New Restaurants Opening Philadelphia nj 20230531

There’s a pizzeria from Marc Vetri, a Brazilian steak house, a cocktail bar, a beer garden, a takeout specializing in egg rolls, and new locations for a venerable brunch spot, a popular wine bar, and a Jewish deli — and that was all in the space of one week.

I count nearly 60 new restaurants through fall. As usual, opening timelines are fluid.

But first some scoop:

Amma’s South Indian Cuisine, the hit BYOB that started in Voorhees and added a Center City and University City branches, intends to boost its footprint — first in September at 7000 Midlantic Drive in Mount Laurel (replacing the shuttered Naf Naf Grill) and shortly thereafter at Newtown Township’s Goodnoe Corner (the former Zoes Kitchen at Route 532 and Durham Road).

Dolsot House, in Cherry Hill’s Saw Mill Village, will add a location this summer at 3747 Church Rd. in Mount Laurel, next to Mount Laurel Wine & Spirits. The name is not certain but is expected to include Dolsot, said owner Craig Vogt, who promises tabletop barbecue cooking, modern Korean cuisine, and sushi/sashimi.

Soufiane Boutliliss (a Moroccan-born chef) and spouse Christophe Mathon (he’s French) are looking to July to open Sofi Corner Cafe at 1112 Locust St. in Washington Square West, which last was Sooo Delicious. They’ll do French baking as well as Moroccan cuisine, including three different tagines, in cozy environs.

Literal scoop: Side-by-side gelato shops are coming to 17th Street in Rittenhouse. Massimo and Ana Boni — college sweethearts who met in New York; he’s Italian-born and Radnor-raised, she is Venezuelan — are dipping into the business with Vita. It’s taking up part of the former Branzino at 261 S. 17th St. This happens to be next door to the newish Bottega Rittenhouse, also a gelato specialist, whose owner, Luan Toto, is the Bonis’ landlord.

Now operating in preview mode is Elma (431 E. Girard Ave.) from chef James Nardone, who’d been popping up as Nardone Pasta Co. The 12-seat BYOB, in Fishtown’s former Slice Pizza location, is serving Italian-inspired dinner on weekends as it ramps up for its regular schedule: breakfast/brunch from Thursday to Monday, and dinners Friday to Sunday.

David Lee took over Manayunk Tavern (4247 Main St.) to become Bar Jawn, a sibling of his popular Pizza Jawn down the block. Still branded as Manayunk Tavern, Bar Jawn is in the very softest of soft-launch modes as Lee tunes up the kitchen.

Walnut Garden, a temporary, seasonal beer garden filling the space left by the demolition of three buildings at 1706-10 Walnut St., offers daily events, entertainment, and family-friendly experiences from noon to midnight seven days a week. Operator Avram Hornik says it should return next year while the developer moves forward with plans for a residential high-rise building on the site.

Marc Vetri opened Pizzeria Salvy on the concourse of the Comcast Technology Center (18th Street, south of Arch). Menu (served Tuesday to Friday, lunch and dinner) includes 12-inch pizzas, salads, his father Sal’s meatballs, and vegetables, plus full-size slices at lunch.

Rock N Rolls, whose specialties are sweet and savory egg rolls, opened its first brick-and-mortar takeout location at 2903 Holme Ave. in Northeast Philadelphia. Owner Shamaya “Bella” Oberlton donated money from her opening weekend to Big Hustle Athletics.

Gaucho’s Prime has become King of Prussia’s second Brazilian steak house, in the former Ruth’s Chris at 220 N. Gulph Rd. Owner Anderson Winck is a Brazilian-raised former manager of Fogo de Chão — which happens to have a location a mile away at the King of Prussia Town Center.

The Borscht Belt, a hit in its early going in Stockton, N.J., before the farmers’ market closed, has resurfaced in larger digs in Bucks County’s Village at Newtown (2124 S. Eagle Rd.) with a full-service deli counter, a wide range of retro candies and baked goods, and chef Nicky Liberato’s menu of Catskills-inspired Jewish soul food.

With the name Post Haste, you might think this cocktail bar at 2519 Frankford Ave. in Kensington refers to speed. In fact, it means the opposite — as in “chill” (literally “after the haste”), say business partners Gabe Guerrero (formerly at the Dandelion and El Vez) and Fred Beebe (formerly of Momofuku Ssam and Sunday in Brooklyn). They’re going for sustainability: All ingredients, from the bar ingredients to chef de cuisine Elise Black’s food (which has many vegan dishes, such as the radish rillettes shown below), are sourced from the Eastern United States, and 95% of furniture and design details were repurposed or recycled.

Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar’s North Wales location moved across Bethlehem Pike into the much roomier former Greene Turtle space in Gwynedd Crossing (1100 Bethlehem Pike).

Loft District bruncherie Cafe Lift is moving from its home of 20 years on North 13th Street to much larger quarters around the corner, at Spring Garden Street and Ridge Avenue. (It’s down the street from La Chinesca, also owned by Michael and Jeniphur Pasquarello.) The seven-day operation has double the seating on two levels, including eight perches at a street-level coffee counter.

The Osmanollaj brothers, who came to the United States from Kosovo in 2000, have built a small empire of fast-casual eateries such as M2O Burger. They’re raising their stakes with a homey brewery/pizzeria named after the Albanian dialect Toska. They’re sprucing up the former Earth Bread & Brewery at 7136 Germantown Ave. in Mount Airy.

PJ Hopkins and Matt Budenstein are moving Liberty Kitchen, their Fishtown sandwich shop, a block and a half north into the former Good Spoon Soupery at Front and Master Streets. With the larger space (including cafe), they’ll have longer hours and a larger selection.

Eatwell, a West African restaurant out of Irvington, N.J., will bring jollof rice, fufu, and other Nigerian staples to 106 Chestnut St. in Old City, next to Amina. Owners Amina Wahab, Aisha Dauda, and Stephen Oyelakin are aiming for some time in June.

Cake & Joe’s Sarah Qi and Trista Tang plan a mid- to late-June opening for their Fishtown-Kensington branch of their Pennsport-rooted specialty coffee and dessert shop. It’s at 2012 Frankford Ave.

Cafe Carmela, a popular Northeast Philadelphia Italian family restaurant, is planning a June opening for a sequel at 2975 Philmont Ave. in Huntingdon Valley.

Bake’n Bacon, the bacon-centric bar-restaurant from food trucker Justin Coleman, expects to open soon at the former Devil’s Den at 1148 S. 11th St. in South Philadelphia.

Eddie V’s Prime Seafood has a June 15 debut scheduled for its location next to Cherry Hill Mall (2000 Route 38). There’s a branch in King of Prussia.

Felicia Wilson of Amina (104 Chestnut St.) is saying mid- to late-June for BlackHen, her chicken shop up the block at 120 Chestnut.

Ash and Pretha Kailath are aiming at mid- to late-June for Lu & Aug’s, their ice cream parlor at 28 Rittenhouse Place, Ardmore, named after their teens, Laiyla (“Lu”) and Augustine. Specialty will be affogatos.

The long-vacant corner of Front and Market Streets in Old City will see a coffee shop called Cuor di Caffe.

Terrain is opening a cafe at its new location at 2100 Lower State Rd. in Doylestown.

The Shaquille O’Neal-backed Big Chicken is targeting mid- to late-June for its stand at the concourse of the Comcast Center (17th Street and JFK Boulevard).

Restaurant veteran Philip Breen, who opened and managed Frankford Hall, the Dandelion, Dock Street Brewery, and Condesa, put $2 million into the former Burgundy Lounge, a Delco pool hall. In mid- to late-June, he and executive chef Elijah Milligan expect to open Rosemary at 25 E. Hinckley Ave. in Ridley Park. “Locally sourced, modern American cuisine with global influences” is the line on the menu, and there will be a greenhouse vibe.

Chef Dave Conn’s long-awaited bistro, Alice, is looking at mid- to late-June at 901 Christian St., the onetime butcher shop in the Italian Market that formerly housed Butcher’s Cafe, Paesano’s, and Monsu. Conn, the former longtime executive chef at El Vez and kitchen lieutenant of Jose Garces during Garces’ Iron Chef years, will do seasonal American cuisine with an emphasis on wood grilling. Note: Say it “Alice,” as in “Go ask.” It is unrelated to the Center City pizzeria Alice (pronounced “al-EE-chay” in Italian).

The guys behind Manny’s Deli in Southampton, Bucks County, have a mid- to late-June target for a smaller offshoot called Manny’s Deli Stop at 4003 Welsh Rd., Willow Grove (it’s next to the Cold Stone Creamery on a pad site outside of the Walmart). Rob Woloshin and brothers Jeremy and Chase Thomas will offer counter service.

Alisha and Jason Miller of Racks Pub & Grill (now in Atco and Williamstown) plan mid-June for The Local G.O.A.T Grille + Public House, replacing a Tilted Kilt location at 645 Berlin-Cross Keys Rd. in Sicklerville. They bill it as a trendy casual American grill, with a wide-ranging menu, 36 taps, and a line of alcohol-free cocktails

Al Pastor, Justin Weathers and Joseph Monnich’s Mexican restaurant in Exton, is aiming at this summer for a new branch at 13 W. Benedict Ave. in Havertown, filling the shuttered Town Tap by Conshohocken Brewing Co.

Chef Denise Gesek targets late June for Insatiable, a bar-restaurant replacing Community at 21st and Federal Streets in what for decades was the Point Breeze shot-and-a-beer called Burg’s Lounge.

Martorano’s Prime, South Philly-bred restaurateur Steve Martorano’s high-end Italian steak house, is taking shape at Rivers Casino (1001 N. Delaware Ave.).

Tonalli will be a taqueria-slash-pizzeria from Odilón Sandoval, who will honor his hometown of San Mateo Ozolco, Mexico, with a 30-seater at Front and Morris Streets, the Pennsport corner that previously housed Musi.

Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, the dumpling specialist that serves its food through a series of doors, Automat-style, is now targeting July for its first Philadelphia location, at 308 South St. Two other locations, 3400 Lancaster Ave. and 1504 Sansom St., are also planned.

Starbolt, from Jason Evenchik (Time, Goat, Bar, Vintage, etc.), is targeting August at 1936 N. Front St. on the Fishtown-Kensington line. It will be a bar, restaurant, and event space converted from an old ironworks.

Tapster, a nationally syndicated self-service bar and tasting room with 60 beverages on tap, will take over the former Philadelphia Runner spot at 1601 Sansom St., in August, said founder Roman Maliszewski. (Note that Boqueria, the New York City tapas destination, plans a 2024 opening across the street.)

Restaurateur/designer Owen Kamihira (El Camino Real) is targeting August for Joe & Kay (702 N. Second St.), a Northern Liberties izakaya he will run with his sons, Leksander and Toshiro. The name refers to his grandparents’ farm in Washington State that they operated before the family was interned during World War II.

Fiore Fine Foods’ move from South Philadelphia to Kensington (2413 Frankford Ave., the former Flow State Coffee Bar) should be complete in late August or early September.

“Summer” is the target for the following:

Loch Bar, the Baltimore-based upmarket seafood specialist, is on schedule to open just after Labor Day at the Arthaus at Broad and Spruce Streets, across from the Kimmel Center.

Well-traveled chef Wyatt Piazza is targeting September for Kiddo, his restaurant (contemporary American fare with an emphasis on vegetables), replacing Pinefish at 12th and Pine Streets in Washington Square West.

Soko Bag, specializing in Korean fried chicken and beer, targets September at 95 Nutt Rd. in Phoenixville.

Dizengoff, the casual Israeli spot from Solomonov and Cook, will open an expanded full-service restaurant at 1625 Sansom St., replacing Abe Fisher.

Two Locals Brewing Co., Philadelphia’s first Black-owned brewery, aims at October for its brewery and taproom at uCity Square, at 37th and Market Streets in University City.

“Fall” is the plan for the following: