February 25, 2016
It can be hard to keep up with Philly's restaurant scene these days. Sometimes it feels like each week brings a new eatery and the requisite previews, menu releases and opening day parties. To catch you up on this week's news, we've rounded up some updates on highly anticipated openings, unfortunate closings and strange happenings below.
Forbes Travel Guide bestowed a big honor on Jose Garces this week. In their 2016 ratings, they gave Volvér, his restaurant inside the Kimmel Center, five stars. It was the only restaurant in the city to receive all five stars, and one of three in the state, the others being Lancaster's TÈ and Farmington's Lautrec. Forbes had plenty of nice things to say about the establishment, including "Volvér is an intimate dining experience with top-notch, highly personalized service." (See the full overview here.)
Garces' intense home kitchen was also featured this week on Eater Philly in collaboration with the new Curbed. His Logan Square home is basically picture perfect. See all the drool-worthy pics here.
An Italian eatery is getting ready to open in the space that formerly housed Tashan at 777 South Broad Street (at Catharine). Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, they'll serve traditional Tuscan cuisine in addition to hosting a small Italian marketplace. According to Philly.com, this spot, slated for a July opening, will be the first of many Tasty Tuscans in the U.S.
The Ardmore/Exton pizza joint Snap (from the brains behind Peace A Pizza) has expanded to Center City. Set up in the former 500° burger place at 1504 Sansom Street, Snap serves up customizable pies and salads in the Chipotle model of point-and-pick for toppings, sauce and cheese. On Wednesdays, they serve complimentary wine after 5 p.m.
Restaurateur Tony Schiro is opening a new BYOB at the corner of Third and Fairmount Avenue named after his son, Jaxon. Set to open March 9, the spot will serve casual dinner each night from a local, farm-to-table angle.
Van Nguyen, the owner of iPho in Atlantic City, has brought the concept to Philadelphia at 1921 Fairmount Avenue. iPho, serving Vietnamese goodies like pho plus noodles and bubble tea, does lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., plus takeout and delivery.
