Restaurant notes: More BBQ and Wolfgang Puck, too
The Kimmel Center is getting a whiff of celeb; University City is in line for an L.A.-area 'Q joint.
Two fairly prominent restaurant projects have been bubbling under the radar.
Letting them surface now ...
One: The former Le Bus/Bubble House at 3402-04 Sansom St. in University City is destined to become a branch of Baby Blues, a BBQ-blues joint out of Venice and West Hollywood, Calif. (there's one in San Francisco, too). Owners Danny Fischer (he's a Philly guy, ninth of 10 kids, whose dad, Lou, was a big cheese with the Gino's Burgers chain) and Rick McCarthy (a Jersey guy whose brother owned a soul-food stand in Georgia) say it's on the way. "As far as when, giving you an opening date is like predicting a hurricane in the fall. It's gonna happen, but lord only knows what exact date -- October or November," Fischer says. Meanwhile, the episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives set at the Venice location ought get you hungry.
Two: Celeb chef/caterer Wolfgang Puck is in talks to partner with Restaurant Associates at the Kimmel Center, much as they work in tandem in Boston at the Institute of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Science and in D.C. at the Newseum.