Fork alums open Cadence

Three chef alumni of the Fork/High Street on Market/a.kitchen orbit have gone into South Kensington with Cadence, a new-American BYOB replacing Modo Mio on the Northern Liberties border at 161 W. Girard Ave.

Spouses Jon Nodler and Samantha Kincaid (he's most recently High Street's exec chef, and she was pastry chef) are teamed with Michael Fry on the ingredient-driven, dinner-only salon, whose open kitchen includes an eight-seat chef's counter. It's intended as an interactive experience. Though there are waiters, Nodler says the kitchen crew run dishes to the table.

Dinner (Tuesday to Saturday) is set up with a $55 four-course prix-fixe as well as an a la carte menu, all featuring hyper-local, hyper-seasonal cooking (sample dish: bison tartare, salsify, preserved blueberries, egg yolk, beet rye bread).

As for Modo Mio, chef Peter McAndrews has scrapped plans to relocate it to Fairmount.

The University of Pennsylvania's former Moravian Food Court at 3401 Walnut St. — known for plebeian choices such as Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and A&W — soars higher on the food chain with Franklin's Table Food Hall.

It's a collection of spin-offs of homegrown food companies DK Sushi (Double Knot), KQ Burger (Kensington Quarters), High Street Provisions, Pitruco Pizza, Little Baby's Ice Cream, and the Juice Merchant, with seating for about 170 people. Hours are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The Juice Merchant (juices and smoothies, salads, and sandwiches) and High Street Provisions (Rival Bros. coffee, pastries, and sandwiches) are first to open; the others sell lunch and dinner.

The next Great Chefs Event, founded by Marc Vetri and Jeff Benjamin and now overseen by Urban Outfitters, will be the afternoon on June 9 at Urban's South Philadelphia headquarters. Vetri and Benjamin, meanwhile, have a new fund-raiser,  Eat to Empower Dinner Series & Food Festival, on April 21. It will start with private dinners in six homes, followed by a party at La Colombe's Fishtown flagship; see www.philly.com/mike for details.

The next Burger Brawl will be June 3 at Xfinity Live, with a concert by country crooner Chase Rice.

The Halal Guys will open at 2550 Grant Ave. on March 24, its third Philadelphia-area location. The first 100 people in line for the 11 a.m. opening will receive free platters.

ReAnimator Coffee has opened inside University City's Garden Court at 4710 Pine St. Along with coffee and snacks is a menu of toasts on Lost Bread bread. Hours are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends.

Glenn Gross has converted the Fat Jack's BBQ location at 6301 Oxford Ave. in Northeast Philadelphia into Fat Jack's Chicken & Biscuits. It opens at 6 a.m. weekdays, 7 a.m. weekends.

More restaurant news at www.philly.com/mike.