Table Talk: Now, pizza with your gelato

While building Capogiro into a nationally touted gelato brand, Stephanie Reitano baked pizzas at home. Just as she was emboldened by her desserts, she and her husband, John, decided to go pro and open a pizzeria.

Within a week, the public can taste the wares of Capofitto, a gelateria, cafe, and bar in the front, with a pizzeria and dining room in the back, at 233 Chestnut St. in Old City. The former paper company has been decorated with 19th-century features found in the building.

Centerpiece of Capofitto, which means "headstrong," is a hand-built, wood-burning oven that turns out pies in less than a minute. Menu also includes salads, fried dishes, and appetizers.

Wines are predominantly southern Italian (mostly organics). Italian beers are on tap.

Desserts include Capogiro gelato, roasted fruit with gelato, tiramisu, cheesecake, and affogato made with gelato and La Colombe coffee.

It will be open daily for lunch and dinner.

Entrepreneur Daniel Kemelman has brought the better-burger chain Bareburger to 1109 Walnut St. (215-627-2273), replacing a Five Guys.

Bareburger, a full-service restaurant with a six-seat bar (liquor license is in the works), takes organics and recycling to the nth degree. The meat is free-range, pasture-raised, humanely raised, antibiotic-free, hormone-free - be it beef, turkey, elk, wild boar, bison, or goat. The menu caters to omnivores, vegans, and those shunning gluten. All decor is recycled.

Kemelman, 23, a New Yorker, came to Bareburger first as a customer before he deployed in Kuwait with the Army National Guard's Fighting Sixty-Ninth.

It's open for lunch and dinner.

Toward the end of the four-decade run of Portofino at 1227 Walnut St., Ralph Berarducci renovated top to bottom and turned it into Walnut Street Supper Club, offering live music from singing waiters along with Italian food in a supper-club atmosphere.

Last month, Berarducci sold to Chinatown restaurateur Kim Hyunh, who has changed the name to Cibo Ristorante Italiano. No relationship to the wine bars at Philadelphia International Airport or to any other Cibo. The concept is the same, except new chef Antonio Cardillo's menu is billed as northern Italian, and it's now open for lunch Monday to Saturday in addition to dinner nightly.

Hamed Hahsy, who owns Sansom Kabob House downstairs at 1526 Sansom St., is moving after 13 years. Last day will be Sept. 30. The new, larger location, to open in October, will be 1300 South St. He will keep the Sansom name. The spot is across from the future Big Gay Ice Cream shop and Kevin Sbraga's new Juniper Commons.

Lorenzo & Sons, the South Street pizzeria famed for its 28-inch pies, plans to open a location in late November at High and Gay Streets in West Chester.

Though the current Center City District Restaurant Week ends Sept. 19, be advised that CCD has announced dates for the next one: Jan. 18-23 and Jan. 25-30.