Table Talk: Brigantessa opens in South Philadelphia

Walk into the new Brigantessa (1520 E. Passyunk Ave., 267-318-7341) which opened Tuesday on a Passyunk Square corner. Pass by the hand-cranked slicer on the marble counter and the salumi hanging behind the bar. There's a wood-burning oven handmade outside of Naples by the well-regarded Gianni Acunto, who finished it with mortar made with ash taken from Vesuvius. Peek back farther into the kitchen and you'll see a rotisserie and grill, fueled by wood and coal. Chef Joe Cicala at Brigantessa is partnered again with Le Virtu owners Francis Cratil Cretarola and Cathy Lee. Where Le Virtu is all about Abruzzo, Brigantessa is Southern Italian.

Beyond Neapolitan pizza, he is doing pastas, meat, and fish entrées, and salumi (made in-house); most entrées are in the $20s. Cicala's wife, Le Virtu pastry chef Angela Ranalli Cicala, has a shop in the basement.

Befitting the enoteca and birreria themes, the bar list will include six wines on tap, 16 beers on tap, assorted bottles of beer and Italian wine.

It's open for dinner nightly. All day Saturday and Sunday.

Little Spoon Cafe (1500 South St., 267-587-6559), more than a year in the making, opened this week. Founders Julia McMeans and Jeanne French met several years ago, when McMeans worked at the now-closed Pumpkin Market and French was a customer. They are high on a slice of town that McMeans described as "Mr. Rogers' neighborhood."

McMeans said they both thought that the street lacked "a community breakfast-y spot. Sort of like a coffeehouse with better food."

French's background was purely business - buying and flipping houses in Vermont, attending law school here, and working as a dive master in Honduras. They retained the chef services of Lauren Geary, previously kitchen manager at Monk's Cafe. Maggie Bertonazzi is baking pastry in-house.

They also hired the architect/designer Joshua Otto, who recently shared a James Beard Award for the design of Center City's Tria Taproom. He paid special attention to sprucing up the exterior, where he added a large spoon to the 15th Street facade.

The dining room's walls were stripped down in spots. It's light-filled with wood-topped tables, mismatched chairs, and antique pieces. An old typewriter is set up for customers to type comments. The patio out back has been cleaned up for seating. For now, they will be open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. (Closed Monday.)

Raul Castro, who owns South Philadelphia's Plaza Garibaldi, plans to open a second Mexican restaurant, at 10th and Wolf Streets. He'll call it Frida, honoring Frida Kahlo, when it opens sometime next year.

High Street Grill in Mount Holly, which marked its 10th anniversary in August, has closed. Owners John and Nancy McDevitt, who relocated to California two years ago, said it was impractical to run it long distance.