.Michael Klein / StaffGarlic and herb bread loaf with warm goat cheese pesto spread at Cecilia, 266 E. Fourth St., Bridgeport, on Sept. 16, 2026.Michael Klein / StaffPierogies with braised short rib and Cooper Sharp sauce at Cecilia, 266 E. Fourth St., Bridgeport, on Sept. 16, 2026.Michael Klein / Staff
An adjoining space has been transformed into what the owners call the Greenhouse, with garage doors that can open in warmer weather. The parking lots and landscaping also were redone.
Taphouse 23 opened in 2014 under Bridgeport businessman Gary Johnson — Judi Goodman’s brother — replacing a joint called the Point. After Johnson died in 2021, his family decided to ease out of the restaurant business, Dougherty said. Cecilia is named in tribute to the Johnson children’s mother.
Dougherty said Cecilia will aim to reach beyond Bridgeport to build its customer base, drawing from Blue Bell, King of Prussia, and Conshohocken — all 10 to 20 minutes away.
Cecilia, 266 E. Fourth St., Bridgeport. Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
As we enter the last quarter of this calendar year, many businesses are budgeting for pay raises in 2027. Most of my clients — and many other small businesses — also offer bonuses, which can provide extra financial incentives to employees.
According to HR consulting firm Korn Ferry, the average pay raise is expected to be about 3.3% next year. Professional services firm Marsh says raises should be about 3.5%.
Given the current rate of inflation, this may barely seem enough to cover the cost of living. But base pay isn’t everything, and bonuses can be a great motivator.
Here is how several area businesses use this tool.
Employees ‘write their own ticket’
At the Pest Rangers, a pest control company based in Hanover Township, CEO Jeff King utilizes several bonus and incentive plans, all with the aim of rewarding workers for reliability, customer service, and sales.
“Our technicians receive baseline bonuses for punctuality, weekly truck inspections, and avoiding customer complaints,” he said. “Employees who sell recurring pest-control plans share a monthly bonus pool based on their portion of total sales.”
The company also offers sales commissions and production bonuses with no cap on earnings, he said.
The company’s “raving customers” program rewards employees who receive exceptional customer feedback, King added. The company paid more than $18,000 in these bonuses in 2025, including more than $6,000 to its top technician.
“This method we’ve formulated allows the employee to write their own ticket. If you want to go above and beyond, you’re being recognized for that behavior,” he said. “We put money directly into the employees’ pockets, rather than spending on traditional marketing.”
Lowering costs while paying good managers what they’re worth
Chickie’s & Pete’s, the popular Philadelphia-based restaurant chain, offers several bonus programs, but focuses its rewards primarily on managers and supervisors.
“We award managers for things like developing hourly employees into supervisors and managers, training incoming managers at designated training locations, and keeping labor and food costs within quarterly budget targets without hurting customer service,” said vice president of operations Peter “Pete” Ciarrocchi III.
“Our plans were designed to help retain the staff that we have and also providing consistent quality services to our families,” he added.
Bonus plans have helped to reduce the company’s labor costs, Ciarrocchi said, but managers make 20% more on average since the restaurants started giving bonuses.
Chickie’s & Pete’s restaurant in South Philadelphia.MONICA HERNDON / Staff Photographer
Bonuses rewarding consistency
Werner Bus Lines in Phoenixville uses targeted bonus programs that are tied directly to the results or behaviors the company wants from each department.
For example, sales employees get paid based on bookings and mechanics get a bonus for punctuality.
“I tried to think about the systems I could design where my employees and the company are happy,” Werner’s president Heath Ochroch said. ”I asked what was the actual behavior that I wanted to see more of in each of these departments and that would be the common thread.”
Jamie Turner, founder and president of Acclaim Autism, focuses bonus programs on the people providing services.
Acclaim Autism’s “frontline workers,” who help provide behavior analysis and therapy, among other services, can earn up to $300 in bonuses per month, Turner said.
“Their bonuses are primarily based on consistently completing scheduled patient-facing hours, maintaining continuity and routine for patients, and meeting quality and compliance standards,” he said.
Turner said it’s critical for their employees to be incentivized to provide consistency in their patient-facing hours, “which our patients need on a regular routine basis.”
Using discretion to reward less quantifiable contributions
Many firms I know like to pay once-a-year bonuses based on management’s discretion.
Employees at PayUSA, a King of Prussia-based payroll processing firm, receive an annual year-end bonus based primarily on their individual performance. President and CEO Christian Hoyt said most established employees receive a bonus equal to at least one week’s salary, with a larger multiple for stronger performers. The largest bonuses are up to 2.5 times the employee’s weekly pay.
“The basic idea is to recognize a full year of hard work with an additional week or more of compensation,” he said. “If an employee worked really hard for 50 weeks, let’s pay them for 53.”
At Newtown-based JS Benefits Group, an employee benefits consulting firm, all 26 employees are eligible for discretionary bonuses, which can be as much as 5% of their salary, or about 2.5 weeks’ pay. Founder and CEO Jennifer Schaefer said there is no fixed formula.
“We generally consider three principal factors: the company’s overall performance, the employee’s individual contribution, and the employee’s years of service,” she said.
Schaefer deliberately keeps the bonuses discretionary because conventional productivity measures do not capture every valuable contribution. She considers how employees serve clients, support colleagues, solve problems, and strengthen the company’s culture.
“A formula can measure revenue, but it can’t always measure the employee who quietly solves problems, earns a client’s trust, or makes the entire team better,” she said.
State regulators on Thursday announced that Bald Birds Brewing Co. violated state wage law at its Montgomery County and Lycoming County locations, and that the state recovered what amounted to several thousand dollars per worker.
But the brewery is taking issue with that description, contending that it voluntarily paid back staff after a payroll delay.
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration says it recovered more than $500,000 in wages and an additional more than $64,000 in damages for Bald Birds workers through an investigation by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.
Brewery owner Joey Feerrar said the business made those payments without “any enforcement action,” and “calculated the penalties itself.” Feerrar says the department “did not recover anything.”
All this took place during what seems to have been a time of change for Bald Birds. The company closed its taprooms in Audubon and King of Prussia over the summer, as it refocuses on manufacturing and distribution, according to the website Breweries in Pennsylvania. That work is done through a partnership with Yards Brewing Co. and Connecticut’s Two Roads, called B3 Beverage Co.
“There was no agreement. No settlement, order, or payment plan was ever proposed or signed,” Feerrar said in a statement.
State regulators said they started receiving complaints from Bald Birds workers in January. They directed the company to pay the late wages in August and the company did so a few days later, a department statement said.
“After reviewing the complaints and conducting an audit of the employer’s records, L&I determined Bald Birds Brewery failed over the course of several months to pay employees on time,” the statement reads.
The total paid was nearly $583,000 to 124 workers including wages and damages. Under the state’s wage law “liquidated damages may be assessed when wages remain unpaid for more than 30 days beyond a regularly scheduled payday,” according to L&I.
The state said many workers went five weeks without paychecks.
A state announcement Thursday put the total at nearly $650,000, but the Department of Labor & Industry corrected its own statement Friday.
“The Department’s irresponsible description of these events has had an immediate and significant impact on the company, including jeopardizing the livelihood of every employee they claim to be championing,” Feerrar said in a statement.
“We worked in good faith and transparency with the Department, striving to do the right thing in a difficult situation, and that diligence was erased in a few keystrokes,” Feerrar said
Bald Birds Brewing Company got its start in 2018 with a location in Audubon. Owner Feerrar joined the B3 partnership with Yards last year.
September is concert season. Summer tours are still going, while fall tours are just getting started. This week in Philly music features both Charli XCX and Rod Wave launching tours in South Philly, plus Lil Wayne in Camden, John Fogerty and Steve Winwood in Atlantic City, Iron Maiden in Hershey, and Margo Price in King of Prussia.
Friday, Sept. 11
Charli XCX
“Yeah, we’re on to the next, I think the dance floor is dead,” Charli XCX sings on the opening track of her new album. “So now we’re making rock music.” The pivot isn’t quite radical for the woman behind the Brat summer of 2024. There is still music you can dance to on Music, Fashion, Film, the whip-smart British pop star’s eighth album, which represents its three titular disciplines with a photo of John Cale, Marc Jacobs, and Martin Scorsese on the cover. What will this tour look and sound like? I can hardly wait to find out. 8 p.m. Xfinity Mobile Arena, 3601 S. Broad St., xfinitymobilearena.com.
Rapper Lil Wayne performs during the Roots Picnic Philadelphia at The Mann in Fairmount Park on Sunday, June 2, 2024.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne has released 14 albums since making his debut in 1999 with Tha Block Is Hot. Six of those releases have been Tha Carter iterations, most recently with Tha Carter VI in 2025. (The New Orleans rapper’s given name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr.) Wayne is calling this concert trek, which has 2 Chainz as the opening act, the “Carter Classics Tour,” meaning he will focus on selections from those six albums, no doubt including cuts like “A Milli,” “Lollipop,” “Mrs. Officer,” and “Money on My Mind.” 8 p.m., Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, 1 Harbour Blvd., Camden, freedommortgagepavilion.com.
Mdou Moctar
Nigerien Tuareg guitar hero Mdou Moctar comes to Bryn Mawr for an outdoor show under a gazebo. This solo show is likely to draw from Tears of Injustice, Moctar’s 2025 reworking of his 2024 electric album Funeral for Injustice. Always intriguing Philly guitarist Tim Motzer opens. 7 p.m., Bryn Mawr Twilight Concerts, 9 S. Bryn Mawr Ave., Bryn Mawr, brynmawrtwilightconcerts.com.
John Fogerty & Steve Winwood
Last year, John Fogerty released Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years, an album of new versions of his old songs. That might have seemed cheesy coming from another artist, but Fogerty spent decades battling to regain control of his music, finally winning ownership of his songs in 2023. For the “Legacy Tour,” the “Proud Mary” and “Fortunate Son” songwriter is teaming up with his late-1960s contemporary Steve Winwood, who has his own legacy with the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, and his “Higher Love” solo career. 8 p.m., Ovation Hall, Ocean Resort, 500 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, theoceanac.com.
Jeff Bradshaw plays the National Anthem before Sixers play Game 6 against the Celtics in a first-round NBA playoffs basketball series Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Philadelphia. Bradshaw will perform as part of the Atlantic City Jazz Festival this weekend.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Friday, Sept. 11 to Sunday, Sept. 13
Atlantic City Jazzfest
This smooth jazz weekend takes place at Sound Waves at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City. On Friday, Memphis sax player Kirk Whalum headlines a show hosted by Patty Jackson. Saturday, Philly trombonist Jeff Bradshaw tops the bill, and on Sunday morning, sax man Reggie E. Harris makes a jazz brunch go down easy. 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m. Sunday at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, 1000 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, theatlanticcityjazzfest.com.
Margo Price plays Concerts Under the Stars in King of Prussia on Saturday.Yana Yatsuk
Saturday, Sept. 12
Ray LaMontagne
Last week at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Ray LaMontagne collapsed on stage, leaving audience members fearing for his life. But no worries: The cause apparently was dehydration, and the New Hampshire-born rustic rock songwriter, who is on tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of his Trouble album, was back on stage the next night in Louisville. Tara Lindeman’s environmentally conscious Canadian folk-rock band the Weather Station opens. 8 p.m., Met Philly, 858 N. Broad St., themetphilly.com.
Spring Garden Sunflower Fest
This third annual free fest — on Fairmount Avenue, not Spring Garden Street — will feature a full day of bands and DJs. Rising indie songwriter Maxwell Stern & the Good Light Band headline, and the lineup includes Celtic folk and Americana group the John Byrne Band, salsa group Un Toque de Cache, and a performance by the youngsters of Rock to the Future. Noon, Fairmount Avenue between 17th and 19th Sts., springgardensunflowerfest.com.
Margo Price
Margo Price got back to her country roots on Hard-Headed Woman, her 2025 album that includes a George Jones cover called “I Just Don’t Give a Damn.” It also offers some life advice with “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down,”which was written with her husband, Jeremy Ivey, and Rodney Crowell, plus a posthumous Kris Kristofferson credit. Price is calling this her “Wild at Heart Tour,” and Ivey opens the show. 7 p.m., Concerts Under the Stars, King of Prussia, 175 W. Valley Forge Road, King of Prussia, concertsunderthestarskop.com.
Saturday, Sept. 12 and Monday, Sept. 14
Rod Wave
Trap-soul rapper and singer Rod Wave — born Rodarius Green — has been rising so high of late it’s no wonder he’s titled his new album and tour “Don’t Look Down.” The St. Petersburg, Fla., native cites Tupac Shakur and Kanye West as influences on one hand, and Ed Sheeran and Adele on the other. He last played an arena show in South Philly in December, and now is back for two more to kick off the tour in support of the 24-track Don’t Look Down, which came out last month. Philly hip-hop singer Francis Leblanc — better known as Friday — is the opener. 8 p.m., Xfinity Mobile Arena, 3601 S. Broad St., xfinitymobilearena.com.
FILE – Sandra Denton, left, and Cheryl James, of Salt-N-Pepa, perform at the IHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles on March 26, 2026. Salt-N-Pepa play the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion on Sunday. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)Chris Pizzello
Sunday, Sept. 13
TLC, Salt-N-Pepa & En Vogue
This triple bill — dubbed the “It’s Iconic Tour” — teams up three acts that were standout women in hip-hop and R&B beginning in the 1980s and into the 2000s. In their prime, TLC included Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, who grew up in the Logan section of Philadelphia and died in a car crash in Honduras in 2002. Some dates on the tour so far have not included TLC’s Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and have gone on with only Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas because Watkins has been ill with what the band’s manager called “a sickle cell crisis.” Hip-hop heroines Salt-N-Pepa, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2025, are co-headliners. Vocal group En Vogue opens. 7:30 p.m., Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, 1 Harbour Blvd, Camden, FreedomMortgagePavilion.com.
Canadian musician Rufus Wainwright returns after speaking to broadcasters outside Christ Church Cathedral for the National Commemorative Ceremony in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, in Ottawa, Ontario, on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. He plays three nights at City Winery Philadelphia next week. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)Justin Tang / AP
Tuesday, Sept. 15
Iron Maiden
British heavy metallers Iron Maiden was formed in East London in 1975. Now the Bruce Dickinson-fronted band is on its 50th-anniversary “Run for Your Lives World Tour,” which kicked off last year and makes its way to Hershey on Tuesday. Megadeth opens. 7:15 p.m., Hersheypark Stadium, 100 W. Hersheypark Drive, Hershey, hersheyentertainment.com.
Rufus Wainwright
Rufus Wainwright is always up to something interesting. There’s Hadrian, his opera about the last day of a Roman emperor, Dream Requiem, the singer and pianist’s work based on a text by Lord Byron, and recent albums like Unfollow the Rules in 2020 and Folkocracy in 2023, as well as projects like Rufus Does Judy (Garland), Rufus Does (Kurt) Weill. (How about Rufus does Kurt Vile? Now there’s an idea.) On Tuesday, Wainwright begins a three-night stand in which he can do whatever he wants. 7:30 p.m., City Winery Philadelphia, 990 Filbert St., citywinery.com/philadelphia.
Penn Medicine announced a $50 million gift from Stanley C. Middleman on Thursday to support early-stage research and will name a recently expanded building at 3600 Civic Center Blvd. in the businessman’s honor.
Income from the fund will be used to accelerate work on therapies for cancer, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, and other serious conditions, with a goal ofshortening the path from the laboratory to the market, Penn said.
“I was born and raised in Philadelphia, and I’m proud to support Penn Medicine and the extraordinary work being done there to advance medicine and improve people’s lives,” Middleman said in a news release provided to The Inquirer in advance.
The Middleman Center “will bring together the people and ideas” to support new approaches to treatment and scientific discovery, he added.
The $50 million gift marks his first to Penn. He previously donated undisclosed amounts to his alma mater, Temple University, and to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which named the main patient tower at its King of Prussia hospital for Middleman’s family.
Middleman founded privately owned Freedom Mortgage Corp. in South Jersey in 1990 and grew it into one of the nation’s largest lenders before moving the company’s headquarters to Florida in the early 2020s.
The building being renamed for Middleman underwent a $376 million, 217,000-square-foot expansion that opened last year. Itadded seven floors, including as many as 37 labs. Penn originally opened the building in 2018 with eight floors and 250,000 square feet of office space, which has also been renovated.
The new floors house the Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Penn and the High-Throughput Institute for Discovery, a specialized lab testing patient samples to help make diagnoses and guide treatments. The Middleman Center also includes a Biosafety Level 3 lab, which is specially equipped to handle infectious disease specimens.
“Anchoring the western edge of Penn Medicine’s campus, the Middleman Center is uniquely positioned to bring together biomedical researchers, physicians, medical students, patients, and experts from engineering, business, and other areas of the University of Pennsylvania,” said university president J. Larry Jamesonin the news release.
“This creates an extraordinary environment for discovery — not just sparking ideas but seeing them all the way through to the moments where lives change for the better, as a result of discovery,” he said.
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.
