The very best ice cream in the Philly area | Let’s Eat

Join us as we round up our favorite ice cream shops in the city and burbs.

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— Mike Klein

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The Inquirer Food team sampled dozens of local ice cream and gelato parlors to round up our favorites in the city and burbs. On the eve of National Ice Cream Day (which falls on sundae Sunday), we hope you enjoy this dessertation.

🍦Cold reality: Get your fix at Birdhouse Gelato in Bella Vista now, because it’s closing after Aug. 2. The owner says they are being forced to shutter after losing their government-efficiency job in DOGE’s mass layoffs. Also with a limited window is Zsa’s in Mount Airy, which is closing later this year.

❓Are they “sprinkles” or “jimmies”? We’re so divided on this.

Indonesian chef Diana Widjojo’s Liwetan feasts at her Rice & Sambal restaurant include two dozen different preparations arrayed over a wicker basket lined with banana leaves. Check out this nifty graphic treatment, in which Widjojo explains the various components of the platter.

This is the $65 “McDonald’s Money” burger at Honeysuckle, what Craig LaBan calls Philly’s most audacious new splurge. He says it “exemplifies the joyful, irreverent, no-limits spirit” of chef-partners Omar Tate and Cybille St.Aude-Tate’s new restaurant on North Broad.

The winner of this year’s Cheesemonger Invitational — a 15-round, 40-contestant national competition sometimes referred to as the Olympics of cheese — owes his career to Philly. Let Jenn Ladd introduce you to Max Lazary.

Amanda Shulman and Alex Kemp, the power couple behind Her Place Supper Club and My Loup, are teeing up a third restaurant in Center City. They shared their philosophy about location.

Carbon Copy, the fast-rising brewery-winery, is opening its third location, as it takes over a shuttered cidery in Bella Vista. This one will be a BYOF (bring your own food) situation.

Kitchen & Kocktails, a Dallas-based Southern-comfort-style restaurant specializing in brunch and dinner, is coming to a prime location on South Broad Street this fall.

Mana Modern Chinese. Veteran restaurateur Tom Lau, whose Philadelphia holdings include Center City’s Aki Nom Nom and Feng Hot Pot, was eager to open a stylish Chinese restaurant. “Something serving dim sum, but with a twist and fusion,” he said. “I don’t think Philadelphia has had too many of them except for Buddakan.”

Then he met Maryland-based chef Mana Shi at a trade show, and they got to chatting. She tossed out a few dish ideas, he came back with others, and they agreed to open a BYOB on Second Street in Northern Liberties.

The cozy Mana Modern Chinese, opening Friday, has a few standards (kung pao chicken; General Tso’s chicken; and six varieties of xiao long bao, including black truffle). But check out the rest of the menu.

Shown at the top is mapo tofummus ($13), which is exactly as it might seem: a fusion of the Sichuan staple mapo tofu (chili bean paste, peppercorns, minced pork, and tofu) with hummus.

Shown above are forbidden ribs ($15), an appetizer of pork ribs in a sweet-and-sour glaze and topped with pistachio, and a dessert that Shi calls custard bloom ($6). She cooks carrots, dries them out, and makes flour. Then she bakes this literal carrot cake — which does indeed taste like carrot — and pipes in egg custard. The “carrot,” garnished with cilantro, is placed atop crumbled chocolate cookies and glazed with condensed milk.

Mana Modern Chinese, 719 N. Second St. Hours (starting July 18): 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Media Borough is getting a new sandwich shop, reports Lisa Dukart, who oversees our new newsletter covering the greater Media area. It’s Jackson Street Steaks, from the owners of the Philly restaurants Pete’s Famous Pizza and Moustaki Authentic Gyros. It will be a mini-taproom, too, as they’re partnering with Meyers Brewing Co.

Jansen in Mount Airy is winding down as chef-owner David Jansen prepares for his new career at the end of September. The restaurant is transitioning to a tasting menu-only format on Fridays and Saturdays throughout August ($125pp), followed by a tasting menu every night of service in September. Tuesday through Thursday will remain à la carte for one final month. Beginning in September, Jansen will serve tasting menus exclusively, with no à la carte options available.

Food editor Margaret Eby is a new mom with a problem. What do you think it is?

A) her inability to handle a slice of Angelo’s Pizza while rocking her son

B) a particular coffee drink being out of stock

C) a sudden aversion to pasta

D) UberEats and GrubHub drivers can never seem to find her house on the first try

Read her cute essay and find out if you know the answer.

What’s up with Sonny’s Cocktail Joint on South Street? A flood? Can’t these guys catch a break? — Jordan G.

Chris Fetfatzes and Heather Annechiarico posted a dire-looking video clip on Instagram last week showing what appeared to be a rainstorm over the bar. Sonny’s is closed until they get it fixed and mopped up. You may recall that three years ago, water damage from a fire in an apartment upstairs closed Sonny’s and what was Wine Dive next door, and scuttled the opening of their planned underground bar, the Rabbit. Sonny’s reopened earlier this year, and the couple plans to open Wine Dive Rittenhouse soon at 1534 Sansom St., with a related bar upstairs called Liquorette following. For more woe, we can go back to 2014 when the couple’s South Philadelphia restaurant/bottle shop Hawthornes was forced to close for 11 months after a fire in an upstairs apartment. Hawthornes rebuilt, reopened, and ran for nearly a decade before closing for good last December; it’s now the new Lodge by Two Robbers under brothers Vivek and Vikram Nayar.

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