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Closings
You just can't give Jersey nice things. Like the fictitious South African prawn slum in the vastly underrated alien flick, District 9, Riverton, New Jersey's District 611 (710 Broad St., Riverton, NJ), a city-minded Neapolitan pizzeria from a trio of Starr vets, is closing.
I reviewed the place for New Jersey Monthly magazine and really enjoyed two dinners there, particularly the chewy, crispy pies and smart desserts. Lack of traffic is to blame, though my winter visits saw the vast dining room packed. Guess it was hard to sustain that momentum after the initial opening blitz.
The owners are planning to re-concept the space. Here's hoping they don't start slinging chicken parm and tiramisu like all their NJ neighbors.
Looks like Kris, the higher-end Italian eatery from the Stogie Joe's folks is no longer. Eater is hearing that the 11th and Federal corner could possibly be taken over by Tiffin/Tashan owner Munish Narula and transforming it into Tiffin Bistro. Considering the shortage of Indian options south of Washington Avenue, we'll take it!
Foobooz found newspaper covering the windows of Village Belle in Queen Village. No official word on whether or not the Belle is gone for good.
Over at the Comcast Center, Cook and Solo's barbecue satellite of Percy Street is no longer. Friday was their last day. For an amusing list of speculations on why the location has closed please direct yourself to the comments thread on The Insider's post.
According to The Insider Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran are taking over the troubled 13th and Sansom location that was most recently home to the now shuttered Fish as well as flash-in-the-pan Rhino Bar. With Spanish, Mexican and Mediterranean already under their belts, there's no word yet on what Turney and Safran have in mind for these two locations aside from total Midtown Village domination.
Sad news out of West Philly: If the lapsed liquor license and turned-off telephone is any indication, Zocalo is closing, the Insider is reporting. Greg and Mary Russell's cantina has been a Powelton Village fixture for 23 years—can you imagine 36th and Lancaster in 1990!?—but struggled in recent ones, evidenced by a visit from Kitchen Nightmares' Gordon Ramsay, who decluttered the space and de-Mexicanized the menu in November 2011. At the same time, Ramsay also filmed at Passyunk red-saucer Chiarella's. Should we consider them on watch as well?
Eater's telling us that the ridiculously named and quick to shutter YOLO coffee shop at the corner of 12th and Spruce is reopening tomorrow and the folks who own EPX breakfast spot Chhaya are consulting. The new concept is going to be called Toast, may another Drake reference. Nah, probably not.
The Insider's always got his finger on the pulse of Philly restaurant happenings. Today he's saying that February 4th is the opening date for a sit down cafe connected to Rittenhouse's Metropolitan Bakery. The expanded space will be serving light lunch options like pizzas, sandwiches and house-cured charcuterie and pickles. Coffee will be coming from Point Breeze roastery Green Street.
And in breaking burger news we've got not one but two locations of totally worth the wait Shake Shack coming our way, one in University City and another in the King of Prussia Mall complex.
And in less cheery news Old City's Craft & Claw has closed up shop after a mere three plus months. Foobooz is speculating that C&C just could shake the stigma of it's days as douche-o-rama club Mad River.
Le Cochon Noir (5070 Parkside Ave.), the barbecue-and-blues venue Jamal Parker opened in 2010, smoked its last rack of ribs yesterday. An excerpt from the closing announcement on LCN's Facebook:
Man, we really had a blast! Thanks... thanks again for believing in us and simply for being there. We're sure gonna miss the fun times we had together. Listen, do me a favor... keep in touch! Feel free to shoot us an email (info@lecochonnoir.com) should you get the urge to swing through and use the space with some friends for a private show, to throw a special event or some other occasion. We'd love to hang! Hey, we promise to do the same and keep you up to date on what we're getting in to.
About that: Parker says he'd love to use his competition smoker to launched a food cart-style barbecue operation in the city. "[It] could be coming soon if things pan out right," he says.
Photo: Drew Lazor
When a restaurant closes "temporarily," the likelihood of it ever reopening is about as slim as a cocktail straw. So good for Yoshi Yamasaki for making good on her promise to get her cheery Mexican coffee shop, Cafe con Chocolate (2100 S. Norwood St.), back in business after shutting down last month to take care of her ailing mama, among other reasons. Missers of CcC's molletes, nachos and Oaxacan cocoa will be able to get their fill starting on May 5, when the cafe reopens at 10 in the morning. Yamasaki is running a special Cinco de Mayo menu (we'll have that for you soon) and there will be live mariachi music from 3 to 6 p.m. Welcome back, guys!
UPDATE [26apr12]: Added Cinco de Mayo menu (PDF).
Photo: Adam Erace
"You have no idea how difficult this past weekend was," says Yoshi Yamasaki of her decision to not open her sunny Café con Chocolate (2100 S. Norwood St.) for usual business hours. "I'm in the conflict of investing on updating the kitchen and having new management."
Yamasaki, who had to take an unexpected trip to Mexico to care for her hospitalized mother, announced the decision on the café's Facebook page Friday, to the tune of wailing fans. She says service issues, the out-of-the-way location (one of the things that made it so charming), staff turnover — her brother and daughter, once staples at the cafe, don’t work there anymore — and lack of business outside brunch are among the reasons for the closure. "I'm hoping I can get back on my feet again. Something has to change."
For now, we echo her Facebook groupies: We’ll miss you, Yoshi!
Photo: Adam Erace
Today was the last day for Strange Brew Coffee (1321 S. Second St.), the Counter Culture-brewing café in the Pennsport 'hood. Bobby Dombrowski opened the shop in May of 2011. He says he'll continue to run his Facebook page and retail coffee beans by the pound.
Photo: Drew Lazor
If you didn't know the end of Le Bec-Fin was near, you've not been paying attention to the signs. Despite the rebranding of its basement space as Tryst and the threats of closure from Georges Perrier that resulted in a temporary reprieve, those in the real estate business (let alone the food biz) will tell you: Georges wanted out. He told me as much last week — how he waited for someone as formidable as Nicolas Fanucci (the former LBF GM last of French Laundry) to want in, that he was tired of long days and short marriages. A recent negative critique from the Inquirer's Craig LaBan had nothing to do with the sale. Perrier simply had enough.
To paraphrase Noah Cross in Chinatown, Perrier built this town. OK, not all of it, but he was the architect of Philly's restaurant renaissance, the guy who put us on the map when New York Times scribe Craig Claiborne claimed LBF as the East Coast's best. That was Georges. About 15 years ago, I dined on his Grande Degustation menu and it was magnifique. No matter what you thought had become of LBF — its loss of Mobil stars when it went a la carte, its questioned culinary reputation — Perrier's castle surely wasn't going to shutter with a whimper. It would end with a bang, and I wanted to be there. So I gathered my wife, and, along with 130 other diners, we sold out the last night featuring Nicholas Elmi's cooking and Perrier's reign on Walnut. (Elmi has moved on quickly to Rittenhouse Tavern, opening in April in the nearby Art Alliance.)
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