🥩 Our 15 favorite steakhouses | Let’s Eat

As we proceed in our never-ending quest to share our favorite foods and restaurants, today’s topic is steaks. One of our 15 favorites even gilds the lily with pineapple upside down Alaska for dessert.

Also in this edition:

— Mike Klein

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Crave steaks? We’re sharing our favorites — a combination of full steakhouse experiences and cuts from non-steakhouses. Read on for our roundup.

Shay’s Steaks, which has built a tidy but somewhat controversial following at 16th and Race Streets, has a new location near Rittenhouse Square that’s keeping long hours. The hospitality company that is operating Shay’s Steaks & More is also building a diner in the space below, which from 1974 to 1994 was a luncheonette called Charlie’s Water Wheel. That sandwich above, by the way, is a Shaygel — an everything bagel with egg, Cooper sharp cheese, and a full cheesesteak’s worth of ribeye.

Run Google Maps for your drive to Big Swerve’s BBQ in Westville. After a few twists and turns, you’ll get to the converted shipping container that houses Stephen Clark’s smoker, made from a 500-gallon propane tank. I’ll explain what this former Free Library security guard is cooking.

Kiki Aranita has been spending a lot of time at Philadelphia International Airport lately. Lately, she’s found:

Chad and Hanna Williams of the award-winning Friday Saturday Sunday have been eager to expand their business. Why go far? They’re aiming to do it next door. They’ve shared their plans, which includes an exclusive 18-seat chef’s counter.

Chef Michael DeLone, now 43, started working at age 18 for chef Nunzio Patruno at his late, great Monte Carlo Living Room. Patruno later decamped to Collingswood, where in 2004 he opened Nunzio Ristorante Rustica. Nearly four years ago, DeLone and his wife, Lisa, bought the BYOB. Effective this Friday, they’re reflagging it as Michael. They’ve expanded the menu while still focusing on wood-fired, coastal Italian cuisine, with house-made desserts, breads, and pastas. In addition to a “sea” section ($36-$49) with cioppino, Dover sole, branzino, and fluke (including tableside service), there will be a “cuts” section ($28-$55) including prime aged ribeye, Kurobuta pork chop, harissa-spiced lamb chops, filet mignon, and a half roast chicken. A five-course tasting menu option will be $65pp. DeLone spent 2003-2016 at Le Castagne in Rittenhouse, where Anthony Masapollo was general manager; Masapollo is now Michael’s new GM.

This vintage Diet 7-Up machine outside of the Beverly, across from the Piazza in Northern Liberties and next to the new Amina, is nonfunctional. It’s the front door to the new Newsroom Philly, opening June 12. For New York-based Rose Hospitality’s first Philadelphia restaurant, it’s going for a speakeasy vibe (thousands of real books lining handcrafted bookshelves). Expect cocktails and bottle service (and a $10 martini special on Thursdays); entertainment (DJs, jazz singers, aerialists); and a Japanese fusion menu from chef Nobu Hamazaki. Initial service will include dinner Thursday to Sunday and Sunday brunch, with reservations now up on Resy and OpenTable. Hours are due to expand in July. Rose’s New York holdings include the Newsroom in Long Island City, the Pie Guy Pizza, Kobano, Sushi Saint, and Lost in Paradise Rooftop.

Peter Chang. A few weeks ago, I dropped word here that Sichuan-born chef Peter Chang, a 2016 semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic, was taking over the recently shuttered Golden City restaurant on Bethlehem Pike in Colmar, Montgomery County, of all places. Crews are sprucing it up and adding a bar, all part of Chang’s work with new local partners as he expands.

Chang is up to about 20 restaurants now, and Colmar is expected to open later this year. In the interim, last week he opened a smaller Peter Chang restaurant in Henderson Square in King of Prussia. (It’s a takeover of a short-lived place called Forever.)

Chang’s thing is smaller plates, and the menu mixes homespun ideas (say, Hunan-style Chiba tofu with pork belly, shown at top, and farmers stir fry with tofu skins, leeks, and eggs, shown above), as well as the usual Chinese American dishes (that’s General Tso, below). The smaller portions are priced accordingly. Menu is here.

Peter Chang, 314 S. Henderson Rd., King of Prussia. Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Del Frisco’s Grille, on South Broad Street near Locust, plans to close July 31 at the end of its lease.

Would you line up for many hours, even in the rain, to snag a membership to Palizzi Social Club? Hundreds of people did and many shared their experiences with Mike Newall.

McGillin’s Olde Ale House, Philly’s oldest bar, has opened a shop at 123 S. Juniper St., about a block away, to sell Philly-themed wear and souvenirs along with Irish imports. Hours are noon-6 p.m. Friday-Sunday, coinciding with Center City District’s Open Streets Midtown Village, which runs four Sundays in June, starting this weekend. Hours will expand in the fall. Merch is online, too.

Center City District SIPS’ season starts today, with happy hour specials at assorted venues from 5-7 p.m. Wednesdays through Aug. 27. The weather-delayed launch party will be tonight from 5 to 8 at Dilworth Park, on the west side of City Hall. Details are here.

Old City Eats Block Party will turn Second Street between Market and Chestnut into an open-air food festival with a dozen or so restaurants offering pay-as-you-go food and drinks from 5-9 p.m. Thursday. Details via Old City District.

The Bakery (2300 S. Third St.) in South Philly will hand out free doughnuts to the first 50 people Friday starting at 7 a.m. Starting with Doughnut #51, they’ll be $1 each with the purchase of a coffee till 2 p.m. or sellout.

Chef Evan Snyder’s Emmett (161 W. Girard Ave.) will host Ūle chef Tim Dearing for what is billed as a “Not-a-Popup” collab dinner on June 10, with staggered seatings from 5-9:30 p.m. (Snyder, who plied the pop-up circuit during his hunt for a restaurant, is doing a solid for the similarly searching Dearing, who formerly operated as Little Owl.) See OpenTable for details, including the four-course menu ($125pp plus tax and tip).

Troubles End Brewing in Collegeville launches a beer-dinner series on June 11, with six courses from chef Kris Serviss (including pretzel-wrapped venison loin) paired with beers from brewer Zach Svoboda for $75 plus tax/tip. Menu and details are here.

Les Dames d’Escoffier Philly will screen the film Finding Edna Lewis at 5:30 p.m. June 13 at Van Pelt-Dietrich Library (3420 Walnut St.), after which chef Valerie Erwin will interview producer Debra Freeman. The $40 ticket (here) includes light refreshments from chefs Nana Wilmot and Mona Wilson.

How did the ultra-popular South Philly BYOB Mawn get its name?

A) It’s a variation of the slang word jawn.

B) It’s the chef’s son’s nickname.

C) It’s a short form of “morn.”

D) It’s a phonetic spelling of the Khmer word for chicken.

🎥 Watch this short video and find out if you know the answer.

My wife and I are looking for a local spot where we can get Dover sole without going for a fancy dinner. Don’t get me wrong: We love fancy, but on a random Tuesday night, where can we go? — Alan B.

Dover sole indeed connotes fancy. At the posh Barclay Prime, it sells for $64. At Estia, you’ll pay $54 a pound before cooking. I asked critic Craig LaBan, who mentioned La Famiglia Ristorante’s version, pan-roasted and deboned tableside for $59, with various sauce options (meuniere-style; oreganata-style with tomatoes and oregano). LaBan is also a fan of Radicchio Cafe, the longtime BYOB charmer on Wood Street just off of Fourth in Old City, whose fish gets a finishing tableside glaze of olive oil, lemon, and balsamic vinegar, for an easier-to-swallow $44. And it’s open on Tuesday nights.

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