While you were out enjoying your summer and such, dozens of restaurants were opening. Let me catch you up.

Also in this edition:

  1. Mawn jawn: It’s a big, big week for chef Phila Lorn and his wife/partner Rachel, as national accolades pour in.

  2. Sao power: Mawn also has a new sequel, Sao.

  3. Tomato pie: We’ll have you know that our writer is now a connoisseur.

  4. Girl Scout cookies: There’s a new flavor.

— Mike Klein

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Big and fancy (like Triple Crown, shown above, and Stephen Starr’s Borromini) and small and cozy (like Kinto and La Jefa Milpa): Here are 25 restaurants that opened during July and August. Read on for the rundown.

Just a few months ago, chef Phila Lorn was honored as this year’s Emerging Chef by the James Beard Foundation for his debut restaurant, Mawn.

Oh, he has emerged, all right.

  1. Yesterday, he was named one of Food & Wine’s best new chefs.

  2. Also yesterday, the New York Times named Mawn (along with Meetinghouse in Kensington) one of the 50 best restaurants in the U.S.

  3. Tonight, Lorn, his wife, Rachel, and friend Jesse Levinson open Mawn’s sequel, a similarly tiny but mighty ambitious spot called Sao. I’ll tell you about the couple and the restaurant, and tell you how to snag some of Philly’s most sought-after reservations.

Craig LaBan knows why people will wait more than an hour for the heat-blistered crusts and artfully light touch of the pizzas at Olde Kensington pizzeria Char.

Kiki Aranita didn’t grow up around here, but after eating 24 different tomato pies, she is officially a convert.

🍅 Our guide to the Philly area’s best tomato pies.

You’ve had the Schwarburger and Kyle’s Cutlet at the Phillies game. Now that the Phils have signed Harrison Bader, you can also have Bader Tots.

Scoops

Jax Cafe at the J Spot. Physician’s assistant Jacqueline Clarizio is behind the J Spot, which will have a med spa in the back and a healthful-food cafe out front. It’s set to open Oct. 7 at 22nd and Lombard Streets. Inspired by such lifestyle concepts as Heimat in Los Angeles and Remedy Place in New York, Clarizio says Jax Cafe will be open to the public with food by Aneu Kitchen (chicken Caesar wraps, sandwiches, toasts, pastries, and cold-pressed juices); coffee from Herman’s; pastries from Metropolitan Bakery; and tomato pie from Gaeta’s. A loyalty app will connect the cafe and med spa, allowing customers to earn points at one and redeem them at the other. Back of the house will feature a cold plunge and full sauna. “People always said to me, ‘Oh, you can’t do that in Philly,’ and I said, ‘Watch me,’” Clarizio said. “I think we could be a much healthier city, and I wanted to make it a place where people could come and get a light bite or grab-and-go food.” She is a former dancer and biochemistry major who studied at Thomas Jefferson University. Jax will also spotlight student art from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts through revolving exhibitions.

Shibam Philly. University City/Powelton Village will get a second Yemeni coffee house this fall as two tech entrepreneurs are bringing a branch of Dearborn, Michigan’s Shibam Coffee to a new apartment building at 3748 Lancaster Ave., perhaps by Thanksgiving. Drexel graduate Fahad Azam builds software products and is partnered with Khurram Ghayas, an application support engineer who also has a background in construction and property management. In addition to the Yemeni coffees, they’ll serve sandwiches. The region’s first Yemeni coffee franchise, Haraz, opened last spring at 3421 Chestnut St. A second Haraz is preparing for a soft opening during the week of Sept. 22 at 23 W. Girard Ave. in Fishtown.

Restaurant report

The influx of out-of-towners continues:

  1. Uchi, the Philadelphia-bound Japanese restaurant from Texas-based, James Beard-winning chef Tyson Cole, will be previewed in two dinners next month — first at Vernick Fish and second at River Twice — while its construction continues at 1620 Sansom St. Read on for details.

  2. Kitchen & Kocktails owner Kevin Kelley says he’s hoping for a mid-October opening for the Philadelphia location of his vibe-y, Dallas-based Southern-comfort restaurant. This could be a record turnaround for a major restaurant flip: He got the keys to the former Del Frisco’s Grill at 225 S. Broad on Aug. 1. Kelley says Kitchen & Kocktails will seat more than 300 people over 7,200 square feet on the ground floor of the Cambria Hotel, making it among the largest Black-owned restaurants in the city.

Briefly noted

Chef Robert Irvine will sign purchased bottles of Irvine’s Gin and Irvine’s Vodka, as well as Irvine’s Espresso Martini cans, beginning at 4 p.m. Friday at the Fine Wine & Good Spirits store at 3151 Market St. (enter on JFK Boulevard) in University City. The booze is a joint venture with Lansdale’s Boardroom Spirits. The gin is $23.89, the vodka is $17.99, and the martini cans are $3.99 but must be purchased with the gin or vodka to be signed.

World Arepa Day is Saturday, and Puyero Venezuelan Flavor owners Gilberto Arends and Manuela Villasmil will host chefs Amaryllis Rivera-Nassar (Amy’s Pastelillos), Jennifer Zavala (Juana Tamale), and Yun Fuentes (Bolo) to create four arepas from noon to 9 p.m. Profits from each arepa ($16) will go the Nationalities Service Center. Puyero is at 524 S. Fourth St. in Queen Village. Details are here.

Radin’s Deli owner Russ Cowan will give away catering-size black-and-white cookies to his dine-in and takeout customers, while supplies last, starting at 9 a.m. Sunday to mark his family’s 125th anniversary in the deli business. (The Radin brothers started in Manhattan.) Cowan opened Radin’s in Short Hills Shopping Center in Cherry Hill last year. Sept. 14 also happens to be National Black & White Cookie Day.

The Girl Scouts have unveiled a new cookie for 2026: Exploremores, which will have chocolate and marshmallow flavors with a toasted almond cream center. I’ll be out on some cold corner with my daughter starting in January, when cookie season begins.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Food Pharmacy, whose mission is fighting food insecurity, has launched CHOMP for CHOP as a fundraiser with a $50,000 goal. Participating restaurants and food businesses will donate proceeds from Nov. 10-16 — be it from a specific item, a special menu, or a flat donation. So far, Zahav, Scampi, Amá, Federal Donuts, Riverwards Produce, Santucci’s Original Square Pizza, El Chingon, Forsythia, Little Water, and Huda have signed on. Details are here.

❓Pop quiz

A shortage of what key ingredient is vexing the owners of local beverage shops?

A) matcha

B) boba

C) cocoa

D) taro

Find out if you know the answer.

Ask Mike anything

Will there be a Center City restaurant week this fall? — Herb B.

Thanks to your question, I messaged the Center City District, which confirmed that it would be skipping this year’s usual September Center City District Restaurant Week. The next outing will be in January. There’s all kinds of thinking about the concept of restaurant weeks. Read my article, and email me your thoughts.

📮 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.

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