A new kind of delivery app is coming to Philly | Let’s Eat

Wonder — a food hall and delivery operation — this week announced its first 10 locations in the Philadelphia area. The company seems to have a bottomless barrel of money, and I’ll explain what it’s up to. Celebrity chefs are involved.

In this edition:

— Mike Klein

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Wonder, a food hall-slash-delivery kitchen bolstered by $1.5 billion in capital, will be turning up in our area in a big way. Ten locations will open soon between West Chester and Mount Laurel, and the company promises hot and tasty food within a half-hour after you push the order button. Read on, and I’ll tell you how it works.

The cinnamon buns shown above are the current obsession of Jenn Ladd, who tells the story of Ron Davis, the man behind Hank’s Cinnamon Buns, an Instagram-based microbakery that offers home delivery.

🫓 Also: Pop’s Bun Shop is a promising newcomer in the Italian Market, if you’re on the hunt for cinnamon rolls, kolache, and the like.

💚 Love conquered all last Friday. Those dire predictions that an Eagles victory parade and Valentine’s Day dining would not mix? A lot of nothing. According to spot checks with restaurateurs on the front lines, most made out at least fairly well serving the hundreds of thousands of people clogging the city. Alas, not so at Avana, Felicia Wilson and Darryl Harmon’s new spot at Park Town Place at 22nd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. With the Parkway closed, half of 300 reservations canceled, Wilson said.

🍷 Spirit and wine sales spiked on Super Bowl weekend with the Eagles in the big game. Were you surprised?

The bruncherie Hannah K, which opened Monday in Point Breeze, is the larger, even more playful follow-up cafe to Huyen Thai Dinh’s Vietnamese breakfast spot, the Breakfast Den at 15th and South. Dinh took over On Point Bistro at 20th Street and Point Breeze Avenue and is keeping hours seven days a week. Kiki Aranita is jazzed about the rice bowl (shown above) as well as the banh mista, a play on an Italian hoagie with turkey, ham, and herbs.

Chef Frankie Ramirez, building out the posh Mexican restaurant Amá at Front and Oxford Streets in Kensington, walked into the job site Monday and made a horrific discovery: The 11 knives he has collected over the last 20 years — gifts from his wife, his father, and chef friends — had been stolen from the restaurant’s office, along with a few other items. All are engraved with his name, and he’s offering a reward for their return. Contact him at Isco.ramirezz@gmail.com. That’s Ramirez above at right with Vincent Kazuhito Lau, resident knife sharpener at Korin in New York City.

The Half-God of Rainfall, an epic poem by Nigerian playwright Inua Ellams that combines Yoruba and Greek mythologies for a production that’s part verse recitation and part theater, makes the bold statement that Allen Iverson and Michael Jordan had a little something extra in their family tree. In the hands of a first-time director at the Wilma Theater, the production is more of a hit than a myth.

For dinner near the Wilma, at 265 S. Broad St., you might consider the cheery, new Garage Rittenhouse at 15th and Spruce Streets or Del Frisco’s Grill (225 S. Broad St.).

Palizzi Social Club is going upstairs to open the club’s original assembly room as an intimate lounge, open Friday and Saturday, starting next weekend. The Presidents’ Room will be small — a four-seat bar and a half-dozen tables, with a martini list, live jazz, and antipasti. Just like downstairs, it’s open to members only — but you’ll have had to be in the club for two years to be eligible. Some tables can be reserved online. You’ll need to buy a gold seal ($40) to affix to your $20-a-year membership card, bringing the annual price up to $60 for full access. Palizzi’s membership rolls have been closed for years, but president/chef Joey Baldino said additional club memberships — also granting access to the Presidents’ Room — will be available in late May.

Bistro Di Marino’s Sewell location has closed after five years, leaving Jim Marino’s Collingswood flagship as the sole location. In a statement to 42Freeway’s Mark Matthews, Marino cited “challenging economic conditions with increased operational costs across the board and a decline in customers, particularly during the week, due to increases in the cost of living.”

Pod, Stephen Starr’s Japanese restaurant, will wrap an almost 25-year run after dinner this Saturday.

Aurora Cafe, from the family behind Capri in Queen Village, has been under construction seemingly forever at 17th and Christian Streets. Opening is now targeted for March, as the espresso machine arrived and was too large for the counter.

Baby’s Kusina. I took a look around Baby’s Kusina, the Filipino cafe that finally opened Feb. 8 in Brewerytown. It’s a lovely third space with breakfast and coffee to start the day, as well as comfy seating on the street level and a wrought-iron-ringed balcony for a more out-of-the-way experience upstairs.

There’s also a modest grocery section with imported foods. (If you’re jonesing for Lucky Me pancit canton noodles or Theo & Philo chocolates, here is your hookup.)

Pay attention to the Rich Tita breakfast sandwich shown above. Built on a house-baked pandesal (a sweet yeast roll), it has a patty of longganisa — a chorizo-like pork sausage — plus Cooper Sharp American, a sunny-side-up egg, and a squirt of chilimansi aioli, a creamy chile-lime sauce. Read on for more, including the all-day menu.

Baby’s Kusina, 2816 W. Girard Ave. Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Closed Tuesday. Check website for dinner programming.

Chefs/farmers Matthew and Tia Raiford are coming up from Strong Roots 9, their historic Centennial Family Farm in Brunswick, Georgia, for two Black History Month collaboration dinners in Philly. Feb. 25’s five-course dinner at Ember & Ash (1520 E. Passyunk Ave.) will include ingredients grown at Gilliard Farms, the 50-acre homestead purchased for $9 by Matthew’s great-great-great-grandfather and freedman Jupiter Gilliard in 1874. Ember & Ash’s dinner is at 5, 6, and 7 p.m., $95 plus tax and gratuity. Reservation info is here. On Feb. 26, the Raifords will be at Booker’s Restaurant & Bar (5021 Baltimore Ave.) for a dinner themed to the Great Migration. The Booker’s dinner is at 6 p.m., $75 plus tax and gratuity. Reservation info here. Local connections: Tia Raiford and Ember & Ash chef-owner Scott Calhoun worked with chef Marc Vetri at Lo Spiedo, and Tia was culinary director for Vetri Community Partnership from 2012 to 2014. Matthew Raiford is a James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef, Southeast, in 2018. Both are Culinary Institute of America grads.

Fiore is offering dinner for the first time since its November 2023 relocation to Kensington from South Philadelphia. Starts at 5 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with the last seating at 8 p.m. Ed Crochet and Justine MacNeil’s menu includes seasonal vegetable plates and antipasti as starters, followed by handmade pasta, fish, and meats (e.g., ricotta gnudi with winter mushroom ragu; glazed pork ribs with goldrush apples & celery; and roasted sea bream with colatura, salted lemon and kohlrabi). MacNeil’s desserts include house-made gelato (one of the best in town) and sweet cream panna cotta served with salted cocoa nib brittle and vanilla caramel.

Sportswriters travel the world. This week, The Inquirer’s Jackie Spiegel was in Montreal for the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament, where she weighed in on the poutine at La Banquise. Check her report on our @phillyinqfood Instagram channel, and give us a follow.

Penn has opened a coffeehouse. What’s the theme?

A) Colonial America

B) Yemeni coffee

C) Third-wave coffee

D) Coffee from East Asia

Find out if you know the answer.

What’s going on at the old Mermaid Bar on Germantown Avenue in East Mount Airy? — Jon E.

Dan Gutter, the pizza genius behind Pizza Gutt and Circles & Squares, has bought the long-shuttered hangout and plans a full bar on the first floor and a kid-friendly dining room upstairs. No name or timeline yet. (Incidentally, this spot is unrelated to the Mermaid Inn farther up Germantown Avenue in Chestnut Hill.)

📮 Have a question about food in Philly? E-mail your questions to me at mklein@inquirer.com for a chance to be featured in my newsletter.

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