Michael Klein, Philly.com
At new Krispy Kreme locations, the first person in line gets doughnuts for a year.
At Joe's Crab Shack restaurants, the first 100 people in line get snow crabs for a year. And maybe for life.
Joe's, a family friendly, Southern-style seafooder with a few locations in the region, is opening at 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 16 in Deptford Landing shopping center (2000 Clements Bridge Road, Deptford).
Michael Klein, Philly.com
A Florida-based cafe and wine bar with a cool pedigree has its sights set on the Philly area.
Carmel Cafe & Wine Bar - which started in Tampa less than three years ago and now has four locations in the Tampa Bay area - has a lease at 372 W. Lancaster Ave. in Wayne, previously the site of HogFish Bar & Grill and its predecessor, Flavor.
Another Carmel location is being considered near the Wegmans store at Street Road and Route 611 in Warrington.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Since 1989, the Shore family has dispensed ice cream and candy from its old-fashioned shop on Chestnut Street near 18th.
But April 27 will be last call at Scoop DeVille and Maron Chocolates.
Owner Matthew Shore cites rising rents that, he says, are squeezing out his and other independent businesses. "It's turning into a franchise city," he told me.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Burger Brawl - the charity burger competition set for May 5 at Fleisher Art Memorial - is auctioning off one judge's spot on eBay.
Bidding is opening at $200 on the 10-day auction.
I must add that the judging ranks include not only such media stars as Matt Cord of WMMR, Steve Morrison of WMMR's Preston & Steve and WBEN's Marilyn Russell, and some ink- and pixel-stained food bloggers, but also Fox29 traffic reporter Kacie McDonnell.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
The Mildred (824 S. Eighth St.) is sporting a cozier new look.
A renovation after only seven months in business?
Owners Mike Dorris and Mike Santoro had notions of doing a larger renovation to the dining room (the former James), but ran out of time.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
The boys at ReAnimator Coffee Roasters - who service restaurants and cafes with their Third Wave java - want to get their beans directly into the hands (or at least the mugs) of the public.
They have a community zoning meeting Tuesday, April 16 to gain a neighborhood blessing what they hope will be their first coffee cafe, at 1523 E. Susquehanna Ave. That is on one corner of that quirky Fishtown crossroads that is home to Loco Pez and Cedar Point Bar & Kitchen.
"We want the people to be able to come to us," said Mark Capriotti, one of the two Marks behind the business (the other is Corpus). Such a retail shop, he believes, will "solidify our legitimacy."
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Restaurateur David Ralic has a way to take the sting out of tax day:
Starting today and running till May 3, he's offering a comp glass of red or white wine at Ralic's on South (119 South St.), his seafood house.
The promo will wrap May 3, in time for the South Street Spring Festival on May 4.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Two impending openings of note in the frozen-dessert realm:
Little Baby's Ice Cream will open its second store any day now at 4903 Catharine St. in West Philly's Cedar Park neighborhood. (See background here.) All it awaits is a blessing from the Health Department. Little Baby's opened on the Kensington end of Fishtown last August.
Pinkberry - the franchise frozen-yogurt giant - will open its first Philly-area outlet on May 9 and it will give away froyo from 6 to 9 p.m. Location: Bryn Mawr Square shopping center (763 W. Lancaster Ave.). A second Philly-area store is on tap for Philadelphia International Airport in late May.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
If the word circulated by the management team at Georges' in Wayne is correct, Georges Perrier has retired.
Last year, he sold Le Bec-Fin, his flagship at 1523 Walnut St.; it opened a few months later under new operators.
Last week, I reported that Perrier, 69, was no longer involved with The Art of Bread by Georges Perrier, the bakery/cafe he opened two years ago in Narberth, ostensibly as a wholesale division.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Stephen Starr - the TV repairman's son from South Jersey who runs an empire of 30-plus restaurants in Philly, New York, South Florida, Atlantic City and Washington, D.C. - has won Restaurant Hospitality magazine's Richard Melman Innovator of the Year Award.
Restaurant Hospitality editor-in-chief Michael Sanson said in a statement: “There are a lot of people and groups around the country opening interesting and lucrative restaurants. But few can come close to opening the types of restaurants that Starr creates. Everything he does is incredibly hip and their very presence brings tremendous energy and vitality to the neighborhoods they occupy."
Starr will get the prize - named in honor of Richard Melman of Chicago's Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, the company that basically invented the concept of dining-as-fun (Maggiano's, Joe's Crabs, M Burger, Big Bowl) - at the Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators Super Show on Sept. 30.
