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Openings
Rex (1516 South St.), the Southern-inflected resto from Jet Wine Bar that we last mentioned in December, is plugging right along, reports Jill Weber, who's opening the spot with her husband, Evan Malone. While they just missed their target month of January for the opening, you can catch an advance bite of chef Regis Jansen's food on Feb. 3, when Rex does First Friday at Drink Philly (239 Chestnut St.). They'll pass out tasting portions of three-cheese mac (fontina, gruyere, Swiss) with roasted tomatoes and traditional jambalaya, plus pours of winter-spiced red sangria and Crane Lake Viognier from Cali, both of which "sip quite pleasantly out of plastic cups," according to the always-enthuastic Weber. The event is free and goes from 5 to 9 p.m.
Stopped by London Grill (2301 Fairmount Ave.) last week to eyeball the room they're unveiling as Paris Wine Bar next Thursday, Feb. 9.
Accessible via both London's 23rd Street entrance and a dedicated door on Fairmount, the Paris space was most recently an insurance office; before this, it was London Grill Next Door, a coffeeshop owner Terry Berch McNally operated until 2009. Now, McNally and beverage manager Cristina Tessaro have brought in a state-of-the-art MicroMatic draft system (above) for their specialized, new-to-Philly concept — a bar pouring a kegged selection of wines strictly from Pennsylvania.
Today marks the grand opening of Green Olives (1941 E. Passyunk Ave.), a North African BYOB that replaces the short-lived Albanian BYOB Mondial Café. (DL had a funny experience there.) The former owners of Casablanca, a Moroccan spot just off City Line Avenue, are behind the Passyunk shop, which has been serving coffee and pastries for about a week. Crowd-pleasing pickies like mozzarella sticks make an appearance on the menu, but the focus is mostly Moroccan: tagines, kebabs, couscous, etc. (Menus in full after the jump; click to enlarge.) Green Olives is open daily, from 7 a.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. They're open till 11 every night.
The mobile redo of Brahim Ighladen's Marrakesh Express, which closed in West Philly in May 2011, is up and running. Can't miss his bright yellow truck, which slings at the corner of 40th and Locust Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; he's been selling out of homemade falafel sandwiches, plus chicken, beef/lamb and cheesesteak shawarma since rolling out last week. Last night we peeped his fish shawarma, boldly marinated tilapia in a pita griddled crisp on all sides like a burrito, plus a side of "Moroccan fries," mini potato wedges dusted with a North African spice blend and served with an aioli for dipping. Ighladen's been pouring cups of sweet Moroccan tea for chilly customers waiting in line, too. His menu is small for now, but expect the Casablancan to start playing with more ambitious specials — tagine, his well-regarded couscous, etc. — as he falls into a groove.
Way back in September we noted that Mike Naessens of Eulogy (136 Chestnut St.) was taking over the nearby Old City Asian Bistro (206 Market St.) for a Chinese/German restaurant called Tsingtau Lokal. Naessens tells Meal Ticket that he's quite close with the unique project, which now boasts a new name: Bierstube Tsingtau. The publican believes the use of "bierstube" — quite simply, the German term for tavern or pub — should help folks better wrap their heads around the concept, inspired by the antebellum Teutonic occupation of Qingdao in the early 20th century.
Bensalem native Nati Jay is working on launching ThaiBQ, a truck specializing in Thai-style barbecued meats, in the coming months. The St. Joseph's grad, currently working in distribution for Kraft Foods and helping out at his family's Thai restaurant in Buckingham, plans on leaning on the traditional cooking he learned growing up for his in-the-works menu; the idea is to combine American barbecue meats, like brisket, ribs, pulled pork, chicken and even duck, with traditional Thai flavor profiles and techniques. Jay hopes to operate his truck at Love Park or in West Philly. Progress is coming slowly but surely, but he's joined forces with the Philadelphia Mobile Food Association and has also set up a debut gig on April 21 at his alma mater's annual Taste of Hawk Hill event. He's on Twitter, too: @ThaiBQTruck
Roost (4529 Springfield Ave.), the fried chicken-and-fixins concept from Mau Daigle and Annie Baum-Stein of West Philly’s Milk & Honey Market, is in hibernation. “We've closed the shop, but we're hoping to reopen in a more suitable location," Baum-Stein says. Where Roost will resurface is TBD, but the couple is scouting real estate in Center City and on Drexel's campus, something larger than its former digs, which still currently doubles at the Milk & Honey commissary. (Chef Jordan Miller tells Meal Ticket he'll soon be cooking at Black Eyed Susan's on LBI.) Whereas Roost 1.0 was takeout only, "We hope to include seating at the new location," a la Rotisseur. We’ll be among the first in line.
Griddling crepes and baking chocolate-ricotta crostadas for about two months, the Italophilic Venice Café (2015 E. Moyamensing Ave.) is weaving itself into the fabric of Pennsport, one Counter Culture coffee at a time. The space that formerly housed American BYOB Nicholas has been brightened with new lighting, live plants and walls the color of tangerines and lemon soufflé. Venetian Carnevale masks, flags, gondola figurines and other knickknacks flavor the room, which is dominated by a hardwood bar and glass pastry case.
View galleryLast week we took a peek at Rebel Rock Bar & Bites (100 Spring Garden St.), the new bar, restaurant and live music concept from the owners of Delilah's and Zee Bar, ahead of its grand opening this Thursday, Jan. 26.
- barstool scientist
- Booze
- Brew Revue
- Chef Salad
- Closings
- Coffee
- Contests
- Dealage
- Dirty Dishes
- Don't Front
- Eat This Immediately
- Field Trip
- Food and Art
- Food and Holidays
- Food and Movies
- Food and Music
- Food and Politics
- Food and Sports
- Food and Web
- Food Blogs
- Food Books
- Food Events
- Food News
- Food TV
- Gifted
- Happy Hour Hopper
- How-To
- In Print
- Interview
- Meal Ticket
- Menu Time
- Not So Quickfire
- Notes from the Weekend
- On Wheels
- Openings
- Patio Drinking
- Philly Beer Week 2010
- Photos
- Private Chef POV
- Product Placement
- Recipes
- Snack Time
- Stiff Drank
- SUPPER
- Tea
- Testing
- Ticket Stubs
- Top Chef
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Video
- Weekly Candy
- Weird Regional Foods
- We're Here to Help
- Where'd We Eat?
- Drew Lazor's Ill-Advised Rant Factory
- Pregame
- Ill-Advised Ranting
- The Week Without Meat
- Philly Beer Week 2009
- Real Big
- Where'd I Eat Last Night?
- Top Chef Masters
- The Good Word
- Next Iron Chef
- Arterial Terrorism
- Food and Radio
