Bobby Flay returns to Atlantic City | Let’s Eat

How could we keep Bobby Flay from Atlantic City? We’ll answer this and other food questions this week: How are communities solving the long-pressing need for fresh food in North Philadelphia? Have you voted for your favorite food and drink places? And, one aimed at beer and pretzel fans: Is Butter a Carb?

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❓ But first, a quiz.

Thursday is the 10th Philadelphia edition of Dîner en Blanc, the popular pop-up picnic. We don’t know this year’s location, of course. Do you recall where they held the very first one?

A.) Swann Fountain

B.) I-95, where it meets 676

C.) The Navy Yard

D.) City Hall courtyard

Think you know? Click here.

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— Mike Klein

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay has been part of the Atlantic City scene since 2006, when he opened Bobby Flay Steak at the Borgata. But then he and the casino called it quits, and it closed at the end of last summer. Flay didn’t cash out entirely. Last week, he cut the ribbon on Bobby’s Burgers at Harrah’s Resort, just two minutes away. Although steaks and burgers are two vastly different concepts, BB keeps him in the public eye as he will make appearances from time to time.

Bobby’s Burgers, across from Starbucks and with food court-like seating, is an update to his Bobby’s Burger Palace brand, which had locations in Philly (from 2010-2020) and Cherry Hill (from 2011-2016). In addition to burgers, fries, and shakes, this one serves a brunch burger (egg, bacon, American cheese), draft beer, and canned cocktails, and is geared toward takeout.

Borgata, meanwhile, recently filled the Bobby Flay Steak location — on the casino floor next to the BetMGM Sportsbook — with B Prime, another luxe meatery. Menu features a 32-ounce bone-in ribeye from butcher Pat LaFrieda, an 18-ounce Wagyu chateaubriand, and what it calls a Taste of Japan steak flight, with three 1-ounce samples of beef (Saga, true A5, and olive-fed) priced at $100 a person. There’s also a vegan cauliflower “steak” topped with pistachio vinaigrette, radish, and crispy shallots.

Check the Flay news, including a video, here.

A century ago, small mom-and-pop grocery stores dotted every Philadelphia neighborhood. But that would all change by the 1960s, as grocery executives opted to follow middle-class white families on their flight pattern to the suburbs. My colleague Lynette Hazleton presents a deeply researched study of how community members have fought a six-decade battle to bring full-service supermarkets to the city’s poorest areas. In North Philadelphia, there’s been a recent victory.

Puerto Rican pride is everywhere at Boricua #2, a festive newcomer in a Port Richmond strip mall from siblings Hector and Jazmin Serrano. Critic Craig LaBan takes us inside, beyond the selfie wall and merchandise, to share word of hot pasteles, creamy coquito, and “superbly tender” roast pork from a secret family recipe. 🔒

Good news for caterers Sean and Nikeah Green, who bounced around a lot during the pandemic with their business, BBQ Unlimited, and lost their home last spring. This month, they have moved into an apartment and sales are picking up. Sean Green praises God.

How’s this for a beer collab: Evil Genius and Auntie Anne’s. The new Is Butter a Carb? is made with pretzels in the mash. Tastes like a mall food court.

It’s not easy to find Mexican breakfast in the ’burbs outside of Norristown and parts of Chester County. Jose Gonzalez is changing all that at his growing, casual Las Frida’s Mexican Kitchen, which keeps morning hours at its flagship in Maple Glen, as well as the newer Lansdale and brand-new Doylestown spots. Frida is painter Frida Kahlo, whose visage lines the walls.

You can roll in as early as 9 a.m. in Maple Glen (9:30 at the others) for homespun egg platters and breakfast tacos from an expansive all-day menu. Above is the huevos divorciados ($9.99) — two sunny-side up eggs atop a flat corn tortilla spread with beans and cheese and topped with ranchero sauce, green sauce, avocado, and cilantro lime sour cream.

Las Frida’s Mexican Kitchen, 914 Limekiln Pike, Maple Glen. Hours: 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday. Breakfast also offered at the locations in Lansdale (850 S. Valley Forge Rd.) and Doylestown Borough (274 S. Main St.). An East Norriton location is on the way.

Briefly noted

Wednesday is the deadline for voting in The Inquirer’s Readers Choice. Winners will be announced in our 2022 Dining Guide, publishing in October. Get clicking now.

Muncho Pizza, that pizza-on-demand service I told you about last fall, has expanded its delivery area beyond 19130 in the Fairmount/Spring Garden area. Starting Aug. 19, trucks will also start rolling in University City (19104). It’ll deliver from 5 p.m.-1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 5-10 p.m. Sunday.

The Old City location of Luna Cafe has transitioned to new ownership (3J’s Cafe) after seven-plus years at 317 Market St. Similar menu and vibe. Luna owner Sarah Levine is concentrating on her Kensington location, which opened in 2018 at Third Street and Cecil B. Moore Ave. and has a liquor license and enclosed patio. Also on your Old City radar: Rene Kobeitri of the Italian Market’s Rim Cafe is taking over the long-shuttered coffee shop at 209 Chestnut St. He’s shopping for a name.

Snap Custom Pizza has shuttered its 1504 Sansom St. spot after six-plus years. Co-owner Rob Wasserman, who owned previous occupant 500 Degrees, said he and partners are looking for a larger Center City location.

Ship Inn in Exton has been sold to a partnership that intends to open a microbrewery, per the Daily Local. Robert Irvine did a Restaurant Impossible episode not long ago that is titled “Sinking Ship Inn.” Ouch.

Center City District Restaurant Week will return Sept. 12-24. One major addition this year is the launch of Dinner and a Show, a promotion that offers discounted tickets to arts and culture venues along the Avenue of the Arts.

Instagrammer and Let’s Eat follower @maxdatner started a recent day in high style with this “jammy” egg and green harissa tart from Machine Shop, the pastry shop on the Dudley Street side of the Bok in South Philly. “There’s a lot going on in this little concoction and it all just works really well,” he reports. Below is @prambhia’s pic of the spicy chicken sandwich at Libertee Grounds, the indoor mini-golf course-slash-beer destination at 1600 Girard Ave. in North Philly. This crunchy creation, part of one of the most creative bar menus in the city, gets a dose of Sichuan chili oil and comes with ginger sesame slaw and house pickle on a seeded brioche bun.

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