All the Philly restaurants where Snacktime likes to snack

Philly funk and soul septet Snacktime has attained a fresh level of fame from their perch in the Union Transfer balcony, where they serve as the house band on the ESPN talk show They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce.

The band first made its name playing party jams during the pandemic in Rittenhouse Square in 2020. But its beginnings predated those open air shows. Tuba player and co-bandleader Sam Gellerstein held many food industry jobs after he and his saxophone playing buddy Ben Stocker, who grew up together in Broward County in South Florida, moved to Philly to study music at University of the Arts.

Gellerstein and Stocker’s first gig — before they had a band name — was at a Friendsgiving party in November 2019 thrown by Dan McLaughlin of Mission Taqueria.

Then in January 2020, Gellerstein and Stocker did an event with Jen Zavala of Juana Tamale at Underground Arts. They called it Snacktime, and were planning a monthly music and food series of the same name. COVID put the kibosh on the concept, but food, along with music, is never far from Snacktime’s minds.

So while the band — who this week released a new version of its song “Together” with Delco soul man Devon Gilfillian on vocals — is currently focused on expanding its audience through touring and doubling up as former Eagle Kelce’s chat show hype band, they hope to do more Philly food and music crossover events in the future.

And when group members Gellerstein, Stocker, singer/sax player Yesseh Furaha-Ali, guitarist Larry Monroe Jr., trombonist Michael Spearman, and drummer Austin Marlow sat down to talk about the state of Snacktime with The Inquirer, they chose to meet at Middle Child Clubhouse in Fishtown. (Trumpeter Eric Sherman was absent and missed out.)

When asked where their favorite spots in town were, several voices answered back in unison — between bites of breakfast sandwiches, hash browns, and fluffy pancakes — “here.”

Where else?

“There’s a bar across from Union Transfer called Poison Heart,” said Stocker. “I had one of the best burgers I ever had in my life.”

“Andrea Jenkins, who used to work with the Good King Tavern people, she opened Poison Heart,” said the garrulous Gellerstein. “Poison Heart’s awesome. Great cocktails, great burger, patty melt…”

Yes to the Poison Heart Patty Melt, came calls of assent from around the table.

» READ MORE: Philly band Snacktime is now ‘Jason Kelce on ESPN’ famous

“We love Tabachoy, the Filipino place in South Philly,” said Stocker. “We’re big fans of Mawn. We love Oxtail,” the Jamaican restaurant on Snyder Avenue in South Philly. “We love Little Water. Not Little Walter’s, we haven’t been to Little Walter’s yet. Yesseh, what do you like?”

“I’m more casual,” said the band’s singer and co-leader. “Shout out to the homies at Middle Child. I love Brown Sugar in West Philly. Taqueria La Prima on Ninth and Washington.”

“South Philly Barbacoa,” Gellerstein interjected, to agreement all around.

Furaha-Ali, who lives in West Philly, cited several neighborhood Ethiopian eateries. “Buna Cafe. Gojjo. Abyssinia.”

Gellerstein, who Spearman said, “knows every restaurant owner and manager in Philly that’s ever existed” has his West Philly favorite in Saad’s Halal Restaurant and Makkah Market, both on Walnut Street.

“But the top restaurant, the number one place for us,” said Stocker, “is Cafe Nhan.”

“It’s a Vietnamese restaurant on Passyunk, just west of Broad Street. I’m there two times a week,” said Gellerstein. “It’s the best.”

Speaking of Vietnamese restaurants on Passyunk: No love for Gabriella’s Vietnam?

“I love Gabriella’s,” said Gellerstein, who lives nearby in South Philly. “I used to go out and eat expensive s— all the time. But we have to save money. Gabriella’s is awesome. But I can go walk over to Cafe Nhan and spend $20, and I’m good.”

They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce’s final episode airs Saturday morning at 1 a.m. on ESPN.