🍔 Oh, happy Cheeseburger Day | Let’s Eat

Even though “grilling season” has ended, our minds are on cheeseburgers, and we’ll share our new list of favorites. Also this week, read on about a cutlet destination at Reading Terminal, head inside a bakery set up in an old gas station, hear about Craig LaBan’s day as a donut boy, and put on your dancing shoes, because we’re about to experience disco sushi.

— Mike Klein

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Just in time for National Cheeseburger Day, we’ve updated our list of favorite burgers in the area. Among the 21 is a particularly inspired new one from Huda that tops a smashed beef patty with buttermilk ranch, pickled peppers, pepper Jack brie, and hot honey on a house-made milk bun, along with one from Kampar that critic Craig LaBan describes as “a meaty juice bomb.”

❓Your favorite burger in the area? Let me know, please.

🍔 To make your own next-level burger, just ask “The Guru,” a Washington-based restaurateur whose secrets include fish sauce and Duke’s mayo for an indulgent patty you need to try to believe.

🍸Ready-to-drink cocktails are one way to wash down a burger, and Wednesday appears to be the date for some supermarkets and grocery stores to start selling them with new permits from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. (The law allowing their sale went into effect late last week.) We’re also keeping an eye on the additional happy-hour time in Pennsylvania, part of an overall loosening of state liquor laws.

Philly butcher Rob Passio figured into two of my stops over the last week, coincidentally. The first was Reading Terminal Market, where he owns Giunta’s Prime Shop and is a partner with chef-operator Beth Esposito in Butcher’s Pantry. Besides all kinds of pantry items (spice blends, compound butters, sauces), her fridges are packed with a changing selection of snacks and scratch-made meals. Esposito is a longtime caterer (Pink Garlic).

Esposito’s specialty at Butcher’s Pantry is the chicken cutlet sandwich. The $12.99 craft-your-own-cutlet deal gets you two cutlets and two toppings (basically, anything in the refrigerator case) on a Sarcone’s roll. Shown above is the Malocchio, with burrata, sharp Provolone, broccoli rabe, roasted peppers, long hots, roasted garlic, and pistachio pesto. Shown below is the Un-Real, with vegan cheese, fried eggplant, marinara, and broccoli rabe. Gluten-free rolls are also available. (Butcher’s Pantry also happens to be the place in the market to find pizza on a Sunday when By George is closed.)

For my second Passio encounter: I visited Lombardi’s Meats on Packer Avenue in South Philly, which he bought last month from Vince Lombardi, who retired. Passio said he intends to keep things the same, though he thinks his Packer Park customers are ready for wagyu beef.

Some of Pennsylvania’s best bread is being made in an old gas station in North Philly. Chloe Pantazi-Wolber tells the story of how Ursa Bakery’s Claire Kopp McWilliams has become the hit of the farmers market circuit.

The LaBan family has been eating doughnuts from Brown’s Restaurant in Ocean City, N.J., for decades. Recently, Craig got to work the fryer and dip the treats as a Brown’s “donut boy” for a day. Read on and he’ll tell you what it was like to be glazed and amused.

Chef David Ansill, who died last month of cancer, will be remembered Wednesday evening with a celebration at Craft Hall, 901 N. Delaware Ave. Food at 7 p.m., toast at 8 p.m., music and remembrances following. There’s no charge but organizers ask that you RSVP.

Gazzos Steaks, the hit of Pottstown and Phoenixville, has signed a lease for a takeout window in Ardmore.

The suburbs’ sushi scene keeps growing. Guppy’s Good Times’ owner Robin Gupta has a deal with Scott Kim of the Kooma restaurants (West Chester, King of Prussia, and now Cherry Hill) to run a 37-seat sushi and noodle bar opening upstairs from Guppy’s in Conshohocken this fall. Kooma’s sushi has been on Guppy’s downstairs menu for years, but this spot — so far unnamed — will be a dedicated space. Also: Izzy’s, a 24-seater specializing in hand rolls and sake from the crew at Ardmore’s Ripplewood, is due to open two doors away, at 35 E. Lancaster Ave., this weekend.

More intel on the restaurant project coming to the Post Brothers’ Piazza Alta in Northern Liberties next year, just east of the Piazza. In early 2025, you’ll have Gertie, a “Jew-ish” diner out of Brooklyn, a food hall operated by Method Co., and a high-end restaurant by chef Laurent Tourondel. I see that the Tourondel restaurant will be called Terra Grill, and it has an Instagram. (Shown above is a rendering of the bar.) There’s more coming just west of the Piazza, across Second Street next to SIN (Steak Italian Nightlife): a sultry, speakeasy-style bar-restaurant called the Newsroom is looking at an October opening. Below is a look at Gertie’s New York location, whose vibe I’d describe as Middle Child Clubhouse meets diner.

1977 called and it wants its uni back. Sushi by Bou will open its second Philadelphia omakase room this week, and the theme is Studio 54. Disco sushi, anyone?

A band of African musicians set the tempo for the relaunch of West African restaurant Kilimandjaro in University City after four years. Friday’s ceremony was as much of a celebration of the restaurant as it was of owner Youma Ba (shown below with her daughter, Veronique). It’s now open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, and till 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, at 44th and Chestnut Streets. Read on to learn why Ba, who is from Senegal, decided to name her restaurant after a mountain clear across the continent.

Elma (431 E. Girard Ave.), chef James Nardone’s cozy-casual Italian BYOB in Fishtown, now offers a four-course option for $90 in addition to the six-course, $150 dinner that has been the deal since its opening. Nardone calls it “the best way to reduce our paywall for guests.” Shown above is the hiramasa, with ajo blanco, cucumber, and coriander.

Craig LaBan’s six favorite Jersey oysters will take over the daily oyster list at Oyster House (1516 Sansom St.) from Sept. 24-26. Also, two oysters will be discounted to $2 a piece at happy hour each day, only in the bar from 4-6 p.m. Read on to see Craig’s picks.

Restaurant weeks are ongoing in Center City District (through Saturday); Dine Latino (through Saturday); Brandywine Valley (through Saturday); and Conshohocken (through Sunday). Next up on my radar is Glenside-Jenkintown (Sept. 23-29).

La Maison Jaune, a French-style cafe, might seem to be a welcome new business near Fitler Square. But plans are on hold. As Jake Blumgart recently wrote, neighbors raised fears of rodents, errant coffee cups on the sidewalk, and extra traffic from delivery trucks. The zoning board will hear the owner’s case next week, and one key observer suggests “it’s part of a broader discussion about all these barriers in place that make it so difficult to start a small business in Philadelphia.”

The KB Foundation’s third annual BBQ Experience fundraiser on Friday will take over the Pump House, chef Nick Elmi’s new event space next to Lark and the Landing Kitchen in Bala Cynwyd. The foundation, which focuses on impacting youths’ lives by creating fun educational learning experiences, has a new partnership with the Jalen Hurts Foundation and Lincoln Financial. Tickets ($175 a head, $250 a couple) are here.

KP’s Fine Meats from Port Richmond has opened its second location, inside Market at the Fareway in Chestnut Hill. It replaces Rice’s Quality Meats, which closed in March.

A Philly food brand sent a sternly worded notice to a restaurant, advising that its trademark was being infringed. The brand is...

A) Wawa

B) Rita’s

C) Tastykake

D) Chickie’s & Pete’s

Find out if you know the answer.

I heard about that one-night collaboration dinner featuring Jesse Ito and Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon at Kalaya. I went online at noon Saturday when reservations opened and got shut out. I seemed to have a table lined up but when I clicked, it said it was taken. What happened? — Erica S.

Supply and demand. (I missed out, too.) Their representative told me that it sold out in less than one minute. Perspective: Two James Beard-lauded restaurateurs packing a 144-seat restaurant for a four-hour shift, at $125pp — the Resy Philly equivalent of an Olivia Rodrigo/Taylor Swift one-nighter at the Wells Fargo Center.

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