How do D.C.’s chefs stack up to Philly’s? | Let’s Eat

Critic Craig LaBan visits Washington, D.C., for a timely catch-up on its restaurant scene. Also: Nostalgia is heavy on our minds. Two Northeast Philadelphia pizza landmarks are closing, as is a noteworthy kosher bakery, while elsewhere in town, two new meat markets are bucking the trends. Oh, and what’s new? Have you tried a mochi doughnut?

But first, here’s a quiz. Wine writer Marnie Old is enjoying a Pennsylvania hard cider called Threadbare Farmhouse. She suggests that you might appreciate its:

A) “aromas of apple with a hint of spiciness, like eating a pie on Thanksgiving”

B) “rounded tartness and earthy fruit fragrance”

C) “juicy flavors of Fuji apples and creamy Brie cheese, not to mention its cleansing rush of scrubbing bubbles”

D) “crisp aromatics, like a ripe apple just picked from a tree”

“Scrubbing bubbles”? Click here for the answer.

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The James Beard Awards, which honor America’s food professionals, will be handed out June 13. Philly chefs Cristina Martinez (South Philly Barbacoa), Jesse Ito (Royal Izakaya), and Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon (Kalaya) are finalists for the regional award, and High Street Hospitality’s Ellen Yin is up for Outstanding Restaurateur. Philly shares a region with Washington, D.C., and critic Craig LaBan thought it would be fun to visit four District restaurants that also made the Beard nominees list. At the outdoor patio at Centrolina, you might have witnessed the antics of Craig’s dog, Buttercup, “her well-honed nose sniffing the air in the hopes of some fine Parmesan, which our server kindly delivered.” (Meanwhile, kudos to Kiki Aranita, who today received a James Beard nomination for her essay “How It Feels to Close Your Restaurant for Good,” which appeared in Food & Wine. Aranita co-owned Poi Dog in Center City.)

Time was, there was a butcher on many corners in the city. But then came the supermarkets. Lately, we’ve seen a few younger hands take the old-school approach with shops of their own. In Port Richmond, my colleague Jenn Ladd chats up Kevin Penney and Amanda Grady, who have opened KP’s Fine Meats in Port Richmond as a full-service butcher stocking everything from tomahawk steaks and Wagyu beef to Dietz & Watson cold cuts.

Heavy Metal Sausage, a salumeria-meets-charcuterie-meets-sausage shop in South Philadelphia, is the passion project of chef Patrick Alfiero (above) and Melissa Pellegrino, who are turning out the best in local wurst, along with sandwiches made on house-baked bread. He learned his craft in some top Philly kitchens, and also through French cookbooks. By the way, he doesn’t speak French.

Just as 2016 was the Year of the Rolled Ice Cream — OK, I just made it up, though it was a thing — 2022 is shaping up as the Year of the Mochi Doughnut. I’ll tell you what exactly a mochi doughnut is, and where to find it.

Cookbooks can be fun, educational tools for kids, as contributor Carolyn Desalu points out. She found seven cookbooks that feature easy-to-follow recipes for a variety of palates accompanied by mouthwatering photos.

Joseph’s Pizza is getting close to a reopening in Fox Chase under new owners, but it’s overall not a good time for two O.G. pizzerias elsewhere in Northeast Philadelphia. Sunday, May 1 will be the finale of Charlie’s Pizzeria on Roosevelt Boulevard near the old Sears tower, while Tony’s Famous Tomato Pies in Mayfair closed up a couple of weeks ago and set its Instagram feed to ... pro wrestling?

Lipkin’s Bakery, one of the city’s few kosher bakeries and a major supplier of knishes, is closing. Last day for walk-in customers will be Monday, May 2. Owner Steven Nawalany is looking for a new location, outside of the city. Meanwhile, deli owners and synagogues that sell Lipkin’s knishes are scrambling.

Bialys are getting their place in the spotlight, as Jacob and Alexandra Cohen of Kismet Bagels are planning to open a bialy and bagel bakery at Reading Terminal Market. A bialy is the doughier cousin of the bagel.

Eladio Soto, who over 18 years rose from prep cook to executive chef at Tequila’s in Center City, has gone out on his own with El Mezcal Cantina, a bright, casual double-wide storefront in a former pizzeria at 1260 Point Breeze Ave. in the city’s Point Breeze section. Specialties: tacos de trompo (shown above) and what may be Philly’s only aguachile bar.

The plotline “longtime downtown Mexican chef opens his own restaurant” might sound familiar. Soto’s fellow Pueblan, chef Dionicio Jiménez, decamped from Center City’s El Rey last year and recently opened Cantina La Martina in Kensington.

Briefly noted

Hitting the Wayback Machine for this photo, which shows restaurateur Ulana Baluch Mazurkevich, who owned Ulana’s in Queen Village, with an equally tender Stephen Starr, circa 1980. Mazurkevich, who bought Starr’s first nightclub, Stars, as part of an expansion, is now president of the Philadelphia-based Ukrainian Human Rights Committee. She asked Starr to cater a fund-raiser, to be held Sunday, May 1 at the Polish American Cultural Center in Old City. Starr is coming through with an open bar as well as food from his restaurants Parc, Morimoto, Buddakan, Barclay Prime, and Pizzeria Stella, and you can get details here.

The Clam Bar in Somers Point, N.J. — the super-casual Shore drop-in also known as Smitty’s — will indeed be open for 2022. Its longtime future was cast into doubt last fall when the property’s owner put the marina up for sale. No sale yet; season opening is May 7.

Rosa Mexicano’s location in Ardmore’s Suburban Square (105 Coulter Ave.) has set May 9 for its opening. The New York-rooted restaurant chain bills its vibe as “elevated fiesta.”

A fire in an apartment above Sonny’s Cocktail Joint (1506 South St.) has closed Sonny’s, Wine Dive next door, and the soon-to-open subterranean cocktail bar Rabbit. No timeline is available for the reopening. Meanwhile, owners Chris Fetfatzes and Heather Annechiarico are ramping up bottle inventory at their Hawthornes and Pivot Coffee (738 S. 11th St.).

Monsoon Fine Indian Cuisine in Mount Laurel has closed after a 14-year run.

Life’s simple pleasures: a great sandwich paired with a refreshing beverage, and a perfect slice of pizza. Reader @therealjerseydan dropped into Rybrew, the bottle shop/sandwich shop in Brewerytown, for a Cuban sandwich and a Lagunitas Hop nonalcoholic seltzer, while @ciaonisa extols the virtues of the simple tomato pie from Fishtown fave Pizzeria Beddia, which gets a generous sprinkling finish of olive oil after it comes out of the oven. Share your food! Send photos to me on Instagram.

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