Table Talk: Nora's taco cart adds a restaurant

Luis Lorenzo and Nora Portugal, who started with one Nora's taco cart at 38th and Spruce Streets on the University of Pennsylvania campus and recently added a second one nearby, have gone the brick-and-mortar route.

Earlier this month, they not only opened Nora's at 248 South St. (267-758-2413) but had a baby. Days after delivering little Nora, Portugal was working again.

Lorenzo, who is from Mexico, has front-of-the-house experience at Capital Grille and Buddakan; Portugal is Peruvian and has been cooking Latin as a caterer. Most recently, she worked at Normandy Farm in Blue Bell.

Nora's has a small menu for now. Specialties are burritos and burrito bowls ($7, though $8 for steak), grilled chicken over rice or salad ($6), and tacos, most of which are $2.50 each. There are several tables in the front, a few more in the back, and one on the sidewalk. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday, till midnight Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.

Ramen in West Chester, which for decades meant packets heated up in the college dorms, has a legit outlet at Nagasaki, which has replaced Spice at 113 W. Market St. (484-887-8661). The Japanese BYOB, set up in a contemporary dining room, also serves a line of sushi and rolls, udon bowls, and kitchen dishes (such as teriyaki, yakitori, gyoza, and katsu). Owners Jacky and Sabrina Ngai, who also have a restaurant in Jacksonville, Fla., moved to the area so she could be closer to her family. It's open daily.

Sate or satay? "Sate," says Angelina Branca, a native of Malaysia who, with her husband, John, is planning to open a BYO restaurant on East Passyunk Avenue specializing in the skewered-meat dish. Sate Kampar (after her hometown) at 1837 E. Passyunk Ave. was the Bottle Shop before its move to 1616 E. Passyunk. Angelina Branca says she will cook over coconut shell charcoal. Architect David Whipple of Assimilation Design Lab L.L.C. will design; the timeline for opening is not firmed up.

A crew of New York restaurateurs is opening Argento Argentinian Steak House, which will fill the longtime Artful Dodger space at Second and Pine Streets, across from the Head House Square shambles in Society Hill. (It was Society Hill Society for nine months.) Partner Miriam Porto calls Argento's approach "affordable elegance with quality," serving meats, fish, salad, and made-on-premises pasta from a chef born in Argentina, as is her husband. She expects to open in August.

Frank Nattle has reopened the Wayne branch of Vecchia Pizzeria (134 N. Wayne Ave.), which had been closed for more than three months after a Peco transformer beneath the building exploded, sending glass flying. No one was injured, but it sure did rattle Nattle, who was packing up. (Wayne is having a pizza boom, yes, but this is ridiculous.)