Mapping out our favorite hoagies, and more | Let’s Eat
The return of Tequilas, a most entertaining pasta class, where to eat before a show, and would you try a 40-pound tamale?
Not only do we know where the best foods are in the area, we will show you how to find them. Read on for our handy new maps for hoagies, burgers, and delivery cheesesteaks.
Also in this edition:
That’s eat-ertainment: Pasta class and a five-course dinner add up to fun.
Dinner ideas: Where to eat before the curtain? We’ve got you.
D.C. dining: A guide to the District with Philadelphians in mind.
Dining news: Late-night pizza and cheesesteaks are coming to Rittenhouse, and we have first word of a new Japanese restaurant in Fairmount.
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We’ve been scouring the region recently to find the best foods in a number of categories. Here is our first batch: hoagies, burgers, and delivery cheesesteaks. More are on the way. Have an idea for a category? Let me know about it and be sure to include a suggestion or two (and tell me why it’s great).
Today’s map collection:
🗺️ Hoagies: We have two dozen of them. I’ll let you figure out my favorite.
🗺️ Delivery cheesesteaks: Not all cheesesteaks can survive a ride from the restaurant to your door. Here are 10 that delivered.
🗺️ Burgers: The 18 most supremely satisfying burgers in Philly, from Fountain Porter’s simple $6 beauty to Caletta’s $24 symphony of fat and funk.
🗺️ The 76: Our compendium of the 76 restaurants in the Philadelphia region that we think really matter.
Why did it take Tequilas two full years to bounce back after a fire? Read on and I’ll let the Suro family explain it all. There’s a haunting part to this story.
There’s an especially good reason to get to Cantina La Martina in Kensington on Sunday, along with a dozen good friends: It’s probably your only chance to try a 40-pound tamale in Philadelphia. Jenn Ladd gets inside the zacahuil.
Natalia Lepore Hagan’s Midnight Pasta parties seamlessly blend a pasta-making workshop with a well-paced five-course meal. Jenn Ladd likens the experience to a 2½-hour interactive play.
As this season’s theater lineup in the Philadelphia region promises an exciting slate of musicals, smart plays, dramas, classic crowd-pleasers, and a world premiere, Rosa Cartagena and Hira Qureshi pair the productions with appropriate dinner choices.
Scoops
Late-night pizza is coming to Rittenhouse. Brothers Andrew and Michael Cappelli, who own Pizzeria Cappelli — popularly known as Gay Pizza — next door to their Cappelli cigar store (209 S. 13th St.), are crossing Broad for their second shop. They’re taking the long-gone Starbucks at 15th and Latimer Streets with 15th St. Pizza & Cheesesteaks; target opening is April 15. Given the recent success of new neighbors Cellar Dog and Garage, they’re aiming at a late-night crowd (5 p.m. to 3 a.m. daily) with a simple menu of New York-style slices, house-cut steaks on Sarcone’s rolls, and fries.
Javelin will be a new Japanese restaurant and sushi bar in Fairmount: Albert Zheng is transforming his recently closed Engimono Sushi, which he opened eight years ago at 1811 Fairmount Ave. The 50-seater, due to open in April, will have a full cocktail and wine program run by Richie Tray of the Library Bar at the Rittenhouse, who is consulting. Besides sushi, sashimi, and maki, the menu will include a crab and avocado tower, seared Japanese A5 wagyu, and miso seabass. Zheng is also an investor in Ogawa Sushi & Kappo in Old City.
Tired Hands Brewing Co.’s original BrewCafe location at 16 Ardmore Ave. in Ardmore has been reimagined as Ardmore Brewing Co. Soft openings will be today and Thursday from 4 to 9 p.m. with a grand opening planned for noon to 10 p.m. Friday. Founder Jean Broillet IV said that rather than pushing the envelope, the new pub will be “something comfortable, inviting, yet very fresh while staying true to the spirit of what made this space so special.”
Revolution Taco, the Rittenhouse Square food-truck-turned-taqueria-café, is opening its first-ever offshoot location at the Concourse at Comcast Center on Thursday. Chef-owner Carolyn Nguyen calls it Revolution Taco Express. It’s a fast-casual format, with build-your-own taco/bowl/burrito options alongside her specialties. It will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays; on Thursday, each order gets a comped chips and salsa. Also on the way at the concourse (1701 JFK Blvd.) are restaurateur Kenny Poon with Kenny’s Wok, a pan-Asian concept prepared by robots, as well as a second location of Pagano’s Market & Bar, with prepared foods.
F1 Arcade has set a May 29 debut at 1330 Chestnut St., its third U.S. location. The old West Elm store will have a total capacity of 550 guests and cover 19,200 square feet, complete with 80 Formula 1 racing simulators, lots of high-top dinner seating, and an illuminated 43-foot bar. Vroom.
Restaurant report
The Fort Kitchen & Bar. Fort Washington is not exactly a restaurant destination, perhaps because Ambler is less than 10 minutes away. You might argue that every town needs at least one neighborhood bar-restaurant that’s suitable for lunch, a drink and apps over happy hour, dinner on nights you don’t feel like cooking, and possibly a late-ish-night snack.
Enter the Fort, which opened a few months ago in what was a Friendly’s on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the Regional Rail station. The crew from Jasper’s Backyard, a similarly family-friendly spot in Conshohocken, is behind the smart-looking bar, loaded with TVs and separated from the dining rooms by glass.
The Fort has a something-for-everyone menu, studded with vegan and a few gluten-free items. It includes smash burgers (available as singles, doubles, and triples), flatbreads, a fried chicken sandwich, and a warm grain bowl with farro, rice, roasted butternut squash, spinach, mushroom, and grape tomato (what you see above was $16, plus $12 for the salmon — and enough food for lunch and dinner).
After 5 p.m., there are a few entrees such as rigatoni Bolognese and eggplant ravioli (both based on pastas from Sorrentino’s, a shop in Ambler), plus the likes of airline chicken, ribs, and blackened salmon. Top ticket is filet, served with harissa-tomato butter over crispy potatoes, blistered cherry tomatoes, and asparagus. There are $12 and $15 cocktails and a decent wine list. Drawback is the draft beer selection — just Miller Lite, Levante Cloudy IPA, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, and Guinness on tap. There are cans and bottles, but this is more of a Stateside crowd, anyway.
The Fort Kitchen & Bar, 325 Pennsylvania Ave, Fort Washington. Hours: 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m.- 9 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday. Wheelchair accessible.
Briefly noted
Headed to Washington? Kiki Aranita offers a restaurant guide, with specific tips to those who are familiar with Philadelphia restaurants. Expect higher prices in general and more smoke and mirrors.
RIP, chef Philippe Chin. The peripatetic chef was the toast of the town in the 1990s, zipping around on his Harley.
Free eggs: On Friday, Christa Barfield, Chester County’s FarmerJawn, will give away 500 dozen eggs to 500 households from New York to Philadelphia, along with 100 cuts of lamb. (A month ago, she gave 3,600 eggs to 300 households in New York and Philadelphia.) Barfield and her team will stop at the Melton Center at 500 E. Market St. in West Chester at 1 p.m., then arrive at around 2:15 p.m. in front of Yard Out Fitness (6139 Germantown Ave.). At each location, she’ll give away 100 dozen eggs and 50 cuts of lamb. As she did during February’s giveaway, Barfield said these locations “represent resilience, culture, and community.”
Cheesesteaks, as spectacle: On Sunday, Delco Steaks of Broomall will mark National Cheesesteak Day with Cheesesteak Bowl at Marple Public House, 31 N. Sproul Rd., Broomall. Contestants will try to eat as many Delcos — the foot-long cheesesteak featuring 10 ounces of ribeye plus Cooper sharp on a seeded roll — as they can in 10 minutes. It starts at 2 p.m. A championship belt, beer, gift cards, and cash will go to the winner, and proceeds of sales from the Cheesesteak Bowl and National Cheesesteak Day (March 24) will benefit Luciano’s Light Foundation. Potential contestants can register via DelcoSteaks.com.
Looking ahead: The Manayunk StrEAT Festival will return to Main Street on April 27 with more than 70 food trucks and food vendors.
❓Pop quiz
The Girl Scouts recently were sued. What was the crux of the complaint?
A) the word “Brownie” is triggering people sensitive to chocolate
B) the girls were being kept up too late at Camporee
C) claims of heavy metals and pesticides in cookies
D) antitrust violations — the Boy Scouts wanted a piece of the action
Find out if you know the answer.
Ask Mike anything
Do you have an update on the Roy Rogers restaurant that’s supposed to open in Cherry Hill? — Donna S.
Our 1980s fast-food flashback is fast approaching. A rep of the Frederick, Md., company told me that the Roy Rogers is now expected to open — Fixins Bar and all — in early May at 614 Haddonfield Rd., a former PDQ drive-through.
📮 Have a question about food in Philly? E-mail your questions to me at mklein@inquirer.com for a chance to be featured in my newsletter.
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