The most ambitious opening of the year so far | Let’s Eat
Celebrating the Southeast Asian Market’s return at FDR Park, plus moves and expansions from Caphe Roasters, Amina, and Hearthside.
The new Honeysuckle by Omar Tate and Cybille St.Aude-Tate is bigger, bolder, and even more expansive. It’s set to open April 24.
Also in this edition:
Skewered, in a good way: The Southeast Asian Market at FDR Park opens for the season and we have tips to make the most of it.
Repent: Goodbye to late-night vibes and hello to Amina, which is taking over the 200-seat space of SIN in Northern Liberties.
Next-generation Slavic cuisine: Critic Craig LaBan praises the talents of Ginger’s 21-year-old chef in Northeast Philly.
Yemeni coffee, finally: Haraz Coffee House opens its first location near UPenn, with another Fishtown shop on the way.
Càphê Roasters rolls across the street: The Vietnamese roastery and café is planning a major expansion into a former roller rink, across the street from its original location.
— Kiki Aranita and Mike Klein
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Omar Tate and Cybille St.Aude-Tate’s next iteration of Honeysuckle is a massive project featuring tasting menus, an in-house fermentation program helmed by Jamaar Julal, and further integrations between art and food. Read about the road they took to get here, how their courtship has been entwined with their work, and what they have planned for the near-future.
You know spring has finally arrived when you smell barbecue smoke and fish sauce emanating from FDR Park. The closest thing that Philly has to one of Southeast Asia’s legendary night markets (but open during the day, on weekends) is packed with vendors serving stuffed chicken wings, homemade sausages, and papaya salad. Read on for tips on how to navigate the crowds and get to the good stuff.
The end of SIN, a new beginning for Amina
Three of our reporters headed to SIN (an acronym for “Steak Italian Nightlife”) last week anticipating a night out. Instead, they encountered a locked door and a permanently closed restaurant. Operating partner Justin Veasey told the Inquirer that its “vibe dining” was not the right fit for the neighborhood and that it was making way for a new restaurant at the end of the month.
Felicia Wilson, the new operator of the Northern Liberties space, has been on a roll, opening Old City’s BlackHen BYOB, the Afro-Latin-tinged Washington Square West restaurant Fia, the Parkway’s modern-American restaurant Avana, and Old City’s First Daughter Oyster Co. — all in the last year. (One more spot is on the way.) Now, Wilson and chef-partner Darryl Harmon (both pictured above) plan to move their original restaurant, Amina, out of Old City, taking over the now-closed SIN to nearly triple the size of the restaurant.
Amina’s grand opening in the Germantown Avenue space will be Friday, April 25 at 5 p.m.
Wilson plans on making some cosmetic and signage changes, along with new menu additions from Harmon, including kankan shrimp, brick-pressed chicken, pan-seared scallops, oxtail mac souffle, and picnic basket fried chicken, which comes with fingerling potato salad, soul-spiced watermelon, and honey-buttered cornbread.
“I love the block we’re on in Old City, but with BlackHen just down the street and First Daughter Oyster Co. a few blocks away inside the Renaissance Downtown Hotel — and now having restaurants in Center City and the Parkway — I saw this as an opportunity to expand our footprint to yet another neighborhood,” Wilson said.
Yemeni-style coffee shops have become popular “third spaces” across the country, and Philly finally gets its own with Haraz Coffee Shop in University City — brought here by local neurosurgeon Hamza Shaikh and his wife Farah Khan, who were intrigued by the Yemeni-style coffee concept, known for large footprints, late hours, expansive menus, and no alcohol. Another one is planned for Fishtown.
The Kensington-based Vietnamese coffee shop, which roasts its own coffee and serves some of the city’s best banh mis and rice porridge, will expand across the street into a former roller rink. The new location will host a brewery with expanded dining options and later hours, as well as a takeout window. The roastery is getting bigger, too, as Càphê has outgrown its 200-square-foot operation. The expanded café will also invite chefs from different Southeast Asian backgrounds for collaborations. Following approval from a neighborhood association, construction is anticipated to begin in June or July.
Scoops
Percy (inside Fishtown Urby Apartments at 1700 N. Front St.) is the latest from the team behind Forîn Cafe — Seth Kligerman, Kyle Horne, and Will Landicho — who have set a May 9 target opening for the restaurant, bar, and lounge, which also has a listening room and an outdoor courtyard. Executive chef Jack Smith, formerly of a.kitchen+bar, will oversee counter café service with house-made pastries, bread, and coffee drinks. Offerings will range from an egg breakfast platter to Smith’s dad’s ricotta pancakes (topped with cinnamon sugar whipped compound butter) and a chopped cheese with Cooper sharp folded into a KP’s Fine Meats butcher-blend burger patty — for a grilled cheese crust — on a house-made brioche bun. The restaurant will be open daily with a daytime menu from 8 a.m.-3 p.m., and dinner offered Thursday through Saturday starting at 5 p.m. The bar and “sound lounge” will be open Thursday through Saturday after 5 p.m.
WoW Burger is new partnership between chef Matt Budenstein, a founder of Liberty Kitchen, and musician Chris Prewitt, launching out of the kitchen at Warehouse on Watts (W.O.W.), the venue/nightclub at 923 N. Watts St., just off Broad and Girard. WoW Burger will operate mainly during shows, but will also hold popups and events. It will debut Sunday, before the 21-plus “Psychedeli” event (doors open at 3:30 p.m.) featuring Tripp St., Chmura, Daggz, and B+ B2B Hydroglyph. Bonus: Pizza Gutt’s Daniel Gutter will be there with a sandwich collab. Tickets are required for the upstairs show at 6 p.m.
More affordable omakase at Ogawa: Ogawa is introducing a “midweek omakase experience,” available every Wednesday and Thursday, which runs $250 per couple. (The normal 23-course omakase menu costs $200 per person.) For the midweek version, expect offerings like chawanmushi, toro nigiri, otoro nigiri, miso soup, and handrolls, with the exact fish rotating according to what is available on any given day. This follows a new trend of high-end restaurants offering truncated versions of their tasting menu experiences. Reservations can be made here.
Restaurant report
Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar. “They don’t necessarily need to buy a shirt today or they don’t need to buy a dress today, but they’ll go out to eat.” This is why Doug Wood, CEO of Tommy Bahama, likes to pair retail stores with restaurants, as he’s done at King of Prussia Mall with this month’s opening of a Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar.
This is the 15th store-restaurant pairing since 2016, and the first in an enclosed shopping center. (Other locations around the world include Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Nichols Hills, Oklahoma; and Wailea, Hawaii.) The KoP location, near the escalator leading up to the Savor food hall, has an open, “outside-inside” look, with a full-scale bar ringed with TVs. There is also, of course, an open door to the retail store.
Wood said the Marlin Bars are Tommy Bahama’s pushback against “ordering everything from your couch. We came up with this concept to say, ‘Let’s make something that’s a little quicker, opposed to a full sit-down restaurant.’” Though Marlin Bar is full service, you can order at the bar and your food and drinks will be delivered to your table.
The tropics-inspired menu includes the coconut shrimp ($14 for four, shown at top), blackened mahi mahi tacos ($17, shown above), ahi poke bowl ($18), and key lime pie ($8), while the drinks lineup includes mojitos ($13), mai tais (regular and frozen, $16), espresso martinis ($17), and piña coladas ($16), plus a few nonalcoholic cocktails like Island Tea and Faux-Jito ($8).
Happy-hour discounts are offered from 3-6 p.m. daily.
Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar, 350 Mall Blvd. (King of Prussia Mall), King of Prussia. Hours: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Wheelchair accessible.
Briefly noted
Set the DVR to ABC at 8 p.m. Friday as Mike Hauke and Michael Burns of the Atlantic City mozzarella-stick maker Mad Mutz appear on Shark Tank to try to sell sticks to the sharks. Here’s Mad Mutz’s backstory.
Two closings to note: HipCityVeg’s Ardmore location has closed after nearly six years at Suburban Square. Satay Bistro’s 16-month run at 13th and Spring Garden Streets has also come to an end; owners Fenty Triany and Indra Cipto still own NY Bagel & Deli Shop at 1120 Buttonwood St.
The two Brunchaholics restaurants (2499 Aramingo Ave. in Fishtown/Port Richmond and 1200 Haddonfield Rd. in Cherry Hill) have been rebranded as Sunrise Social. Founder Aaron Anderson is trying to franchise.
Laos in the House, the nonprofit arts organization that promotes storytelling among Lao American refugees, marks its 10th anniversary from 6 to 9 p.m. May 3 with a night hosted by Internet personality Ae. The event includes a multicourse seated dinner by D.C. chef Seng Luangrath of Thip Khao and Padaek (who has been nominated as restaurateur of the year for D.C.’s Rammys Awards — she just has to beat fellow finalist Stephen Starr and three others). She’s backed by James Beard finalist chef Donny Srisavath (Khao Noodle Shop in Dallas) and Philly chef Sunny Phanthavong (Vientiane Cafe and Vientiane Bistro). There will be traditional Lao blessings, music from singer-songwriter Ben Dyleuth (Seattle), and dancing from youth group Louk Lahn Champa. Tickets, starting at $75, are here.
Hearthside makes a move. After eight years in Collingswood, Dominic Piperno will be moving the critically acclaimed BYOB to a new home in Haddon Township (107 Haddon Ave.), which previously had been announced as Piperno’s second, unrelated restaurant. “It’s an opportunity to grow the brand Hearthside,” he said. The move, in 2026, will yield a larger Hearthside that will include a bar, lounge, and outdoor patio. The menu will still feature a raw bar, small plates, house-made pastas, flatbreads, and steak. Piperno said he did not know what will move into the Collingswood space.
Cantina La Martina will be holding two separate events to commemorate Cinco de Mayo, neither requiring reservations. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., there will be a Cinco de Mayo dine-in lunch buffet for $20 per person. From 4 to 10 p.m., a fiesta will span the restaurant and the backyard, with tacos de cabeza (cow’s head), ribs, barbacoa, machetes, tacos, mixto y coctel de camarones, and drink specials available on a pay-as-you-go basis. DJ Cali Rumba will provide entertainment, with kids’ entertainment from 4 to 6 p.m. Sister restaurant La Baja in Ambler will have a special tasting menu dinner on Sunday, May 4, while Cantina la Martina at Human Robot Jenkintown has a party planned with a DJ.
❓Pop quiz
Wonder, the food hall putting down roots in the Philadelphia area, now has 38 locations, including Ardmore and King of Prussia. How many does it plan to have open by the end of 2025 along the East Coast?
A) 57
B) 65
C) 90
D) 150
Find out if you know the answer. P.S. If you’ve tried Wonder, whether for dine-in or takeout/delivery, please share your thoughts.
Ask Mike anything
When is Seaforest ever going to open at 16th and Christian Streets? — Jeremy S.
Sue Lee, a self-taught baker from Seoul, is saying “June” for her long-delayed cafe, which first crossed my radar two years ago. The neighborhood has been turning out for pop-ups, advertised on Instagram.
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