PRIME RIB
[1701 LocustSt., 215-772-1701 | website]
is extending its special “Stimulus Savings,” $35 prix fixe, 3-course dinner, which
is offered all night every night. No-corkage-fee BYO is available too from Sunday
through Tuesday.
T. BURKE’S at the Dolce Valley Forge Hotel
[reservations, 610-377-1200 | website]
has a daily $55 prix fixe menu. Menu changes daily. Included on the changing slate
are dishes like Earl Grey Poached Ruby Beets with domestic goat cheese, baby
spinach, and orange and red wine glazed beef short ribs with beach mushrooms,
English pea puree, and baby bok choy. Dolce also offers a Happy Hour menu that
varies daily with four flights of (in order, from Monday to Friday) bourbons, wines,
martinis, beers, vodkas paired with (in order, from Monday to Friday) crawfish,
cheeses, pizzas, sliders and oysters. Prices range from $5-$8. Dolce’s Mother’s Day
brunch $29 adults, kids $14, includes prepared-to-order omelets, entrées like lamb
and fish, and desserts, as well as a make-your-own Bloody Mary station and a
complimentary family photo.
GIRASOLE
[440 S. Broad St. | 215-732-2728]
has returned. It’s now ensconced in the Symphony House as a 40-seater with a front
bar that accommodates about 15 more. Owner Angela Iovino’s all-female kitchen staff
cooks up pastas, seafoods, and the like.
BAR AMALFI
[122 S. 18th St. | 215-988-9060]
George Parkinson, formerly of Perkasie’s Zenjava until he moved downtown to Chef Al
Paris’s Mantra is changing things up again. Paris and Parkinson have dropped Mantra
for BAR AMALFI which occupies the same space. Bar Amalfi specializes in Italian fare
and mid-priced wines by the glass.
SAKURA MANDARIN
[1038 Race St., 215-873-8338]
has replaced Ong’s with a low-priced menu, no alcohol. Open daily for lunch and dinner.
Effie Bouikidis of Effie’s
[1127 Pine St]
which ICON reviewed in 2004, is honoring her recently deceased father, Paul. Effie
dubbed her new BYO across the street [1120 Pine] PAUL, which is slated to open
this summer as a contemporary American eatery.
HORIZONS
[611 S. Seventh St, Phila.]
Our friends Rich and Kate at Horizons received approval for outdoor seating. Horizons
is also now open for Saturday lunch, serving a small-plates menu.
THE MELTING POT
in Chestnut Hill has closed with plans to reopen in Valley Square shopping center in
Warrington sometime in the future.
THE SPRING GARDEN RESTAURANT
[400 Spring Garden St. | 215-922-6254]
reopened recently. A supermarket was supposed to replace it after the restaurant’s
23-year stint. But the supermarket was downsized so Spring Garden Restaurant is
back in operation with the same staff.
MAIA
Villanova’s MAIA has closed the upstairs dining room for the moment.
GAYLE
[617 S 3rd, Phila., 215-922-3850]
has gone the BYO route. Yitzi Peking is gone.
SAFFRON KITCHEN
[145 Montgomery Ave., Bala Cynwyd, 484-278-4112]
has taken its spot.
DADDY MIMS
[150 Bridge St., Phoenixville; 610-935-1800]
is the latest piece in Phoenixville’s gentrification. Cheffed by John Mims, formerly of
Carmine’s Creole Café and Les Bons Temps, Daddy Mims occupies a storefront and
brings white-tablecloth service with a mid-priced menu stocked with New Orleans
dishes like remoulade and gumbo along with contemporary Southern faves like
butter-roasted chicken.
WORLD CAFÉ
[3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400]
Mother’s Day at WORLD CAFÉ offers 11 AM-2 PM brunch with live music and no
cover. A la carte breakfast includes unlimited bagels, pastries and fruit, or you
can purchase that trio alone for $10.
LE BECFIN
[215-567-1000 | website]
Anything you fancy on the LE BECFIN pastry cart — the goodies conceived and
confected by Pastry Chef Jessie Prawlucki — can now be had for the home or
office. It’s available retail.
JULES THIN CRUST
owner John Ordway reports that Jules 3 is scheduled to open sometime in May in
Jenkintown. Jules 1 and 2 are in Doylestown and Newtown.
LADDER 15
[1528 Sansom St., 215-964-9755]
has opened with an old-timey industrialized look replete with balcony and high
ceilings. Chef Ann Campbell, formerly of White Dog Cafe specializes in the unusual
like Crab & Corn Hush Puppies with spicy honey, Sweet Potato Pierogi, Chicken
“Lollipops” with drumette confit, and Root Beer Glazed Pork Ribs with yam crisps
and sweet pickles. Specialty drinks include Root Beer Float (3 olives root beer
vodka, Smirnoff, vanilla vodka, cream, splash of coke, served with root beer barrel
candy) and Black & White Milkshake Martini made with a laundry list of ingredients.
BETHLEHEM BREW WORKS
[569 Main Street]
offers the following each week: Happy Hour: Monday-Friday 4:30pm to 6:30pm with
$1 off drafts and 40¢ buffalo wings. Daily Food and Beverage specials are: Monday
5-9pm, pound of steamers, $5;Tuesday 5-9pm, 1/2-pound peel-n-eat shrimp, $5;
Wednesday: 5-9pm, all you can eat “Rigger’s Ribs” & Beer Battered fries, $22;
Thursday: 9pm-midnight, wing night, 40¢ buffalo wings & $1-off drafts; Friday: all
day, all night, featured martinis, $5.
COQUETTE BISTRO
[700 S. Fifth St., Phila., 215-238-9000]
Tien Ngo, who spent seven years at Fork is now chef at COQUETTE BISTRO. He serves
French fare sparked with Asian influences.
BOLETE
[1740 Seidersville Rd, Bethlehem]
was named by “Best Life” magazine as one of the “Top 25 Farm to Table Restaurants”
in the country. Bolete holds a Frugal Foodie Hour from Tuesday-Thursday from 5-6 PM
and again from 9-10 PM as well as on Friday from 5-6 PM and again from 10-11 PM.
During those time slots you can order $1 Island Creek Oysters, or a $35, 3-course prix
fixe dinner with half off all bottles of wine under $100. Also watch for Bolete to star on
a Food Network Series this summer: “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”
PATAGONIA
[59 Almshouse Rd, Richboro, 215-354-9400]
will prepare 4 different 3-course take-out “Stimulus Package” Family meals for families of
4. Prices for 4 people range from $40 to $55.
A couple closings:
MIO SOGNO, 2650 S 15th St, Philadelphia
MAJOLICA, 258 Bridge St, Phoenixville
DEANNA’S
[54 N. Franklin St, Lambertville, NJ, 609-397-8957 | website]
features “Big Nights and Wine Flights” on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for
groups up to 16. Geared toward corporate groups as well as groups of friends, these
special evenings enhance group togetherness by seating the group at a large table
and pairing wines with each course. The garden is now open at Deanna’s, too. You
can dine there alfresco while watching big-screen classic movies in an idyllic setting.
LE BEC-FIN’s
$50 per person, 11 AM-3 PM Mother’s Day Brunch has Chef Perrier himself cooking
omelets to order. A second course features choices like braised striped bass, lamb,
chicken, and petit filet, while the final course lets you plunder your booty from their
famous pastry cart.
MCGILLIN’s
[1310 Drury St, Phila.,215-735-5562 | website]
celebrates Cinco de Mayo from May 1-5. It features Irish food with a Mexican twist
as well as flavored Margaritas. The special culminates on May 5, with a Mexican
pinata, 25-cent wings, and $5 pitchers of Bud Light and Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Philly’s 2009 James Beard Award nominees include:
Outstanding Chef
MARC VETRI
Best New Restaurants:
Distrito
Zahav
Izakaya (Atlantic City)
Rising Star Chef
JONATHON MCDONALD of the Pub and the Kitchen
CHIP ROMAN of Conshohocken’s Blackfish
MICHAEL SOLOMONOV of Zahav
Pastry Chef
FRED ORTEGA of Lacroix at the Rittenhouse
KATE HONEYMAN of Buddakan