Table Talk: Vetri crew set to open eatery at Navy Yard

As you drive through the iron gates of the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia, look to your left at the gatehouse. On Monday, the Vetri crew - Marc Vetri, Jeff Benjamin, Brad Spence, and Jeff Michaud - plans to open Lo Spiedo (4501 S. Broad St., 215-282-3184).

"Lo spee-YAY-doh" translates to "the spit," as in rotisserie, and just about the entire menu - executed by Osteria alum Scott Calhoun - is prepared over wood-burning flame: pork ribs, pork shoulder, half-chicken, brisket, octopus. Panini start at $12, pastas are $14 and $16, and mains begin at $18.

You may raise an eyebrow at the location, but only if you haven't been to the Navy Yard in the last half-dozen years; it's a thriving office center with more than 11,000 employees. That solves the lunch dilemma. Vetri is also striking a deal to shuttle his patrons to and from events at the nearby sports complex; and there's plenty of parking; it's also 15 minutes from Center City.

The two-story space is a clever reuse of the utilitarian old-time government architecture that defines so much of the yard - subway tiles and concrete floors - amped by a stylish mosaic floor and zinc bar on the first level and butcher-theme murals upstairs.

It will be open for lunch and dinner daily.

Vedge's Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby are in the early days of V Street, their vegan bar off Rittenhouse Square (126 S. 19th St., 215-320-7500).

It's a drop-in - no reservations - and the former salon is set up with an eight-seat bar in front, followed by a 20-seat dining room with white-painted brick walls and bare-topped tables, and two high-tops and six seats at a counter in the open kitchen. The small-plate menu contains street-food dishes from all over the world, some modified to make them vegan. Langos, the Hungarian fried bread, is not topped with ham; sous chef Jeremy Scullin subs smoked beets. Be prepared for bold flavors.

Landau suggests about five plates per couple, so you're talking $25 to $30-ish per person, plus drinks.

Chef Andrew Wagner and Marcus Versace are days into Devil's Pocket Food & Spirits (2425 Grays Ferry Ave., 215-735-2202), their reimagination of Resurrection Ale House and their solo debut. Wagner was a Starr chef (Jones, Continental Mid-town) and Versace tended bar at such spots as Las Vegas Lounge and Coco's. It's open for lunch and dinner daily.

Chinatown's Simply Shabu has competition in the realm of the Asian cook-your-own hot-pot dining style known as shabu shabu. Hippot Shabu Shabu, a mod-looking spot that replaced Mixx at 1002 Arch St. (215-928-8838), expects its liquor license shortly.

Ting Wong, the Chinatown duck house, is closed for renovations and is due to reopen Nov. 1.

A planned sale of Finnigan's Wake was called off, said Mike Driscoll, one of the partners, and the future of the now-shuttered Northern Liberties bar is still unclear. It could return for holiday parties, he said.