Craig LaBan’s 21 favorite soups | Let’s Eat
Also this week: Inside the edgy new Roxanne, the deal behind Jim’s Steaks’ comeback, and the sparkling, new Cyrenity Sips Wines.
Soup is one remedy for the winter’s chill, and critic Craig LaBan shares 21 favorites. Also this week: Craig reviews an edgy new restaurant, the burbs are home to a Black- and female-owned winery, and Jim’s Steaks will be coming back bigger.
Just in: The list of semifinalists for the 2023 James Beard Awards. Some surprises!
⬇️ Read on for a quiz and restaurant news.
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These soups bowled over Craig LaBan
Philadelphia is rich in soups that tell personal histories and transport you to a distant corner of the world with each spoonful, writes critic Craig LaBan. He shares 21 fine cold-weather heat-ups, from Rittenhouse to the Far Northeast to South Philadelphia to Collingswood (home of one of my own favorites, the “summer soup” from Sapori, shown above.) 🔑
A review of Roxanne, and a look at three exciting vegan restaurants
Check out this dish of pistachio ice cream, chicken liver, and gooseberry (above) at the new Roxanne, the South Philly BYOB that Esquire calls “Philly’s Weirdest Supper Club” as chef Alexandra Holt playfully, edgily breaks the rules. Craig writes that the food so far has been more reliably “interesting” than “delicious.” 🔑
Vegan restaurants also hit Craig’s radar lately. Here’s a look at what he calls the three most exciting exclusively plant-based kitchens in Philly right now. 🔑
How about a rundown of stellar vegan dishes at local restaurants? Craig offers 19 of them. 🔑
Turning her hobby for wine into her own winery
At Cyrenity Sips Winery, Shakia Williams wants to “open up people’s minds to the diversity of wine.” She’s brought her passion to Hatboro, where her winery is one of the few in the United States owned and operated by a Black woman. Below is her La Peach, whose dose of glitter adds a festive touch.
Openings: High Fidelity Bakery and Kismet Bialys
High Fidelity Bakery, the vegan, gluten-free specialist that started as a pandemic pop-up, has graduated to a brick-and-mortar space in South Philly, writes Jenn Ladd. Though the doughnuts are popular, Brady Hatin offers more than just desserts.
Kismet Bialys, the offshoot of a pandemic pop-up, has opened at Reading Terminal Market, baking the stuffed rolls that are a first cousin of the bagel.
Restaurant report
The 100 block of Chestnut Street in Old City — the street paved with axle-bending, stiletto-cracking Belgian blocks — has long been a mini-United Nations for its dining diversity. One recent-comer is Malooga, a homespun BYOB dishing Middle Eastern cooking from Yemeni-born chef Mohammed Aqlan.
Malooga, named after the softer-than-pita Yemeni bread, opened in 2021 but underwent a sale before reopening late last year under Omar Alkahily, a Yemeni-born doctoral candidate at Temple University, and Mohammed Tashkandi, a Saudi-born project manager at Jefferson Health.
There’s low seating on cushions on a platform in the window for a more communal dining experience, or snag a bare-topped table. Aqlan’s lamb haneeth ($26.49, shown above), tender after hours in a cooker with hawaij, is the big draw, as are the creamy, garlicky hummus shawarma (topped with chicken) and the foul, a bubbling pot of fava beans, sauteed onions, and tomatoes.
Figure on less than $70 for two.
Malooga, 134 Chestnut St. Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.
Briefly noted
Matt Groark, the Washington Township teacher behind Groark Boys BBQ, will be on season two of Fox’s Next Level Chef. Premiere will follow the Super Bowl on Feb. 12.
Speaking of TV: Jose Garces, a onetime Iron Chef, will be on season four of Food Network’s Tournament of Champions, premiering Feb. 19.
Brewerytown Food Hall, with seven dining concepts, will be opening this spring at 31st and Master Streets from Glu Hospitality. There will be old-school games and seating for 300 people.
Hearthside, the Collingswood BYOB, plans to go the fixed-price route in March. Menu will change biweekly, and prices will reflect the selections.
Sooo Delicious Soul Food Cafe, which opened last spring at 1112 Locust St., is closed for now, as owner Aminah McDaniel has had a baby and put the business on hiatus. She is not sure where or when it will reopen.
Forsythia, Christopher Kearse’s Old City bistro, is closed for what could be a couple of weeks due to a flood.
Little Pete’s Steaks, on State Road at Unruh in the Tacony section for 40 years, has closed due to the Senteneri family’s retirement.
To address two burning questions from South Philly readers:
Ippolito’s Seafood at 13th and Dickinson Streets in South Philadelphia, closed since summer 2018, is finally on the way back. Sammy D’Angelo of parent company Samuels Seafood told me that the store is now being used as a commissary for Giuseppe’s Market, at the Samuels wholesale plant at 3400 S. Lawrence St. He said he is looking for staff so Ippy’s can reopen “by summer.”
The northeast corner of Ninth and Catharine Streets, sharing the block with Angelo’s Pizzeria, Sarcone’s Bakery, Ralph’s, and the forthcoming MAWN, will become a location of Buena Vista, a rapidly expanding Mexican cantina with four locations now in the western suburbs. Opening date is TBD. (You may recall that Angelo’s was supposed to take this spot, the former Wishing Well/Bar One, but that 2021 deal was scuttled.)
Have a question about a restaurant opening or closing? Maybe an orange liquor-license sign? Just ask. And check the list of 2023 restaurant openings. 🔑
Scoop of the week
When Jim’s Steaks comes back from fire damage, the South Street institution will be nearly twice the size. Jim’s owner Ken Silver bought Eye’s Gallery next door. The revived Jim’s, now on target for Labor Day, will have something it never had before: ground-floor seating. But still no fries.
That quiz I promised you
A bar in Center City has been decorated from top to bottom to celebrate the Eagles’ road to victory. Which bar?
A) Fergie’s
B) Tinsel
C) Hop Sing Laundromat
D) The Library Bar at the Rittenhouse
Hit ’em low, hit ’em high — and get the answer here.
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