Best vegan takeout and delivery in Philly’s burbs | Let’s Eat

A little of this, a little of that this week: Vegan/vegetarian food in the suburbs, the return of a chorizo master, a hoagie you should try, and a return to indoor dining in Philadelphia — including a few destination restaurants making their comebacks.

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Tasty vegan and vegetarian eats outside of the city? Why, certainly, says staff writer Grace Dickinson, who runs down a list of favorite meatless restaurants offering delivery — everything from cheesesteaks to breakfast skillets to nachos to shawarma.

And here’s where to find Grace’s favorites in the city, including a vegan food truck.

Food critic Craig LaBan has a must-read South Philly story about butcher and chorizo specialist Raul Aguilar-Perez. Between losing his Italian Market butcher shop, depression, and a severe case of COVID-19, he had a most rotten 2020. With the help of neighbors, though, he is on his way back.

Craig also weighs in with word about Bloomsday Cafe’s vermouth, known as Dumpster Juice — Dumpster Juice? The restaurant’s house-steeped fortified-wine/vodka blends are not trash. Rather, he writes, they are “as elegant as they’ve been diverse in personality.”

Reuben Harley — caterer, photographer, stylist, and the man who sold America the throwback sports jersey nearly 20 years ago — has finally embarked on the restaurant career that he had been hinting at for the last 15 years or so. At Chef Big Rube’s Kitchen, he says he is not doing “Southern cuisine” or “soul food” but “Black folk style cooking.”

Philadelphia restaurants, operating under limited capacity, welcomed customers back inside last Saturday for the first time in months since the city shut down indoor dining.

Three destination restaurants that had been shuttered are among those coming back with inside tables. Forsythia, chef Christopher Kearse’s modern French at 233 Chestnut St., is now taking names for Jan. 29 and beyond via Resy. ... Chef Nick Elmi will revive Laurel (1617 E. Passyunk Ave.), effective Feb. 3, with six-course, $125-a-head tasting menus. The 25% capacity means that only eight people at a time may dine inside Laurel, plus six others next door at In the Valley. Elmi’s Curiosity Doughnuts weekend pop-up is now on hiatus. Reservations via OpenTable. ... Feb. 3 also will mark the return of JG SkyHigh, chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s atmospheric lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel on the 60th floor of the Comcast Technology Center (19th and Arch Streets). This is all-day dining (breakfast, too), booked via OpenTable. (The main room on the 59th floor is still on hold, as is Vernick Fish on the ground level.)

Chef Melissa McGrath started 2020 by arriving in San Francisco to become opening chef at Palm City. When the pandemic hit, she pivoted the menu to hoagies, picking up not only local praise but a spot on Esquire’s list of best new restaurants in America. McGrath is back in town, and before she starts her next job, she is hosting hoagie pop-ups under the nom de grinder Cip’s House of Hoagies. The first one will be Saturday. Jan. 23 at South Philly Tap Room at 15th and Mifflin.

Lost Bread Bagels & Pizza opens Saturday, Jan. 23 (new date) at 2218 Walnut St., the former home of Res Ipsa. This is a new concept for Alex Bois, the wunderkind baker who now runs the show for Avram Hornik’s Four Corners Management, which operates such brands as Craft Hall, Morgan’s Pier, and Rosy’s next door. It will start as a to-go/delivery shop with breakfast and baked goods, including his sublime, local-wheat bagels, as well as a market selling such items as local eggs, house-made cream cheese, and Lost Bread’s own milled flour. From 3 to 5 p.m., it will sell pizza bagels. The next step, starting in several weeks, will be house-made pizzas, available after 5 p.m. Hours now: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Stay tuned for more.

The summertime movable beer garden known as Parks on Tap in the winter? Starting Friday, Jan. 22 at 4 p.m., it moves indoors to Fairmount Park’s Horticulture Center Arboretum (100 N. Horticultural Drive). Food, beers on tap, wine and hot beverages inside a socially distanced greenhouse environment with comfy chairs and clean restrooms. Reservations (four per table) are encouraged. Hours: 4 to 10 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Peter Serpico and Stephen Starr converted Serpico on South Street to a virtual, sorta-Korean kitchen called Pete’s Place in October. This week, they added a second brand out of 604 South St. It’s called Chicken Scratch, with a menu focused on rotisserie chicken. Hours: 4 to 8:30 p.m. Pickup at the door plus delivery via Doordash, Caviar, Grubhub, and Uber Eats.

Sad news: KeVen Parker, a giant in Philadelphia’s restaurant and charity circles with his Ms. Tootsie’s establishments on South Street and inside Reading Terminal Market, died last week of cancer at age 57. Keep an eye on Inquirer.com for a tribute from Craig.