Where to celebrate Lunar New Year | Let’s Eat

Just when you’ve remembered to write “dragon” on your checks, here comes the Year of the Snake. Kiki Aranita runs down specials and explains why such dishes as spring rolls and wontons are so popular on these new year’s menus.

Also in this edition:

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— Mike Klein

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Lunar New Year is on its way with a slate of specials, festivities, and collaborations. Among them: EMei’s collab feast at Ember & Ash, which may keep these kids, Layla and Wilder Calhoun, awake past their bedtimes.

Enjoy Chef’s Table and other travelogues? You can live it yourself as local chefs like Kalaya’s Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon (shown above in Thailand) lead tours to showcase their cuisine. Kiki Aranita has a lot to unpack as she shares who’s who on the culinary travel scene.

Philadelphia’s Middle Child restaurants have been rebuffed in their court bid to block the name of an unrelated Middle Child restaurant in Las Vegas. MidKid’s Matt Cahn says the dispute is now in the hands of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

🦉 Chef Tim Dearing’s supper club, known for the last year as Little Owl, is now called Ule (say it “OOO-lay”), as he ran into a legal challenge from chef Joey Campanaro’s Little Owl in New York City. (Fifteen years ago, the Philly-bred Campanaro and his brother, Louis, ran a spot in Queen Village called the Village Belle.) Dearing said he hadn’t heard of Campanaro’s West Village spot before the cease-and-desist arrived and had no malicious intent. “Ule” is Old English for owl, in memory of Dearing’s friend Rye Crofter, who as a youngster was fascinated with the birds. Dearing, who worked with Crofter at Barbara Lynch’s Boston restaurant Menton, is hosting a gaggle of Boston chefs for a fund-raising dinner Thursday to benefit the Everywhere Project, a harm-reduction charity dedicated to supporting vulnerable communities. It will be at the Culinary Collective in Tacony. Tickets are here; use the word “Charityevent” for a 25% discount.

At Philadelphia’s Irish pubs, Guinness is “not your old man’s drink anymore,” says veteran bar man Fergus “Fergie” Carey. Erin McCarthy taps into the zeitgeist to learn why 20-somethings are ordering so much of it.

For decades, Rocky superfans have been showing up outside the Kensington building whose facade served as Mighty Mick’s Gym. Now, they’re enjoying beers from Lost Time Brewing Co.’s new taproom on the site.

Side Eye, conceptualized as a neighborhood-friendly, Euro-inspired bar, will replace the shuttered Bistrot La Minette at 623 S. Sixth St. Owner is Philly-born Hank Allingham, who started with front-of-the-house roles but moved into finance and operations at Sally’s Pizza out of New Haven and New York’s Patina Restaurant Group. Target: this summer. He’s looking for a chef to better define the food, as well as a beverage director; Allingham is at hank@sideeyephilly.com. “Side Eye” was his rescue pit, so named because of her treatment of newcomers.

Slice & Schmear, the yearling bagel shop that replaced Korshak at 10th and Morris Streets, is closed, as owner Aakash Patel is ceding the operation to neighbors Yulia Lee, who juggles the bruncherie Good Hatch as well as chef’s duties at The Jim, and her husband, Berry The of OK Hot Chicken. Lee says they are targeting Feb. 14 for reopening and plan to expand Slice & Schmear to seven-day operation.

Liberty Kitchen, the popular Fishtown deli/market/cafe (and home of that viral kale Caesar hoagie), is setting up its third location, taking the Ranck’s Deli space inside Chestnut Hill’s Market at the Fareway (8221 Germantown Ave.). Soft-opening target is Jan. 29. Liberty, founded in 2019, opened its second location last year inside Two Locals Brewing (37th and Market Streets). Liberty followed its trusted butcher, KP’s Fine Meats, into the market.

The “Forîn” name soon will hang on Wim Cafe within Yowie Hotel (226 South St.), several months after Seth Kligerman, Kyle Horne, and Will Landicho took it over. This will become Forîn’s third location, the first outside of Fishtown/Kensington. The space will take on the classic Forîn aesthetic (vintage speakers, green-and-white paint job, circumflex). Chef Ariel Tobing, formerly of Poi Dog and Musi, will add some Southeast Asian influence to the menu.

Borscht Belt, the Jewish deli and pastrami-slinger in Newtown, Bucks County, has soft-opened a second location at the Trenton Farmers Market in Lawrence Township, N.J.

La Nova. Hat-tip to reader Ed Rivkin, who steered me to this colorful but humble Mexican BYOB in a strip mall just off of westbound Route 70 in Pennsauken. (Not easy to find. When you see the Dunkin' just before the McClellan Avenue jughandle, hang a quick right into the parking lot.)

La Nova, which opened in March 2021, is the solo debut of Georgina and Baleriano Medina, originally from Puebla. They’re longtime cooks, previously with Haddonfield caterer Rent-A-Chef, and the whole family is involved.

The wide-ranging menu hits all the basics: tacos, enchiladas, burritos, nachos, and quesadillas. Soups are a specialty. We warmed up with a steaming bowl of chicken pozole ($17.99) and segued into a plate of brisket birria tacos ($13.99) before digging into a massive $22.99 grilled platter of sirloin, chicken breast, shrimp, creamy potatoes studded with jalapeños, and a sope, served with a basket of house-made corn tortillas tucked, steaming, beneath a towel.

La Nova, 5245 Route 70 West, Pennsauken. Hours: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Closed Tuesday.

Ice cream shop Scoop DeVille will open at 101 Haddon Ave., Haddon Township, with free ice cream from 3:30 p.m. today through 11 p.m. Sunday. The Scoop DeVille location replaces a Rita’s, which was preceded by a Carvel.

Crate & Press Juice Bar (266 N. Keswick Ave., Glenside) will give away cold-pressed green juice drinks through Jan. 31 if the Eagles beat the Washington Commanders at Lincoln Financial Field to win the NFC Championship on Sunday. To claim the comp juice, customers need to say or yell “Go, Birds!” when ordering. No purchase is necessary, and the offer includes one 16-ounce cold-pressed juice per person, say owners John Preston and Joe Sparacio. Available in five flavors, they’re normally priced at $9.50 apiece.

Suburban Restaurant & Beer Garden in Exton’s Wellington Square will end its nearly eight-year run Saturday. Chef/owner Eric Yost cited ongoing challenges, including the effects of “a tough economy, rising labor costs, and small profit margins. Despite our best efforts, we have not been able to fully recover for the lasting impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Healthy Garden Cafe has closed its Collingswood location after 5½ years. The Michnik family’s Voorhees and Moorestown locations remain.

Love City Brewing has honored the late filmmaker David Lynch with a hazy IPA named after his old neighborhood. What’s its name?

A) Callowhill

B) North Chinatown

C) Loft District

D) Eraserhood

Find out if you know the answer.

Have you heard about a sale of Ristorante Panorama in Old City?

Founder Luca Sena told me that he is selling the charming Penn’s View Inn, which he opened in 1990 on Front Street above Market, after a painful year. His son and righthand man, Carlo, died at age 51 in a car accident in September. The sale includes Panorama, his Italian destination, which boasts what Guinness certified as the largest cruvinet in the world (120 bottles). Buyer is a hotelier from Lancaster. Sena said he and general manager William Eccleston will remain on site for the next year.

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