Table Talk: Square 1682 bistro opens in Hotel Palomar at 17th and Sansom

Luxe-hotel operator Kimpton enters the Philadelphia market this week with the Hotel Palomar at 17th and Sansom Streets.

Kimpton is positioning its two-level bistro - Square 1682 (121 S. 17th St., 215-563- 5008) - as a separate entity. It's one of Center City's few hotel restaurants with an entrance off the street, and is open for breakfast, dinner, and late night. Lunch starts Oct. 26.

Decor is dramatic yet intimate art deco. The first floor encompasses the bar, lounge and open kitchen, while the second floor has a dining room and private dining.

Chef Guillermo Tellez's resume includes 17 years with Charlie Trotter, including top jobs at both the Chicago flagship and C restaurant in Los Cabos. Locally, he was director of menu development for the Starr Restaurant Organization and executive chef at Striped Bass. He also co-owned Northbrook MarketPlace in Chester County, which brought him closer to the small farmers whose wares fill the walk-in box at Square 1682.

It's all globally influenced American cooking, from scratch; dinner entrees range from $16 for a pasta-free vegetable lasagna that's similar to a dish Tellez did at Trotter's to $35 for roasted squab. A lower-priced bar menu is on from midday through late night. See menus and such at http://go.philly.com/square1682.

What's coming

Ulysses Voyage, a Greek restaurant from Los Angeles, is fixing to take over the former home of Deux Cheminees, which until two years ago was a bastion of genteel dining in the twin brownstones at 1221-23 Locust St. in Washington Square West. There's much work to be done, and a timetable has not been released.

Lucky Old Souls is the name of a two-story restaurant-music venue planned at 1713 McKean St. in South Philly. Jazz promoter Matthew Feldman, who hosts on the Internet station G-town Radio, says music will be eclectic - jazz, blues, and R&B, even classical - and food will be locally sourced and seasonal. He said that construction will begin when he is approved for a liquor license. Realistically, he said, it would open in May/June.

Oct. 28 is the projected opening of Chew Man Chu, an Asian dumplng/noodle house with open kitchen at the former Du Jour in the Symphony House at Broad and Pine Streets. Du Jour's Marty Grims brought in Tyson Wong Ophaso to work the wok, and former Striped Bass general manager David Madison, who also opened Spice Market for Jean-George Vongerichten in New York; Tom Colicchio's Craft Restaurants in Dallas and Los Angeles; and Jeffrey Chodorow's China Grill Management in New York. Entrees will top out at $19.

Two restaurant weeks you should know about: Through Sunday, there's Philly Neighborhood Food Week, aimed at the neighborhoods that fall outside the Center City District's; $20 and $30 prix-fixe deals are served in Manayunk, Northern Liberties, South Street, East Passyunk, Penn's Landing, and Chestnut Hill (www.phillyneighborhoodfoodweek.com). From Sunday through Oct. 23, members of the South Jersey Independent Restaurant Association (www.sjhotchefs.com) will do four-course meals for $25 or $35.

The Old City bar Sugar Mom's (225 Church St.) appears as No. 6 on a Comedy.com list headlined "20 Worst Bars in America." Of course, one could also read it as "20 Best Dive Bars in America." Blurb reads: "They have a foosball table, ping pong, pinball, old bumper cars etc. They sell booze, too! Sign us up!"