The best of Philly’s James Beard semifinalists | Let’s Eat

The James Beard Foundation smiled upon 10 Philly-area food establishments recently. We’ll tell you their highlights, and run down the best treats at Isgro Pastries, also one of this year’s semifinalists. Read on down for a review of a vegetable-forward restaurant, a full plate of restaurant news, and your first looks at a Korean fried chicken shop, a new Italian bar-restaurant, and a gorgeous new steakhouse in the burbs. Like our snazzy new logo?

— Mike Klein

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

The James Beard Foundation’s list of semifinalists for the 2024 awards includes nine Philly-area restaurants plus Isgro Pastries. It’s a diverse lot: Honeysuckle Provisions, Royal Sushi & Izakaya, a.kitchen + bar, Gass & Main, El Chingón, Bolo, River Twice, My Loup, and Cantina La Martina. Critic Craig LaBan provides a tasty rundown on all these spots, including what to order.

Isgro, meanwhile, is basking in its Beard glow. I stopped by the century-old landmark and asked owners Gus Sarno and sons Michael and A.J. for their six top pastries. They offered seven. I guess that’s a baker’s half-dozen.

In no particular order:

1️⃣ cannoli (and did you know that the process of making the shells is called “pinning”?)

2️⃣ mini-cheesecakes topped with a glazed strawberry

3️⃣ rum cake squares (their signature almond-coated rum cake, portioned for “two”)

4️⃣ pesca con crema (peach-flavored sponge cake drenched in peach liqueur — straight off a Sicilian wedding table)

5️⃣ baba rum (brioche soaked in rum syrup with ricotta in the middle)

6️⃣ ricotta-filled zeppole (St. Joseph’s Day is next month)

7️⃣ ricotta cookies (lemon-zest and chocolate drizzled — some of our favorites)

🍪 Read on for a history of Isgro, as told by the third and fourth generation, and get a recipe for their butter-almond cookies.

Kiddo’s vegetable-forward menu is “interesting, bolstered by seasonality, smoke and fermentation,” as Craig writes in his review of this cozy Washington Square West date-nighter. Read on for more, and to see why the bucatini shown above is one of Craig’s favorites.

🥢The best thing Craig ate last week were the u-maki rolls at the new Yuhiro in Fishtown, which he says deliver “varied textures and vivid flavor contrasts.”

You’ll be hearing a lot soon about 9 Prime, set in a century-old, neoclassical bank building in downtown West Chester and — with a rumored price tag just south of $10 million — arguably the western suburbs’ splashiest steakhouse. It’s in the softest of soft-openings right now, allowing only 150 to 200 covers per night amid its 400 seats for now, and plucking customers only from a list of 10,000 people who opted in. Reservations will open on SevenRooms on Feb. 10 for the first available tables on Feb. 18; the bar will be walk-in going forward. Real estate mogul John O’Connell and director Charlie Walsh have brought in Top Chef alum Fabio Viviani and his culinary team to execute the classics, plus novelties such as burrata smoked tableside. The jaw-dropping starts at the front door, where the mezzanine bar juts out over the street-level bar and lounge beneath a huge chandelier; it’s vaguely Deco. What you won’t see: The kitchen is dry-aging its steaks in-house in the basement kitchen.

Two Atlantic City bars are branching out inland.

The Northern Liberties izakaya scene — is there even one? — will be heating up. Owen Kamihira (El Camino Real) and his sons are working on Joe & Kay, in the old Blind Pig at 704 N. Second St. Kevin Yanaga, the well-traveled “sushi whisperer” (Pod, Izakaya by Yanaga, Morimoto, Zama) told me that he is taking over the former Abbaye a block away at Third and Fairmount. Yanaga Kappo Izakaya, he said, will be “Japanese dive bar-ish with an omakase room in the back.” No dates for either Joe & Kay or Yanaga Kappo Izakaya.

Chef Cornelia Sühr, who reopened the posh Jean-Georges atop the Four Seasons Hotel two years ago after its pandemic shutdown, has moved on — headed back to her native Germany. A new chef is expected to be announced soon.

Hearthside, the hit BYOB in Collingswood, is moving forward with a planned sibling restaurant with a full bar just down Haddon Avenue in Westmont. The unnamed project at 105-107 Haddon Ave., in the works for several years, won approval from Haddon Township’s planning board last week after owners Dominic and Lindsay Piperno agreed to tie long-sought floodwater remediation into their plans. The new place is about a year out. NJ Pen covered the meeting.

Korean fried chicken and house-brewed beer, inspired by a couple’s pandemic-era experiences in South Korea, is the specialty at Soko Bag, new in Phoenixville. Lines are long, for good reasons.

🍕 Center City’s Pizzata Pizzeria has expanded to East Passyunk with a neighborhood bar at 12th and Morris called Pizzata Birreria. Same great pizza and now a full slate of entrees. There’s a family connection at the former La Scala’s that made the deal a win-win.

🐔 Cluck: Thursday will be the grand opening of Chicken Guy, the fast-food eatery backed by Guy Fieri and run by Delaware County’s Kevin “Chef Steek” Cooper, who won the franchise in the 2022 reality series Guy’s Chance of a Lifetime. Ribbon will be cut at 10 a.m. at King of Prussia Mall’s first-level food court (it’s next to the Chick-fil-A, of all places).

🐔 Cluck-cluck: The rapidly expanding Dave’s Hot Chicken will open Friday at 9113 Roosevelt Blvd. in Northeast Philadelphia. Center City Philadelphia will get its first location at 1731 Chestnut St.; unknown timing.

🐇 Mr. Rabbit is the name of the coffee shop opening Valentine’s Day at 2301 Spruce St. on Fitler Square, across from Sally. “When [Mike Parsell and I] were building Sally, I used to look across the street and think about how much fun it would be to have an ancillary use across the street,” Cary Borish said. After the dry cleaner’s departure, they fixed it up and partnered with his sister in law, Julia Shaw. Sally will provide bread and pastries. Parsell and Borish recently opened Pizza Richmond, as a similar neighborhood amenity for Port Richmond.

🍕 The Balboa pizza from 20th Street Pizza in Center City is among PETA’s picks for the Top 10 Vegan Pizzas in the United States. Pizzaiola Mark Mebus tops it with cashew cheese, crushed “meatball,” cherry tomatoes, pistachio pesto, arugula, extra virgin olive oil, and chili flakes.

👨🏼‍🍳 Poste Haste in Kensington’s new executive chef is Ian Brown, who started cooking in his hometown of Providence, R.I., before heading to Philly to work at Zahav, where he was chef de cuisine. He also worked at Noma’s MAD Academy Program for Environment & Sustainability.

Fergus Carey, proprietor of such Center City bars as Fergie’s Pub and The Goat Rittenhouse, is offering tours this fall. Where?

A. South Philly

B. Ireland

C. The lost bars of Swampoodle

D. London and the Cotswolds

Find out if you know the answer.

I see an orange liquor application at the old Bertucci’s on Lancaster Avenue in Wayne. What’s up? — Chip

That’s destined to be the second location of Testa Rossa from Fearless Restaurants, the group behind Autograph Brasserie, White Dog Cafe, and Rosalie in the Wayne area. Due to open in 2025. You may ask: Where’s the first Testa Rossa? Won’t open till this summer at the Shoppes at Brinton Lake in Glen Mills. Owners Marty and Sydney Grims describe the concept as a more casual sibling to Rosalie, specializing in pizza and house-made pasta. This year, the Grimses also will open Triple Crown Restaurant, Events & Garden at the Radnor Hotel.

📮 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.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.