🥣Our 25 favorite soups | Let’s Eat

Few foods bowl us over in winter like soup, and we share some of our favorites. Also this week: the $$ side of dry January, Craig LaBan reviews High Street, we take a look at a Middle Eastern eatery and market, and we introduce you to Philadelphia’s biggest foodie.

— Mike Klein

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Winter is back, and nothing warms a chilly body like a bowl of soup. Critic Craig LaBan and I round up 25 favorites — creamy chowders, rich stews, fiery ramens — from Philly’s diverse chef community.

High Street, marked by daring impulses a decade ago when it opened next to Fork in Old City, has been reinvented near Jefferson Hospital with what Craig now calls “a much different, soothing tone.” In his review, he writes: “Today’s High Street 2.0 is more like a warm embrace, an antidote of polished hospitality and refined comforts for our post-pandemic phase.” The pizza shown above with delicata squash, burrata, chili oil, and honey is a prime example.

❗The couscous specials are only part of the charms of the cozy Sofi Corner Cafe, a French-Moroccan BYOB in Washington Square West. Craig says the couscous royale, in particular, takes him back to Paris.

By day, she’s a world-renowned neuroscientist. By night, she’s the godmother of the Philly dining scene. Allow Zoe Greenberg to introduce you to culinary enthusiast Sharon Thompson-Schill, whose 365-night-a-year dining schedule costs $1,000 a week.

Cutting out alcohol can be a boon not only to one’s health but, as you might figure, to one’s budget. But the savings from adhering to Dry January — or to its low-alcohol counterpart, Damp January — may not be as much as you’d expect. Erin McCarthy explains that prices for booze-free beverages are rising.

If food has you thinking about seeing a show, check out our latest “Two Critics, One Review” feature. With support from Visit Philadelphia, “Two Critics, One Review” is The Inquirer’s way of giving you two takes on the same show, so you can make the best decision about whether you want to go. This time, Inquirer critics Dan DeLuca and Elizabeth Wellington took in opening night of Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations, at the Academy of Music on the Kimmel Cultural Campus through Jan. 21. It’s a fun read from two colleagues who clearly love Motown, the Philly sound, and that era in music.

Famous 4th Street Deli in Queen Village has been sold for only the second time in a century. Read on to hear how the buyer, a Connecticut restaurateur, hired a long-ago Famous employee as general manager to keep the corned beef special.

Little Walter’s will be a bar-restaurant in East Kensington from Michael Brenfleck, most recently executive chef at Spice Finch after turns at Distrito, Tinto, Village Whiskey, and the Feliz restaurants. Brenfleck will honor his family’s Polish roots in his takeover of the long-closed Erica’s Sports Bar at Coral and Hagert Streets. He’s building a bar topped with live-edge wood and fashioning a 30-or-so-seat dining room. Expect house-made everything, including sourdough rye bread, pierogi Ruskie (potato and farmers cheese) and kielbasa, plus his own spins, such as barszcz (borscht) soup dumplings with horseradish dukkah, and barbacoa pierogi with consommé(!). “Spring” is the target.

Bishos. All day, two vertical spits slowly turn in the front window of Bishos — one layered with chicken and the other with beef and lamb. Bisho himself (Bishara Kuttab) uses his handheld slicer to shave off the tender shawarma,. He then tosses it on the flattop grill for a sear it before wrapping it among sauces and fillings in the flatbread known as saj, named after the round griddle on which it’s made in-house every morning.

These skinny shawarma roll-ups (shown above) rank up there with my favorite Philly sandwiches, especially accompanied by a minty, electric green lemonana slushie. Kuttab’s halal menu reflects the Palestinian cooking of his families back home in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Bishos has been a Northeast Philly success story since 2017, when Kuttab and his Algerian-born wife, Zohra Saibi-Kuttab, opened in Roosevelt Mall. In 2020, they moved to the modest counter-service digs on Oxford Avenue in Fox Chase, directly across from the revived Joseph’s Pizza (and the, alas, still-shuttered Moonstruck restaurant).

The Kuttabs weren’t done. Last year, they took over the corner building next door for Le Souk Market, a bright, gorgeously tiled shop (photo below) stocked with barrels of house-roasted nuts, Levantine candies and spices sold by the pound, as well as groceries, housewares and gifts. From a barrel, they’ll draw you a bottle of unfiltered olive oil, sourced directly from Palestinian farmer friends. There are cases of baklava, nut butters and jams. From the counter, they make Turkish coffee, crepes, and bubble waffles.

Bishos, 7950 Oxford Ave., 215-660-9760. Hours: noon-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday.

Le Souk Market, 7952 Oxford Ave., 267-417-9072. Hours: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday.

Pizza Richmond. Port Richmond, undergoing a building boom of late along with Philadelphia’s other river wards, just got a pizzeria with a pedigree on the ground floor of 3136 Richmond St. The homey, old-fashioned 20-seater is from A Frame Constructs’ Mike Parsell, Bob Shaw, and Cary Borish, the developers behind Sally, Pizza Shackamaxon, and Martha.

They’re keeping the menu simple: slices, pies, two salads, soft-serve for dessert. The pepperoni slice in the photo may look burnt to some of you, but I prefer to think of it as well-done and well done. Read on for my take.

Pizza Richmond, 3136 Richmond St. Hours: noon-9 p.m. Thursday-Sunday.

Viraj Thomas, the pizzaiolo known as Char Pizza, will do a pop-up dinner from 4-9 p.m. Jan. 22 at El Chingon in South Philly: five pizzas, one salad, crudo, one pasta, one dessert. He’ll “borrow” one pie, the ’Stach, from El Chingon chef/owner Carlos Aparicio’s days as head chef at Zavino. It has pistachio pesto, fresh mozz, Parmigiano Reggiano, arugula, and EVOO. No reservations, dine-in and takeout.

Wissahickon Brewing Co. in East Falls will open a taproom and production facility this summer in Kensington. Founder Tom Gill Dr. called the location “a no-brainer.”

Dominican-born Pedro Rodriguez is getting into the coffee roasting business at age 69 with Cafe Don Pedro in Brewerytown.

Reunion Hall, a beer hall-like bar-restaurant with handsome indoor-outdoor spaces, opened last week in Haddon Township. Founder Dave Welsh has stocked the place not only with every New Jersey, but three food vendors with Camden County connections.

Continental Mid-town just revamped its cocktail list entirely, and one of the originals, the Astronaut, was reformulated. What’s its original name?

A) The Buzz Aldrin

B) The Apollo

C) The Gemini

D) The John Glenn

Find out if you know the answer.

Is something happening at Max Brenner’s? — Johnny C.

Actually, yes. Max Brenner, the dessert-theme chain restaurant that closed over the summer on 15th Street just south of Walnut, is newly under lease. The new tenant will be the critically acclaimed Amma’s South Indian Cuisine, now at 1518 Chestnut St. Owner Sathish Varadhan told me that the Chestnut Street location, about two blocks away, will close as 15th Street opens. Amma’s also has locations coming up in Mount Laurel, N.J., and Newtown, Bucks County. (It’s among the 75-plus restaurants expected to open this year.)

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Stay warm out there!