Michael Klein

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Michael Klein, editor/producer of philly.com/Food, writes about the restaurant scene in his Inquirer column, Table Talk. Have a question? E-mail it, and he'll answer in print or on his blog.

Read Michael's blog The Insider
Latest post: 70 degrees means free food - 1:18pm

Elena and K.K. Wu in the lobby of their new restaurant.( ED HILLE / Staff Photographer )

Elena Wu returns to Voorhees

By Michael Klein, For The Inquirer

04/02/2013

Every so often, Elena Wu retires and sells her eponymous restaurants: First Marlton, then Voorhees, then Mount Laurel. Wu - a onetime culinary instructor who entered the restaurant business in 1986 - has returned with Elena Wu Restaurant, which recently joined the restaurant row at Voorhees Town Center (12106 Town Center Blvd., 856-375-2289, elenawurestaurant.com).

French Country Cake With Strawberries
Odeon's Sauteed Crab Cakes
Ella's Chopped Salad

Haddonfield's Little Tuna spawns a market 03/27/2013: By Michael Klein, For The Inquirer

As a teen, Marcus Severs worked the counter at his uncle's seafood place, Cap'n Cats Clam Bar & Tavern in West Deptford.
Philly's sizzling with restaurant openings 03/24/2013: By Michael Klein, PHILLY.COM

Mark Bucher grew up in Philadelphia but sought his fortune elsewhere. After developing casual, beef-based restaurants in the Washington area, he and his partners sought to expand to Atlantic City.
Two newcomers on South Jersey scene 03/06/2013: Two New Jersey-rooted restaurants have entered the South Jersey scene. Marltonians have a new restaurant in the Turning Point, which opened recently in Marlton Square (300 Route 73 South, Marlton, 856-988-1528). It's an offshoot of a breakfast/brunch/luncher with a base in Long Branch. Owners Pam and Kirk Ruoff are behind a pleasant, plant-dotted dining room. Like all Turning Points, this one closes at 3 p.m. because the Ruoffs believe in a work-life balance.
Chef John Brandt-Lee is now the chairman of board 03/05/2013: He liked a wood shop's work; now John Brandt-Lee is in the cutting-board business.

By Michael Klein, PHILLY.COM

PHILLY.COM Chef John Brandt-Lee began renovating his Avalon restaurant in West Chester on the cheap a few years ago. One feature was the wooden cheese table in the middle of the dining room. No thousand-dollar table crafted by artisans. Not on Brandt-Lee's budget.
Dad opens Miles Table, named for Miles 02/20/2013: Michael Klein

The stretch of South Street from Broad Street west into Grays Ferry has been growing as a food destination, what with such recent arrivals as the Cambridge, Magpie Artisan Pie Boutique, Sawatdee, and the Quick Fixx, and with the second location of Honey's Sit 'n Eat opening shortly at 21st and South Streets.
Deputies take over Le Bec's kitchen 02/13/2013: The chef merry-go-round keeps spinning. Le Bec Fin shed its executive chef, Walter Abrams, and his fiancee, pastry chef Jennifer Smith, after only seven months. This results in a new kitchen, helmed by their deputies - Steven Eckerd, an Osteria veteran, as executive chef, and Abigail Dahan, pre
Planning a pop-up izakaya 02/12/2013: Ryo Igarashi will offer a seven-course menu, limited to 30, for one night only.

By Michael Klein, PHILLY.COM

Ryo Igarashi does not want to repeat 2012. The chef had closed Maru Global, the Japanese street-food restaurant in Center City that he ran with his wife, Nicole. He had moved the operation to a friend's restaurant in Society Hill when he bent down one day to pick up a pen and smacked his head on the corner of a prep table.
More caffeine on Rittenhouse Square 02/06/2013: How much caffeine can Rittenhouse Square handle? Already home of the flagship La Colombe on 19th Street north of the square, this spring the enclave will get the first Philadelphia branch of New York's Joe Coffee Bar, at 1845 Walnut St., and a branch of roaster/creperie Cafe L'Aube, at the 222 Rittenhouse condo building.
A fried cheese curd truck? Of course. 02/06/2013: By Michael Klein, Philly.com

Go ask Rob Mitchell what a cheese curd is. A few years ago, he himself didn't know. Now they're his life.
New life for old Goat Hollow 01/22/2013: Goat Hollow, which enjoyed a nearly 20-year run in Mount Airy before it closed in 2004, was revived this week.