The spring crop of 50 Philly-area restaurants | Let’s Eat

In the spring, a food writer’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of ... new restaurants. This week, I share word of more than 50 on their way to the region.

Also in this edition:

— Mike Klein

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Take a spin through my rundown of more than 50 restaurants expected to open between now and mid-June. The new choices are all over the map — city, Pennsylvania suburbs, New Jersey, with a variety of price points and cuisines. Even Northeast Philly is repped! Above is Haraz, which soon will become Philadelphia’s first Yemeni coffee house.

Say it with flour: At least 10 companies selling giant cookies have set up shop in the Philadelphia region, as Jenn Ladd reports. They only plan to get bigger from here.

🍪 A guide to a dozen cookies, ranked from smallest to largest.

At the new Majdal Bakery in Queen Village, Craig LaBan is enthralled with the open-faced safeha flatbreads topped with roasted carrot and dolloped with yogurt. Baker-owner Kenan Rabah has adapted the traditional baked goods he grew up with in the ancient Druze community of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights using techniques he picked up in Philly.

📜 Hot stone bowl dishes and, especially, tabletop-grilled meats dazzle Craig at Dolsan Korean BBQ & Sushi in South Jersey. Read his review.

March Madness? For us, it’s brunch madness. We offer you 16 tasty breakfast sandwiches in an NCAA-style bracket. Go fill it out now.

😆 We’ve done these food brackets before. Remember when someone tried to stuff the hoagie ballot box?

Rosa Cartagena calls Arden Theatre Company’s rendition of August Wilson’s King Hedley II a “sharp, finely tuned production.” It runs through March 30.

🎭 Where should a theater patron eat? We have you covered with options.

Delco Steaks’ annual Cheesesteak Bowl drew professional and amateur eaters to Broomall on Sunday, with proceeds benefiting Luciano’s Light Foundation. Among pro eaters, Dan Kennedy of West Decatur, N.Y., ate a record 8½ foot-long cheesesteaks (10 ounces of ribeye, Cooper Sharp, roll) in 10 minutes for his fifth consecutive championship. In the amateur round, Chris Furia of Media (shown above at right in the Batman shirt) ate three sandwiches in 10 minutes. Below, one contestant dipped the roll in water to soften it.

😋 Check out our map of our favorite cheesesteaks for delivery.

Three Federal Donuts & Chicken locations, all backed by private equity, are coming in hot: Marlton is eyeing the second week of April at Marlton Square, the Philadelphia International Airport is scheduled for May, and Conshohocken is targeting late May/early June in Plymouth Square Shopping Center. Speaking of PHL, the FedNuts will be joined there in May by Oyster House, an offshoot of the Center City seafood house.

Also edging its way onto our radar is Ballers, the state-of-the-art indoor sporting facility that Jake Blumgart told us about a year ago. It is looking at a June 1 opening in The Battery, a former power plant in Fishtown. There will be a public bar and restaurant.

Yin Ji Rice Roll. Congee, the savory rice porridge, makes up about half the menu at Yin Ji Rice Roll, Binyin Zhao’s elegant newcomer tucked away on Cherry Street in Chinatown. The other half is chang fen, the slippery, saucy Cantonese steamed rice noodle rolls.

Between the two — there are a dozen congee varieties for breakfast (like the mushroom chicken above) and 15 kinds of chang fens for lunch or early dinner (that’s the barbecue pork shown below) — your daily food needs could be covered. And inexpensively, at that.

Nothing is over $10.99, so even if you eat pretty well, you and a friend will max out at around 50 bucks, even if you throw in cucumber salad or steamed lettuce with oyster sauce.

There’s drip coffee from Rival Bros., Vietnamese iced coffee, and house-made fresh soy milk.

Yin Ji Rice Roll, 908 Cherry St. Hours: 8 a.m.-7:30 p.m. daily. Wheelchair accessible.

Greek Korner. Pete Mavrakis, who’s 62, started in the restaurant business at age 9, working for his uncle at the old Frankford Queen diner. He and his wife, Noreen, owned Taranova’s Pizza in Bensalem for 32 years until they sold it in 2019. “We did our traveling, we played with the grandkids, blah blah blah,” he said. “I went to work for a cousin’s food-distribution business.”

Then, last year, they were driving past the corner of York and Byberry Roads in Hatboro and saw a building for rent. They decided to get back into the restaurant business.

“This is what Greeks call retirement, and here we are five years later,” Mavrakis said. He and Noreen are partnered with Mike Kinousis on Greek Korner, a homey drop-in with a busy takeout trade.

It’s all family-friendly here. Noreen makes everything — the gyros, the moussaka, the pastitsio. You order at the counter and get a table number; someone runs your food. Mavrakis, who also offers ouzo shots, said, “90% of the stuff we make here is house-made, including our desserts, and whatever desserts we bring in, they’re directly brought into New York from Greece.”

Greek Korner, 133 S. York Rd., Hatboro. Hours: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday. Wheelchair accessible.

Glu Hospitality’s meteoric rise in the local restaurant scene has flamed out amid complaints of bounced paychecks and liquor-license issues. The founders announced last week that they were stepping away from their remaining restaurants, including Figo and Izakaya. Their new Peabody sports bar will get a new operator, as will the Bagels & Co. shops. Also, an investor has filed suit, alleging that when he asked for a return of his $100,000 buy-in, co-founder Tim Lu assaulted him.

Cuba Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar, marking its 25th anniversary in Old City, is offering a different appetizer and entrée each month at their original prices for those who make reservations between Sunday and Thursday. April’s deal: chicharrones for $7.50, arroz con pollo for $16, and $8 classic mojitos. May’s specials are sopa de ajo con pan for $6 and camarones enchiladas for $20. The anniversary menu specials will rotate monthly through Dec. 30.

Want to serve raw fish at home? Which of these tips would Kiki Aranita suggest you not follow?

A) seek out a fishmonger

B) catch it yourself to ensure freshness

C) be sure it’s kept on ice

D) use it within two days

Find out if you know the answer.

Is Dave’s Hot Chicken ever going to open in Rittenhouse? We’ve been waiting for a year. — Emmett H.

Just got word that Dave’s grand opening at 1731 Chestnut St. will be Friday. I’m told that this location, which was the clothier South Moon Under, had been bogged down by permitting issues. In other Rittenhouse fast-food news: Taco Bell is now targeting a late-July opening at 1614 Chestnut St.; the project had been conceived as a Taco Bell Cantina with a liquor license, but plans changed.

📮 Have a question about food in Philly? E-mail your questions to me at [email protected] for a chance to be featured in my newsletter.

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