All the new restaurants for fall | Let’s Eat

Labor Day is in the rear-view. Let’s take a look at the new restaurants teed up for fall. Also this week, we found a chef taking a novel spin on Chinese takeout and dropped by Mighty Bread Co. for beers (!). Read on for word of several restaurant weeks and a look at a James Beard finalist’s new restaurant in the burbs.

— Mike Klein

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Fall’s restaurant lineup comes with plenty of promise: new projects from Mike Solomonov and Steve Cook (Jaffa Bar); Randy and Amanda Rucker (Little Water); Liz Grothe (Scampi); a wine bar/bottle shop on East Passyunk (Superette); and a cozy bar in Fishtown (Pearl’s on the Corner). Tequila’s will be back, Dim Sum Garden will move two doors away, and you’ll walk into a new spot in Northern Liberties through the front of a vending machine. Read on for my report.

🍽️ Let me catch you up on the summer 2024 dining scene: See a recap of the season’s highs and lows.

How hot can the Nashville hot chicken market get? Two local halal chains plan food giveaways to mark their new locations — and both happen to be this Friday around the same time, but many miles apart. There’s Asad’s, which Asad Khan created outside a Northeast Philadelphia gas station several years ago, opening its 10th location in Winslow Plaza in Sicklerville from 3-7 p.m. Then there is Nanu’s, whose eighth restaurant will open from 4-8 p.m. in Bensalem Center in Bensalem, just across the road from an Asad’s. If you thought that was too much chicken, another chain — Hangry Joe’s — is preparing to flood the market with at least two more locations. And let’s admire the moxie of Talat Addahbly, who opened Hot Clucks in Germantown last year: He has a second location teed up at 2248 Cottman Ave., down the street from both a Nanu’s the original location of Asad’s.

Read on as Hira Qureshi runs down some hot-chicken offerings.

Kurt Evans has just opened his own version of a “Chinese store” — a fusion of Black American cuisine and the familiar aesthetics of classic Chinese American takeout. The egg roll shown above, for example, is filled with collard greens, not cabbage. Like all of Evans’ culinary projects, there’s a broader social purpose.

Mighty Bread Co. is a beer company now, too. The South Philadelphia bakery/cafe is making its own beer with the same wheat it uses for some of its bread, and it’s starting aperitivo for an Italian feel.

Kaiseki, which starred Andy Bernard behind one of Philadelphia’s best sushi bars in arguably the quirkiest location (the lobby of the 990 Spring Garden building), closed over the weekend. He and partner Crystal Gurin say “it has become clear that it’s time to take a break.” This suggests a revival someday.

Maggie Moo’s Bakery in Medford will shut down in the next few weeks, and cites a familiar refrain of fatigue.

Finish Your Champagne is the clever name of the lounge that Kevin Dolce of Taste Cheesesteak is planning for 1084 N. Delaware Ave., a former 7-Eleven. No timeline yet. Dolce is also developing Enigma Sky, a restaurant-lounge complex next door.

Spread Bagelry’s days-old new location in Newtown Square’s Ellis Preserve, which has a La Colombe coffee bar, soon will keep its ovens running later in the day. A light dinner menu is on the way.

Flakely’s, the gluten-free bakery that opened a vending machine freezer (e.g. a pastry ATM) at Salt & Vinegar in South Philadelphia, will place a second one this fall at Free Will Collective in Ardmore.

La Baja. Dionicio Jiménez and Mariangeli Alicea Saez are fielding two main questions since last week’s opening of La Baja, their charming, white-tablecloth BYOB in Ambler. One is “why Ambler?” Answer: They live nearby. Two: What does it mean for Cantina La Martina, their refined restaurant in the heart of Kensington, which cinched a James Beard nomination for Jiménez in 2022? Answer: They’ve made a commitment to the Kensington neighborhood, they’re in it for the long haul, and the restaurant is at the center of their efforts to support the families in the community.

They will juggle not only Cantina and La Baja, but their street-food outlets in Fishtown (La Placita Fishtown) and near Penn’s Landing (La Placita Cherry Street Pier).

At La Baja, Jiménez is cooking a menu inspired by the food of Mexico’s northern border. You’ll also find touches of the Italian cuisine he mastered in the early 2000s at the beginning of his Philadelphia career — notably pastas from his days at Vetri Cucina.

To wit: an appetizer of ravioli ($18) filled with avocado, blue crab, bacon, recado negro, and xnipec salsa, or the buratina ($17) topped with mole and herbs. The biggest hits so far are short rib braised in hibiscus and Mexican chocolate over risotto ($26), the grilled seabass ($36) that gets a subtle kick from arbol miso, and chili-crusted ribeye ($45) topped with grilled carrots dusted with sumac and mint. Though it’s BYOB, there’s a solid selection of agua frescas plus other nonalcoholic beverages, and Stone & Key Cellars will deliver wine and cider to your table via QR code.

La Baja, 9 N. Main St., Ambler. Hours: 5-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 5-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 5-9 p.m. Sunday. Reserve on Resy.

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.

Dine Latino Restaurant Week, from the Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, will be Sept. 15-21 during Hispanic Heritage Month. Participating restaurants give out a comp appetizer or dessert with the purchase of two dinner entrees. There’s also the plant-based Latino Chef’s Tasting event with Nicole Marquis, founder of Hip City Veg, Bar Bombon, and Charlie Was a Sinner, from 6-8 p.m. Sept. 19 at La Cucina at the Market, 1206 Arch St. Tickets start at $85.

Other restaurant weeks are drawing near: Center City District (Sept. 8-21); Brandywine Valley (Sept. 15-21); and Glenside-Jenkintown (Sept. 23-28).

Bite for the Fight Food Festival, at the Philly Expo Center at Oaks from noon-4 p.m. Sept. 14, will be headlined by chef Jose Garces. Fight On Makenna, founded by Rich Massi of Pottstown, who lost his daughter to leukemia in 2018, is organizing the event to raise awareness and funds for integrative pediatric cancer programs at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. On hand will be the PSPCA with pet adoptions, 40-plus food vendors, and demos by chefs Chad Rosenthal, Georgeann Leaming, and Natalia Hagan. Tickets are $100, or four for $350.

Philly Black Wine Fest, at the Penn Museum from 6:30-11:30 p.m. Sept. 14, will offer samplings of food and Black-produced wine, plus live and DJ music. Tickets are $40-$100.

You need somewhere to watch the Eagles’ game on Friday but don’t have $1,000 to spring on a flight to Brazil? Henry Savage has some local ideas.

You could go apple-picking. Hira Qureshi has an in-cider look at the local farms and fields.

Who is offering free coffee for teachers in September?

A) 7-Eleven

B) Starbucks

C) Wawa

D) Dunkin

Find out if you know the answer.

As a tourist, I’ve always thought that your roast pork sandwiches are better than cheesesteaks, and am disappointed that they never became the quintessential sandwich of your city. Where do y’all stand on this? — @mattssoupersundays, on Threads

I chimed in with an answer: “Roast pork requires real cooking and finesse. Steaks require only grillwork, which is much, much easier to execute and scale as a business. Plus, the Pat’s and Geno’s ‘rivalry’ — which happens to be a myth — managed to set up cheesesteaks as a Philly thing to out-of-towners. There’s no similar buzz behind roast pork. It needs a better PR team.”

Your thoughts on this? Let me know.

📮 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.

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