A new secret ‘speakeasy’ omakase | Let’s Eat

Philly’s sushi scene is expanding. Read on to learn about a newcomer tucked away in Fishtown. Also this week: We offer fun for you hard-core apple fans, tell you about a clever idea in the grocery world, and share details of a win-win deal to merge two bagel companies.

⬇️ Read on for a quiz and restaurant news, including word of a restaurant’s closing after 56 years.

— Mike Klein

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The snap of fall means one thing to fruit fans: It’s apple-picking season. Hira Qureshi and Nick Vadala have rounded up 11 orchards to please pickers, whether they’re novices or more hard-core.

Federal rules stipulate that hot food can’t be purchased with SNAP benefits. This means “kids can buy Skittles for breakfast, but not scrambled eggs,” said Alex Imbot, who, with fellow recent Penn grad Eli Moraru, has developed The Community Grocer, combining a grocery store with a kitchen that cooks the food on the spot for no extra charge. Alfred Lubrano explains how this novel concept will skirt the rules — both legally and creatively.

Philly’s omakase scene — the fixed-price sushi tastings — is on a roll, all right.

Opening next week will be Sushi Suite, one of two concepts from New York’s SimpleVenue on its way to Philadelphia. SimpleVenue sets up restaurants inside underutilized spaces, which helps on the rent. Sushi Suite, which debuted in 2019 in a Times Square hotel room, is coming to the former Omakase by Yanaga at 1832 Frankford Ave. in Fishtown. (This is the omakase room tucked behind the currently operating Izakaya Fishtown, managed by Glu Hospitality. It was overseen by chef Kevin Yanaga before he decamped to Pod.)

Philly’s eight-seat Sushi Suite, led by veteran sushi chef Mitsutaka Harada (ex-Morimoto, Ginza, Zama, Sushi Hatsu), will do three, 90-minute seatings a night, with 17 courses for $185 a head. Drinks are additional. They’ve gussied up the room with a Roaring ‘20s-speakeasy feel. (Reservations and prepayment via OpenTable.)

SimpleVenue cofounder Michael Sinensky tells me that they’re looking at locations in Midtown Village and Rittenhouse for the more casual Sushi by Bou that they founded in 2016 with sushi chef David Bouhadana. Bou (pronounce it as if you’re scaring someone) offers a 12-piece experience for $60 — in and out in an hour.

Philly’s first one-hour omakase opened last spring: Kichi, a BYOB in Midtown Village, which charges $95 for 15 courses, including caviar, A5 wagyu, and uni. Also, stay tuned for Yuhiro, which is setting up at Susquehanna Avenue and Blair Street in Fishtown, just two blocks from Sushi Suite.

Schmear It has bought out Philly Bagels, creating a win-win for the buyer (David Fine of Schmear It acquires a bakery) and the seller (Aaron Wagner of Philly Bagels gets a more-laid-back life on his new Cape May farm). Fine tells me that changes to the popular shops will be gradual.

Shell yes, oyster fans. South Jersey’s Sweet Amalia Market will be the next pop-up guest on the rooftop at South Philly’s Bok Bar, as chef Melissa McGrath will be in residency from Oct. 4-29 to wind down Bok’s season. Menu will include Sweet Amalia oysters with lemon and mignonette; grilled shrimp cocktail with cherry pepper cocktail sauce and lemon; cabbage and apple salad with cheddar peppercorn dressing and pumpkin seeds; fried mushroom sandwich with sauerkraut and mustard; a burger topped with American, tartar, pickles, onion & lettuce; and a most intriguing creation: fries topped with clam chowder, bacon, and red long hot sauce. Also food-related at Bok: Pat’s King of Steaks will serve cheesesteaks at what’s billed as Brittany Lynn and the Drag Mafia’s The Undead Dance Party on Oct. 31.

Gearo’s 56-year run in Northeast Philadelphia has ended. Joe Gearo founded it in 1967 as a pizzeria on Bustleton Avenue near Longshore Avenue. He sold it a few years later to Ronald Kouch, who in the mid-1980s expanded to Welsh Road near Old Bustleton (taking over the former Robin Hood Diner) and adapted a full-fledged Italian menu with a bar. The original shop closed a few years back, and last weekend, Welsh Road closed as well. Kouch declined my offer to talk. I hear that he has an agreement of sale with a nearby restaurateur who plans a Middle Eastern halal restaurant.

Fairview, which replaced the Belgian Cafe at 21st and Green Streets in Fairmount four years ago, has closed. Investor Fergus Carey suggests that the bar simply ran out of gas.

Breezy’s Deli & Market is coming to the new apartment building at 23rd Street and Washington Avenue in Point Breeze. “A nicer bodega” is how chef Chad Durkin describes Breezy’s, across from his Porco’s Porchetteria and Small Oven Pastry Shop. Stocked with deli meats, sandwiches, smoothies, and other locally sourced foods, he calls it “a showcase and a beacon for local businesses, as well as for ourselves.” That means Small Oven’s goods. There will be an event space, too. He’s hoping to open toward the end of the year.

Chef Evan Snyder, late of Redcrest Kitchen, is popping up seemingly everywhere in advance of his restaurant. He has a name: Emmett. Has a menu concept: Medisraeli, combining Israeli cuisine with French, Italian, North African, and other Middle Eastern flavor. Just needs is a location, for which he says he is close to inking a lease. In the meantime, Snyder, 31, a graduate of Orlando’s Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando, will be doing a collaborative dinner on Oct. 14 with chef Alex Yoon at Little Fish; a collab on Oct. 19 with the forthcoming Paffuto at Herman’s Coffee; a takeover of Braza’s BBQ Chicken on Oct. 21; pop-ups on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 at chef Alex Garfinkel’s Balboa Catering; and a collab dinner Nov. 8 with chef Christopher Kearse at Forsythia. (Shown above is his lamb belly shaslik with burnt eggplant, toum, pickles, and fry bread from a pop-up earlier this month at Elma in Fishtown.) Details are on Emmett’s Instagram.

That’s not just any shade of blue adding a bold pop to the look of At the Table’s roomier, new location at 118 W. Lancaster Ave. in Wayne, a half-mile from its longtime home in Louella Court. It’s Benjamin Moore’s Champion Cobalt, matching the door of French Laundry in Napa. Executive chefs Alex Hardy and Tara Buzan-Hardy — offering contemporary French cuisine, with an a la carte menu (mains $38-$60) as well as a six-course $150 tasting menu — are set up in the former Landis Cafe with three times the indoor seating and a four-stool oyster bar, plus an additional 25 seats outside on a patio.

With the move, At the Table has dropped the BYOB from its name, as it is now partnered with Imprint Brewing Co., lending its license and managing a new beverage program (six cocktails, four beers). BYOB will also be permitted; in fact, it’s now BYOB only until the license is final. Easy: There’s a Fine Wine & Good Spirits store right across the street.

Kitchen fans will want to step back for a peek on the way to the loo. It’s majorly tricked out, as it’s also used by Buzan-Hardy’s catering service, To the Table. There’s also an oversized digital wall clock, a macabre nod to the TV series The Bear.

Shown above, from the tasting menu, is the Hudson Valley duck breast with malted parsnip, baby leek, puffed barley, variations of orange, and red currant bordelaise.

At the Table, 118 W. Lancaster Ave., Wayne. Hours: 5-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

Char & Stave, the roastery and full-service café-by-day/cocktail bar-by-night from Jared Adkins of Bluebird Distilling, launches its new location Sept. 29 at Germantown and Highland Avenues in Chestnut Hill. Ceremonial ribbon-cutting will be at 8 a.m., with free 12-ounce hot drip coffees all day. This is a sibling of the one in Ardmore, combining a bar, coffee shop, events space (quizzo, live music, open-mic poetry, etc.) and retail of specialty beans, merch, and Bluebird spirits. Hours: 7 a.m.-11 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m.-midnight Friday, 8 a.m.-midnight Saturday, and 8 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday.

🧑🏿‍🍳Free BBQ in the ‘burbs. PayMore, which buys and sells used electronics items, is marking its grand opening at 215 Lancaster Ave. in Malvern from noon-2 p.m. Sept. 29 and 30 with a free barbecue lunch by chef Keith Taylor. This will be the first culinary event for Taylor since June 2022, when he was injured in a horrific accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Taylor previously owned and operated Zachary’s BBQ & Soul in Norristown. His wife, Elizabeth, oversees Zachary’s BBQ Catering, which will prepare smoked brisket and Carolina pulled chicken sandwiches, served with potato salad and Caribbean ginger slaw.

🥯Kismet Bialys and Kalaya will collaborate for two days of Thai-inspired bialy specials at Reading Terminal Market on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. The varieties: Thai chili bialy dough filled with chili jam schmear, shrimp, scallion, onion ($12); five-spice bialy dough filled with braised pork belly, pickled mustard greens, cilantro ($10); standard dough bialy filled with butterfly pea flower whipped ricotta, ground chicken, sweet radishes, garlic, shallot ($10).

🚒 Fire has struck The Bar(n), a popular West Philadelphia dive bar, and Ximena Conde points out that it happened only days after city inspectors reported violations.

🍳 Sunday brunch is back at Lacroix Restaurant at the Rittenhouse Hotel, after being shut down since March 2020. Executive Chef Eric Leveillee and his team greet guests in the kitchen from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. for a five-item carving station, plus self-serving stations including a raw bar. It’s $125 per.

🍴 South Street Headhouse District’s first-ever South Street Smorgasbord, through Oct. 1, covers not only restaurants but other food and beverage businesses. List of participants can be found here.

Food personality and author Jake Cohen will be in town Sept. 28 for a Q&A with Mike Solomonov. What is Solomonov’s affectionate nickname for Cohen?

A) Prince of Bagels

B) King of Nosh

C) The Dalai Lama of Deli

D) King of Kugel

Find out if you know the answer.

We are noticing a sharp uptick in Korean-flavored products in grocery stores as well as an emerging market for affordable Korean cuisine throughout the Philadelphia region. Are there any trendy Korean restaurants you recommend us trying? — Al Jordan

These are fine times for Korean cuisine around here. Downtown, there’s the inspired bar food at SouthGate at 18th and Lombard, the traditional dishes at Koreana on 19th near Chestnut (with a new branch on the way soon at 1543 Spring Garden), the classics from Buk Chon on Chestnut near Second, the bowls from Rice & Mix on 12th near Walnut, and the fast-food stylings from Crunchik’n on 11th near Locust and on Temple’s campus. For a higher-end experience, you have Seorabol on Spruce near Broad (with its original in Olney) and Dae Bak upstairs at Chinatown Square on Race Street near 10th. All solid performers.

For “trendy,” I’d send you to the burbs. There’s Dolsot House in Cherry Hill, which will expand soon to Mount Laurel. Critic Craig LaBan is high on SALT Korean BBQ (shown above), a stunning spot with tabletop cooking in a North Wales shopping center.

📮 Have a question about food in Philly? E-mail your questions to me at mklein@inquirer.com.

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