Pierogi is having a moment | Let’s Eat
A soulful afternoon tea, an omakase worth $200 a head, hot restaurant news, and a look at what’s happening to restaurateurs today.
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Tasty pierogi are only some of the good stuff we have for you this week. There’s a soulful afternoon tea, a terrific sushi feast, some hot restaurant news — as well as some sobering restaurant reports.
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The humble pierogi, and its European dumpling cousins, have been around for generations. Lately, they’ve been popping up more frequently around here.
Consider:
Today is the opening of Little Walter’s in East Kensington, chef Michael Brenfleck’s bar-restaurant ode to his Polish ancestry. Brenfleck’s potato-cheese are ethereal, and his vegan squash blossom pierogi are next level.
Mom-Mom’s Kitchen, Ryan Elmore and Kaitlin Wines’ well-regarded Polish takeout on South Street, will get a brick-and-mortar home in Port Richmond quite soon with Carbon Copy, the brewery and winery. Pierogi and golabki, plus a Pils.
Chips inspired by Mom-Mom’s pierogi are among the contenders in this year’s Flavored by Philly contest sponsored by Herr’s. That’s potato on potato, with a sour cream tang.
Let’s shout out some other pierogi powerhouses:
Czerw’s, the third-generation Port Richmond smokehouse and deli, supplements its signature kielbasa with a wide line of pierogi — traditional varieties plus the more Amerykański ones like Buffalo chicken, pepperoni and Cheddar, bacon and Cheddar, and Philly cheesesteak. Say the family name “cherv.”
Dinner House reps the old country — and it’s a restaurant that critic Craig LaBan says is “so genuinely Polish it could be just as at home in Bydgoszcz as it is in Port Richmond.”
The Pierogie Kitchen, a restaurant and market in Roxborough, offers 30-plus pierogi. TPK goes one up with “stackers,” a pierogi on a roll. The spicy chicken, for example, combines a potato-Cheddar pierogi, a pan-fried chicken breast, bacon, Cheddar, and sautéed onions. It’s topped with garlic pepper mayo and comes out on a toasted Kaiser roll.
Monique Greenwood, who owns the popular Akwaaba Bed & Breakfast Inns, has opened a swanky tea salon in West Philadelphia that offers a new twist on afternoon tea. Elizabeth Wellington dropped by and will steep you in the experience.
Rare fish, presented with classic style, is the draw at the luxe omakase at Ogawa Sushi & Kappo in Old City, writes critic Craig LaBan. If you can’t get a seat at Jesse Ito’s omakase at Royal Sushi, he says Ogawa is making its case with a $200 menu featuring some of the highest-quality fish around.
Jesse Ito fans: He and his partners are opening an izakaya in Rittenhouse. There won’t be sushi but there will be plenty of energy.
A month of hot dogs
There will be a glizzy blizzard in July at Royal Tavern (937 E. Passyunk Ave.). Chef Nic Macri, also a butcher, will offer four or five hot dogs each week for “Dog Days of Summer.” The first grouping next week (shown above, from left) are his Ripper, Texas Tommy, Steamy, and Chicago-style. Follow along on Instagram.
Giant illuminated lanterns, colorful interactive displays, and that 200-foot-long dragon are the showstoppers at the Chinese Lantern Festival, now through Aug. 18 at Franklin Square. This year’s new food picks include 9-inch pizzas from Hunnypie of Springfield, Delaware County (that’s the pepperoni shown above), and fried dumplings from Humpty’s Dumplings of Glenside, in addition to returnees Oishii, Sang Kee, SquareBurger by Cooperage, and Lotus Cocktail Garden by Cooperage. Hira Qureshi has an overview of the spectacle.
Scoops
Plans are jelling for two bars and a kitchen at the former Nails by Anna D at 1534 Sansom St., next to Marathon Grill, and I’ll tip you to what’s going on: On the street level, Chris Fetfatzes and Heather Annechiarico are installing what they intend as a quirky wine bar/eatery with late hours and no pretense. Opening: mid- to late fall. In 2025, on the second floor, they plan to open Liquorette, a bar overlooking Sansom that Fetfatzes says will “embody a blend of natural light design elements, creating a sophisticated yet approachable ambiance, offering a relaxed atmosphere that’s high on simplicity and low on fuss.”
Also collaborating is Susan Freeman, who’s behind Grace & Proper with Fetfatzes and Annechiarico. Back story: The couple opened Wine Dive in January 2020 at 1506 South St., next door to their pub the Cambridge, which they retooled in 2021 into Sonny’s Cocktail Joint. In April 2022, as they prepared to open the Rabbit, an underground speakeasy-type bar beneath Sonny’s and Wine Dive, water from a fire in an upstairs apartment flooded everything. Fetfatzes said Sonny’s and Wine Dive will reopen this fall. The couple is also working on Penny’s Bagels in Haddonfield.
Kensington Quarters in Fishtown will become a Cafe Lift as owners Michael and Jeniphur Pasquarello convert it into the third location of their family-friendly bruncherie. KQ opened in fall 2014 as a butcher shop, restaurant, and bar, but dropped the butcher counter in 2016. During the pandemic, KQ morphed its menu to seafood; it closed in March. “Long story short: We gave [KQ] everything we got, but it just never was really enough to sustain the property,” Mike Pasquarello said. Cafe Lift, which the couple founded in 2003 in Callowhill, is “something that people respond very well to,” he said. After a Main Line Lift came and went (2018-2020), the couple opened in Haddonfield in 2022 and moved the original last year to Ridge Avenue and Spring Garden Street, a block from their La Chinesca. The new Lift at 1310 Frankford Ave., which has a back patio and seats about 100 inside, is expected to open in late summer or early fall.
New Taco Bell locations don’t typically hit my radar, but I’ve learned that a Taco Bell Cantina — billed as a more upscale Taco Bell selling alcoholic beverages (“live más,” right?) — is being teed up for 1614 Chestnut St. in Center City. Developer Danny Patel said he hopes for a late 2024 opening.
Restaurant report
How busy are Dionicio Jimenez and Mariangeli Alicea Saez nowadays? They run the Beard-nominated Cantina la Martina in Kensington. They’re building out a BYOB called La Baja in Ambler. They’re finishing work on a pop-up called La Placita that will operate from a restored trolley at 2217 Frankford Ave., and hope to open this weekend (10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday.).
Right now, they’re a couple of weeks into a La Placita on Cherry Street Pier (121 N. Columbus Blvd.) — two trucks serving street food: Mexican (his side) and Puerto Rican (hers). Pastry chef Ilissa Shapiro dishes ice cream at a truck called Irv’s, after her grandfather. Shown above are canoas, plantains stuffed with ground beef picadillo and melted mozzarella, and shown below are shrimp pinchos with a view of the Ben Franklin. Hours: 4-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 4-11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday.
Briefly noted
At Kampar (611 S. Seventh St.), chef-owner Ange Branca has started what she calls Ikan Bakar: Grilled Fish Market on Sundays. You pick your fish (sustainable varieties, which Branca obtains locally), it’s cooked in the wood-fired oven, and it’s served whole with your choice of sambal. Last Sunday’s picks were blue fish and Spanish mackerel ($20 a pound), flounder ($28 a pound), and scamp grouper ($30 a pound).
The monthly Sunday dinner series at Primary Plant Based (161 W. Girard Ave.) brings visiting chefs to join owner Mark McKinney for vegan dinners focused on one ingredient. Corn is the theme July 14 with chef Mark Mebus of 20th Street Pizza in Center City, while tomatoes will be on the mind of chef Ian Graye of Northern Liberties’ Pietramala on Aug. 25. Looking ahead: peppers from chef Ross Olchvary of New Hope’s Sprig & Vine (Sept. 22), and an ingredient TBD from Brady Hatin of High-Fidelity Bakery on Oct. 20. Details are here.
As we await the opening of Baby’s Kusina + Market in Brewerytown, owners Raquel and Tam Dang are joining Lulu and chef Scott Calhoun of Ember & Ash for a collaborative dinner on July 23 at Ember & Ash (1520 E. Passyunk Ave.). Five courses will mix Raquel Dang’s Filipino cuisine with Scott Calhoun’s hearth cooking. Reservations ($75pp) go live on Resy at noon Thursday.
Foodiehall, the ambitious virtual kitchen in Cherry Hill, closed on June 15 after about three years. Owner Dan Goldberg announced that the closing, including such brands as Simply Fowl, DaNick’s Craft Burgers, and Mac n Toastie, came with mixed emotions.
The impending closings of On Point Bistro and Bistrot La Minette seem unrelated, but they really do have a common element: Burnout is endemic to the industry today.
Just a heads-up about MANNA’s annual fundraiser, Main Course: Amanda Shulman (Her Place Supper Club) and Alex Kemp (My Loup) — who are opening the Amourette pop-up this week on Rittenhouse Square — are this year’s chef-chairs. It will be Sept. 26 at Cescaphe’s newest venue, the Switch House in Fishtown. They’ll be joined by Joey Baldino (Zeppoli), Melissa McGrath (Sweet Amalia), Marc Vetri and Matt Rodrigue (Fiorella), Jesse Ito (Royal Izakaya), Carlos Aparicio (El Chingon), Ian Graye (Pietramala), Dan Tsao (Emei), Randy Rucker (River Twice), Andrew DiTomo (Meetinghouse), Justine MacNeil (Fiore Fine Foods), Daniel Griffiths, Sam Kalkut and Jake Loeffler (Paffuto), as well as the MANNA and Cescaphe chefs. MANNA provides medically tailored meals to those suffering from critical illnesses throughout greater Philadelphia. The event’s chairs this year are MANNA board member Jimmy Contreras and radio producer Marisa Magnatta. Ticket sales will begin Aug. 1.
❓Pop quiz
A restaurant outside St. Louis has made the news because:
A) it banned men under 35 and women under 30.
B) all dishes begin with the letter B.
C) the staff wears really short shorts.
D) it serves food in the dark.
Find out if you know the answer.
The Pub is closing for the summer? What’s up with that? — Leigh S.
The Pub, the medieval meatery in Pennsauken, announced Sunday that it would shut down from July 1 to Sept. 19 for “renovations/repairs.” Owner David Gelman told me that while the landmark is getting a new roof, new kitchen equipment, and new carpets, neither the interior nor the food will be touched. This news seemed to be a hearth-stopping moment for some Facebook commenters, so I talked to Gelman to learn what it all means. Did you know, for example, that the Pub has its own dry-cleaning plant in the basement for the linens?
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