Craig LaBan gets burned — and likes it | Let’s Eat

It’s not always easy being a food critic, and Craig LaBan has the seared taste buds to prove it.

Also in this edition:

— Mike Klein

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At Dim Sum Garden’s new location in Chinatown (1024 Race St.), critic Craig LaBan ordered its off-the-menu Shanghainese xiao long bao, a supersized specimen four times larger than the ones we know and love. He got a tasty soup dumpling, all right — and scorched taste buds from the unexpectedly scalding broth. Let his occupational hazard be a lesson to us all.

🍽️ Craig reviews Dear Daphni, the Schulson Collective’s Mediterranean restaurant near Rittenhouse Square, where the dip-and-skewer formula plays out in a dramatic setting.

At Buckets Tavern, Jenkintown’s long-standing dive bar, last call is at 1:45 a.m. and Miller High Life is $3 all day, every day. And, 17 years after the Pennsylvania’s Clean Indoor Air Act went into effect, it has just gone smoke-free. Read on, and allow Jenn Ladd to clear the air.

When Kiki Aranita is out to dinner and the server says, “I’ll just leave a menu here for the table,” she will respond, “May I keep one… forever?” An old menu yanks a past dinner into the present, she writes, adding that it’s more evocative than poorly lit Instagram photos or the hazy memory of a full belly.

You may have caught James Beard-winning chef Cristina Martinez serving lamb barbacoa at South Philly Barbacoa/Casa Mexico in South Philly. On June 4, she’s taking her act to the Mann Center in Fairmount Park as part of the Downstage @ the Mann series. Part of the stage will be turned into a kitchen where Martinez, with an interpreter, will tell stories and cook for the audience in a novel spin on “dinner and a show.” The menu includes tacos, esquites, tres leches, chips and guacamole, and aguas frescas. The night will also feature a performance from Interminable, a band that blends jazz, rock, and traditional Mexican influences. After dinner, Son Revoltura will lead a traditional fandango. Tickets ($72 plus taxes and fees) will be available 10 a.m. Friday on Ticketmaster.

A new Hulu comedy series, Deli Boys, follows the antics of two brothers who have inherited their father’s Philadelphia deli. Hira Qureshi likes the Philly references. An expired Tastykake?!

Philadelphia Theatre Company’s world premiere of Night Side Songs is an empathetic look at illness and death, with much of the material drawn from interviews with local patients and health-care professionals.

Lantern Theater Company is reviving Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. See how it set the stage for centuries of rom-coms.

Superette, a market, bottle shop, and wine bar inspired by French épiceries (above), is now in its soft-opening phase in the former Primal Supply Meats shop at 1538 E. Passyunk Ave. Chloe Grigri, Vincent Stipo, and the team behind the Good King Tavern, Le Caveau, and Superfolie, along with restaurateur/designer Owen Kamihira (El Camino Real and the forthcoming Joe & Kay), are looking at March 11 as the official opening.

El Chingón, the lauded South Philadelphia Mexican BYOB, plans to open a new spot in Fishtown. News broke last month after owner Carlos Aparicio’s contractor left the new sign uncovered for a few hours. But the news is the pop-up margarita bar that will be part of it.

3J’s Cafe, a bruncherie now in Old City, will add a location at 724 S. Fourth St., the corner of Fourth and Monroe, in Queen Village. Its application for a beer license is pending with the state.

Ember & Ash. Goodbye, old world-style offal. Hello, Philly gastropub. Ember & Ash, which opened four years ago on East Passyunk Avenue with the lofty goal of cooking everything (nose to snout) over its eight-foot open hearth, has lightened its approach while doubling down on the flames. The new menu from chef Scott Calhoun, effective today, includes charred steak frites served with a luscious butter reminiscent of a Big Mac (shown above); a burger (8 ounces of ribeye topped with Gruyère and caramelized onions, shown below); and smoked chicken with crying tiger sauce, lemongrass, and cashew. The whole beef shin has remained on the menu, but it’s now served with lettuce cups, rice noodles, sesame, and peanuts — picking up an spin from Calhoun’s wife and business partner, Lulu, whose family is Chinese.

Sunday brunch is back with grilled French toast, a grain bowl, Caesar salad, steak frites, and chicken liver mousse; much of the dinner menu is available as well.

Ember & Ash, 1520 E. Passyunk Ave. Hours: 5-10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday (kitchen open till 9 p.m.); 5 p.m.-midnight Friday and Saturday (kitchen open till 10 p.m.); and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday.

Amma’s South Indian Cuisine. Sathish Varadhan and Balakrishnan Duraisamy, who deliver South Indian comfort at their four restaurants in Philadelphia and South Jersey, just opened their fifth (shown below) in a former Naf Naf Grill next to Mount Laurel Wine & Spirits. Amma’s — included in The 76, The Inquirer’s guide to the 76 iconic restaurants in the region — is a Craig LaBan favorite for their tastes of the homeland, made without shortcuts. Try the dum biryanis.

Varadhan and Duraisamy are building a new location in Newtown, Bucks County, and plan to move the Center City Philadelphia location from 1528 Chestnut St. to 1500 Walnut St. (the former Max Brenner on 15th Street).

Varadhan said he did not have projected opening dates, so I asked Fred Vidi, who directs construction on these, as well as dozens of other restaurants in the region. “Late summer or early fall,” Vidi said.

Amma’s South Indian Cuisine, 7000 Midlantic Drive, Mount Laurel. Hours: 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5:30-10 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; noon-3 p.m. and 5:30-10 p.m. Saturday; and noon-3 p.m. and 5-9 p.m. Sunday.

We’ll tell you where to break your Ramadan fast around Philadelphia, including a few 24-hour restaurants.

Two reopenings to report in Rittenhouse: The subterranean Luke’s Lobster (130 S. 17th St.) is back from a January flood, and The Ground (120 S. 18th St.) has fully returned from a fire in December. Ground owners Michelle Miller and Molly Kiriacoulacos went viral last week with a video of Eagles star Jordan Mailata moving their 650-pound oven. They named a drink after him: The Hakuna Mailata has honeydew with peach and kiwi bursting boba.

Ding Feng Tang, which opened in December 2023 at 1021 Arch St. in Chinatown, will morph into Lion Sports Bar on March 13. Same owners. The dumpling-making booth will be replaced by a DJ. Soup dumplings and other DFT best-sellers will share a new menu with American sports-bar staples. Lion will have 35 TVs and plans to open at 7 a.m. weekends for soccer games.

Two specialty shops — Salt & Vinegar in the Italian Market and Spruce Hill Provisions in West Philadelphia — have announced their closings, and Kiki details their challenges.

Nanu’s Hot Chicken will mark the opening of its West Chester location (314 S High St., formerly Taco Mar and Mr. Burrito) with a food giveaway 2-7 p.m. Friday. This location, on two floors and with a backyard patio, is the 11-unit local chain’s largest.

Jordan Johnson, who owns a restaurant that happens to have the same name at 6716 Frankford Ave. in the city’s Mayfair section, is giving away an all-American buttermilk fried fish hoagie to the first 100 people through the door at 11 a.m. It’s the first Friday of Lent. Also, a portion of all of that day’s sales will benefit Marvin’s Home, which creates homes for youth and young adults who have experienced homelessness or have aged out of the foster-care system — a cause that is near and dear to Johnson’s heart as Jamaican-born restaurateur grew up all over New York in foster care.

Wine expert and Inquirer columnist Marnie Old will host a lager master class on March 13 at Otto’s Taproom at 1216 N. 29th St. in Brewerytown. Ticketed seatings ($45 plus tax) start at 6 and 8 p.m., and are available on Resy.

Marqessa Gesualdi, who closed Aux Petits Delices in Wayne in late 2023 after her landlord sold her building, is now baking out of Aneu Kitchens in Paoli. Boss baguettes.

Mucho Peru — Aldo Obando Núñez and Brizna Rojas’ Peruvian pop-up — will be set up this month in Manayunk at Fat Lady Brewing (4323 Main St.). Hours: 5-9 p.m. Thursday-Friday, noon to 10 p.m. Saturday.

Cereal Cocktail Bar riffs on nostalgia, applying breakfast cereal to its food and drinks. What won’t you find at this new pop-up?

A) a Got Milk? photo booth

B) shrimp poppers made with Cinnamon Toast Crunch

C) chicken thighs crusted with corn flakes

D) drinking straws that fit inside Cheerio’s cereal

Find out if you know the answer.

Numerous readers have been asking about the status of Tequila’s, which has been closed since a kitchen fire in February 2023. I dropped in the other day. David Suro and his children, who have owned the luxe Mexican destination since 1986, are working toward a reopening later this month as they await city permits. The fire did not damage the grand dining room, but during the long closing the Suros brought in experts, including Karla Jáuregui Arreola, from Guadalajara, to restore the gold-leaf moldings (shown above), which date to the onetime rowhouse’s completion in 1865. The Suros have divided Tequila’s into two restaurants. The white-tablecloth Tequila’s, much as it was, will serve dinner only. A contemporary all-day cafe and cozy cocktail bar called La Jefa will open several weeks later on the Latimer Street side. Stay tuned.

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