19 new restaurants for June | Let’s Eat

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— Mike Klein

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June has come out smokin’ with a crop of 19 new restaurants in the Philly area. They run the gamut — there’s vegan Puerto Rican food, Italian snacks, gluten-free pub food, and homey Mexican fare. Even the food is on fire.

Philly goes to Chicago this weekend for the 2025 James Beard Awards. At Saturday’s media awards, The Inquirer’s Craig LaBan is one of three nominees in the critic category for his 2024 reviews of Honeysuckle Provisions, Octopus Cart, and Loch Bar. Monday night is the ceremony for restaurant and chefs, and Philly’s nominees are Mawn’s Phila Lorn (Emerging Chef); Jesse Ito of Royal Sushi and Amanda Shulman of Her Place (Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic); and the Lovers Bar at Friday Saturday Sunday (Outstanding Bar).

Monday’s ceremony will be livestreamed on Eater starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern.

Amid Philadelphia’s recent restaurant boom is an intriguing collection of new Japanese restaurants. I’ll run down five, including the week-old Nakama Japanese Cuisine near the Convention Center and an out-of-the-way spot called Newsroom Philly that opens tomorrow in Northern Liberties with flaming food, smoking drinks, jazz, and an aerialist.

Mother-daughter event-planning duo Nazaret Teclesambet (left) and Favian Sutton love brunch, so eight years ago they set up a wine garden in West Philadelphia to host them. This turned into a pop-up series around town. (They hosted the Black Girl Holiday Magic Pop-up last winter at the Divine Lorraine.)

You might say their ship has come in. Starting this weekend, they’re set up for the season at the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia, where their brunch series — dubbed Wine Garden — operates under a decorated tent at the Admiral’s Quarters, just inside the main gate. They are planning other events, such as wine tastings and happy hours. The calendar is on their website.

Brunches (prices and themes vary) run for three hours and include food and unlimited drinks, photo opps, and what they call “big vibes,” such as an in-house saxophonist and live entertainment. The lush setting has a great view of the water and the ships.

Also in wine world:

Russian River Valley earned its reputation on the strength of its pinot noir, as well as chardonnay and sparkling wine. This week, wine writer Marnie Old touts Frei Brothers’ Sonoma Reserve, “bursting with flavors of black cherries, pomegranate, and strawberry jam.” It’s on sale at Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores now.

➕ Whether you’re a novice wine drinker or a veteran, I’d suggest you check out Marnie’s weekly columns.

Chef Elijah Milligan will become a first-time restaurateur in early fall with Lovechild, taking the Lucky Well space at 990 Spring Garden St. Milligan’s friends and colleagues from New Zealand, Simon and Yaminah Egan, are partners in this venture, whose eclectic menu will focus on Japanese and Mexican cuisine. There’s also a wood-fired grill. Clarified cocktails will be a big part of the bar program. Milligan is looking to locally source nearly everything, with the exception of wine. The name is personal for Milligan, 35, as he was raised by a single mother and is a single father himself.

Two weeks after graduating from high school, he enrolled at J&A Culinary Institute in South Philadelphia, and from there he’s moved around. He made the radar in 2013 as the 24-year-old executive chef at Stateside. He then worked for such chefs as Daniel Stern, Christopher Kearse, David Ansill, Greg Vernick, and Nicholas Elmi (at Le Bec-Fin) in Philadelphia, and in California for Dominique Crenn (Atelier Crenn and Petit Crenn in San Francisco) and Michael Chiarello (Bottega in Yountville, Calif.). Returning to Philadelphia to raise his daughter full time in 2018, he launched Cooking for the Culture, a pop-up dinner series to highlight chefs of color. He also was opening chef at Rosemary in Ridley Park. Stay tuned: He’s planning preview dinners now.

Vintner’s Table, an Italian wine bar tied to Folino Estate Winery in Kutztown, has inked a deal for the former Twenty One Pips space at 24 Cricket Ave. in Ardmore for its third location, after Phoenixville (2019) and Wyomissing (2024). The target is fall.

Casual eateries in the western suburbs and Main Line are making moves this summer.

Salt & Stone. Right out of the Restaurant School 22 years ago, Demetrios Pappas and his father opened Cafe Fresko on Lancaster Avenue in Bryn Mawr. Their first hire was chef Lassine Sylla, born in Mali and trained in Côte d’Ivoire, and reviews were good. In time, Sylla left and Pappas sold Fresko. A decade passed. Pappas opened and closed Pappas Diner in Boothwyn and his own location of Great American Pub in Paoli.

A year ago, Pappas said, Sylla rang him up and said, “We should do something again.”

“I said, ‘All right. Let’s do it,’” Pappas said. “And here we are.”

Sylla is back working for Pappas, now 47, at this stylish Greek-American bar-restaurant in downtown Conshohocken that replaced Fayette Street Oyster House. They’ve brought back some of their old favorites, such as seared salmon and couscous, braised lamb shank, fried calamari, and grilled octopus (shown at top). New is house-made potato gnocchi (shown above), napped in a truffle celery root cream sauce that’s studded with dates.

Conshohocken Brewery makes the house Salt & Stone hazy IPA, available on tap, and besides wines there’s a lineup of cocktails and nonalcoholic drinks, all of which can be smoked at the bar and tableside.

When Fayette Street closed, its owner, Peter Dissin, complained that smoke from the upstairs cigar bar had driven away customers. Pappas installed a series of ceiling air purifiers that, based on a recent visit, did the trick.

Salt & Stone, 128 Fayette St., Conshohocken. Hours: 4-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 4-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 4-9 p.m. Sunday.

Corio. This new casual Italian spot in University City’s uCity Square from chef David Feola, along with Ryan Mulholland and James Smith, just added dinner (4 to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday), supplementing the pizza/salad/sandwich menu with such dishes as chicken rigatoni (shown below). They’re working with next-door neighbor Two Locals Brewery Co., serving beer as well as wines from Pray Tell in Fishtown, until their liquor license comes through.

Corio, 3675 Market St. Hours, effective June 12: 11 a.m.- 9 p.m. Monday-Friday (dinner starts at 4 p.m.) and 4-9 p.m. Saturday.

Rittenhouse gets just a bit sweeter Thursday as All Aboard Candy Co. — the brick-and-mortar incarnation of Alyssa Bonventure and Emily Grossman’s online candy shop — opens at 233 S. 20th St., across from the new Musette. The childhood friends started creating and shipping candy charcuterie boards during the pandemic. The store will sell boards; bulk candies from TikTik-famous brands like BUBS Godis, S-Marke, and Vidal Candy; and gifts.

Wirlybird Coffee wants a crowd at its East Kensington location (1526 N. American St.) at 7:15 a.m. Monday to show off for ABC’s Good Morning America, due to be there for a remote.

The two Stephen Starr-created restaurants at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, opening Aug. 1, have names. Sunny’s will serve American comfort food for breakfast and lunch, while Chez Frites’ theme will be “stripped-down contemporary French flair.” (Think Parc, Le Diplomate, Pastis, etc.) Ocean will operate them under license from Starr.

Want an early look at chef Chance Anies’ forthcoming Filipino American grill, Manong, in Fairmount? He’s doing a pop-up on July 15 at Emmett (161 W. Girard Ave.) with chef Evan Snyder. It will be served family-style between 5 and 9:30 p.m. Reservations ($95pp, plus tax and tip) will be live at noon Thursday on OpenTable. Manong, at 1833 Fairmount Ave., will be Anies’ sequel to his South Philly hit Tabachoy and is due to open in September. There’s a bonus: Anyone who attends the Emmett dinner will be invited to Manong’s friends-and-family event. Here’s Manong’s backstory.

Chef Eric Leveillee of Lacroix will join Amanda and Randy Rucker at River Twice (1601 E. Passyunk Ave.) for one of their Hidden in Plain Sight dinners. This collab has seatings from 6 to 9:30 p.m. June 18 and costs $125pp at a table, $150 at the counter, plus tax/tip. Menus are on Resy.

Chef Tim Dearing is popping up during his search for a space for Ūle (formerly Little Owl). He and chef Jacob Trinh, Little Fish’s chef de cuisine, will collaborate on June 22 at Hagert & York’s studio kitchen (1999 E. Boston St.). The five-course dinner ($95pp) has communal seatings at 5 and 7:30 p.m. and can be booked here.

Looking up: Here are Philly’s best rooftop bars.

Raise a glass: Here are breweries to check out (mostly) on the Main Line.

Put a ring on it: Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” choreographer is behind the current production of The Wiz, onstage through Sunday at the Academy of Music. Here’s Alix Rosenfeld’s review.

Herr’s is running a poll to select a Philly-flavored potato chip that it will put into regular rotation. Which of these flavors is not being considered?

A) Corropolese tomato pie

B) Angelo’s cheesesteak

C) Long hots and sharp Provolone

D) Romano’s stromboli

Find out if you know the answer.

What’s happening with the Gloucester City location of Lillo’s Tomato Pies? It was supposed to open in February, but there’s been not a peep of info since. — Noah R.

Have patience, says owner Lillo Paxia, who announced a takeover of Thomas Murphy Pub nearly a year ago. He told me last week that “things are just taking longer than expected but everything is moving as it should be.” The snag is the liquor license, in the works for seven months. Lillo’s has garnered acclaim for its pizza and sandwiches since its opening in 2021 in Hainesport.

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