A new cheesesteak contender? | Let’s Eat

The secret to a great cheesesteak is the roll, right? We found a shop owner who has gone further than most to source the perfect one. Also this week, big news on the reopening of one of the region’s most admired Japanese restaurants, a look inside a couple’s dream project (a Levantine restaurant two doors from their North African market), and a preview of a lavish throwback dinner at the luxe Jean-Georges.

— Mike Klein

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🥖 Nish Patel at Del Rossi’s in Northern Liberties spent years working to elevate his pizza dough. Then he turned to his cheesesteak rolls. He ended up starting his own bread bakery, which is now yielding a spectacular sandwich, thanks in part to an anonymous consultant from Canada who happened to eat his very first cheesesteak just last week.

🥖 In France to cover the Olympics, Mike Sielski found a shop called FRENCH CHEESE STEAK just outside of Paris. C’est what?! Mike managed to sample the world’s best sandwich in the world’s best food city — a Whiz-free zone if there ever was one.

Bishara Kuttab says the Levantine food at Bishos, his restaurant in Northeast Philadelphia, has come a long way since he opened. He and his wife, Zohra Saibi, parlayed that into a North African market called Le Souk two doors away. Read on to learn of one of the tastiest combos in the city.

Coffee is an essential beverage for many beachgoers, and Hira Qureshi found 10 shops at the Shore that do it right.

Good news for fans of Sagami, the landmark Japanese BYOB in Collingswood. Two weeks after the passing of his wife, Chizuko — described as the heart and soul of the restaurant, which opened in 1974 — chef Shigeru Fukuyoshi has decided to reopen, albeit on a truncated schedule of 4-8:30 p.m., Thursday to Sunday.

Not such good news for customers of Effie’s, the Greek BYOB that’s been at 1127 Pine St. since 1997. The finale will be Saturday night. Effie Bouikidis has found a buyer who plans something entirely different. Bouikidis has been fielding well-wishers begging her to stay, but the sale is a feta-compli.

Phillies legend Jimmy Rollins will not be a part of the restaurant coming together at 117 Chestnut St. in Old City, says restaurateur Matt DeLima, who didn’t want to get into the specifics but said the door was always open for Rollins to return. The project’s working name, Eleven Social — a reference to Rollins’ uniform number — will change in time for the expected mid-September opening.

Janine Bruno, of Homemade by Bruno, has a much larger second location on the way for her gelato production and pasta-making classes: a new building at 1701 S. Fourth St., where she will have 15 seats at the counter, plus high-top tables to seat about two dozen, starting in late fall. In 2022, I wrote about Bruno — how she beat cancer, picked herself up after being dumped, and started a business. Life is even better now: She’s married and just got an adorable miniature longhair Dachshund named Theodore. Check out her Instagram.

Back in 1997, Jean-Georges Vongerichten lit up the dining world with his eponymous restaurant in New York. He went on to create an empire that spans 60 restaurants around the world — including a Jean-Georges atop the Four Seasons Hotel on the 59th and 60th floors of the Comcast Technology Center in 2019. To mark the outpost’s fifth anniversary, chef Colin Henderson is re-creating classics from Jean-Georges’ 1997 tasting menu for the month of August, starting tonight. Read on for a rundown and the optional wine pairings, all from 2019.

Enable cookies: Chip City Cookies out of New York will open its first Philadelphia location (204 S. 17th St.) at 11 a.m. Friday. The first 100 customers will get a free cookie.

Fork, closed through Aug. 10 for a renovation, is also changing chefs. George Madosky is heading to D.C. after seven years to run the new a.kitchen+bar (opening in early fall), and the Old City restaurant is bringing in Daniel Beal, whose CV includes Restaurant Benu, Atelier Crenn, Alinea, and Jordan Winery. (He was co-chef de cuisine under Grant Achatz at Alinea.) Expect the full renovation, including a new bar and Beal’s new menu, to debut in October.

Cantina La Martina’s second annual Cemita Festival — from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Aug. 11 at La Placita Fishtown, 2211-17 Frankford Ave. — will feature seven local vendors making and selling their interpretations of the iconic Mexican sandwich. Participants include Jason Okdeh of Farina Di Vita and Reuben R. Asaram of Reuby; Alejandro Gonzalez Duarte of Señor Slices; Jake Loeffler, Sam Kalkut, and Danny Griffiths of Paffuto; Karla Torres and Ernesto Ventura of La Ingrata Camden; Brian Mattera of Gilda; Elvia Zavala of Mija Mexican Table; and Mariangeli Alicea Saez of La Placita Fishtown. Cemitas are $15 each, and participants will keep 100% of their profits. Cash is preferred.

Want to learn how to make soup dumplings? From 6-7:30 p.m. Aug. 13, Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao’s Cherry Hill location (901 Haddonfield Rd.) will host a class. Tickets ($68) can be purchased using this link.

The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that boneless wings may contain:

A) skin

B) bones

C) breading

D) chicken

Find out if you know the answer.

I see the new BOP Kosh Deli at 622 Market St. Wasn’t this supposed to be Koch’s, formerly from West Philly? — Geoff P.

The answer is still being litigated, but to get you up to speed: Koch’s Deli opened on Locust Street in West Philadelphia in 1966 and became a favorite among the Penn community. Koch’s changed hands in 2005 after the death of the founders’ son Bob, who ran it after the passing of his brother Lou. Bing Li purchased the deli and building in 2020. Morshed Ali Alqaifi leased and operated it until November 2023, when Li evicted him over back rent; the city Health Department had also shut it down.

In early 2024, Alqaifi leased the Market Street storefront and announced Koch’s move. In March, Li sued Alqaifi, contending that he was the rightful owner of the name as part of his 2020 purchase. A Common Pleas Court judge issued a preliminary injunction that barred Alqaifi from using the name and the phrase “since 1966″ on any signage, and ordered him to remove images depicting the Locust Street deli from the website kochsdeli.com. Last month, Alqaifi opened it under the name BOP Kosh Deli, and changed the sign to read “since 1965.” Menus inside bear the Koch’s name, however. (“BOP” is believed to mean “Best of Philly.”)

Li plans to reopen Koch’s Deli at 4309 Locust St. next month, says lawyer Donald Bermudez, who is representing Li.

Further complicating matters: Alqaifi at BOP Kosh is using kochsdeli.com and the old phone number, while Li has created kochsdeliofphilly.com for Locust Street. Alqaifi declined to comment, and his lawyer, Peter Mylonas, did not return numerous messages seeking comment.

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