Mulherin’s Pizzeria, the long-delayed Wm. Mulherin’s Sons pizza spot, opens on East Market. Finally.
The wood-fired pizza oven at Mulherin’s Pizzeria — a more casual sibling of the Fishtown destination Wm. Mulherin’s Sons — is ready to go, about two years behind schedule.
After two years of delays, Mulherin’s Pizzeria, the East Market sister concept to Fishtown’s Wm. Mulherin’s Sons, has set its opening for April 18.
The restaurant is on the ground floor of The Girard, the mixed-use building that also houses Method Co.’s extended-stay concept Roost East Market. It spills out to a 50-seat courtyard off of Ludlow Street, part of a $500 million development that includes the Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant that opened in fall 2018 at 12th and Market Streets. (Unless you’ve visited that part of Center City recently, you may want to tap “1175 Ludlow St.” into your GPS.)
The menu focuses on the lighter side of Wm. Mulherin’s, as the atmosphere borrows the original’s timeworn look that dazzled crowds when it opened in 2016 at Front and Master Streets in Fishtown. Mulherin’s later opened a boutique hotel upstairs, and the omakase salon Hiroki behind it.
For the East Market pizzeria, Method Studios, the company’s in-house design firm, and Stokes Architecture + Design opted for a comfy look: saddle-leather banquettes, slotted benches, and hand-clipped mosaic tile flooring, as well as a contemporary lighting fixture by Roll & Hill hanging over the bar.
There’s an open kitchen with a wood-fired oven right off the bar. Chef Sean McPaul, a well-traveled Culinary Institute of America grad whose recent stops include Emmy Squared and Rouge, is overseeing the menu.
Among the pizzas are the Spicy Jawn (pepperoni, hot coppa, tomato, sharp provolone, caciocavallo, long hots) and the Sweet Jawn (pomodoro, soppressata, mozzarella di bufala, red pepper, fresh oregano, hot honey). The menu includes salads, crispy stuffed paccheri, pastas such as rigatoni alla carbonara, and mains such as chicken Milanese, hanger steak, and branzino Livornese. Desserts will include house-made soft serves.
The bar will emphasize an Italian wine list.
At least in the early days, Mulherin’s is not being positioned as a late-night spot, given posted hours of 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday.
Management has attributed openingdelays to assorted factors, including availability of equipment and permitting. When the project was announced in summer 2021 with an opening set for early 2022, chef Jim Burke was running the Mulherin’s kitchen in Fishtown.
Burke, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer the summer before, worked on the new location until he had to step down before his death in August 2022.