Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
Let’s dig into the new Gather Food Hall. Also in this edition: — Mike Klein If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here. “Nearly everybody reads the Bulletin” went the slogan of the Bulletin, Philadelphia’s late afternoon newspaper, which closed in 1982. Now its old office building across from 30th Street Station is home to Gather Food Hall. Instead of dishing news, it’s about to serve food from an intriguing collection of businesses. I’m there for the lemongrass cheesesteaks and papa a la Huancaina. Columnist Stephanie Farr’s last first date — she married him — was a decade ago at Pica’s, the Italian landmark in Upper Darby. She and her husband took in the final night of service, as the restaurant is now open only for takeout pending a move to Broomall. Such pizza! Such memories! Kiki Aranita shares word of a new generation of Indonesian cafés reshaping Philly’s coffee culture with bold design, playful flavors, and global flair. This is a photo of the pub burger from Two Robbers Lodge. A Reddit user recently posted a flier featuring a photo of some sad sack burger, claiming it was a Two Robbers burger, and the online world went bananas. Beatrice Forman investigated and thinks the flier may be “nothing but a ketchup-covered smear campaign.” You cannot go wrong with the eggplant parm at Villa Di Roma. It was just one of the tasty bites we tried last week. Scoops This isn’t a scoop, since it was blasted out yesterday in a press release, but former Sixers star and current TNT/CBS NBA analyst Charles Barkley has a deal with Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia to open a steakhouse and cigar lounge in a new space in the casino tower. No timeline or name have been announced, but I can safely say owner Boyd Gaming will not call it either “Barkley Prime” or “The Ground Round Mound of Rebound.” South Jersey will get its first Paris Baguette bakery cafe on Nov. 20 at Moorestown’s East Gate Shopping Center (105 Mall Link Rd.). Soft opening — the best kind of opening for a bakery — is expected earlier that week, reports Marilyn Johnson of South Jersey Food Scene. Restaurant report Fleur’s. Chef George Sabatino, whom we’ve been following for two decades now, is cooking French-ish nowadays as a partner at the romantic, low-lit Fleur’s, which opened last month in a former furniture store under the El in Kensington. While Sabatino is holed up in the kitchen, turning out uni custard tartlets with caviar, sea scallop gratin, and white-chocolate croissants stuffed with foie mousse and topped with sour cherries (!), there’s a dedicated chef team out front on the raw bar, executive sous chef Ryan Connelly and line cook Emma Lombardozzi. Shown above is one entree: Sabatino’s take on steak frites, which he does au poivre with a zingy Thai chile sauce vierge. (The frites are beef-tallow fries, with a ramekin of house-made lemon horseradish mayo.) Also worth noting: The wine list leans Loire/Burgundy/Rhône, the house martini is blanche armagnac and pineau, and dinner is served nightly, a plus when you’re looking for a night out on a Monday or Tuesday. Fleur’s, 2205 N. Front St., Philadelphia. Hours: 5-10 p.m. daily. Briefly noted Iron Hill Brewery customers who are left holding gift cards can now redeem them at Bomba ¡Tacos + Tequila locations in Newtown and Malvern. They’ll be accepted for a one-time 25% discount on purchases of up to $1,000. Customers will get the cards back so they can redeem them if Iron Hill announces some type of refund/settlement. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office last week told me that it had received 225 consumer complaints regarding the chain’s closure, mostly about gift cards. Hop on over to Wayne, where Jade Rabbit is the new speakeasy-style bar beneath Maison Lotus restaurant. They’re offering a drink styled after pho that you need to see to believe. Recipe Philly will be a Center City restaurant whose menu will consist of dishes whose recipes will be submitted by home cooks. There’s a reality series, too. Jersey Kebab, the South Jersey restaurant that made headlines earlier this year after its owners were arrested, and eventually released, by ICE, is moving. Restaurant owners and customers can support Chomp for CHOP, an antihunger fundraising campaign by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s food pharmacy. It runs Nov. 10-16. This dessert pizza, above, by Davide Lubrano Lavadera from Philadelphia’s Pizzata Pizzeria & Birreria and Pizzata Pizzeria won second place at the Great American Pizza Challenge earlier this week in Columbus, Ohio. The star-shaped crust was stuffed with raspberries and pastry cream, and the center has pastry cream, organic raspberries, blueberries, Sicilian crushed pistachios, toasted coconut flakes, mixed berry coulis, sea salt flakes, mint, Sicilian lemon-infused oil spray, and powdered sugar. Lubrano also finished in the top 10 with a Roman-style pepperoni slice. He’s planning to make the dessert pizza for sale in coming weeks, just as you’re coming off the Halloween sugar rush. ❓Pop quiz Local distiller Stateside, maker of Surfside hard iced teas and lemonades, is suing Anheuser-Busch over which competing product? A) Skimmers B) Slimmers C) Spinners D) Boone’s Farm Check out the packaging, and find out if you know the answer. Ask Mike anything A liquor-license sign recently appeared at a former check-cashing place at Broad and Alter Streets. Neighbors are pretty excited, but we’re interested in what it might be. — Mike M. That’s for a planned comedy club called Claude’s. Reid Benditt, a veteran on the local entertainment scene and publisher of the humor zine Philly Jabroni, says he is trying to work through zoning issues for an early 2026 opening. 📮 Have a question about food in Philly? Email your questions to me at mklein@inquirer.com for a chance to be featured in my newsletter.
