Championship pizza! | Let’s Eat

Philly is a hotbed of pizza, and now two pizza chefs have the awards to prove it.

Also in this edition:

— Mike Klein

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Two pizzaioli — Davide Lubrano (above) of Philly’s Pizzata Pizzeria and Pizzata Birreria and Ben Tobin of Kennett Square’s Mezzaluna KSQ — are basking in victories at Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. Read on and I’ll tell you how you can try these winning pies.

From cheesesteaks and crab cakes to cocktails and beer, tariffs are set to ripple through Philly’s food, beverage, and grocery industries. One food distributor told Jenn Ladd: “If my price goes up, their price goes up.” And so does the consumers’.

Potential tariffs on Mexico are already affecting restaurants, not to mention the cost of tequila and mezcal. Kiki Aranita found that even made-in-American spirits will have to adjust. One reason: Corks are made in Mexico.

Is PHL the hottest restaurant neighborhood? asks Kiki Aranita. River Twice and Little Water chef Randy Rucker will design dishes for American Airlines’ new Flagship Lounge, set to debut this summer, while a standalone Middle Child — different from the restaurant’s current setup inside the Chase Sapphire Lounge — is planned for Terminal D later this fall.

Are those new Middle Child sandwiches at PHL any good? Kiki tried them.

And in other Middle Child news: You’ll never guess who won our Breakfast Sandwich Bracket.

The enormous cutlets at Carina Sorella in Bryn Mawr anchor the chicken parm and a pair of salad upgrades — none so impressive as the shock-and-awe Caesar. Craig LaBan is both shocked and awed.

Funding cuts out of Washington have deeply affected a program meant to help small East Coast farms. As Jenn Ladd explains, the workers at Harrisburg-based Pasa Sustainable Agriculture were owed money, but also weren’t allowed to stop working.

Speaking of farms, Christa Barfield of West Chester-based FarmerJawn clarified what’s going on with the agricultural outfit’s nonprofit arm, FarmerJawn & Friends Foundation Fund. Jenn Ladd has the full story.

Musette, the cafe at 25th and Aspen in Fairmount, is opening a second location, taking the former Ultimo at 20th and Locust Streets in Rittenhouse. Michael and Caitlin Harding are expanding the scope to include an aperitivo menu with a few small plates, salumi, conserva, and a nonalcoholic cocktail and wine list — BYOB otherwise. He’s a level-2 CMS sommelier and former beverage manager and cocktail professional. They’re targeting early May.

Fleur’s — an enormous project, more than two years in the works and backed by Josh Mann, Graham Gernsheimer, and chef George Sabatino — is preparing to open this spring in East Kensington, in a former furniture retailer’s building. It’ll be a two-floor French-ish restaurant, six-room boutique hotel, event space, and rooftop bar with an open-air patio. They’ll preview the food and aesthetic on April 19 at Citrine Studios (1834 E. Hagert St.) with a five-course tasting menu; seatings at 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. are $135 a head. Here’s the link.

For two decades, Devon residents have been staring at two vacant restaurants on a busy corner across from Whole Foods. That won’t be true for too much longer. Here’s what’s happening there. That Main Line complex’s revival is one of five brand-new restaurant deals in the suburbs, including a French cafe in South Jersey that’s going full-on Italian.

Jolene’s. You’d think that with all the offerings in downtown West Chester, someone would have opened a French restaurant after Gilmore’s shut down in 2012.

The 3 West Hospitality Group, whose holdings include the casual Slow Hand, Square Bar, Brickette Lounge, and Jitters, made the big move to semi-fine dining in January with the polished Jolene’s, taking over the double-wide storefront that housed Social Club and the long-ago Spence Cafe. Jolene’s is big on buzz — both the local word-of-mouth as well as the volume in the dining room. (The restaurant suggests coming out on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday to escape the din.)

Chef Craig Russell — a former sous chef at Will BYOB who drew a following at the old Red Store in Cape May and Co/Op in University City before he headed to cook upscale bar food at Slow Hand — has segued into French bistro. His tight menu (a response to a kitchen staffing shortage) features steak tartare ($14), seared foie gras ($20), bouillabaisse ($38, shown at top), and duck breast over wild rice with a red-wine caramel sauce ($34), one of the more popular dishes. Figure on two or three dishes per person.

The dining room, low-lit for date night, takes up one side, while the cozy, even dimmer bar on the other side (shown below) is stocked almost exclusively with French wines. “We’re bracing ourselves to see what that looks like come June when they start running out of inventory around here,” said Matthew Gansert, the group’s culinary director.

Jolene’s, 29 E. Gay St., West Chester. Hours: 5 p.m.-midnight Tuesday to Saturday. Wheelchair-accessible.

Honeysuckle’s new incarnation, with a full bar and three times the space of its previous West Philly location, will debut April 24 at 631 N. Broad St. (Above, a decorative piece that anchors the bar area.) Some initial intel, starting with the menus from chefs Omar Tate and Cybille St.Aude Tate. Dinner is $95 fixed-price, with choices from a three-course selection. Among the add-ons is a $55 double-patty cheeseburger with truffle and caviar on white bread, served with fries. Tate calls it “McDonald’s Money,” and it’s a sly tribute to his upbringing, when his mom made burgers at home on white bread because they didn’t have money for McDonald’s. St.Aude-Tate’s beverage menu is a tribute to Haitian rums and their house-made fermentations; you must try the “holy trinity” soda — a fizzy, vegetal, Cel-Ray-like blend of onion, celery, and bell pepper. Reservations on OpenTable.

How much of America’s imported fruit comes through the Port of Philadelphia?

A) 5%

B) 10%

C) 20%

D) 30%

Find out if you know the answer.

Is the rumor true that a McDonald’s is opening across from Liberty Place? — Jane J.

It is true, as my colleague Jake Blumgart reported in December, specifying the location as 1604 Chestnut St. I checked in on the progress. Brett Feldman, a zoning attorney with Klehr Harrison who represents McDonald’s, said the plans have received approvals from both the Zoning Board of Adjustment and the Art Commission (for proposed signs). Construction is due to start this summer with opening by the end of the year. Also, just a few doors away at 1614 Chestnut, a Taco Bell is under construction.

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