{"id":216072,"date":"2025-09-10T17:42:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T17:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/216072\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T17:42:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T17:42:15","slug":"mawns-new-seafood-restaurant-sao-opens-with-cambodian-seafood-in-philly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/216072\/","title":{"rendered":"Mawn\u2019s New Seafood Restaurant Sao Opens With Cambodian Seafood in Philly"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Phila and Rachel Lorn first started talking about Mawn<\/a>, they originally wanted to do a seafood-centric restaurant. What the culinary couple ended up opening, of course, was one of the city\u2019s most exciting dining destinations, a Cambodian noodle house with \u201cno rules,\u201d as Phila is fond of saying. But the idea to eventually do a seafood spot never went away.<\/p>\n

Two years later, Mawn\u2019s anticipated new seafood sibling Sao has arrived on East Passyunk Avenue, and is sure to follow that same no-rules mantra.<\/p>\n

For the team\u2019s second venture, officially opening Wednesday, September 10, they\u2019ve partnered with Jesse Levinson, a former bartender and the husband of Rachel\u2019s childhood friend. The whole project, like Mawn, is deeply personal. Rachel\u2019s father was from Margate, New Jersey, and Levinson\u2019s ran a fish market in Connecticut, so their shared love of seafood runs deep. The name is a reference to how Phila\u2019s mother, a Cambodian immigrant, pronounces the word South \u2014 as in, \u201cSao Philly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

A fish dish from Sao. Neal Santos<\/p>\n

The timing, in many ways, couldn\u2019t be better. Since Phila was recognized by the James Beard Foundation as 2025\u2019s Emerging Chef<\/a> for his work at Bella Vista\u2019s Mawn, the whole team was even more excited to open Sao about a mile south (1710 E. Passyunk Avenue).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt inspired us to be more courageous,\u201d Phila said.<\/p>\n

\"Sao\u2019s<\/a><\/p>\n

Sao\u2019s James Beard Award-winning chef Phila Lorn. Neal Santos<\/p>\n

The menu will include a section of crudos that you can order by weight, with a talented fish chef slicing to order in the middle of the kitchen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a reference to Jewish delis,\u201d says Rachel, of the option to order crudo by weight. It\u2019s also an invitation to indulge.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething happened after the pandemic where people want to live luxuriously because life is fucking short, dude,\u201d he Phila. Sao also plans to offer a unique caviar program, but Phila declined to give additional details. \u201cLet\u2019s just say it\u2019s buttery,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

In addition to raw dishes, there will be plenty of cooked dishes. Look for whole fish, broiled oysters, and one noodle dish \u2014 only one, they made sure to specify. Much like the kitchen at Mawn, which is split between the noodle station in the main dining room and the rest of the kitchen in the back, there are two kitchen areas at Sao. Up front will be the raw bar, while hot food will come out of the kitchen.<\/p>\n

\"Hot<\/a><\/p>\n

Hot dishes at Sao. Neal Santos<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

A neon-lit wall at Sao. Neal Santos<\/p>\n

The team reimagined the space that formerly housed Ocho Rios Parilla by extending and refinishing the bar and updating many of the design elements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vibe is supposed to be Palizzi meets Oyster House meets gangster old South Philly, New South Philly,\u201d Phila said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to tie all that in so we\u2019ll use music.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a South Philly row house vibe to the restaurant, accentuated with additions like a railing reminiscent of local stoops and a bathroom door pulled from an old vestibule. Phila wanted to include a fish tank behind the bar (\u201clike you see in old houses, you know?\u201d), but Rachel and Levinson convinced him not to. Instead, they\u2019ll project video of fish swimming on the back wall.<\/p>\n

Sao is a little bigger than Mawn, with a total of 32 seats, including bar seats where you\u2019ll be able to watch the shuckers and raw bar team do their thing. Eventually they may add a few outdoor tables.<\/p>\n

The other big change from BYOB-only Mawn will be Sao\u2019s bonafide bar program, led by Levinson. They\u2019ll do classic cocktails (\u201cI hate made-up shit,\u201d Phila said), some beer, and some wine. It\u2019s an opportunity to fill out the offerings they can\u2019t do at Mawn, for which they still have zero ambition of acquiring a liquor license.<\/p>\n

Rachel said they\u2019ll hold a few bar seats and one table for walk-ins, but if Mawn\u2019s popularity is any indication, it\u2019s sure to be a hot reservation. The restaurant will be open from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., with lunch service to come later. Reservations are available on OpenTable<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to create the same kind of experience that we\u2019re creating at Mawn,\u201d Rachel added. \u201cThat means having the staff be pooled, everyone working together. You\u2019ll have everyone taking care of you here, just like at Mawn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Preview<\/a><\/p>\n

Preview service in Sao\u2019s dining room. Neal Santos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Phila and Rachel Lorn first started talking about Mawn, they originally wanted to do a seafood-centric restaurant.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":216073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,1448,2830,1311,118053,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-216072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-pa","10":"tag-pennsylvania","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philly-restaurant-openings","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115181240401007656","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}