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Chef Tony Inchote and his wife Noy will launch their BYO Sawatdee (Thai for "hello") this Friday, July 8. (We had early details on it here.) The lime-green corner restaurant (1501 S. 15th St.), which you can probably see from space (Noy picked out the colors herself and had fun convincing painters that yes, this was definitely the color she wanted), will start out serving dinner nightly, with lunch on the weekdays. And what a lunch deal they've got: For the ludicrously cheap price of $9.95 (attn Midtown Lunch Philly), you get soup (tom yum gai, tom kha gai or kaeng jeud tao hoo, aka tofu/veggie soup), a choice of salad or app (pan-seared dumplings, spring rolls, etc.) and an entrée course, spanning options like multi-colored curries, soups, fried noodles, seafood and more. Tony is still fine-tuning his dinner menu, but we'll post that here it's finalized. More pics after the jump. Opening hours: Mon.-Thu., 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri., 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sat., 4-11 p.m.; Sun., 4-10 p.m.
Back in March we had a bit of info on the cloak-and-dagger Hop Sing Laundromat (1029 Race St.), the Chinatown cocktail joint run by a dude known only as Lêe. Stopped in this afternoon to find the space pretty close to completion — the wall on the eastern side of the room has been done over, sconced-up and chipped away to expose the original brick in stylishly haphazard sections, and that 40-foot wood-paneled bar is in like Flynn, with much of the equipment already placed. Learned today that a number of decorative touches in the Laundromat were salvaged from churches; have a look-see at the crossed-up hanging lights above the bar (!). Furniture's still being selected/discussed.
Lêe chalks up the delay in opening (he was originally aiming for April/May) to a litany of construction tweaks and delays; at this point in time, the bar owner will only commit to "late summer" as far as opening goes. For now see our March post for background. More photos after the jump.
Clark Gilbert picked a sweet weekend to soft-open his Gemelli on Main (4161 Main St.) — Manayunk was downright crawling with hungry folk due to its Arts Festival, providing Gilbert the opportunity to roll out his Medi/French restaurant, formerly located in Narberth, to a new crowd. He's now serving dinner nightly, with lunch Saturdays and Sundays. Both liquor license and al fresco dining are on the way, but the booze could very well be ready to go within a week's time (BYO for now). Here's Gemelli's opening menu; we've got shots of the interior after the jump.
Hot Diggity! (630 South St.), the gourmet wiener distributor we first told you about in mid-May, opened over the weekend. Chef Keith Garabedian, who co-owns with longtime friends Tom Zmijewski, Sean Kendall and Matt Anderson, oversees a menu of 10 different hot dog options, broken down in full-color illustrated glory above the order counter via art from Philly artist Hawk Krall, Drawing for Food blogger and author of Serious Eats' Hot Dog of the Week column.
Jessica Leung hit up Taste of the Nation at the Loews Hotel yesterday evening, camera in hand, to take in the scene. Here's her report from the event, a fundraiser for the national non-profit Share Our Strength.
Italian magnates Vittorio Assaf (left) and Fabio Granato expect to open the Philadelphia branch of Serafina at 18th and Sansom this coming Tuesday, June 21, with an official "pasta-cutting" ceremony. The partners, who have Serafina locations in New York, the Hamptons and Brazil in addition to other restaurant projects, first announced their intent to break into the Philly market in the spring of 2010.
This big corner space (130 S. 18th St., 215-977-7718) seats nearly 200 between two floors, the second accessible via elevator; there's a bar accomodating 14 on the ground level, plus al fresco dining (watch for the signature yellow umbrellas). Food-themed frescos adorn multiple walls. The focal point of the kitchen operation is the wood-burning oven, where Serafina pizzaioli will crank out thin-crust heat-blistered pies, as well as seafood, poultry and other meat items (apps $7-$19; entrées $17-$28). The restaurant will also have a café operation offering coffee, pastries, sandwiches and so forth. They'll be open daily from 11:30 a.m. to midnight; the café will operate daily from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
View gallery- As of Wednesday night, the Great Chefs Event made "just under a million" dollars for Alex's Lemonade Stand, with each ticket selling for $300, to say nothing of its big-ticket auction items like a home dinner for 20 people with Jose Garces, which went for $25,000.
- Upcoming stuff: Marc Vetri, the fountainhead of the Great Chefs Event, was much too busy to talk about anything but Alex’s Lemonade Stand. Shame. I really wanted to bug him about why he changed the name of his Italian gastropub at 600 North Broad to Alla Spina from Birerria 600. B600 sounded so mod, so Marcello Mastroiani. One new restaurant whose name will probably stick is Kevin Sbraga’s cool-casual Sbraga, which should open early autumn at 440 S. Broad Street in the Symphony House corner of Broad and Pine.
Stopped by opening night at Fare (2028 Fairmount Ave.) yesterday evening to check out Fairmount's newest restaurant, from Savvas Navrosidis (of Savas Brick Oven Pizza and Fairmount Pizza), David Orphanides and manager Robert Amar. Real bright room at the long-in-the-works, eco-friendly operation, which features green elements like repurposed carpet, low-VOC paints and green floor materials; artist Carrie Fecca created wall pieces and installations echoing the elemental touchstones of earth, wind, fire and water. Chef Tim Bellew's menu. big on seasonal veggies and light preparations, is split into smalls, salads and mains; check it out in full here. We grubbed on their bread service, with roasted peppers; a dandelion green salad with anchoy dressing and a fried egg; roasted cauliflower with chickpeas, cukes and dilled yogurt; and miso halibut (sub for barramundi) with coconut brown rice, asparagus and radish/carrot salad.
Bobby Dombrowski quietly opened his South Philly coffee shop Strange Brew (1321 S. Second St.) this past Friday. The Pennsport native's Second-and-Wharton operation, which we first mentioned in March, is serving Counter Culture coffee and espresso, and they'll soon introduce a selection of light sandwiches and so forth via Le Bus. It's a narrow space but there are multiple seating areas, including a communal table inside and a open-air back patio; Dombrowski, a Kid Robot head, has a chunk of his vinyl toy selection showcasead around the shop. Ask for one of Strange Brew's swipeable "Shakespeare" cards — think As You Like It — which'll track your drink preferences and qualify you for free cups. The shop is open from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, with a later, TBD opening time on the weekends.
Partners Aaron Matzkin and Dean Kitagawa snuck in some good soft-open practice in the past few days at their brand-new Rittenhouse-area operation Rotisseur, and they're ready to roll into their first official work week as of tomorrow. Located on 21st Street between Chestnut and Sansom (same block as Slate, Tampopo and Caffeination), the takeout-friendly 16-seater (first mentioned in December) specializes in slow-roasted, Lancaster-sourced chicken that is cage-, hormone- and antibiotic-free, plus halal. Birds are available by the quarter, half and whole and come with a rotating selection of sides (mac 'n' cheese, kale chips, corn muffins, potato salad, etc.). Matzkin and Kitagawa, who plan on working more meats into rotisserie rotation once they are comfortable, are doing dinner only at the moment, with lunch service rolling out in three or so weeks. They're also looking into the option of bicycle delivery in and around the neighborhood.
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