Philadelphia local news, sports, jobs, cars, homes

Author: Beatrice Forman

  • Stephen Starr settles with the National Labor Relations Board over union busting allegations at D.C. steakhouse

    Stephen Starr settles with the National Labor Relations Board over union busting allegations at D.C. steakhouse

    Philadelphia-based restaurateur Stephen Starr and his company, Starr Restaurants, settled with the National Labor Relations Board in May over union-busting allegations at his D.C. steakhouse St. Anselm, according to a copy of the settlement agreement obtained by the Inquirer.

    The move is the latest in a lengthy dispute between Starr Restaurants and D.C. union Unite Here Local 25 at St. Anselm, where staffers voted 51 to 42 in favor of unionizing in February 2025. Now more than 16 months later, Starr restaurants has yet to recognize the union, with more pending litigation leaving St. Anselm workers in limbo.

    Reached on May 25, the settlement resolves a set of unfair labor practice (ULP) allegations that Local 25 filed with the NLRB on behalf of St. Anselm employees in June 2025. They alleged that Starr and a St. Anselm supervisor made promises of improved benefits for workers who voted against the union and directly coerced employees with false information. In one instance, they alleged, Starr interrogated a host about her involvement with Local 25 during a one-on-one conversation.

    Stephen Starr to face union-busting charges brought by the National Labor Relations Board

    Starr “made a lot of promises about sick pay, about vacation pay,” Ana Reyes, a St. Anselm line cook, previously told the Inquirer, recalling a meeting the restaurateur had with staff during the union drive.

    After an investigation, the NLRB’s general counsel found merit in the accusations that Starr Restaurants had violated the National Labor Relations Act, and it pursued charges against the company.

    The settlement is not an admittance of wrongdoing and is similar to the standard penalty Starr Restaurants could have received had the case played out fully, according to James M. Cooney, a Rutgers University labor and employment law professor.

    St. Anselm, Stephen Starr’s D.C. steakhouse.

    The agreement requires Starr Restaurants to post a notice in St. Anselm for 60 days stating that the company will not:

    • “Threaten you that it would be futile” to unionize,
    • Solicit complaints and “imply that we will fix them” in order to discourage union support,
    • Give new or better wages and benefits to discourage unionizing,
    • Or “promise to pay you for previously unpaid leave” to dissuade workers from supporting a union.

    The settlement “allows us to move on and get back to the business of delivering amazing hospitality to our guests,” a spokesperson for St. Anselm said in a statement. “We have vigorously denied, and continue to deny, all allegations listed in the original complaint, and are fully complying with the terms of the settlement while making no admission of violation.”

    The agreement is separate from a second case that Starr Restaurants filed with the NLRB last February objecting to the results of St. Anselm’s union election. It alleges Local 25 organizers bullied and intimidated employees into backing the union.

    A delegation of workers pose in front Stephen Starr’s D.C. steakhouse St. Anselm before delivering their union petition in Feb. 2025.

    That case remains open, and a hearing was held in mid-June where the NLRB heard testimony from witnesses on both sides. Unite Here Local 25, which represents more than 7,500 hospitality workers, is optimistic that settlement will open up a path to union recognition.

    “We feel vindicated,” said Paul Schwalb, Local 25’s executive secretary-treasurer. “It’s the same board that’s going to oversee [the unionization case], and we are quite confident — because we did actually follow labor law — that at the end of the day this unit will be certified, and all the objections that Stephen Starr and his many lawyers have filed will be thrown out because they are not true.”

    Legalese that ‘meant nothing’

    The battle between Starr Restaurants and Local 25 began last January, when the union began to organize at three of Starr’s seven D.C restaurants: Pastis, a French bistro; the Parc-inspired Le Diplomate; and St. Anselm, an upscale steakhouse.

    The efforts — which coincided with union drives at two other high-profile D.C restaurants — stood to add 500 members to Local 25. St. Anselm was the only one that voted to unionize. (Local 25 lost the union election at Pastis, and Le Diplomate’s has been suspended indefinitely.)

    A picket line outside of Stephen Starr’s D.C. restaurant Le Diplomate, led by Unite Here Local 25 after Starr Restaurants challenged a unionization vote at St. Anselm.

    Almost immediately, relations soured between Starr Restaurants and Local 25. The restaurant group hired anti-union consultants to meet with St. Anselm staff, Washingtonian magazine reported, while other employees told food publication Eater that Local 25 organizers were ambushing them at their homes to sign cards indicating they wanted a union vote.

    Local 25 also called for an ongoing boycott of Starr’s D.C. restaurants — including those where no union efforts were taking place. Top Democrats such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes, and Sen. Chuck Schumer signed on.

    From 2025: Why top Democrats are boycotting Stephen Starr’s D.C. restaurants

    Legally, the settlement doesn’t state that Starr Restaurants broke any laws or affirm any of the union’s allegations. In practice, however, Cooney said that workers and employees might have a different interpretation.

    Posting a notice “doesn’t sound very intimidating on its face, but employers will sometimes fight tooth and nail over the wording” or try to hide them, said Cooney. “Looking at it from the viewpoint of the common worker, if they see that notice … I think they would see it as an indication that a company violated the law.”

    Starr Restaurants posted the notice required by the settlement inside St. Anselm on June 16 and also emailed a copy to staff.

    Greg Varney (left) and Ana Reyes, both with Unite Here Local 25, outside Starr headquarters at 134 Market St. in July 2025.

    When St. Anselm server Abigail Dunki-Jacobs received the email, it felt like “a bunch of legalese … that meant nothing,” she told The Inquirer. Dunki-Jacobs, who voted against the union, said she hasn’t heard much chatter among her colleagues after it was posted.

    “It just feels like a list of facts to me,” she said. “Nobody even really gives a shit about it.”

    Delays upon delays

    Local 25 organizers and employees who voted for the union also find the settlement meaningless.

    Starr Restaurants “didn’t have to admit to doing anything wrong with the statement they made,” said Ellery Grimm, a member of support staff at St. Anselm who helped organize the union drive. “We’ll be vindicated when we have our contract.”

    This Philly spot has the best free restaurant bread in America, according to the Atlantic

    St. Anselm’s union election case has sat unresolved with the NLRB for nearly a year and half, which Cooney said was abnormal. The agency tends to prioritize certifying election results over unfair labor practice allegations.

    The NLRB has been beleaguered by delays for more than year, first from the firing of a board member that left the agency unable to issue rulings, and then from a government shutdown that furloughed employees.

    Now, the NLRB faces a staffing and budget shortfall that has made it difficult to catch up on its backlog. In May, the agency transferred roughly 3,500 unassigned cases from regional offices — including Region 5, where St. Anselm’s case is located.

    The delays have caused at least one St. Anselm employee to quit. Bridget Killburn, a baker at the steakhouse, left in April after more than three years at the restaurant. She now works at a bakery in Maryland that she said offered higher pay and more time off — two things she hoped the union would’ve won by now.

    A chef in the kitchen at Le Diplomate, one of Stephen Starr’s three D.C. restaurants that Unite Here Local 25 attempted to unionize.

    “I’m someone who wants a very stable job with good pay, good benefits. At this rate, it felt like I was never going to get those things so I needed to try and find a workplace who would allow me to have them,” Killburn said.

    Schwalb acknowledged that Local 25 hasn’t done any public campaigning at St. Anselm in months, and has abandoned the union drives at Starr’s other restaurants until all litigation is resolved.

    “Rome and the restaurant union — neither one will be built in a day,” he said.

  • The water ice martini is the quintessential Philly summer cocktail

    The water ice martini is the quintessential Philly summer cocktail

    If you were to distill the energy of a South Philly summer into a cocktail, it might look like water ice shaken with vodka in a martini glass, garnished with a pretzel stick. It would taste like the syrupy-sweet melted ice left in the cup and be crushable enough to knock back on a hot afternoon.

    That’s the water ice martini, a cocktail invented in the early 2000s at one of the neighborhood’s most famous red sauce joints. The drink was a hidden gem for decades, but has found new life this summer as copycats and riffs emerge at bars around Philly and down the Shore that are looking to stand out in a sea of Hugo spritzes, espresso ‘tinis, and soft serve margaritas.

    “Anyone that’s grown up in South Philadelphia grew up on water ice with pretzel sticks and pumpkin seeds. Its been a thing in my family for three generations,” said Vera Masi, the sales manager at Popi’s Restaurant in Packer Park, where the cocktail recently went viral. “Pairing that with a martini is a guaranteed hit.”

    The first water ice martini on record was poured in 2002 at Saloon by Anthony Cardullo, the third-generation John’s Water Ice owner who was then just a bartender. Called the Iceberg, the drink involves adding a scoop of John’s lemon water ice to a shaker with limoncello and Ketel One Citreon vodka. It then gets poured over a second scoop of lemon water ice in a glass.

    Gigi Bello, bar manager at Saloon, makes an Iceberg martini using lemon water from John’s. The cocktail has remained a bestseller since they started serving it in 2002.

    It’s the restaurant’s most enduring cocktail hit, according to manager Frankie Santore. Saloon sells at least 150 Icebergs per week in the summer, he said, making it their bestseller. To keep up, Cardullo has to drop off gallons of fresh made water ice each week.

    Other versions have cycled through Saloon — a pineapple ice painkiller and a melon ice midori sour, to name a few — but the Iceberg is the only one that has lasted, most recently inspiring a dupe that uses Cardullo’s recipe at the Ventnor Social in New Jersey. The restaurant has “never for a second” thought to use anything other than John’s water ice for its cocktails.

    “It’s all fresh fruit,” Santore said. “Anthony’s squeezing the lemons himself.”

    Gigi Bello, bar manager at Saloon, pours an Iceberg martini.

    Popi’s started serving their own versions of the water ice martini last summer after getting the idea from Rowhome Magazine editors Dorette Jackson and Dawn Rhodes. The 33-year-old Italian restaurant sources its water ice from Pop’s for two reasons, owner Gina Rucci said: It’s down the street, and “our names went together.”

    Popi’s has its own version of a lemon ice martini (aptly called the Limoncellotini), but its other offerings pull from the colors of the rainbow, like a neon orange mango water ice martini called the Gritty and a vibrant red strawberry water ice daiquiri. The restaurant used to sell about 20 a day last summer, said bar manager Laura Kreschollek. Now, they’re averaging 50.

    “People were coming in just for these,” said Masi. “We kept running out of water ice and were sneaking out to Pop’s in the middle of the day.”

    A strawberry daiquiri made with Pop’s Homemade Italian Ice at Popi’s Restaurant, 3120 S. 20th St.

    Naturally, the evolution would continue with spiked gelati. Philly could get its first in the early fall, when James Beard Award-winning South Jersey bartender Danny Childs aims to open his bar Field Day in Northern Liberties.

    Childs told The Inquirer he plans to serve the treat year round using his signature Slow Drinks approach. While the vanilla soft serve will come from 1-900-ICE-CREAM, Childs said, the boozy water ice will be made from scratch with local and foraged produce that change with the season. He’s envisioning a lineup of cherry, blueberry, and pawpaw (a fruit native to the Mid-Atlantic that tastes like a mango) to start.

    The cocktail-dessert hybrid was driven by a mix of nostalgia and peer pressure. Childs wanted a nod to his childhood in Delaware County, where he grew up using a soft pretzel as a spoon to scoop up water ice. He also wanted to one-up the alcohol-infused ice creams already on the market.

    “I was like, ‘Someone is going to do spiked gelati before us,’” Childs said. ”We have to hurry.”

    The Iceberg martini from Saloon, which was created by current John’s Water Ice owner Anthony Cardullo.

    Here are four places where you can find boozy water ice in all its forms, from vodka-infused scoops to martinis.

    Where to find boozy water ice in Philly

    Saloon

    This classic Italian joint in Bella Vista has been serving its signature $18 Iceberg martini since 2002, when current John’s Water Ice owner Anthony Cardullo invented it while working at the restaurant’s bar. It does indeed look like icebergs disintegrating into the Arctic as it melts, but the drink goes down easy — sweet, icy, and citrusy without tasting artificial. Also be on the lookout for Cardullo’s nightly water ice cocktail specials.

    📍750 S. Seventh St. 📞 215-627-1811, 🌐 saloonrestaurant.net

    A lineup of water ice martinis made with Pop’s homemade Italian ice at Popi’s Restaurant. Clockwise from left: The Pineapple Pizzaz, Limoncellotini, piña colada, strawberry daiquiri, and the Gritty.

    Popi’s Restaurant

    At Popi’s, the pours are heavy and the water ice is extra sweet. This 33-year-old Italian restaurant near the sports complex in Packer Park gained a new reputation in 2025 when it started serving brightly colored cocktails sweetened with Pop’s homemade Italian ice. Normally $16 and $20 during the World Cup, the cocktails run the gamut from the Gritty (a vodka martini with orange juice and mango water ice) and Pineapple Pizzaz (a pineapple vodka martini with pineapple water ice) to a strawberry daiquiri with a disk of — you guessed it — strawberry water ice floating in the middle. If you’re not susceptible to a sugar rush, it’s easy to have several in one sitting.

    📍3120 S. 20th St. 📞 215-755-7180 🌐 popisrestaurant.com

    Triangle Tavern

    Best known for its excellent vegan wings and cheesesteaks, Triangle Tavern also serves scratch-made boozy water ice year round. Flavors rotate seasonally and range from mango and pomegranate in the summer to pumpkin spice in the fall and crisp peppermint in the winter. Spun in a slushie machine with a handle of vodka, the $12 cocktails are served in a pint glass garnished with a hard pretzel rod for an extra dose of South Philly flair.

    📍1338 S. 10th St. 📞 215-800-1992 🌐 triangletavernphilly.com

    The Philly Phreeze sundae at Tipsy Scoop in Rittenhouse Square, which is comprised of vodka-infused cherry water ice topped with gummy candies.

    Tipsy Scoop

    This New York City-based ice cream chain has been infusing ice cream and sorbet with alcohol since 2013. After opening its first Philly outpost inside the Rittenhouse Square BOTLD location, the brand added a cherry water ice spiked with vodka to its menu. Our suggestion: Order the $14 sundae version — which comes topped with chewy cherry and pineapple gummies in a novelty cup — and consider springing for the chilled vodka shooter. It’s entirely too much in the best way possible, and the water ice is delightful despite being made by a New Yorker. Red enough to stain your tongue, it tastes like a handful of maraschino cherries.

    📍119 S. 18th St. 📞 917-388-2862 🌐tipsyscoop.com/pages/philadelphia

  • Why Fountain Porter raised the price of its iconic burger

    Why Fountain Porter raised the price of its iconic burger

    In 2026, you either die a bargain or stay around long enough to get hit by inflation. In other words, Fountain Porter’s iconic $6 burger is now $7, roughly the price of a fancy latte or a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with cheese after tax.

    The East Passyunk neighborhood bar made the nearly 17% price increase official last Wednesday, said owner Evan Clancy, after months of watching the prices of ingredients creep up.

    Five days later, a post appeared in the popular r/PhiladelphiaEats subreddit breaking the news like a bargain hunting, beer-loving version of Paul Revere. “Recession indicator: Fountain Porter has officially raised the price of their burger,” the post read. “End of era.”

    Commenters were aghast.

    “Noooooooo,” bemoaned one Redditor. “Bring back boiled peanuts!” shouted another. A third cried of shrinkflation, alleging that the patty had gotten smaller. But most agreed on one thing: the burger is still dirt cheap and delicious.

    “I still ate three total this past weekend,” wrote another Reddit user, undeterred by the change.

    Recession Indicator: Fountain Porter has officially raised the price of their burger
    by
    u/grumdruitar in
    PhiladelphiaEats

    This isn’t first time inflation has come for Fountain Porter: When Clancy opened the bar at 1601 S. 10th St. in 2012, its burgers were just $5. Somewhere along the way — Clancy couldn’t recall when — he raised the price to $6 in recognition of the labor his staff put in to running a pub that, in many ways, also doubles as a burger factory.

    Fountain Porter makes upwards of 800 burgers a week, Clancy said, with the three cooks alone dedicated just to grilling and flipping patties. It’s also the platonic ideal of the sandwich, comprised of a modest beef patty with a salty char topped with American cheese, crisp lettuce, and a tomato slice on a Martin’s potato bun with two pickle chips on the side.

    The burger and its price — along with the bar’s deep beer list, dirty martini, and solid Guinness pour — has cemented Fountain Porter’s status as a Philly icon, beloved equally by world class chefs and people who just really like eating and drinking.

    From 2025: The 18 most supremely satisfying burgers in Philly

    “Their burger is the perfect size — not too small, not too big — and their lettuce is always cold and crispy,” Rachel Lorn, the co-owner of acclaimed South Philly restaurants Mawn and Sao, previously told The Inquirer.

    The crowd is reflected in a mirror at Fountain Porter at 1601 S. 10th St. in 2021.

    The burger will remained unchanged despite the price increase, Clancy said. He also doesn’t think it will harm the bar’s reputation, and was shocked that people cared enough to post about it on social media.

    “If the burger is not good at $7, then it’s really not that good at all. And that’s not on me, that’s on whoever is heaping the praise,” said Clancy. “It’s never been about a budget burger. It’s about being fair and honest. That’s what a burger is supposed to be.”

    The change was borne out of necessity, Clancy explained, driven by the across-the-board inflation that has plagued grocery store items for the past several months, with explanations ranging from climate change and supply chain bottlenecks to war.

    Drinks on the bar at Fountain Porter at 1601 S. 10th St. in 2021.

    The price of the beef Fountain Porter uses in its burgers nearly doubled over the past two months, Clancy said, and he expects it to keep rising. The cost of tomatoes has also risen sharply and varies daily due to a mixture of tariffs and crop shortages, making it difficult for Clancy to budget. And, Clancy said, that despite Fountain Porter’s high volume of burgers, “we’re not making a lot of money off them.”

    Besides, Clancy wondered, why shouldn’t his burger be allowed to get more expensive if everything else is?

    “I know it’s a change, but we raised the price twice in 13 years, Clancy said. ”Tell me something else that hasn’t changed the price a lot in 13 years.”

  • The best things we ate this week

    The best things we ate this week

    Bourbon chicken at Ripplewood Whiskey & Craft

    Chef Kenjiro Omori chuckles when asked about his bourbon chicken, a dinner mainstay at Ripplewood Whiskey & Craft in Ardmore. While Omori says he loves the saucy chunks sold at better mall food courts, his bourbon chicken is nothing like that. This rich, homey entree feels ready-made for a cold night.

    He breaks down whole birds, deboning them while keeping the breast, thigh, and drum intact, then lightly cures and air-dries the meat for four days. In tribute to Ripplewood’s extensive whiskey collection, Omori sprays the chicken with bourbon before cooking to give it a lacquered finish. Essentially, this is Peking duck meets dry-aged chicken. Executive chef Biff Gottehrer designed the accompanying set, which changes seasonally. The winter mix includes lacinato kale, sweet potato, broccolini, and a sweet-tart mix of apricot and pomegranate, balancing comfort with cheffiness. Ripplewood Whiskey & Craft, 29 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, 610-486-7477, ripplewoodbar.com

    — Michael Klein

    Oyster House’s seasonal snapping turtle soup, a riff on a historical Philadelphia delicacy that once involved cooking whole turtles.

    Snapper soup at Oyster House

    A friend visiting Philadelphia recently told me she’d never guess that Oyster House has been around for half a century — a feat of longevity celebrated this week by the James Beard Foundation, which named the Mink family’s restaurant an “America’s Classic.” And at first glance, I could understand. The raw bar is alive with diners of all ages, sipping some of the city’s best martinis alongside icy platters of expertly shucked oysters sourced from locales from Cape May to Pemaquid, Maine. There are standard dishes you might find at any tradition-minded fishhouse — a luxurious lobster roll, clam bakes, and creamy chowders. But there are also several modern moves from chef Joe Compoli that would be at home on a creative modern American menu: vibrant crudos, octopus ramen, black garlic-glazed halibut over black rice.

    If you look a little closer, however, you can see ties to local history that make Oyster House a Philadelphia classic, like the museum-worthy collection of antique oyster plates scattered like a gilt-edge porcelain constellation across the whitewashed walls. Key standbys on the menu itself function the same way. The fried oysters and chicken salad is one, a seemingly odd but absolutely delicious combo that dates to at least the 19th century, when the city was saturated with oyster houses.

    Fried oysters with chicken salad from Oyster House.

    But the most iconic (and endangered) of Oyster House’s historical specialties is the snapper turtle soup. This dish has roots in Philadelphia’s colonial past, when 70-pound live green sea turtles would step off ships carrying all manner of tropical produce, just arrived from the West Indies to the city’s docks. Much smaller snapping turtles from the South are the norm now, says third-generation Oyster House owner Sam Mink, but you can still taste the echoes of the Caribbean spice trade — a heady current of allspice and clove — swirling through the mahogany broth the restaurant steeps with whole turtles (shell and all) for nearly four hours.

    There are some other differences in Oyster House’s current snapper soup, which is a cold-weather staple here, and the style that was once standard across Philly in places like the (now long-gone) Bookbinder’s restaurants. Oyster House’s version is considerably thinner than the sludgy brown soup of yore. It’s still enriched with buttery brown roux, but missing the extra cornstarch that once thickened it until a spoon could stand up straight. I can taste all the slow-cooked flavors of this soup even more, as well as the velvety softness of the tender meat, thanks to a habitual splash of dry sack sherry, shaken from the tableside cruet. But traditionalists, no doubt, still complain.

    “Oh, there were certainly more people that grumbled at first in 2009,” when this modified recipe was first introduced, says Mink. “But if we’d kept things so traditional and didn’t move forward with our recipes, at least a little bit, I don’t think we’d be here today.” Oyster House, 1516 Sansom St., 215-567-7683, oysterhousephilly.com

    — Craig LaBan

    The cinnamon bun from Vibrant Coffee Roasters, which also sold at their sister shop Function Coffee Labs.

    Cinnamon bun from Vibrant Coffee Roasters

    Sometimes the only thing that can cure the snowstorm blues is a ginormous cinnamon bun slathered in cream cheese frosting.

    Vibrant Coffee Roasters’ are pretty hefty. They’re roughly 4 inches in diameter and heaped with so much frosting it drips down the side, just the way I like. The key to creating giant and soft buns, according to Vibrant co-owner Ross Nickerson, is to let them merge together on the tray while they bake. That way, you lock in the moisture and avoid a cardinal sin: a dry cinnamon bun that tastes stale once it cools.

    Vibrant uses a hybrid sourdough-brioche dough, and Nickerson said that the staff avoids doing anything too fancy with the filling or frosting. The result is a classic cinnamon bun that’s pillowy, not too sweet, and ultra-comforting. The buns are available at Vibrant’s locations in Rittenhouse and at Sixth and Lombard, plus their sister shop, Function Coffee Labs (1001 S. 10th St.). I’d trek through snow to any of them for chance to get a gooey bun fresh from the oven. Vibrant Coffee Roasters, 222 W. Rittenhouse Square First Floor, 267-534-3608, vibrantcoffeeroasters.com

    — Beatrice Forman

  • A tale of two festivals: Philly Bierfest wants NYC-rooted Philly Beer Fest to stop confusing customers

    A tale of two festivals: Philly Bierfest wants NYC-rooted Philly Beer Fest to stop confusing customers

    A battle of the beer festivals is brewing in Philadelphia, and it’s set to come to a head next weekend, when Philly Bierfest and Philly Beer Fest — two completely unrelated beer festivals with names that are homophones — take place on the afternoon of Saturday, Feb. 28.

    This isn’t a coincidence, according to some members of Pennsylvania’s beer scene who claim the New York City-based organizers of the two-year-old Philly Beer Fest are deliberately trying to capitalize on the good name of Bierfest, a long-standing event with deep local roots.

    “It’s a very pointed move,” said Meredith Megan Rebar, the founder of Home Brewed Events, which plans major food and drink festivals in the Philly region. “They’re just doing this intentionally to mess with the event that’s been around longer.”

    The 2024 Philly Bierfest, held at the German Society of Pennsylvania at 611 Spring Garden St. The event spans two buildings and includes a food hall, beer classes, and burlesque performances, among other things.

    Philly Bierfest was created in 2013 by Northern Liberties-based nonprofit the German Society of Pennsylvania and Marnie Old, a local wine author and longtime freelance columnist for The Inquirer. It began as a way to honor the state’s rich tradition of brewing German-style beers, such as pilsners, kölsches, and lagers. With a deep bench of Pennsylvania- and Germany-based brewers — there are 45 pouring at this year’s event — the festival sells out each year, and was named one of the best beer festivals in the U.S. by USA Today in 2023. The event’s proceeds have gone to the Philly Roller Derby and Brewers of PA since its inception.

    Philly Beer Fest, on the other hand, is hosted by by Craft Hospitality, a national events company headquartered in New York City that organizes beverage festivals across the U.S., including the Philadelphia Zoo’s Summer Ale Festival. Craft Hospitality launched Philly Beer Fest at the 23rd Street Armory in 2024. Just over 30 Philadelphia-area beverage makers are featured this year, and proceeds partially benefit the Trauma Survivors Foundation.

    In 2024 and 2025, Craft Hospitality scheduled Beer Fest on the weekends immediately before and after Bierfest, which has been held on the last Saturday of February for 13 years (save for a pandemic-induced disruption).

    A Manayunk brewery closes, and a downtown Philly brewer will replace it

    This year’s identical scheduling hasn’t necessarily hurt Bierfest, Old said, noting that tickets sold out this week. But it has caused some headaches. Bierfest’s barbecue vendor accidentally showed up to the wrong venue for a site visit, and Old has spent a great deal of time confirming with vendors that they’re signed up for the right event. In past years, Old has heard from some disappointed Beer Fest attendees who showed up to their event expecting it to be the German-themed Bierfest.

    The nonprofit-run festival tried to get ahead of any confusion this year. Prior to Bierfest selling out, it had a pop-up on its website that read: “Friends don’t let friends get the wrong tickets. Share this link to ensure pals get tickets to the original, authentic Philly Bierfest and not the other similarly named event.”

    Old isn’t sure if the warnings entirely worked.

    “We don’t hear from anyone who got tickets to the wrong festival until after our event,” she said. “I don’t know what their intention is because I’m not on their team, but misleading [the consumer] does seem to be the end effect.”

    Craft Hospitality denies scheduling Beer Fest for Feb. 28 as a way to undercut its preexisting competitor. In a statement, the company attributed the scheduling snafu to the event being held at a National Guard facility, which limits scheduling.

    “Event dates are determined based on venue availability and planning logistics, and are often set by contract approximately 12 months in advance,” the statement read. “Philadelphia has an incredibly active event calendar — this year especially with the World Cup … Overlap between events is not uncommon.”

    The owners of Surfside, Philly’s homegrown canned cocktail heavyweight, are suing Anheuser-Busch

    ‘It just feels predatory to me’

    This isn’t the first time Craft Hospitality’s Beer Fest has been accused of riding Bierfest’s coattails.

    After a Craft Hospitality employee emailed Ploughman Cider owner Ben Wenk in Nov. 2023 to gauge interest in vending at the first Philly Beer Fest — then scheduled for Feb. 17, 2024 — Wenk said his cidery would boycott all future Craft Hospitality events over what he felt was the company’s “intentional and malicious” attempt to deceive.

    Scheduling a beer festival with an identical-sounding name just a week before its established competitor, Wenk said, went too far.

    “Our people and our brand won’t be devoting any further resources towards an organization such as yours that is so brazenly and transparently willing to act in such a predatory way towards an established event like Philly Bierfest, who, by our estimation, have done nothing to deserve it,” Wenk emailed the Craft Hospitality employee in February 2024.

    Another Craft Hospitality employee replied to Wenk days later. “No one else has ever mentioned this other beer fest to me personally. Brands have just signed up fairly easily but I do see the conflict you’re pointing out. I will be looking into this,” they wrote.

    Reservation scalpers are headed for Philly. Can restaurants clap back?

    No one followed up with him, Wenk said, and Craft Hospitality didn’t respond to questions about this interaction.

    “Why is this New York events company coming down here to Philadelphia and thinking they can get one over on us?” Wenk said. “It just feels predatory to me.”

    Ploughman Ciders, of Adams County, Pa., is boycotting Philly Beer Fest and all other Craft Hospitality events.

    Bierfest co-creator Old had also directly flagged issues to Sam Gelin, Craft Hospitality’s founder. Shortly after both beer festivals wrapped in 2024, Old learned Craft Hospitality had scheduled its 2025 Beer Fest on the same day as Bierfest. When she asked Gelin if he would consider moving his event out of concern that it would confuse customers and vendors, Old recalled that Gelin said it would be “desirable” for the events to share the date. Still, Gelin obliged. Philly Beer Fest 2025 took place one week after Bierfest.

    “After that conversation and then for this year, I didn’t think I needed to follow up with them. I assumed that they would continue choosing a different date,” Old said.

    We tried a cocktail bar’s new Philly-themed menu, from the HitchBOT to the Crum Bum

    When she learned in September that this year’s Beer Fest was once again set for same exact date as Bierfest, Old figured it wasn’t worth reaching out to Gelin again.

    “If you’re renting your venue, it’s too late to change by that point. Six months is cutting it too close to make any changes,” she said. “And it was clear to me at that stage that [Craft Hospitality] saw having [its] event on the same date as ours as a benefit.”

    Craft Hospitality did not respond to questions about whether its founder had been contacted by Old. “Philly Beer Fest is not affiliated with Philly Bierfest,” they said in their statement. “They are separate events with different producers, different names, different socials, different formats, different pricing, different breweries, different cultural focuses, different venues, and overall different experiences.”

    Festivals with different aims

    The different vibes are part of the problem, according to Rebar, the festival organizer who specializes beer festivals.

    Bierfest typically draws “real beer enthusiasts,” who are there to drink but also to deepen their understanding of German brewing techniques and beer culture. The festival’s format includes beer seminars, a food hall showcasing traditional German eats by local makers, a German Masskrugstemmen (stein-holding) strength competition, and performances from Bavarian folk dancers.

    An attendee at the 2024 Philly Bierfest, which has been held on the last weekend of February since its inception in 2023.

    Beer Fest, said Rebar, is for people who want to party. The festival is a hodgepodge of beer, hard seltzer, and spiked tea purveyors compared to Bierfest’s lineup of respected German beermakers and Pennsylvania brewers making traditional German beer styles.

    “There’s no educational standards to it. It’s just a generic festival, and it’s not [organized] by anybody local,” said Rebar, who attended the first Beer Fest in 2024. “Philly Bierfest has been around for so long, has a really good representation, and has a very clear mission.”

    Craft Hospitality did not respond to questions about whether it would provide refunds to attendees who showed up thinking they were at Bierfest and are dissatisfied with their experience.

    And while Rebar concedes that it would’ve been difficult for Craft Hospitality to reschedule given the impact on vendors, she said the winter months are typically slow for beer-industry events.

    Philly bars open past 2 a.m.? A new push for late-night bars amid FIFA World Cup

    “There’s plenty of other weekends in January, February, [and] March when there’s not a lot going on,” Rebar said.

    Not everyone views the festivals as being in competition. Currently three local breweries are participating in both festivals: Norristown’s Von C Brewing, Broad Street Brewing in Bristol, and Triple Bottom Brewing in Spring Garden.

    Old said she didn’t force any vendors to choose between the two events. “I hate to put my vendors in an awkward situation … We do not have a problem with anyone being registered for both.”

    Triple Bottom Brewing is one three breweries participating in both Philly Bierfest and Philly Beer Fest on Feb, 28, 2026.

    Triple Bottom Brewing co-owner Tess Hart has found a silver lining to the fest-on-fest drama. The six-year-old brewery has repeatedly participated in both festivals. The dual events kick off Triple Bottom’s 16-week brewer apprenticeship program for individuals impacted by the justice system and housing insecurity, she said.

    This year’s 10-person cohort started last week, Hart said, and they’ll be staffing both festivals concurrently. The challenge, she thinks, will be rewarding.

    “We’ll be stretched a little thin on Saturday,” Hart said. “But this will be a good opportunity to get them out of the taproom and really well-practiced about talking about beer in a high-volume situation. For us, that’s a big benefit.”

  • Old City’s latest all-day cafe doses coffee, tea, and mocktails with kava and kratom

    Old City’s latest all-day cafe doses coffee, tea, and mocktails with kava and kratom

    A new all-day lounge in Old City is betting on kava and kratom — two controversial psychoactive plants — to pull crowds away from bars.

    Old City Kava Company opened in December at 40 S. Second St., across from a Fine Wine & Good Spirits and a honky-tonk bar. The lounge specializes in kava and kratom mocktails intended to boost mood and lower inhibitions, not unlike knocking back a couple of drinks. The establishment’s co-owners, Luca Kobza and Adam Lagner, believe the substances can open up a new social scene in Philly — namely, one that isn’t centered on alcohol.

    “We’ve had groups of people showing up who I otherwise believe would’ve been at bars … maybe having a cocktail and then regretting it the next day,” said Kobza. Customers have told them the space is a welcome change from bars and nightclubs, Kobza said.

    Old City Kava Company co-owners Luca Kobza (left) and Adam Lagner (right) met in college at the University of Miami and ran a kava bar in Naples, Fla. before moving to Philly.

    The 1,900-square-foot lounge is designed for lingering, with 60 seats between its bar, two-top tables, and plush jeweled-toned couches. The space has a small-yet-serviceable board game collection, plus a rotating display of contemporary art for sale from Kensington’s Vizion Gallery.

    Old City Kava opens at 10 a.m. daily, serving its kava and kratom-infused mocktails alongside drip coffee from ReAnimator, teas from Random Tea Room, and a selection of pastries from wholesaler Au Fornil. By day, it largely functions as a coworking space.

    The atmosphere shifts at night. Open till midnight on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends, the space feels cocktail bar-adjacent, with a menu of 16 kava and kratom-infused mocktails. They range from a kava-lemongrass-and-guava paloma to a kratom-kombucha-ginger beer mule and a matcha tonic shaken with kava and kratom. Lagner and Kobza have already hosted run clubs, singles events, and book clubs to highlight the spectrum of Philly’s sober-curious scene.

    The interior of Old City Kava Company at 40 S. 2nd Street.

    What are kava and kratom?

    Old City Kava sources kava — derived from the leaves of the piper methysticum, a large plant that grows in Hawaii and other South Pacific islands — from Fiji, Tonga, and Vanuatu and kratom from Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. They brew both as teas, adding roughly a tenth of an ounce to each mocktail.

    The lounge’s eight employees had to undergo 15 hours of in-house “kava-tending” training, which mostly involves learning how to educate first-timers. Lagner hated kava the first time he tried it.

    “It’s bitter, earthy. I was very off-put,” said Lagner. At the age of 30, he now prefers drinking it straight.

    Kava is traditionally brewed as a tea for religious ceremonies. Advocates say the substance can briefly reduce anxiety or stress.

    Kratom, on the other hand, comes from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree and acts like a caffeine-esque stimulant in small doses and a sedative in larger ones. Users treat it as a catchall to self-soothe pain, depression, and anxiety.

    Adam Lagner making Old City Kava Company’s Lemongrass Paloma, which swaps alcohol for kava.

    A visit to the lounge starts with a kava-tender offering samples of pure kratom or kava tea, the latter of which makes your lips tingle with a mild numbness. Despite having no real relationship with one another, kava and kratom often come as a package deal in kava bars across the U.S., which have exploded in popularity as an alternative to traditional bars during a time when fewer young people are choosing to drink.

    Both substances are contentious, having raised public concerns about addiction and other risks. Neither is currently regulated by the Food & Drug Administration, but the FDA announced plans last summer to schedule kratom as a controlled substance after an uptick in reports of synthetic kratom addiction. Sold in tiny bottles at gas stations and smoke shops, synthetic kratom isolates 7-OH, a compound that can cause intense opioid-like addiction and withdrawal symptoms. Kratom is currently banned in seven states. In December, two Pennsylvania state representatives introduced a bill that would prohibit the sale of the synthetic variety.

    ‘It latches on and doesn’t let go’: 7-OH kratom is fueling addictions across Philly

    These laws and the FDA’s plan include carve-outs for the botanic kratom from the leaf — which Old City Kava uses in its mocktails. The varieties are fundamentally different, Lagner said.

    “A lot of people conflate the two … when they hear ‘kratom,’ they think of the products you’re seeing in gas stations,” he explained. “We serve natural kratom leaf tea how it’s been consumed safely for centuries in Southeast Asia. They’re much less potent in their natural form.”

    That may be true, but experts still have concerns about botanic kratom. According to Dr. Adam Scioli, chief medical officer of Wernersville, Pa.’s Caron Treatment Centers, botanic kratom is five to 20 times less potent than its synthetic counterpart. But it still carries an addiction risk, Scioli said, and can cause other health issues, such as nausea, high blood pressure, a racing heartbeat, and averse drug interactions, particularly when consumed with sedatives.

    “What concerns me most clinically is that kratom is often perceived as ‘natural and therefore safe,’” said Scioli. “History has repeatedly shown us that natural substances can still carry significant addiction risk, especially once commercialized.”

    A bar, but not

    Lagner, a Blue Bell native and La Salle High School grad, met business partner Kobza, also 30, when they were both students at the University of Miami. The duo would study together at kava bars on South Beach, and after graduating in 2018, opened their own, called Nektar Lab, in Naples, Fla.

    Lagner and Kobza sold their stakes in Nektar in 2022. They moved to Philly shortly after, where they found a far less vibrant scene than what they were used to in Florida, the kava capital of the U.S. (Philly has only one other kava bar, Queen Village’s Lightbox Cafe.)

    Adam Lagner pours a shot of creamer for Old City Kava Company’s Old City Red Eye, a coffee drink that includes kava and kratom.
    Lightbox Cafe brings kava, a relaxing South Pacific drink, to Queen Village

    “Most kava bars around the country are very grungy and tiny,” said Lagner. “And there haven’t been enough concepts [in Philly] to show people that this can be a nice alternative to the social scene that revolves around alcohol and can also fill gaps in some of the daytime third-space sort of sphere.”

    Old City Kava’s bestseller is the Old City Red Eye: kava and kratom tea shaken together with ReAnimator cold brew, oat milk creamer, agave, and vanilla syrup. “You would think the kava and kratom cancel each other out because, at face value, it’s an upper and a downer in the same drink,” said Kobza. “But in reality they complement each other. The kava takes the edge off the coffee … the [kratom] just adds a mild euphoria.”

    Kobza said first-timers shouldn’t have kava or kratom on an empty stomach, or try too many cocktails at once. (That’s what this Inquirer reporter did, and she ended up with a splitting headache plus lingering nausea.)

    The exterior of Old City Kava Company at 40 S. 2nd Street.

    Carissa Kilbury, 24, goes to Old City Kava weekly. Sometimes, she spends full workdays at the lounge, sipping a few infused drinks while at her computer. A slow drinker, Kilbury said she doesn’t feel much other than mild relaxation.

    “When I’m stressed at work, I feel a little bit less stressed, which is nice,” she said. “It feels like a bar without really being a bar. I like that vibe.”

    Old City Kava Company, 40 S. Second St., 215-402-7047, oldcitykava.com. Hours: 10 a.m. – 12 a.m. Sunday through Thursday; 10 a.m. – 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

  • Northern Liberties now has TikTok-famous Dominican smashburgers topped with queso frito

    Northern Liberties now has TikTok-famous Dominican smashburgers topped with queso frito

    Philly’s burgeoning smashburger scene just got a little more crowded, thanks to a New York City-based Dominican restaurant with a huge social media following.

    El Sazón R.D. — home of lower Manhattan’s viral queso frito-topped smashburger — has opened a location in Northern Liberties at 1030 N. Second St. It replaced smoothie shop Essex Squeeze, another NYC import.

    Owned by cousins Edwin Collado and Ari Valerio and their friends Glenn Almanzar and Michael Tsang, El Sazón R.D. has created a takeout empire out of adding queso de freír — salty and melty white Dominican frying cheese — to a set of distinctly American comfort foods: smashburgers, crinkle-cut fries, and deli-style egg-and-cheese sandwiches.

    The first El Sazón R.D (which roughly translates to “the Dominican flavor”) opened in 2024 in New York’s Chinatown, where it built a following among the city’s content creators. Almost immediately, Almanzar said, videos of influencers taking exaggerated bites of towering double cheeseburgers racked up millions of views.

    @jnov__ El Sazón📍 83 Baxter St, New York, NY #smashburger #nyceats #dominican #nycfood #foodreview #dominicanfood #chinatown #manhattan #foodtok #cheapeats #foodreview ♬ original sound – Johnny Novo

    Within two years, El Sazón opened three more locations: one in Tribeca, a second location in Tribeca and another in the East Village, the latter of which is a full-service bodega that also serves cheesesteaks alongside platters of chicharrón and pernil with all the fixings. The shop’s Philly location, its first outside New York, soft-opened two days before February’s record-setting snowstorm and deep freeze. Neither, Almanzar said, slowed business.

    “We’ve been selling out of stuff. That’s how busy we’ve been,” he said.

    Valerio, who grew up in the Dominican Republic’s countryside, is the chef of group, whose menu is inspired by Valerio’s relationship with his 78-year-old uncle Bijo. When he was 13, Valerio said, his uncle allowed him to set up a grill in front of his corner store and sell sandwiches.

    “I was his first customer. I was the one who told him could make money doing this,” said Almanzar, who is from the Lower East Side and would visit the D.R. on family vacations.

    El Sazón R.D co-owners Ari Valerio (left) and Glenn Almanzar (right) pose inside the restaurant’s first Philly location. The other three are in New York City.

    To open El Sazón R.D, Valerio and Alamazar partnered with Collado and Tsang, who own SET, the thumping Asian-fusion bar known for bottomless margarita towers that started in NYC and expanded to Philly in 2020. As for uncle Bijo, everything on the menu had to get his stamp of approval.

    “He’s very old-fashioned,” said Valerio. “We’d do these early-morning tasting sessions and he’d get on me about making sure I was measuring all my ingredients exactly right.”

    Deep-fried cheese, please

    El Sazón’s Philly menu only has four distinct food items on it, but it pulses with tastes of the Dominican Republic.

    The restaurant’s smashburger starts with a Martin’s potato bun slathered with “chimi” sauce, a tangy mayo-ketchup mixture ubiquitous across Latin America. The condiment is a nod to the Chimi, a popular Dominican street food sandwich that involves spreading mayo-ketchup onto rolls of crisp pan de agua piled high with beef and a cabbage slaw.

    El Sazón R.D’s Dominican smashburger comes with American cheese, a slice of queso frito, pickles, and “chimi” sauce, also known as mayo-ketchup.

    “People always ask us why our mayo-ketchup tastes different than when they make at home,” bragged Almanzar. “There’s nothing special about it, but at the same time, you can’t recreate it by squirting mayo and ketchup packets together. It’s about balance.”

    Valerio smashes a Pat La Frieda beef patty onto a flat-top grill with a meat press, spreading out the edges so they become lacy with a slight crunch. The key to perfecting the queso frito, he said, is to deep-fry the slices for exactly 45 seconds at 350°F. A moment longer and the cheese turns rubbery, not unlike a Wawa mozzarella stick that’s sat on the hot tray for too long.

    The result is a $10 smashburger that is hefty and satisfying. The fried cheese adds dimension, its saltiness mixing with the acidity of the chimi sauce and pickle slices to dress up an otherwise plain burger patty. To Almanzar, that’s the point.

    El Sazón R.D. co-owner Ari Valerio squirts mayo-ketchup onto a burger bun. Valerio, who grew up in the Dominican Republic, first started cooking at his uncle’s bodega.

    “With a smashburger, it’s not about the burger itself but what you put on it — the fried cheese, the sauce,” he said.

    Popularized by chains like Shake Shack, the smashburger has overtaken the plump pub burger in the past decade on menus around the country. The slim and crispy patties are cheaper and quicker to make, and, since precise temperature isn’t a factor, easier to cook. This year, Philly is also poised to get a Harlem Shake and a 7th Street Burger, two other New York City-based smashburger chains. They’ll join a scene already saturated with local iterations with cheffy flourishes; think burgers topped with chili jam, Yemenite-spiced mayo, and pickled green tomatoes.

    El Sazon R.D’s loaded fries come topped with cubes of queso frito and fried salami.

    El Sazón also sells loaded crinkle-cut fries layered with two hefty squirts of mayo-ketchup, cubes of queso de frier, and fried salami chunks that pop in your mouth like blistered cocktail sausages. It’s yet another play on Latin American street food, said Valerio: Vendors selling salchipapas — French fries topped with hot dogs — are a staple across Peru and the Caribbean, he said.

    Also on the menu: Beef, chicken, vegetable, and salami and cheese empanadas made fresh daily by another one of Valerio’s cousins. The turnovers can be served as is or taco-style, wherein the empanada is sliced open and lined with pico de gallo, pickled onions, and drizzles of chipotle aioli.

    Eventually, Almanzar hopes to extend El Sazón’s Philly hours until midnight or later on weekends to capitalize on bar crowds seeking something filling, cheap, and a little comforting.

    “That’s our kind of food,” he said.

    The empanada taco at El Sazón R.D.

    El Sazón R.D., 1030 N. 2nd St. Ste. 201, elsazon-rd.com. Initial hours: noon to 9 p.m. daily.

  • A Philly restaurant regular’s devotion inspired his son to build a $1,500 Lego replica

    A Philly restaurant regular’s devotion inspired his son to build a $1,500 Lego replica

    To be loved is to be known — or, better yet, to inspire a 3,233-piece custom Lego set.

    Gene Gualtieri is devoted to Friday Saturday Sunday. Almost every Friday since 2021, the Fitler Square resident has lined up at 4:30 p.m. to score the same seat at the first-floor bar of Chad and Hanna Williams’ acclaimed Rittenhouse Square restaurant, where he is known to house a full roast chicken — bones and all — and order off-menu sherry martinis from bartender Paul MacDonald. It’s a ritual that has inspired a tattoo on Gualtieri’s bicep: “B9,” code for bar seat no. 9.

    “It’s my seat,” said Gualtieri, 57, an engineer. “This feeling of hospitality and being welcomed [at the bar] … it’s a social hub for me.”

    So when Gualtieri’s 21-year-old son, Leo, needed a Christmas present for his father, everyone from his aunt Claire to his older brother Sam had the same idea. What if, Leo recounts them wondering, there was a way to shrink Friday Saturday Sunday so it fits in your house?

    The resulting gift — a 1½-foot-tall replica of Friday Saturday Sunday’s facade and its ground-level Lovers Bar, constructed out of more than 3,200 Legos — doesn’t skimp on the details. Leo recreated everything, down to the discolored patches of sidewalk out front.

    A figurine of bartender Paul MacDonald shows off a Lego version of his Fibonacci sequence wheel to a miniature of Gene Gualtieri inside a Friday Saturday Sunday replica his son built out of Legos.

    Friday Saturday Sunday (Leo’s version) comes with Lego figurines of the Williamses, bartender MacDonald, and his father that can be posed to sit in one of the bar’s 13 tiger-print chairs. There’s a petite version of the Fibonacci carousel MacDonald uses to perfect his mixology, plus miniatures of the bar’s gargoyle- and raven-shaped pour spouts, mermaid caryatids, and towering citrus bowls. In honor of restaurant’s Michelin star, Leo even included a tiny and perfectly rotund Michelin Man.

    Leo stored the pieces in a repurposed Seinfeld Lego set box that he wrapped in a rendering of the finished design. When Gualtieri opened it on Christmas morning, he cried. The finished version inspired a similar response from others after Gualtieri and the restaurant posted photos on Instagram at the end of January.

    Leo Gualtieri made custom packaging for the Friday Saturday Sunday Lego set he got his father Gene for Christmas.

    “This is so beautiful I wanna cry,” commented one person. “Top 10 most impressive things I have ever seen,” wrote another.

    Leo’s dad concurs. “I was pretty blown away,” Gualtieri said. “At first glance, it looks like a Lego set you’d get a store.”

    A replica built brick by (plastic) brick

    Recreating Friday Saturday Sunday was a labor of love for Leo, a self-described former Lego kid currently finishing up his senior year at Emerson College as a comedy major. As a child, Leo was fixated on building an ever-expanding amusement park out of the plastic blocks alongside his dad. It was an obsession that served him well this holiday season.

    To reconstruct the restaurant, Leo first had to create a rendering of the bar and its exterior in Brick Link, Minecraft-esque software that lets users build and source their own custom Lego sets. Leo said he spent roughly 100 hours translating all the tiny details into Lego form, working first off images of the facade from Google. When those weren’t precise enough, he said, Leo begged MacDonald to send him photos of all the minutiae, from the glassware to close-ups of the light fixtures.

    A replica of the Lovers Bar at Friday Saturday Sunday, built out of more than 3,200 custom Legos by Leo Gualtieri.

    “It was addicting … I would work on it in class,” said Leo while on Zoom with his father, who scoffed at the admission. “Time would pass much faster because I was locked in.”

    Once the rendering was complete, Leo and his mom spent $1,500 on the Lego pieces, sourced from 13 different Lego resellers across Japan, Spain, and the Netherlands. To find a realistic version of Chad Williams’ beard and apron, Leo had to commission custom blocks from an Etsy seller.

    After Christmas, Leo spent the remainder of his winter break from college building mini Friday Saturday Sunday, developing calluses from clicking the bricks into place. Dad, Leo said, wasn’t much help.

    Hanna Williams, co-owner of Friday Saturday Sunday, holds Lego characters of herself and Gene Gualtieri, whose son Leo spent over 100 hours creating a miniature version of the restaurant out of the plastic blocks.

    “He tried to build some chairs,” Leo said of his father. “I don’t think he’s cut out for it.” (Gualtieri agreed. Leo, he admitted, gets his dexterity from his mother.)

    Every time he looks at the replica, Gualtieri said he discovers new details, like how the bottles mimic the exact ones behind MacDonald’s bar. Hanna Williams, Friday Saturday Sunday’s co-owner, felt the same when Gualtieri sent her progress updates on the build out.

    Hanna Williams, co-owner of Friday Saturday Sunday, and Gene Gualtieri, a regular at the restaurant, pose with Lego action figures of themselves created by Gene’s son Leo.

    “I think [Leo] might know every inch of the bar better than me,” she said. Williams especially loves her Lego dopplegangër: “A high bun, bangs, and tattoos? That’s so me.”

    Williams is used to her restaurant being the recipient of the highest order of affection. In the decade since she and her husband revamped Friday Saturday Sunday from a classic fine-dining restaurant with excellent mushroom soup into cozy bar for walk-ins with a top-floor tasting menu that melds Caribbean, Asian, and soul food influences, the restaurant has earned a Michelin Star, a James Beard Award, and a spot on the World’s 50 Best North American restaurants. Just last week, Friday Saturday Sunday won an award for excellence in hospitality from the Tasties, Philly’s homegrown culinary honors.

    And yet, Williams said, the Lego replica represents an extra-special type of achievement.

    “It’s completely overwhelming,” she said. “But at the same time, there’s nothing that could make you feel better.”

  • Lou Capozzoli, steward of Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar in South Philly, has died at 86

    Lou Capozzoli, steward of Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar in South Philly, has died at 86

    Lou Capozzoli, 86, of Southwest Philly, a dive bar owner and band front man with a penchant for telling jokes, died Sunday, Feb. 1, after battling a brief illness at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital while surrounded by family.

    Mr. Capozzoli, born April, 4, 1939, was just one year younger than the bar he would eventually take over at the intersection of East Passyunk Avenue and Federal Street, then called Ray’s after the nickname bestowed on his father, Anthony.

    Almost immediately, the bar became the center of Mr. Capozzoli’s life. He grew up in the apartment upstairs and as a toddler would sit quietly on the bar downstairs, eating cornflakes, while his mom poured beers. His dad, meanwhile, would wish every customer a happy birthday, even if it wasn’t theirs to celebrate.

    It was a gesture that stuck with Mr. Capozzoli, who would go on to spend the rest of his life doing whatever he could to earn smiles from strangers, whether it meant serving birthday shots of cake-flavored vodka with a candle or performing to crowds as a singer and saxophonist across Las Vegas, the Jersey Shore, and South Philly.

    Mr. Capozzoli with a drawing of his father, Anthony “Ray” Capozzoli, who opened Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar in South Philadelphia in 1938. Mr. Capozzoli took over the bar when his father died in 1997.

    “That’s all he wanted, for his father to be proud of him,” said Rose Capozzoli,Mr. Capozzoli’s wife.

    And he would be, Rose is certain. Mr. Capozzoli took over the bar when his father died in 1997, rechristening it Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar in honor of his dad’s slogan. Under his stewardship, Ray’s would go on to become the gold standard of Philly dive bars, known for $4 citywides, Friday night karaoke, staying open on Christmas, and an unwavering adherence to theme. Mr. Capozzoli would call regulars on their birthdays to wish them well and maintained a calendar of seemingly all the birthdays in the world to help his staff keep tally on the outdoor chalkboard.

    As a boss, Mr. Capozzoli was “pretty silly,” said bartender T.C. Cole, who also played guitar in Mr. Capozzoli’s band. “He would call you at 1:45 in the morning when you’re trying to close just to tell you a joke.”

    The inside of Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar. Mr. Capozzoli was known for calling regulars on the mornings of their birthdays.

    If jokes were a currency, Mr. Capozzoli was a billionaire, friends and family said. He’d fire them off incessantly — during closing shifts, band performances, family dinners — and had enough discretion to whisper the most risqué in your ear. Mr. Capozzoli’s style was modeled after that of Buddy Hackett and Rodney Dangerfield, his favorite comedians, but the punch lines didn’t matter as much his delivery.

    Mr. Capozzoli “would laugh with the person he was telling the joke to,” his son Anthony Capozzoli, 55, said. “If you weren’t laughing with the punch line, you were laughing at how much he enjoyed getting to it.”

    More recently, Anthony said, his father would call him just to workshop material, most of which isn’t fit to print. Mr. Capozzoli’s favorite jokes were set to music in 2023 for a five minute-long comedy track as part of a studio EP for the Rage Band, the seven-piece group that Mr. Cappozoli sang with for 41 years alongside a rotating cast of characters.

    Low Cut Connie front man Adam Weiner recorded the EP. He and Mr. Capozzoli grew close after Weiner played a gig at Ray’s in 2012, bonding over their shared love of captivating a crowd.

    “Not everyone is about joy when they perform … People care about their ego, people care about fashion,” Weiner said. “But Lou was always about fun, just radiating 100% joy.”

    Mr. Capozzoli started performing professionally when he was 14, sneaking into clubs to accompany bands on the alto sax. The stage was a calling that helped him fall in love. It also took him to the edge of celebrity.

    After serving in the military in the early 1960s and playing for Sophia Loren as part of an army band, Mr. Capozzoli told jokes and sang standards at the Stardust and Flamingo casinos in Las Vegas. At the peak of his fame, he opened for Diana Ross at the Riptide Club in Wildwood in 1965. That same year Mr. Capozzoli met his wife, Rose, who was charmed by his talents at another Wildwood concert. They wed three years later.

    Mr. Capozzoli bonded with Low Cut Connie’s Adam Weiner over their shared love of performing.

    Mr. Capozzoli’s steadiest gig began in 1984 with the Rage Band, once the house act for Sea Isle City’s now-shuttered Springfield Inn. There, Mr. Capozzoli settled into his larger-than-life style, commanding a crowd of roughly 1,000 people a night on summer weekends. He’d serenade Burt and Ernie puppets for a medley of Sesame Street songs and show tunes, or don outlandish masks for a Mummers tribute. Both brought down the house, but never as much as when Mr. Capozzoli would cover “Those Were The Days” or ”Sweet Caroline,” which were always punctuated with jokes.

    “I call him the showman’s showman,” said Brian Saunders, one of band’s saxophonists. Tony DiMattia, a bassist for the band, concurred: “He didn’t just entertain the crowd. He entertained us as musicians.”

    The Rage Band stopped their Sea Isle residency in 1999, only to pick up at new one at Ray’s in 2003, where they have performed on the first Saturday of every month from October through April ever since. The band never rehearsed, DiMattia said. Mr. Capozzoli’s stage presence could smooth over just about any kink.

    Mr. Capozzoli played in The Rage Band for 42 years, performing for packed houses at the Springfield Inn in Sea Isle City and Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar.

    “There is no Rage Band without Lou,” Saunders said. “He was the glue that kept us together.”

    Outside of music, Mr. Capozzoli’s greatest loves were his wife and children. He was a dedicated father who enjoyed cooking large French toast breakfasts, organizing tee ball games, and ensuring the family always had a rescue dog to snuggle. Laughter — and his wife’s minding — kept Mr. Capozzoli going, even as the decades of working in a smoking bar wore on him.

    “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lou angry,” said Saunders. “I don’t think he’d ever not had a smile on his face.”

    Mr. Capozzoli was an accomplished saxophonist who started playing professionally when he was 14 years old.

    In addition to his wife, Rose, and son, Anthony, Mr. Capozzoli is survived by his daughters, Dyan Wixted and Luann Capozzoli, and three grandchildren: Louis, Daniel, and Delaney.

    Visitation with the family will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Feb. 6, and from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Feb. 7 at Pennsylvania Burial Company, 1327-31 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa., 19147. Services will follow Saturday at 11 a.m.

    Donations in Mr. Capozzoli’s name may be made to an animal shelter of your choosing or ACCT-Philly, c/o Development, 111 W. Hunting Park Ave, Philadelphia, Pa., 19140. Alternatively, his wife said, stories about Mr. Capozzoli or jokes he would’ve enjoyed can be sent to the family via email at rayshappybirthdaybar1@gmail.com.

  • Who won big at the Tasties, Philly’s homegrown culinary awards?

    Who won big at the Tasties, Philly’s homegrown culinary awards?

    How does Philly celebrate Philly’s food scene? With an awards show that includes a special category for condiments, an honor for the best neighborhood restaurant, and an after-party with an Italian Market-themed speakeasy.

    Those were some of the highlights from the Tasties, the second edition of the Philly-based culinary awards for hospitality professionals. The party is thrown by the hosts of the Delicious City podcast (James Beard award-winning chef Eli Kulp, food influencer Dave Wez, and 93.3 WMMR radio host Marisa Magnatta). Chefs, bartenders, and dishwashers were among the more than 600 attendees at Sunday night’s event at South Philly’s Live! Casino.

    Here are the Tasties’ 2026 winners, from Philly’s best new restaurant to city’s best hospitality experience, frozen dessert, and breakfast. Read on for more background on this now-annual awards ceremony.

    Best New Restaurant & Craft Cocktail Excellence: La Jefa

    It was a big night for La Jefa, the “Guadaladelphian” all-day cafe and cocktail bar from the Suro family that functions as the trendier sibling to the more distinguished Tequilas next door. The restaurant, which opened in May, took home two honors — for Best New Restaurant and Craft Cocktail experience — making it one of two restaurants to do so. La Jefa beat out Little Water, Emmett, and Amá in the Best New Restaurant category, as well as Kampar, Messina Social Club, and Next of Kin for craft cocktails.

    By day, La Jefa is a destination brunch and coffee spot, with a menu that spans omelette-style chilaquiles, huevos verdes, conchas, and experimental lattes with flavors like burnt corn tortilla and guava caramel. At night, the space transforms into a sleek cocktail bar with light bites and easy-drinking cocktails, like tepache highballs, agua frescas spiked with aged El Dorado rum, and cilantro gimlets. Its back bar, La Jefa Milpa, is a more serious drinking experience, with a cocktail list designed in consultation with James Beard award-winning mixologist Danny Childs.

    The Lovers Bar at Friday Saturday Sunday, which won Excellence in Hospitality at the The Tasties in 2026.

    Excellence in Hospitality: Friday Saturday Sunday

    Friday Saturday Sunday won Excellence in Hospitality, an award that celebrates the front of the house, said Kulp. The Michelin-starred, James Beard award-winning restaurant helmed by Chad and Hanna Williams is notably unstuffy, with its downstairs walk-ins-only bar taking on a reputation of its own as the perfect place to fall in love or become a regular. Friday Saturday Sunday was up against Her Place Supper Club, Honeysuckle, and Kalaya.

    Standout Bakery or Pastry Chef: Emily Riddell, Machine Shop

    Machine Shop owner and pastry chef Emily Riddell took home the Tasties’ award for Standout Bakery or Pastry chef, adding to the South Philly bakery’s honors from Food & Wine magazine and the New York Times. Riddell, who honed her pastry skills at Le Bec-Fin, is known equally for her savory laminated pastries (think everything bagel croissants and shakshuka-esque danishes) as she is for her sweets, which include ginger-spiced cookies and lemon tarts topped with torched meringues. Riddell beat out Majdal Bakery’s Kenan Rabah, Baby Kusina’s McBryan Lesperance, and Provenance’s Abby Dahan.

    Chef-partner at Emmett Evan Snyder grills a halibut over charcoal. Snyder won Breakout Chef at the 2026 Tasties awards.

    Breakout Chef: Evan Snyder, Emmett

    Chef-owner Evan Snyder took home the Tasties’ Breakout Chef award for his work at Emmett, the Levantine-inspired restaurant he opened on Girard Avenue last January. Named after his toddler, Emmett is a forum for Snyder to revamp flavors of his childhood: His grandmother’s stuffed cabbage become malfoufs stuffed with foie gras, and traditional boreks are reimagined with braised short rib and melted comté cheese. It’s a menu that landed Emmett on Esquire’s best new restaurant’s list, plus praise from Inquirer critic Craig LaBan. Snyder has a knack for “artfully layering multiple components into a dish that eats like a journey,” LaBan wrote in April.

    Others in the Breakout Chef category were Dane DeMarco of Gass & Main, Jacob Trinh of Little Fish, and Sam Henzy of Fork.

    Icon Award: Tequilas Casa Mexicana

    La Jefa didn’t steal all the thunder from its older sibling. Tequilas, the fine-dining Mexican restaurant from David Suro-Piñera, took home the night’s Icon Award. Suro-Piñera first opened Tequilas in 1986 to celebrate traditional Mexican cooking and agave spirits beyond its namesake alcohol. After a kitchen fire closed the Locust Street restaurant in 2023, Suro-Piñera and family spent two years rehabbing Tequilas (and creating La Jefa inside of its adjoining Latimer Street space). The original restaurant reopened last spring, with the same ornate decor and a menu that reaches far beyond Suro-Piñera’s native Guadalajara to other regions of Mexico. Tequilas “not only came back” Kulp said, “they came back bigger and better.”

    Fork, Monk’s Cafe, and Oyster House were the other Philadelphia institutions vying for the Icon Award.

    From left: The Banh Mi Xiu May, Bun Bo Hue Dac Biet, and the chicken curry at Cafe Nhan, which received the Best Neighborhood Gem award at the 2026 Tasties.

    Neighborhood Gem: Cafe Nhan

    Vietnamese restaurant Cafe Nhan won the Neighborhood Gem award. Run by mother-son duo Nhan Vo and Andrew Dinh Vo, Cafe Nhan is a West Passyunk go-to for hearty bowls of soup and crispy fried chicken wings. The restaurant’s signature bún bò hue dac biet — a spicy lemongrass soup from Central Vietnam loaded with brisket and pig’s feet — and gluten-free pho — rank among the best in the city.

    Other contestants for Neighborhood Gem included Cafe Nhan neighbor Stina, as well as Baby’s Kusina in Brewerytown and the Breakfast Den on South Street.

    Restaurant and Chef of the Year: Phila Lorn & Mawn

    The Mawn team, including chef-owner Phila Lorn, added another feather to their caps at the Tasties, taking home top honors for both Restaurant and Chef of the Year. According to Kulp, Lorn brought the entire staff of both Mawn and its sister oyster bar, Sao, to the Tasties Sunday night.

    Phila and his wife, Rachel, opened Mawn in 2023 as a 28-seat Cambodian BYOB with a menu inspired by Phila’s parents. After racking up honors from the James Beard Foundation, Food & Wine magazine, and the New York Times, Mawn has become one of the toughest tables to get in Philly.

    Mawn co-owner and executive chef Phila Lorn accepts the award for Chef of the Year at the 2026 Tasties.

    Blue Corn, Her Place Supper Club, and Royal Sushi were also nominated for Restaurant of the Year. Royal Sushi owner Jessie Ito rounded out the Chef of the Year category alongside Thanh Nguyen of Gabriella’s Vietnam and Omar Tate and Cybille St.Aude-Tate of Honeysuckle.

    People’s choice awards

    Brain Freeze Bestie: Milk Jawn

    Celebrating excellence in all matter of frozen desserts (ice cream, gelato, and water ice), the Brain Freeze Bestie people’s choice award went to Milk Jawn. Co-owned by Amy Wilson and Ryan Miller, the small-batch ice cream purveyor started as a hobby before spawning two storefronts in South Philly and Northern Liberties. Milk Jawn beat out Franklin Fountain, Coco’s Gelato, John’s Water Ice, Siddiq’s Water Ice, and Cuzzy’s Ice Cream.

    The Migas breakfast taco from Taco Heart, which won the people’s choice Breakfast of Champions Award at the 2026 Tasties.

    Breakfast of Champions: Taco Heart

    The Breakfast of Champions pitted breakfast sandwiches against tacos against diner plates. Austin-style taqueria Taco Heart and its flour-tortilla wrapped breakfast tacos ultimately won, beating out Fishtown diner Sulimays, and breakfast sandwiches from Fiore, Gilda, Paffuto, and Homegrown215.

    Sauce Boss: Hank Sauce

    The Sauce Boss is the Tasties’ people’s choice award for best condiment. Sea Isle City hot sauce brand Hank Sauce took home the prize, likely pushed over the edge by an Instagram endorsement from their new investor Jason Kelce, who called it the perfect condiment for “eggs without any f— flavor.” Other nominees included boutique mayo brand Jawndiments, Willow Grove’s Mammoth Sauce Co., Sunny Chili Oil, Kensington Food Co., and Chili Peppah Water from Inquirer food writer Kiki Aranita’s sauce brand Poi Dog.

    Pho with steak, flank, fatty brisket, tendon, and tripe from South Philadelphia’s Pho 75, which received the people’s choice Supreme Slurp Award at the 2026 Tasties.

    Supreme Slurp: Pho 75

    The Supreme Slurp is exactly what it sounds like: A people’s choice award for soup. Washington Avenue pho shop Pho 75 took home the prize, beating out potato soup from dive bar Cherry Street Tavern; French onion soup from Forsythia; matzo ball soup from Hershel’s East Side Deli; ramen from Terakawa; and the Souper Bowl from Sang Kee Peking Duck House.

    Background on the Tasties and ‘Delicious City’

    Now in its second year, the Tasties has morphed into a foil for the Michelin Guide and James Beard Awards, where outsiders are made to judge the best of Philly’s food scene, often with varying degrees of depth.

    Deliberations started in October, when a 14-member nomination committee of local food writers, content creators, and past winners whittled down a list of hundreds of restaurants. From there, a smaller panel of judges (including Inquirer food desk editors Margaret Eby and Jenn Ladd) rate the finalists. People’s choice voting occurs for sillier categories; more than 1,200 people cast ballots for the people’s choice awards this year, Kulp said.

    From left: “Delicious City” podcast cohosts Dave Wez, Eli Kulp, and Marisa Magnatta post onstage at the Tasties culinary awards at Live! Hotel & Casino on Feb. 2, 2026.

    The Tasties includes all the standard award show categories, as well as more bespoke accolades. At Sunday’s ceremony, Miriam Bautista of Vernick Fish won the Dish Wizard award, an honor bestowed upon the city’s best dishwasher. Sous chefs at La Croix, Little Water, and Pesto all took home Future Tastemaskers awards, which come with $1,000 grants for professional development.

    At the Tasties, “there are no losers,” Kulp said. “It’s so cliche, but it’s really an award [show] where you can throw a dart to pick a winner and no one would argue.”