How many new Philly restaurants are on the way? | Let’s Eat

If you enjoy trying new restaurants, your life is about to improve, get more complicated, or both. Also this week, we stop by a plucky Jersey Shore bar that’s taking on Taco Bell and LeBron James, dig into the retro menu at a BYOB in Haddonfield, and take you inside what may be the prettiest bar in Center City.

⬇️ Read on for a quiz.

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— Mike Klein

Nearly 60 new bars and restaurants are on the way between now and fall — and this week alone will see the debuts of Pizzeria Salvy from Marc Vetri at the Comcast Technology Center and a beer garden (Walnut Garden) in Rittenhouse (both today!); a Brazilian steakhouse (Gaucho’s Prime) in King of Prussia; a cocktail bar (Post Haste) in Kensington; a shop selling egg rolls to go (Rock N Rolls) in Northeast Philly; and new locations for Cafe Lift (the Loft District), Harvest Wine Bar (in North Wales), and The Borscht Belt (in Newtown), where I snapped this pic of a lox, eggs, and onions omelet before slurping an egg cream. 🔑

Would you try the $700 Gold Standard burger at Drury Beer Garden? Mike Newall writes that someone might, someday.

Nobody is saying that the tacos at Gregory’s in Somers Point line up alongside the most authentic around, but let’s face a fact: Gregory’s holds the trademark in New Jersey for the name “Taco Tuesday.” That 40-year-old claim is now being contested by Taco Bell and LeBron James. Amy Rosenberg stopped by last Tuesday, where customers are defending the Shore watering hole. It’s crunch time. 🔑

Speaking of the Shore, we’ve updated our list of the best ice cream shops at the Shore.

Chef Dane DeMarco, known for inventive sandwiches and bar food, has landed a charming Haddonfield BYOB called Gass & Main, and critic Craig LaBan is all in for their spirited riffs on “old lady food” inspired by vintage cookbooks. When was the last time you had chicken a la king or a giant banana split served with sparklers a-blazing? 🔑

After two decades on 13th Street in Midtown Village, entrepreneurs Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran (Barbuzzo, Bud & Marilyn’s, etc.) have delivered one of Philly’s prettiest new bars, writes Jenn Ladd about Darling Jack’s. “Interior-design hounds will revel in all the details once their eyes adjust to the low lighting: red-velvet booths illuminated by brass lamps; green glazed brick decorated with landscape paintings in gilded frames; a wine red-and-cream-colored Calacatta Viola marble bar; barstools upholstered in a checkerboard fabric; cane, wood, and wicker accents; a linoleum floor and a lacquered beadboard ceiling.” All told, it’s an “easy, go-out-have-a-cocktail-with-friends kind of experience.”

Otto’s Taproom & Grille opened at 29th and Flora Streets in Brewerytown over the winter, but the open house will be Thursday, June 1. The first 150 people through the door from 5-7 p.m. will get a comp sandwich called The Otto, named after Otto Wolf, the architect who designed much of the neighborhood. Created by executive chef David Sposato, the Otto features beef cheeks braised in Mainstay Independent Brewing Co.’s pilsner on a grilled baguette and topped with drunken goat cheese, arugula, and cherry pepper relish. Otto’s — owned by the partnership behind U Bar, Tavern on Camac, and The Tavern Restaurant in the Gayborhood — will donate drink sales during the event to the Fairmount CDC. Check the menu here.

Brewerytown may have been named for breweries of the 19th century, but the name fits again as the neighborhood is home to a recent boom of breweries and bars, writes Hira Qureshi. Here’s where to drink and eat.

Bitar’s, the Lebanese deli-slash-sandwich shop stationed at 10th and Federal Streets for nearly three decades, will bow out after business Saturday. Brothers Jude and Amin Bitar, who have sold the building, will take a break and resurface Bitar’s nearby as a ghost kitchen.

Tortilla Press, an early player on Collingswood’s restaurant row, has closed. Like the rest of the town, it was a BYOB. The owner once told me that if he had a liquor license, “I’d be on a boat in the Bahamas right now.”

You’ll be hearing a lot about Elma, chef James Nardone’s 12-seat BYOB in a former Fishtown pizzeria. It soft-opened May 28 with a six-course, fixed-price, “first look” dinner menu but it’s not open-open for a bit. Eventually, it will morph into a breakfast/lunch-plus-dinner situation.

Nardone, former sous chef at Suraya, had been popping up as Nardone Pasta Co. The menu will change frequently. Sample starter from last weekend (above): sliced raw scallops, blood orange, and endive. He also did a clever visual pun of sauteed squid and longhittas with salsa verde and wrapped up with semolina cake topped with a ribbon of mascarpone and blackberries. For now, reserve via elmaphilly.com until Resy activates on Thursday.

Nardone is offering 6 and 8:30 p.m. seatings. Tip: Bring an extra bottle to the later seating. Hang after dessert as they turn down the lights, crank up the music, and break down the kitchen.

Elma, 431 E. Girard Ave. Hours are not set yet, but reservations are open for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Third Wheel Cheese, Ann Karlen’s wholesale operation, will debut its retail cheese shop on June 8 (1-6 p.m.). It’s at 705 S. 50th St., in the front of its warehouse. The shop also will stock charcuterie from Meat Crafters and Charlito’s Cocina, crackers from 470 Baking Co., Brewer’s Foods, and Ines Rosales; jams, preserves, and marmalades from Eat This Yum, Habitat Farms, Girl Meets Dirt, and Small Batch Kitchen; mustards from Old Brooklyn Mustards; honey from Mill Creek Apiary, Miller’s Apiary, and Habitat Farms; organic nuts and dried fruit; and olives.

Old City Eats returns to the neighborhood with a block party from 5-9 p.m. Thursday on Second Street between Market and Chestnut. The promotion, on for a sixth summer, has food and drink deals at 20 restaurants every Thursday through Aug. 31.

Fans of food trucks, take note. This Sunday’s Philadelphia Pride March and Festival will feature nearly two dozen of them from noon-7 p.m. in the Gayborhood, from Walnut to Cypress Streets, and Quince to Juniper Streets. It’s all pay as you go.

As Friday is National Donut Day, Duck Donuts will give away cinnamon sugar doughnuts (one per guest), no purchase necessary.

River Twice’s new menu format, starting June 1, will be four courses for $65. I erred on the number of courses in last week’s newsletter.

The Drexel Food Lab has landed an EPA grant to develop educational videos for home cooks focused on preventing and minimizing food waste, as colleague Lynette Hazelton reports. How much food does the average family of four throw away each year?

A) $700

B) $950

C) $1,500

D) $1,800

Find out if you know the answer.

Is some restaurant happening at the southwest corner of Front and Market Streets in Old City? — @fatherofroo12

The corner facing the I-95 on-ramp (100 Market St.) has been vacant for 40 years. It’s destined to become a coffee shop called Cuor di Caffe in a few weeks.

📮 Have a question about food in Philly? E-mail your questions to me at mklein@inquirer.com.

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