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Openings
In October we mentioned that Rex would be the name of the restaurant Jet Wine Bar owners Jill Weber and Evan Malone are opening at 1516 South Street, right across the street from Jet. Here's a little more on Rex 1516, as it'll be known properly. The space itself will carry the feel of a "faded mansion," with wrought iron, chandeliers, antique mirrors and plenty of distressed woodwork. Reclaimed materials, too, such as the paneling on the marble-topped bar, salvaged from the Rittenhouse Club (designed by Frank Furness). Food, from 'bama native Regis Jansen (1601, Royal Tavern, Latest Dish), is being billed a "comfort food with Creole roots" — crawfish pie, stuffed pork roulade and vegan meatloaf are among the proposed menu items. The restaurant should be opening in January.
Han Chiang of Han Dynasty (108 Chestnut St.) tells Meal Ticket he's taken over Manayunk's Beijing Homestyle (4358 Main St.) for a new location of his Sichuan restaurant, which also has locations in Exton and Royersford. Though Chiang admits the expansion "wasn't in my plan," the Zhang family, which owns Homestyle, offered the opportunity at a solid price, so the restaurateur jumped on it. Since it's a relatively new restaurant it won't require much lead time to prepare it — in fact, Chiang has his sights set on this Friday, Dec. 23, to start serving (same menu as Old City). The BYO will do both lunch and dinner.
Chiang's got another new restaurant in the works, too, but this one's far from Philly — he says he's working hard to finalize a lease for a location in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass. If all goes as planned that spot should open in the next four to six months.
Photo: Neal Santos
Rob Holloway, who purchased Fathom Seafood House from partner Mike Stollenwerk in October (Stollenwerk also sold Little Fish to focus on the about-to-relocate Fish), has finished all the tweaks required to make the Fishtown corner bar his own. The chef has officially been running the space as East Girard Gastropub (200 E. Girard Ave., 267-751-9343) — call it The E.G.G. — for a week.
The big ol' bar is still the focal point of the room, but there are now new tables, new lighting and new paint; the main old-to-new shift, though, can be found on the menu. "There's meat," laughs Holloway when asked what distinguishes Egg's food from Fathom's. While they've kept the raw bar station for oysters, you can now order burgers, hanger steak, housemade bangers and lobster mac 'n' cheese with housemade cavatelli during dinner nightly. Lobster empanadas have been a big hit, too. (Full menu on Facebook.) There's also Sunday brunch from noon to 3 p.m., with options like crab hash omelettes, challah Fresh toast and grits and eggs. Holloway has a grand opening party planned for Thursday, Jan. 12.
UPDATE [5 p.m.]: Added latest version of Egg's menu after the jump (click to enlarge).
More than two years after he rolled out Honest Tom's Taco Truck, Tom McCusker has moved on up to a brick-and-mortar restaurant in West Philly (261 S. 44th St., 215-620-1851). Open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. with extended hours coming in the near future, the shop starts the day with GreenStreet coffee and breakfast tacos (scrambled eggs, potato, cheese, bacon, salsa, guac), moving into tacos and burritos by lunchtime. Though there is a table and a handful of counter stools are coming soon, he's banking on mostly takeout business for right now; local delivery will start after the new year. McCusker says his eventual plan is to bust out the front of the shop and introduce a 8-foot-long communal picnic table that will spill out onto the sidewalk for a little fresh-air seating.
McCusker will continue to run his mobile taco operation on Saturdays at Clark Park, but won't be back at his usual Aviator Park haunt until this spring. By that time, he says, the Honest Tom's truck will be tricked out enough to allow him to offer both tacos and burritos to walk-up customers.
It was March of 2009 — right after Watchmen came out, not sure why we remember it like that — when we first wrote about married chefs Todd Braley and Daniela D'Ambrosio's plans to open a French-ish BYO called Pickled Heron (2218 Frankford Ave.) in Fishtown. They targeted a summer '09 opening, but that came and went. To be honest, we thought the restaurant was off the table altogether. But look! Close to three years later, the couple is all but ready to go — D'Ambrosio (no relation to our Felicia) says she and her husband will open to the public this coming Tuesday, Dec. 20. Here's to sticktoitiveness, Valdeon-smeared flatbreads and housemade pork rillettes! Check out the cash-only BYO's opening menu after the jump (click to enlarge) and call 215-634-5666 for reservations.
Rob LaScala of Seventh and Chestnut's LaScala's opened twin restaurants Rocchino's and Azione in Old City shortly after Thanksgiving. The adjacent and connected spaces tout distinct approaches — Azione (241 Chestnut St.) does family-style Italian-American dining at big tables (gone are most of the neon-glowy club touches of Dolce), while Rocchino's (239 Chestnut St.; formerly Paradigm) deals in coal-oven pizzas, small-plate antipasti and hearty pasta plates. (The exposed brick, bar setup, granite pizza enclave and oven on this side are all brand-new.) Chef Joe Nocella is running both operations here; he's also in charge of the kitchen at LaScala's. Busy dude. Both menus are after the jump (click to enlarge). Food pictured above, in order:
- Gorgonzola Dolce pizza: arugula, prosciutto, orange blossom honey
- Pappardelle with bolognese
- Spaghetti with San Marzano tomato sauce, olive oil, ricotta salata
- Roasted beets with goat cheese, arugula pesto, toasted pistachios and saba
Both concepts have bars, offering 30 wines by the glass (lots of Euro inclusion); Rocchino's takes the Italiano thing a step further, pouring beers from the boot (Del Borgo, Del Ducato, Moretti, Peroni) on draft. Both restaurants are open for lunch and dinner from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Happy hour runs weekdays from 5 to 7 p.m., featuring $3 Peroni and Moretti, $4 house wines, $5 cocktails and $6 Margherita pizzas.
The latest word is "late spring" from Aaron Ultimo for he and wife Elizabeth's sequel to Ultimo Coffee (1900 S. 15th St.) at 2149 Catharine Street. (We first talked about it in May.) The space, just north of Graduate Hospital fave the The Sidecar (2201 Christian St.), will feature 1,000 square feet for a café on the ground floor, outfitted with seating for 40-plus and extra space for Ultimo to experiment. "We want to try to incorporate a few new brewing methods," he says. "We'll still have pourover, but possibly also siphon brewing and Eva Solo," a Danish company that uses carafes you strain rather than press to produce "chewier" brews. Food will the same ready-made goodies the Newbold cafe carries: Plenty sandwiches, Coco Love cookies, Betty's Tasty Buttons cupcakes, etc.
View galleryMichael Dolich's Four Worlds Bakery and the Whispering Leaves tea shop have a new neighbor — Guacamole Mex-Grill, which the de Luna clan opened yesterday at 4612 Woodland Avenue in West/Southwest-ish Philly. The restaurant, which we first told you about in May 2011, is a small family operation — brother Rodolfo de Luna is in charge of the kitchen, cranking out recognizable northern and central Mexican specialties like chile rellenos, carne asada, tamales and empanadas. (The de Lunas are originally from Houston by way of Mexico; they gradually trickled over to the East Coast after brother Rafael began studying for an advanced degree at Temple.) Guacamole is open weekdays from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Back in February of this year, we mentioned that Spruce Street Espresso (1101 Spruce St.) would be opening a second coffee shop at 1201 Spruce, just one block away from their Counter Culture-brewing neighborhood hub. That new space will open to the public on Wednesday, Dec. 28, but it'll be more than just SSE Numero Dos.
"The idea has evolved — the project started as a café, but it's now transitioned into a restaurant," says Spruce Street's Faith Ortiz. That restaurant, called Odd Fellows Café after the historic property in which it resides, will open early (7 a.m.) for morning coffee service, but come Jan. 5, it'll also offer contemporary Latin food for lunch and dinner courtesy of Jorge Reyes, an El Vez alum who currently cooks at Collingswood's Casona.
Ortiz adds that Spruce Street will shut down temporarily on Dec. 27, right before Odd Fellows' debut, for two to three months of renovations, including the installation of new windows and a redesign of the interior.
In Riva (4116 Ridge Ave.), the East Falls restaurant we first mentioned in November, will open to the public tonight at 5 p.m. Philly developer Mark Sherman and chef Arthur Cavaliere (El Vez, Amada, Parc, etc.) are behind the Southern Italian spot, situated right on the banks of the Schuylkill in the old Franco's Trattoria. The menu, with prices falling between $9 and $19, features Neapolitan-style pies (done in a proper wood-burning oven) and "contemporary" antipasti (will post full menu here when it comes through); they have a liquor license, too, pouring "New and Old World" wines, plus cocktails and Italian craft beers. In Riva will be open daily for dinner starting at 5 p.m.
UPDATE [10:20 a.m.]: Opening menu viewable after the jump (click to enlarge). Pizza menu looking proper!
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