La Terrasse, the Penn campus dining destination that's been dark for a year, is finally getting new life.
But not as LaT's.
Dave Magrogan, the chiropractor-turned-motivational speaker/restaurateur, has signed a lease with the university to turn the property at 3432 Sansom St. into a branch of Doc Magrogan's Oyster House. He has Doc's in West Chester; Moosic, Pa.,; and Dover, Del.
Projected opening is spring.
Magrogan, who also owns the Kildare's pubs, recently signed with Penn to open a branch of his healthy-dining restaurant Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar to the former Marathon Grill spot at 40th and Walnut Streets.
Apparently no one wanted to revive LaT.
The bistro, which opened in 1966, was considered one of the city's top restaurants in its day and happened to be one of the fave haunts of 1960s hippie guru Ira Einhorn. It was at LaT's bar where he met and wooed Holly Maddux, whom he later killed and stuffed into a truck before fleeing for France.
LaT's had a revolving door of operators over the last 15 years.
The noodle soups are steaming and the gyoza are sizzling at Ramen Boy (204 N. Ninth St., 267-687-1355), now in its soft-opening phase on the Chinatown block that's home to Sang Kee. It's owned by the team from Yakitori Boy, the karaoke bar a few blocks away.
The decor - heavy on the wood, down to the stools - will remind you of Zama in Rittenhouse.
Chef Ben Watanabe, a native of Yokohama (which makes this Yokahaman Ramen), offers four soups ($10-$13): a classic tonkotsu with pork; a miso with chicken, vegetable, and egg; a spicy ramen with beef; and a vegan-friendly vegetable ramen whose broth is soy milk and miso.
Gyoza ($5 and $6 for a six-piece order) are whipped up to order on a cool imported grill that gets the dumplings crispy on the bottom while subjecting them to a steam bath. Varieties: pork; chicken and garlic; spicy shrimp; and cheddar and shredded beef.
Beef and cheese? Wait. Yes, this is Watanabe's contribution to Philadelphia culture - a Philly cheesesteak gyoza.
Tastes great with the wasabi dipping sauce.
Initially, Ramen Boy open for lunch and dinner every day except for Monday.
As the Chinatown bar Hop Sing Laundromat draws to its opening date (which could be Feb. 29, or, for that matter, Feb. 30), its bar is being stocked.
Twenty-one bottles of Dom Perignon champagne - a quantity usually not seen outside of a rap video or NBA party - line a metal shelf. At $145 a bottle from the Liquor Control Board, that's steep inventory.
Why all the Dom? The operator, the single-named Le, explained that he'll use Dom in all sparkling drinks.
The seven-year run of Cork in Westmont will come to a close after Valentine's Day.
Kevin Meeker is redoing it as Keg & Kitchen, with a concept emphasis on the word "craft" - in food, wine/spirits, and decor. Opening is pegged for early March.
Starting Feb. 15, craftsman David Dowling, who has worked on such projects as Frankford Hall, Sbraga, and Birra, will go green, recycling or giving away Cork's existing building materials. The walls are reclaimed redwood from an office building, Meeker says. The center table will be a 16-foot black walnut tree found in the woods in Lancaster. Light fixtures are old plumbing fixtures and used fixtures. Chandeliers will be made from old beer bottles.
The project will mark the return to the area of Anthony Marini, who had worked for Meeker at Philadelphia Fish & Company in Old City. Meeker describes the menu as American craft comfort food: "Good, interesting food made from fabulous but simple ingredients at reasonable prices." Everything will be made in house, including breads. Bar list will include craft beer (16 on draft) and old-school cocktails.
Meeker chose Feb. 15 for the start of construction because Cork opened Feb. 14, 2005; he's offering a three-course, $35 Valentines menu for Cork's final weekend.
Note: I see that Paige Barrow of Fameco Real Estate is marketing 207 Chestnut St., now occupied by Meeker's Q BBQ; his lease up in August.
Jose Garces is in line to take over the catering operation at the Kimmel Center, I hear, and those spoils also will include operating a small restaurant on the Spruce Street side of the performing-arts venue. (Garces had told The Inquirer's Craig LaBan recently that he was going to open a small restaurant in his hometown.)
I hear that there's a handshake agreement, as the Kimmel has not been happy with its year-long association with Wolfgang Puck. The timetable would put Garces and his catering arm in the venue in June.
Puck joined the Kimmel through an existing partnership with Restaurant Associates.
No comment from the various sides.
Wursthaus Schmitz, a German-themed stand from husband and wife Doug Hager and Kelly Schmitz of the South Street beer hall Brauhaus Schmitz, is due to open around Memorial Day at Reading Terminal Market.
The stand, facing Center Court in the former Spice Terminal location, will offer a mix of hot foods, German deli and prepared foods to take home, and imported German specialty food products. Construction should begin in April.
The opening will fill a major niche created when longtime merchant Siegfried’s European Gourmet closed in 2000.
The Brauhaus Schmitz-ers got a taste of the "stand" life over the holidays when they sold wurst at the Christmas Village at LOVE Park.
Props to Andrew and Kristin Wood for making short order of construction on their new BYOB, Russet, which will open Feb. 14 in the 1880s townhouse previously occupied by Ernesto's at 1521 Spruce St. They've gone green with the build-out, using zero-VOC paints, a marmoleum floor, and reclaimed furniture.
A happy vibe surrounds this project, not unlike the early word I recall 10 years ago surrounding a little husband-and-wife BYOB off South Street called Django. (See my November post for background.)
The Woods will do a daily-changing, seasonally driven menu primarily sourced from farms and local purveyors within 100 miles. Andrew, who worked at Fork after a turn at the Michelin-starred Terra and Quince (and previous engagements at James and Maia), is a fan of whole-animal butchery and traditional cooking; she is a pastry chef with an eye and nose for cheeses (she was a cheesemonger for Dean & Deluca and a longtime pastry chef at James). Supposedly Misty Meadow Acres in Lancaster County is raising Tamworth-Old Spot blend pigs exclusively for him.
Sample dinner items (entrees $20-$28): Roasted Bull’s Blood Beets with soft-boiled farm egg, nasturtium leaves, and Banyuls vinegar; Local Guinea Hen, roasted with hubbard squash and double-smoked bacon; Brook Trout, seared and stuffed with organic maiitake mushrooms and salsa verde; handmade pastas; and charcuterie.
Sample brunch (entrees $12-$15): Homemade Honey-Cheese Danish; Buckwheat Flour Crêpes with farm eggs, Penn noble cheddar, and house-smoked ham; Sausage Wrapped in Brioche with mustard sauce and mâche; and Baked Apple Pancake with cinnamon crème fraîche and cider syrup.
They also will offer outdoor seating area by summer, and plan to offer "date nights" to couples by sectioning off the private dining space into an area for children who, under a nanny's care, can frolic while Mom and Dad dine next door. They have a 4-year-old son, Gus.
Russet will serve dinner Tuesday through Sunday, and weekend brunch. Lunch, three days a week, will be added shortly after opening.
Divan, dispensing Turkish delights at 22d and Carpenter Streets since spring 2006, will close after dinner service Feb. 20.
Owner Ilker Ugur tells me that he has found buyers for the business, and he will be the landlord.
The new operators, based out of town, will do a gastropub, he said.
Just updating a couple of resto projects.
Remember how long it took Nick Miglino to get Sticks & Stones open at 1909 E. Passyunk Ave.?
Twenty-nine months, to be exact. The bar opened in November 2010.
Now Miglino is out - as in locked out by his landlord, Anthony Criniti. Court records say he owes $9,750 in back rent.
"There's more than meets the eye," Miglino said.
Criniti did not comment,
I hear another potential owner is in the wings to take it over.
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