We need comfort food now | Let’s Eat

This has been emotional week, especially in Philadelphia. Perhaps some comfort food to fill the emotional void (and to follow all the Super Bowl food). We’re here with stories about “heartbreak foods,” a bar that’s selling burgers and $30 shakes, a cafe whose menu is deliciously all over the map, and a sandwich — a “Dolla” hoagie — that critic Craig LaBan says is among the best in the city.

⬇️ Read on for a quiz and restaurant news.

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— Mike Klein

After heartbreak for many of us come food cravings. Whether it’s love problems or a Super Bowl loss, as Hira Qureshi writes, “we all have that one food that pulls us out of our pity parties.” She asked local chefs for their go-tos. Shown above is Tourie-Joon’s cold vermicelli yogurt, which gets Cake Life Bake Shop’s Nima Etemadi through his tougher times. 🔑

Jersey Shore favorite Kook Burger has set up Center City with a bar, restaurant, and (soon) entertainment venue at 21st and Market Streets. Kook’s wow item is a $30 milkshake that owners Selena Gabrielle and Braeden Anderson bill as a once-in-awhile dessert indulgence, including take-home glass mug. (Now that Philly’s Sugar Factory outlet is gone, why not.) The smash burgers are another Kook calling card.

Honeysuckle Provisions in West Philadelphia gets a visit from critic Craig LaBan, who says chefs Omar Tate and Cybille St.Aude-Tate’s “dolla” hoagies ” are some of the best sandwiches in the city.

Forin Cafe’s second Kensington location is considerably more ambitious. The partners started a winery nearby, allowing a liquor license for cocktails and wines. A coffee/breakfast menu and an all-day menu features unexpected bites such as this beef tartare with “A1″ sauce and a dollop of French onion dip, served with Hartley’s potato chips. Men’s shirts are for sale, too.

This lamb shank, deeply savory from a five-hour braise steeped with cumin, dill, and garlic, served amid a mountain of cardamom-scented brown basmati laced with sweet carrots and juicy raisins, is one of Craig’s recent favorites. It’s $23.99 from John and Marina Shah’s homey Villekebabs and Platters, 1722 Sansom St., near Rittenhouse Square. Further tip: The lentil soup, which Craig says “sparkles with the heat of red pepper.” 🔑

Speaking of which: We have the inside track on tasty soups around town. 🔑

Chef Joncarl Lachman is a South Philly native with Delco roots, but his Dutch heritage translates into luscious comfort food in welcoming surroundings — witness his current hit, the brunch spot Winkel in Washington Square West, and his former dinner destinations Noord, Neuf, and The Dutch (in its diner days). He and husband Bob Moysan have just resurfaced at 1911 E. Passyunk Ave., formerly Will, June, and 1911, with a low-lit, high-energy, white-tablecloth Euro BYOB.

The 22-seat Dankbaar — which Lachman translates as grateful (it’s not dank and there is no bar) — is open only Friday and Saturday nights for a la carte dining. It can be booked for private events at other times. Next week, they will start a small, walk-in market before dinner (4-5 p.m.) to sell Lachman’s pickles and soups such as snert and zuurkool. Snag a window seat and watch Passyunk roll by, or snuggle into the back table, where waiter Liz Kreitschmann or Lachman himself will find you.

Menu is a straight-ahead list of Dutch treats such as Javanese curried hen (available as a cauliflower steak with baby marble potatoes, collards, and boerenmeisjes, $25); konijn in het zuur (vinegar-braised rabbit leg) with cabbage, smoked sausage, and bacon in a caraway beer broth ($32); and cider-braised pork shank with Dutch brown beans, kale, lady apples, and mustard ($30).

Lachman, by the way, will join Olga Sorazano of Baba’s Bucha and Mike Strauss of Mike’s BBQ for a March 7 fundraising dinner for Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen. The three volunteered in Poland to feed refugees after last year’s Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Dankbaar, 1911 E. Passyunk Ave. Hours: 5-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Charley Dove, the successor to Audrey Claire at 20th and Spruce Streets, is now open only for private events, not a la carte dining.

Tequila’s, Center City’s longest-running upscale Mexican restaurant, has launched a GoFundMe to help the 50 employees idled by last week’s fire. No injuries were reported. Owner David Suro said he was not sure how long repairs will take, but assured that the Los Catrines mural and 19th-century architectural details in the main dining room were intact.

Community’s 2½-year run at 21st and Federal Streets ended last weekend. Owners Mike and Angie Sultan are devoting their time to 33rd Street Hospitality, their catering arm.

F&M Deli Restaurant in Mount Laurel will close Sunday after 55 years as owner Joanne Schley retires. The initials stand for her brother, founder Felix Fezzuoglio, and their mother, Marie. He died in 2010.

Main Line Today Restaurant Week runs from Feb. 26-March 11 with more than 40 restaurants.

Soul & Busan, Jenn Kim’s casual Korean American pop-up, is returning for the first time since 2021. It’s a “mash-up of what I like to eat, what Korean-American means to me and my tastebuds,” as she puts it, and it will set up Friday, Feb. 17 through Monday, Feb. 20 at Taco Heart, 1001 E. Passyunk Ave. (Taco Heart will be open for breakfast on those days.)

This weekend’s menu includes Miggy’s K-fried chicken sandwich as well as a marinated and breaded tofu version of that sandwich. Sides include korokke (potato croquettes), fries, and Korean-spiced French fries, plus a tangy oi muchim cucumber salad. For dessert, Kim will debut hotteok rice krispie treats: she layers the flavors of Korean rice flour hotteok pancakes onto the familiar American snack, for a sesame-forward, cinnamon-spiced confection. The hotteok treats come in classic and chocolate varieties.

It’s walk-in service (with some indoor seating) from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; Monday hours are noon-8:30. Soul & Busan happens to be Kim’s passion project; by day, she’s an architect.

Bodhi Coffee in Center City recently did away with a feature usually found at coffee shops. What was it?

A) hot tea

B) decaf

C) to-go cups

D) artificial sweeteners

Find out if you know the answer.

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