Food and Drinq

Capogiro, the gelateria with locations at 13th and Sansom and 20th and Sansom, is poised for expansion.

A third location is up for February ('09) at the Radian building at 39th and Walnut Streets on Penn's campus.

But first, owners Stephanie and John Reitano will address the critical issue of how to make all that gelato. They're building a 15,000-square-foot production kitchen that will be running by the end of the year, he says.

Brewer Tom Baker and his wife, Peggy Zwerver, sold Heavyweight Brewing in 2006 with an eye toward getting into brewpubs. One of their longtime customers was P.J. McMenamin at McMenamin's Tavern on Germantown Avenue in Mount Airy. When a nuisance corner bar nearby was shut down, Baker and Zwerver set out to build their dream. "I've always been fascinated by brewpubs and American flatbreads," Baker says. So that'll be the focus at Earth Bread + Brewery at Germantown Avenue and Durham Street.

Dreams take time, and nearly nine months after they signed a lease for 7136 Germantown Ave., Earth Bread + Brewery is getting close. Baker has just some finishing work (restrooms, decorations, etc.) to do as they wait for their brewery and restaurant liquor licenses.

The focus will be beers brewed on premises, select wines, salads and flatbreads. Simple. Baker is most proud of his hand-built wood-burning oven. (In the top photo, he's shooting a laser thermometer in there to get a reading. A day after he had a test fire going, it read 300 degrees.)

Baker/Zwerver are big on recycling. They cut a hole in the mezzaine level and installed part of their former brewing equipment in the basement. (Photo below.)

The first-floor bar was salvaged from a Manhattan tap called Collins, and the pine flooring was taken from a demolished building in Maine. The second-floor bar was found locally. You may remember the tables and chairs from Victory Brewing in Downingtown, which changed its furnishings in its recent renovation.

Twelve beer taps will include four made in-house. Twenty-five wines by the glass.
And with a nod toward neighborhood concerns, there will be no takeout pizza and beer. He mentioned beer geeks specifically when he said beer will have to be consumed on premises. "No growlers, especially at the beginning," he said.

Make that two Philly-area guys from the recent Next Food Network Star to get their own series.

Winner Aaron McCargo Jr. of Camden premiered Big Daddy's House yesterday.

South Philly's Adam Gertler, one of two runners-up, is in L.A. shooting Will Work for Food. Gertler's half-hour Food Network show combines his comedy with a sense of adventure and premieres at 9:30 p.m. Sept. 30.

It's not a cooking show, per se. Gertler will show how people in the food business do their jobs. Among them: potato chip inspector, shark feeder and dog-food taste-tester.

Gertler, an actor and former waiter at Amada in Old City, coowned The Smoked Joint, a short-lived barbecue restaurant at the Academy House in Center City.

One by one, Fishtown is picking up in the openings department.

You may have heard about Ekta, the Indian joint at 250 E. Girard Ave. from former Tiffin chef Raju Bhattarai, and Sketch, a burgery at 415 E. Girard Ave.

And now for something more refined to look forward to:

Here's first word on Pickled Heron, a 50-seat white-tablecloth bistro at 2218 Frankford Ave. (between Susquehanna and Dauphin) from Todd Braley and Daniela D’Ambrosio, who met in the kitchen at the Ritz-Carlton.

He went on to become the opening chef de cuisine at Northern Liberties' Copper Bistro. D'Ambrosio says they'll work with local ingredients, bake their own breads and whip up their own charcuterie. They're trying for a liquor license. Right now, it's a "big white box," D'Ambrosio says, adding that they're aiming for November.

No one really believed that longtime restaurateur Joe Poon was leaving the business when he closed his Joseph Poon Asian Fusion Restaurant at 10th and Arch Streets a few years back.

The affable Poon, who still leads his wok 'n' roll tours of Chinatown and runs Joseph Poon Chef Kitchen, a demonstration kitchen/catering operation at 1010 Cherry St., is going back into the a la carte game.

He's taking over Taipan at 108 Chestnut St. in Old City and will be opening in a few weeks.

The new place will be called Joe's Peking Duck Original 1984, and it refers to his onetime landmark Joe's Peking Duck House, which he founded (guess when?) at 925 Race St. (It's where Zhi Wei Guan is now.)

The name might be unwieldy but it could have been even longer. I hear that he can't use the word "house."

Photo: April Saul

Pat's King of Steaks is named among Esquire magazine's best steaks in America in "The Esquire Almanac of Steak" in September's issue on newsstands Tuesday (8/12).

Among the other joints mentioned are:

Peter Luger, Brooklyn (for porterhouse): "The place ain’t much to look at, but there’s a reason for the fame. It’s the beef."

El Raigon, San Francisco (skirt steak): "El Raigon’s focus is on reproducing the true flavors of South America, while most other Argentine steakhouses are exercises in sheer gluttony."

Paris Coffee Shop, Fort Worth, Texas (chicken-fried steak): "There’s no resisting the conceit of a dish like chicken-fried steak and The Paris is the kind of place to eat it. Preferably followed by a slice of warm custard pie."

Kaizan, which lasted a Philly minute in the Academy House (1420 Locust St.), is being brought back as Izakaya* in the middle of September.

Owner Jonathan Chun, who also owns Fuji Mountain, says he's doing minor touchups to the space. Kaizan's concept was kaiseki, based on a high-falutin' Japanese tasting menu. Izakaya will be just how the name translates: tavern. Casual.

* Not to be confused with Izakaya, Michael Schulson's new hot spot in the Borgata.

... for remodeling. The Walnut Street landmark earlier this year revamped its cuisine, moving to an a la carte menu in addition to its $ignature tasting menus. Georges Perrier told me this evening that the ornate dining room (last redone about seven years ago) will be redecorated over two weeks in late October or early November into moderne/deco. Le Bar Lyonnais, the downstairs bar, will be sexed up with banquettes and its menu will be steered more toward classic French.

I'll have more details -- including the possible new home of Le Bec's existing furnishings -- in a story in Thursday's Inquirer

The globetrotting Chris Hora today (8/13) opens Root, his 38-seat BYO based on Slow Food, at 1033 Spring Garden St. (215-765-0904). Here are lunch and dinner menus. Lunch is served Tuesdays through Fridays, dinner Tuesdays through Sundays.

Marty Grims says Tuesday (8/19) will be Day One of Du Jour Market & Cafe, a 60-seater inside and outside plus takeout, at the Symphony House at Broad and Pine Streets. Speaking of Symphony House, rumblings are that the planned revival of Girasole -- once a popular Italian at 13th and Locust -- is not happening.

A bunch of other projects are in a holding pattern as they await construction and licensing issues. Prive at 246 Market is looking at 8/25. Earth Bread + Brewery in Mount Airy is shooting for the first week of September. Minar Palace at 1304 Walnut? That's a mystery. I hear that PGW finally showed up to hook 'em up but found more issues. El Fuego's new spot at 2104 Chestnut: "About a week." The East Passyunk location of Adobe Cafe (1919 E. Passyunk) is due to get its health inspection on Monday (8/18), which means it's a "couple" weeks away. Owen Kamihira says "four to six weeks" for El Camino Real, his Tex-Mex border bar in Liberties Walk in Northern Liberties.

A question arrived in Craig LaBan's chat today (8/19) about Divan Turkish Kitchen at 22d and Carpenter: "Did you see that Divan is advertised for sale on Craigslist?" Apparently the point was referenced on at least one food blog, which didn't bother to get an answer.

What's the deal? LaBan asked me.

I tried that old reporter's trick and picked up the phone. Ilker Ugur, the owner, acknowledged that Divan is indeed for sale -- asking price is $1.4 million. He said he and his partner, whose name he did not divulge*, had a falling out. They either want to sell the restaurant outright (hopefully to someone who wants to maintain the Turkish theme), or bring in a new partner. Either way, he said, the restaurant will not close until a sale occurs. Ugur and his sister Fulya own Cafe Fulya, a coffee shop in Queen Village.

Update (8/20): Ugur's partner, Isil Ozturk, returned my call. She is an architect, while Ugur is in construction. She said that she didn't know of a falling out, or of the Craigslist ad. She said both want to keep the restaurant going, but find that it takes up too much of their time. There are no plans to close, she said.

Avram Hornik of Lucy's Hat Shop, Loie, Noche, Drinker's Pub and Drinker's Tavern confirms that he is going into Front Street and Girard Avenue in Fishtown with a jumbo-size project.

The Jumbo Theater is a couple of properties totaling 10,000 square feet, but the bulk of it was the circa-1905 Jumbo Theatre (an -re theatre). Like many of the old opera houses, the Jumbo in the 1960s was converted into a warehouse and left to die.

The beauty of this project, Hornik says, is that the renovators added dropped ceilings and drywall. "All" he'll have to do it remove it and clean it and voila!

He wants to open a restaurant -- cuisine not known but it won't be high-end -- in the front, and add a performance space (comedy, music, etc.) in the back.

He hopes to open next spring.

I'm on vacation -- hence the spotty, irregular posting.

As part of a technical upgrade, Food & Drinq will go away in early September.
My restaurant news will get a new platform. It will become part of The Insider, my new Philadelphia-focused people/places/things news site on Philly.com.

Basil, which filled the spot of an old Seafood Shanty in Paoli, has closed after nine years. Observers note that it never drew the praise/traffic/buzz that's surrounded its associated eateries: Tango, Nectar and Maia.

Co-owner Marty Grims says the site will be developed into an office building.

Photo of chef-owner Scott Morrison (2005) by The Inquirer's LaShinda Clark.

Gabriel Bravo of South Philly's La Lupe tells me that he's "two to three weeks" from opening Fiesta Acapulco, a Veracruz-style seafood BYOB, a block away at 1122 S Ninth St.

Bistrot La Minette, perhaps the most charming bistro to come down le pike in some time, opens Monday (8/25) at Sixth and Bainbridge on the Bella Vista edge of Queen Village. (The lights were on last night for friends and family tests.)

It's dinner only, Mondays through Saturdays,

Here's the menu.

Bistrot La Minette
623 S. Sixth St. (at Bainbridge)
215-925-8000

Monday (8/25) lunchtime will mark the rollout of Privé, the bi-level Mediterranean resto-bar at 246 Market St. in Old City from South Jersey restaurateur/cousins Bill and Nick Lavdas. It's the old Lena and Bluezette, in the storefront with the curved-iron facade. You first heard about it here in December.

The space has been given a sleek, slick makeover (light strands dangling in front of the windows, a spotlit mosaic mural, gorgeous cut stone), though it retains Lena/Bluezette's odd, inefficient geometry (tiny lounge in the front, space-eating staircase and kitchen corridor down the middle, and small, loungey dining room on the first floor, while the second floor again has the small, loungey back room, a larger bar and cool window seating overlooking Market Street).

It will serve lunch and dinner daily.

Here are the lunch menu, the dinner menu, and the late-night menu from 23-year-old chef Peter Karapanagiotis.

Privé
246 Market St.
215-923-8313

The storefront on Ninth Street just north of South Street -- formerly part of Krass Bros. men's store -- is available.

Realtor Nancy Alperin has the space, which has been Mimosa and ChrisStevens, both short-lived BYOBs.

Gunawan Wibisono of Old City's Zento had been close to signing a lease, but an associate tells me that he believed that Ninth and South was too close to Second and Chestnut. He's looking elsewhere, possibly in the burbs, for a second location.

Alperin says the 1,500 square feet will rent for $3,000 a month (triple net), including new equipment. She's at nancyalperin@maxwellrealty.com.

Yes, I'm just as tired of writing the slow-moving opening progress of this Indian restaurant as you are reading about it.

But...

Daz Singh reports that they're waiting on the health inspection. "We are tentatively scheduled to have our grand opening on Wednesday September 3," he says. "Hopefully it works out."

Minar Palace
1304 Walnut St.
215-546-9443

And here's the menu.

Highlight is the "Blue Demon Express":

First choice:
Sopa Azteca or Chilango chop salad

Second choice:
Milanesa torta or huarache de hongos

Plus a nonalcoholic beverage $12.50

The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe (Aug. 29-Sept. 13) announced today that it will offer a Festival Bar, a "stylized urban beer garden" in Northern Liberties for post-show mingling; opens at 10 p.m. nightly for ages 21 and up. Fergus Carey will do the refreshments and the Turkish restaurant Konak will do the eats. Visual media installations will be designed and programmed by artist Lars Jan, and DJs will spin. For the truly bored, there will be arcade games like pinball and Wii Boxing. It's free to get in.

Festival Bar
626 N. Fifth St. (southwest corner of Fifth St and Fairmount Ave)
More info here on its blog.

Leigh Maida and Brendan Hartranft report that they have signed a lease for the spot at 44th and Spruce formerly known as Kelliann's. They say they will open a "neighborhood beer bar and kitchen" called Local 44.

They say Local 44 will be a "completely independent operation from Memphis Taproom, with very little overlap in concept, outside of the neighborhood beer bar that we'd most like to hang out at vibe."

Local 44 will focus on craft beer from around the world, with a nod to locals as well. We will have an extensive and exciting draught beer list. "Our kitchen plans are small scale, in the neighborhood 'pub grub' vein," Leigh says.

There is a spaceholder Web site up: www.local44beerbar.com

You may remember how Owen Kamihira of Bar Ferdinand and soon-to-be El Camino Real previously had announced plans to open his own gastropub called Local 44 at the very same location. Kamihira never signed the lease. These projects are separate. Leigh describes the same-name situation as an unfortunate coincidence -- "one it seems both parties came to independently."

(I am out of the country, so when I hear back from Kamihira, I will post.)