23 new restaurants opening this month | Let’s Eat

Let’s talk about a restaurant boomlet. Also this week, we’ll tell you how Philly’s produce wholesalers are caught in a price squeeze and how a Nigerian woman is hosting pop-ups to reconnect with her heritage. Also, Shore takeout mainstay Voltaco’s will close after 68 years, and read on for word about one of Philly’s oldest brunch spots, fixing to move.

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— Mike Klein

I’ve been covering the Philadelphia-area restaurant scene for nearly 30 years, and I have never counted 23 restaurants opening or preparing to open in one month. That’s the case in September, which has shaken off the summer doldrums as long-delayed projects approach the finish line. Among the newcomers will be KOP Tavern in the King of Prussia Town Center, where chef Daniel Waller (above) is in charge. (Surprisingly few closings have countered this phenomenon.) The new restaurants’ concepts vary. You’ll see brunch spots, revolving sushi, Filipino fast food, and an intriguing pasta-and-wine bar.

Jollibee, the Filipino fast-food phenomenon, opened Friday in Northeast Philadelphia. They had me at spaghetti with hot dogs and fried chicken with gravy.

Center City District Restaurant Week runs from Sept. 12- Sept. 24 with 70 participating locations, including three-course dinners for $40 per person, and some lunches for $25 per person.

Atlantic City Restaurant Week, by the way, will be Oct. 2-Oct. 7.

Consumers on one side, farmers on the other. In the middle are the produce wholesalers, caught amid the higher fuel and fertilizer costs, scarce labor, and softened demand. My colleague Joe DiStefano visited the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Terminal for this, um, field report.

Growing up in the Philly area in the 1970s and ’80s, you could not miss H.A. Winston’s, the predecessor to a whole slate of family-friendly fern bars (TGI Friday’s, Bennigan’s Applebee’s, etc.). In the latest installment of The 86′d Project, in which we look back at our now-gone dining destinations, the topic is Winston’s. In articles and a video, hear from founder Herb Spivak (above, totally rocking that shirt), now 90, as well as those who played key roles in the chain that was 22 locations strong at its peak. You’ll even learn how to make the famous French onion soup. 🔑

Nigerian-born Adesola Ogunleye-Sowemimo, who has held a variety of roles in the food industry for 15 years, soon will launch a series of pop-ups in her Fishtown neighborhood that will explore culinary flavors and musical genres while providing space to build community. My colleague Massarah Mikati explains that it’s dubbed Wahala, a cheeky Nigerian Pidgin word for “trouble.”

Three Chester County landmarks are undergoing changes:

Make no bones about it. Alice Chang and Shea Roggio, starting out on the pop-up food circuit with Korean-inspired food as Soko Bag, are onto something with their Korean fried chicken. Well, there are no bones about it. Wings? Nah. Chang and Roggio go all in with boneless thigh meat, sprinkling on bamboo salt (or jukyeom) as it comes out of the oil for a powerful pop of umami. Their tangy tteokbokki sauce for dunking is a pungent, sweet, and fiery counterpoint to the chicken.

They’re ready for their close-up. On Sunday, Soko Bag will pop up with a taste at Pizza Jawn in Manayunk.

This is a friend helping a friend: Roggio and Pizza Jawn’s David Lee were classmates at Great Valley High in Malvern. Roggio moved to Dubai for work, and that’s where he met Chang, who grew up in South Korea. Laid off during the pandemic, they moved to South Korea and got married. That’s also where Roggio met the second love of his life: KFC. The couple decided to turn the treat into a business back in the States. Now they live in Chester County with their 8-month-old son and hope to open a brick-and-mortar.

Lee will turn his shop over to Chang and Roggio for the afternoon as they fill one-pound orders of twice-fried boneless chicken ($20) and creamy, gooey bulgogi cheesesteaks ($15) on Lee’s sturdy sesame-seeded rolls (below).

This is not a walk-in situation; you must sign up online to slot a time.

(Photo above, from left: Chang, Roggio, and Lee.)

Briefly noted

Voltaco’s in Ocean City, dishing sandwiches and Italian platters since 1954, will close next month. It’s a decision that the Taccarino family did not make in haste.

Jose Garces, who will be part of the new Wells Fargo Center food lineup with Stephen Starr and Marc Vetri next month, will open a Buena Onda at the Concourse at Comcast Center in the late fall, along with a branch of Old City’s Karma. They will be joining Termini Bros. and Di Bruno underground at 1701 JFK Blvd. A Main Line Buena Onda is due in Radnor within the next two weeks, and his Garces Trading Co. is poised to open next week at the Cira Centre across from 30th Street Station.

Glenside will host a food-truck festival from 5:30-9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8. Aim for Easton Road and Glenside Avenue and follow your nose.

Sidecar Bar & Grille, with Mike Strauss and his crew from Mike’s BBQ, will host a block party on Saturday, Sept. 10 from noon-6 p.m. outside of Sidecar, at 22nd and Christian Streets. They’ll roast a whole pig, and provide burgers, Detroit-style pizzas, chicken sausages, and sides. Small Oven Pastry Shop will serve sweets, Milk Jawn will dispense ice cream, and Philadelphia’s Stockyard Cider Co. will pour ciders all day. Family activities, too.

1-900-Ice Cream has quietly entered Center City — not that ice cream is particularly noisy — with a storefront at 229 S. 20th St., where Lil’ Pop Shop was. This 1-900 offers soft-serve and pints only, for now. Note that a new Italian restaurant is coming next door, where Casta Diva was. Luna BYOB will be a sibling of South Philly-born Burrata.

Kismet Bagels and Pat’s King of Steaks are teaming up for a cheesesteak bialy collaboration on Tuesday, Sept. 13 starting at 10 a.m. at Pat’s, at Ninth and Passyunk. That’s grilled ribeye from Pat’s on a Kismet sesame bialy with caramelized onions and Cooper sharp American cheese; hot pepper relish is opional. Kismet will be opening a bialy stand at Reading Terminal Market.

Charitable endeavors

The Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance (MANNA) will host its annual Main Course starting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15 at Water Works by Cescaphe, off of Kelly Drive. Chefs Jennifer Carroll and Eli Kulp wrangled the chefs from a dozen restaurants. Tickets start at $150.

The Fight On Makenna Foundation returns to the Kimberton Fair Grounds in Phoenixville from noon-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17 for its fourth annual Bite for the Fight food festival. Chefs Chad Rosenthal and Nick Liberato are part of this. Attendees can sample and vote for the best bite from 30-plus restaurants, while craft beer, wines, and cocktails will be served. Tickets start at $100.

Flashing back to 2003, when chef Michael Pasquarello and his girlfriend, Jeniphur Whitleigh, opened their first restaurant on North 13th Street north of Callowhill in what was then the lightly populated Loft District. Cafe Lift, named for an ancient elevator in the former industrial building, became one of Philly’s early batch of bruncheries, thriving as the neighborhood population grew. The two got married and rolled with the times, opening Prohibition Taproom up the block, La Chinesca around the corner, and Kensington Quarters in Fishtown. They also opened and closed Bufad, a before-its-time pizzeria, and a short-lived Cafe Lift on the Main Line.

This week, the Pasquarellos — now raising three kids and a dog — opened a Cafe Lift in downtown Haddonfield, their hometown. Sidewalk seating lines the front. The coffee counter gives way to a bright, smart-looking dining room overseen by Adam Shipley. There’s a fryer here, so in addition to chef Frank Klemowitz’s complement of coffees, huevos rancheros, waffles, pancakes, and sandwiches, he’s offering waffle fries. Check the breakfast poutine below for a peek.

To fill you in on a new development: The Pasquarellos are moving their downtown Cafe Lift 2½ blocks, from 428 N. 13th St. to a larger spot at 1124 Spring Garden St., the corner of Ridge and Spring Garden. The transition between locations, expected in March 2023, should be seamless, he said.

Cafe Lift Haddonfield, 144 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield. Hours 8 a.m.-3 p.m. daily.

In the spirit of H.A. Winston & Co. and that stellar onion soup, my old pal @philly.filly suggests the onion soup from Lincoln Diner in Coatesville, which is topped decadently with onion rings. And if you’re Shore-bound soon, or more accurately LBI-bound, @richwachman recommends Dock & Claw, the Beach Haven clam bar, for a lobster roll and fries.

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