It was a huge game against a team above them in the standings, but also on the outside of the Stanley Cup Playoff picture. The win moved the Flyers within seven points of the Metropolitan Division’s third spot, currently held by the New York Islanders, and the Boston Bruins, who are sitting in eighth in the Eastern Conference.
The Orange and Black had more energy, held off a surge by the Capitals in the third, and were able to snag the all-important two points.
Here are three things to know from the win that saw the Flyers score four goals for just the second time since beating the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 6.
Matvei Michkov played almost 16 minutes
Hitting the ice just minutes after general manager Danny Brière spoke about the latest Michkov-Rick Tocchet discourse, the Russian winger played 15 minutes, 54 seconds across 21 shifts. It was the highest total since he played a little over 16 minutes against the New York Islanders on Jan. 26 and his 12th-most minutes this season.
Michkov averaged 45-second shifts after he averaged 34 on Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings, when he played a controversial 10:21. Was it a point of focus to have him take longer shifts?
“Yeah, a little bit,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “We talked yesterday, too, a little bit about if you feel like staying, get out there. Obviously, if you’re winded, get off. But, I thought he was moving.”
Michkov played well at times. He set up Bobby Brink for a chance late in the third and was a key contributor to Owen Tippett’s goal that opened the scoring just under six minutes into the game, marking the 19th time in 55 games that the Flyers scored first — and their 11th win.
On the goal, Trevor Zegras gained the zone and dished to Michkov, who carried the puck around the net. He took it around and up the right boards before threading the needle through two Capitals to Travis Sanheim at the left point. The defenseman then threaded the needle himself to Tippett in the right circle before the forward went across the crease and scored on the backhand.
“We knew we would have a little bit of room coming out of the corners there,” Tippett said. “I think that was a great pass to find Sanny, and Sanny made a great play to kind of calm it down and pass it right back to me.”
In hindsight — and after taking a deep breath from a busy night — Dan Vladař should have gotten one of the three stars of the game from this reporter.
The Czech goalie stopped 26 of 28 shots to win his 17th game of the season. He raised his save percentage to .904 and dropped his goal-against average to the 10th-best in the NHL (2.49) among goalies who have played at least 20 games.
Flyers goalie Dan Vladar (left) helped lift Owen Tippett and the Flyers to a much-needed win.
He allowed two goals — one a short-handed goal by Aliaksei Protas and the other a rebound goal by Anthony Beauvillier, who was left all alone in front. But while the team was facing some adversity, Vladař was pumping them up, too.
“He’s a leader,” said Tocchet, adding that while Vladař doesn’t wear a letter — goalies aren’t allowed — for him, he has one.
“I forget when he came by our bench [but] he said, ‘Guys, why are you guys holding your head down? Let’s go here.’ And I love that. It’s good to hear that. He’s our goalie, and [has] a lot of character. He’s been like that all year.”
Vladař was solid in net. In the first period, he made a save with 15:53 left, sliding across to rob Dylan Strome on a power play. Later in the frame, while shorthanded, he stopped Strome again as the puck popped up and he swiped it away with some help from his defenseman, Travis Sanheim, who swiped it further away — but he won’t be doing that in a few days.
“We play him in Game 1, too. I won’t be helping him out like I did,” he joked, noting that Sanheim’s Canada squad will be taking on Vladař and the Czechs on Feb. 12 (10:40 a.m.)
In the third period, he stopped Brandon Duhaime’s shot after Rasmus Ristolainen couldn’t get the puck out, and with six attackers on for the Capitals, off a faceoff deep in the Flyers’ end, Vladař stopped an Alex Ovechkin slapshot. It was one of nine low-danger shots he faced; however, according to Natural Stat Trick, he did see seven high-danger shots.
“That’s one thing that you cannot really control as a goalie,” he said about facing high-danger shots. “You’re there to stop the puck, no matter where the shots are coming from. Mentality is still the same for me, trying to keep as many as I can out of the net. And then having the confidence in the group that I think that we can be scoring two or three every single night.”
Jamie Drysdale (9) has helped power-play goals become a recent and much sought-after habit for the Flyers.
A power-play goal!
Jamie Drysdale has been on and off the power play all season, but lately he’s been getting power-play time. On Tuesday, he finally got on the board.
Zegras got the puck in the corner and threw a reverse hit into Martin Fehérváry to create time and space for himself. He skated up, utilized that time and space to find Drysdale as he slid into the spot atop the circles and fired off the one-timer that popped off the top of the pad of goalie Clay Stevenson and in.
The goal is Drysdale’s fourth of the season and first on the man advantage, giving him five power-play points.
“I think I had my chances, to be honest with you, I just couldn’t put the puck in the net,” Drysdale said. “Guys did a great job of finding me and finding holes, and it was nice to see one go in.”
Philly went 1-for-3 and has now scored on the man advantage for three straight games (3-for-8).
“Well, I like the shot by Jamie. That’s what we need is that … three feet [off the ground shot],” Tocchet said, using his hands to show the amount. “It’s that hard [shot] so we can get a tip on it. I think sometimes our shots are a little high, blocker side, and we talked about, before the power play, what we wanted, and we executed.
“I thought Trevor did a really nice job, like he was excellent. He went low. He body positioned the guy, the guy goes down, he doesn’t do that, maybe they get the puck out. So Trevor did a nice job to set that play up, and then obviously, Jamie, that’s the shots we need.”
To judge the move in more definitive terms would be irresponsible given the amount of time that still remains between now and Thursday’s NBA trade deadline. The final verdict depends on what happens next. If nothing happens next, then, yeah, the Sixers’ decision to jettison their promising 2024 first-round pick will rank somewhere on a spectrum between “underwhelming” and “foolish.” If their primary motivation was to duck below the luxury tax yet again, it will be a level beyond foolish. It will be criminal.
That being said, there are a lot of other ifs in play, many of them more plausible than Daryl Morey viewing a legitimate asset as a cost-savings vehicle. The NBA’s in-season hot stove is sizzling right now. The Mavericks traded All-Star center Anthony Davis to the Wizards, thereby finalizing their aggregate return for Luka Doncic at a grand total of three first-round picks, each of which is more likely to be closer to No. 30 than to No. 1. Trade rumors continue to circulate around Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, with suitors like the Timberwolves and Heat jockeying to present Milwaukee with an offer that will convince it to strike a deal now rather than wait for the offseason. There are a lot of dominoes left to fall, and the Sixers could easily end up toppling one — or being one.
As of Wednesday night, there were no indications that the Sixers were gearing up to make a legitimate run at acquiring Giannis, who was previously reported to be intrigued by the possibility of teaming up with Tyrese Maxey and the Sixers. Such a move would almost certainly require the Sixers to part with rookie star V.J. Edgecombe. That’s a move they almost certainly will not do.
But the Sixers could easily end up involved on the periphery of the Giannis talks. If Minnesota is determined/desperate to add Giannis, then it would presumably need to be desperate/determined to acquire the first-round picks that the Bucks would require (the Timberwolves don’t have much in the way of draft capital to trade). Minnesota’s determination/desperation creates some intriguing possibilities for a third team that does have first-round picks it can trade. The dream scenario would be someone like young sweet-shooting big man Naz Reid becoming available. A more realistic opportunity could come in the form of former Villanova-turned-Knicks-turned-Timberwolves grinder Donte DiVincenzo.
I’m throwing those names out there mostly as for-instances. The world remains Morey’s oyster until the clock strikes 3 p.m. EST on Thursday.
After less than two seasons with the Sixers, Jared McCain is saying goodbye to the City of Brotherly Love — and fans are saying goodbye to McCain, who was a favorite for rookie of the year last season before suffering a knee injury.
“Mom how good was Jared McCain during his rookie year before getting injured” pic.twitter.com/wYt7f4BsZR
But it wasn’t just his presence on the court that Sixers fans were falling in love with. McCain also made a name for himself on social media, boasting 4.9 million followers on TikTok and 1.9 million followers on Instagram.
So it’s no surprise that Philly fans took to social media to express their condolences about the trade. That’s right, condolences. Sixers fans are mourning the trade and reluctantly saying farewell to McCain in the process.
The fact that Sam Presti wants Jared McCain is a reason not to trade Jared McCain https://t.co/A8EAX9YyTL
I would guess that this is setting up another move, though. If part of the calculus here was ducking the tax, that’s outrageous https://t.co/ta3KRTdUZn
Bulls trading Coby White, Mike Conley Jr. to the Hornets: ESPN
Just in: The Chicago Bulls are trading Coby White and Mike Conley Jr. to the Charlotte Hornets for Collin Sexton, Ousmane Dieng and three second-round picks, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/NnHXT5b8lR
Sixers trading Jared McCain to the Thunder for draft picks
The Sixers are trading Jared McCain to the Thunder.
Jared McCain’s tenure with the 76ers is over.
A source confirmed the team is trading the second-year guard to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for the Houston Rockets’ 2026 first-round pick and three second-round selections. One of the second-rounders is the 2027 most favorable pick from the Oklahoma City, Houston, Indiana Pacers, and the Miami Heat. The other second-rounders are the 2028 Milwaukee Bucks and 2028 Thunder picks.
McCain averaged 6.6 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists while shooting 37.8% on three-pointers in 37 games this season. Moving the 21-year-old also enabled the Sixers to free up an additional roster spot and get below the luxury tax threshold.
The Sixers are just $1.2 million above the tax threshold after receiving $5.8 million in tax-variance credit due to Paul George’s 25-game unpaid suspension for violating the NBA’s Anti-Drug Program. Now, they’re $3 million below after getting rid of McCain’s $4.2 million salary.
McCain had his rookie season cut short because of a torn meniscus in his left knee. And on top of that December 2024 injury, he had the start of this season delayed after suffering a torn ligament in his right thumb in September.
The 16th pick of the 2024 draft averaged 10.0 points while making 38.1% on his three-pointers in 60 career games with the Sixers.
BREAKING: The Dallas Mavericks are trading 10-time NBA All-Star Anthony Davis, Jaden Hardy, D'Angelo Russell and Dante Exum to the Washington Wizards for Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III, 2 first-round picks and 3 second-rounders, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/sfrQQubI5i
An NBA trade deadline week stunner. Clearly, the Wizards have completed their deconstruction phase and are now moving toward Young and Davis leading a rising young core. Washington has turned its previous Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma trades into Young, Davis and five pick swaps.
Can Sixers counter moves by other Eastern Conference teams?
The Sixers could use immediate help due to Paul George’s suspension.
The Eastern Conference remains tightly packed, with three games separating the second-place New York Knicks and sixth-place 76ers entering Wednesday.
Eastern Conference standings
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And some of the teams above the Sixers have already begun bolstering their roster, with more than 24 hours remaining before Thursday’s deadline.
The Cleveland Cavaliers traded for former Sixer James Harden, sending All-Star Darius Garland to the Los Angeles Clippers. The Boston Celtics shored up their center spot by acquiring Nikola Vucevic from the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Anfernee Simons. And the Detroit Pistons, who remain comfortably at the top of the conference, added sharpshooter Kevin Huerter in exchange for Jaden Ivey.
How could the Sixers counter? Their roster is tricky with three players on max contracts, including the suspended Paul George. His absence means the Sixers could use immediate help at the wing or in the frontcourt.
The Bucks are currently in 12th place in the Eastern Conference, 10 games below .500 and completely out of the playoff picture. Hopes for a second-half turnaround seem fleeting under Doc Rivers, who’s barely been a .500 coach (84-82) in his two-and-a-half seasons with the Bucks.
“I want to be here, but I want to be here to win, not fighting for my life to make the playoffs,” Antetokounmpo said.
James Harden and Tyrese Maxey, when they were Sixers teammates in 2023.
SAN FRANCISCO – Tyrese Maxey did not need to join the speculation about James Harden being traded from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Maxey could just call his former teammate.
“I talked to him [Monday] a bit about it,” Maxey said following the 76ers’ win at the Golden State Warriors Tuesday night. “Hey, look, if he’s happy, I’m happy. That’s all that matters.”
When Harden missed his second consecutive game for personal reasons on Monday against the Sixers, reports of a deal percolating between the Clippers and Cavaliers surfaced during the matchup. The trade, which also sends Darius Garland to Los Angeles, became official Tuesday as part of a flurry of moves about 48 hours before the deadline. It was a stunning turn of events, given the Clippers are in the midst of a massive turnaround and Harden was playing at a borderline All-Star level, averaging 25.4 points, 8.1 assists, and 4.8 rebounds in 44 games.
But the Sixers and Maxey are plenty familiar with Harden forcing his way off a team. It is how he wound up leaving Philly for the Clippers as part of a blockbuster trade early in the 2023-24 season, after the Sixers would not offer him a long-term extension in the summer of 2023. The Sixers acquired Harden at the 2022 trade deadline in a massive deal that sent Ben Simmons to the Brooklyn Nets.
Still, Maxey and Harden remain close. On the court, Maxey called Harden “somebody who elevates the people that he played with,” and expects him to provide the same to a Cavaliers team that entered Wednesday a half-game up on the Sixers for fifth place in a crowded middle of the Eastern Conference standings.
“He does James Harden stuff,” Maxey said. “He’s a dynamic player with playoff experience. Knows how to play the game. Knows how to get guys involved. Take some pressure off of D. Mitch [Donovan Mitchell], for sure, and get those other guys – [Evan] Mobley, [Jarrett] Allen, [Jaylon] Tyson – easy shots.”
Sixers light on trade assets beyond Maxey and Edgecombe
Tyrese Maxey with teammate VJ Edgecombe.
Aside from Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, the Sixers don’t have the assets needed to acquire the type of player who could drastically improve the team via a trade. And the Sixers aren’t going to trade either player.
Joel Embiid is once again playing at an elite level, averaging 29.3 points over the last 15 games. However, he has an extensive injury history and a three-year, $193 million contract extension that kicks in next season. While he looks great at the moment, there is a lot of uncertainty concerning how he’ll hold up in the future.
Meanwhile, Paul George has a tough contract to move after signing a four-year, $211.5 million deal in July 2024. At this stage of his career, he’s recognized as a fourth option on a championship team. Yet George is being paid as a top-two player. As a result, it’s hard to justify taking on his salary at this time.
And since the Sixers aren’t going to trade Maxey or Edgecombe, they shouldn’t forfeit their future by surrendering draft picks to facilitate a trade. They’ll need those picks to acquire young talent and continue building around Maxey and Edgecombe after Embiid and George leave Philly.
What’s the Sixers top priority: upgrading the roster or saving money?
Daryl Morey, the Sixers President of basketball operations, with head coach Nick Nurse in 2024.
Last Week, Joel Embiid expressed his desire to avoid the Sixers’ annual salary dump at the trade deadline to avoid paying the luxury tax.
“So hopefully we keep the same team,” Embiid said on Thursday. “I love all of the guys that are here. I think we’ve got a shot.
“I don’t know what [the front office is] going to do. But I hope that we get a chance to go out there and compete because we’ve got a good group of guys in this locker room, and the vibes are great.”
The team is just $1.2 million over the luxury tax threshold, thanks to a $5.8 million tax variance credit because of George’s unpaid suspension, during which he will lose $11.7 million.
Before George’s suspension, the Sixers were $7 million over the tax threshold and were expected to trade away at least one expiring contract. While the Sixers are still expected to make some type of move, they can keep all three of the players — Quentin Grimes ($8.7 million salary), Kelly Oubre Jr. ($8.3 million), and Andre Drummond ($5 million) — who had expiring contracts that could have helped them duck the tax.
Will Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo end up on another team by the trade deadline?
It’s unclear if the Milwaukee Bucks will trade away Giannis Antetokounmpo, but there are at least four teams seriously interested in landing the two-time MVP, according to multiple reports – Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Miami Heat and New York Knicks
The question is whether those offers are large enough for a team to land the “Greek Freak.” According to The Athletic’s Sam Amick, they’re not, meaning “this saga looked likely to extend into the summertime.”
In one proposed trade by ESPN’s NBA insiders, the Bucks would send Antetokounmpo to Philadelphia for Paul George, VJ Edgecombe, and two unprotected first-round picks. Fun, but it appears unlikely the Sixers are willing to part with their rookie phenom.
Three former Sixers players part of deals ahead of NBA trade deadline
James Harden is heading to Cleveland in a swap for point guard Darius Garland.
James Harden to the Cavaliers (per ESPN): The one-time Sixers star/disappointment is on the move again, this time heading to Cleveland in a swap for two-time All-Star Darius Garland. Cleveland is also reportedly sending a second-round pick to the Clippers for Harden, who will join Donovan Mitchell on the court with the goal of advancing past the second round of the playoffs.
Nikola Vucevic to the Celtics (per AP): Boston gets frontcourt depth in exchange for guard Anfernee Simons. The two teams are also reportedly swapping second-round picks. Vucevic, whom the Sixers took in the first round of the 2011 NBA draft, spent the past five and a half seasons with the Bulls.
Kevin Huerter headed to Detroit (per ESPN): The Pistons added some depth in a four-player, three-team deal that will also send former Sixers fan favorite Dario Saric (“The Homie”) to Detroit. The Pistons will also reportedly get a 2026 first-round protected draft pick swap from the Minnesota Timberwolves, whose main motivation is to create salary space. The third team in the deal, the Chicago Bulls, get Mike Conley Jr. and Jaden Ivey.
Boston Celtics post player Chris Boucher is a player the Sixers are reported to have some “exploratory” interest in, according to a HoopsHype report.
A source downplayed the interest in the reserve power forward/center, who has appeared in only nine games this season with the Boston Celtics, averaging just 2.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 10.4 minutes.
However, he flourished in the last seven seasons as a reserve glue guy for the Toronto Raptors. Sixers coach Nick Nurse was Raptors coach during Boucher’s first five seasons in Toronto. Nurse was able to get the best out of the undersized post player, who averaged 8.9 points and 5.1 rebounds in 406 games as a Raptor.
Boucher signed a one-year, veteran minimum contract with Boston for $3.2 million, with a cap hit of $2.2 million.
Sixers guard VJ Edgecombe is averaging 15.1 points and 4.2 assists in his rookie season.
This shouldn’t need to be said, but the Sixers aren’t going to trade VJ Edgecombe for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Nor should they. Which also shouldn’t need to be said.
Just in case, let’s say it again.
No Edgecombe for Giannis. No Edgecombe for anyone. No Edgecombe at the trade deadline. No Edgecombe in the offseason.
No Edgecombe, know peace.
To be clear, this isn’t about Giannis, who’s in the midst of the most efficient season of his career, by virtually every measure.
This is purely about Edgecombe. To understand his immense present and future value, you have to watch him on the court. It’s incredibly rare for a 20-year-old rookie to average 35.6 minutes per night for a team that is six games over .500 and has a legitimate chance to make a playoff run. It’s even rarer for said rookie to do it with the maturity and grace that Edgecombe exhibits at both ends of the court. And it’s rarer still for a rookie to possess that veteran-level basketball IQ while also possessing such an electric athletic upside.
Sources have said the Sixers are open to trading veteran center Andre Drummond.
Kelly Oubre Jr. ($8.4 million salary): Before Paul George’s 25 game suspension, Oubre’s was viewed as the Sixers’ most tradable contract — especially if the front office was instructed to get under the luxury tax. Now he is vital to the current roster as a tenacious wing defender and offensive player who can slash to the basket — and he has upped his three-point percentage.
Quentin Grimes ($8.7 million): This comes with a massive asterisk because Grimes has the power to veto any trade after signing a one-year qualifying offer in October. Additionally, any trade approved by Grimes would relinquish his’ “Bird” rights, which allow teams to offer their own players a higher salary in free agency. So unless the new destination appears to be an ideal long-term fit, it is unlikely Grimes would sign off on any trade-deadline move and instead enter unrestricted free agency this summer.
Andre Drummond ($5 million): What once looked like a resurgent Drummond season has turned into an odd role for the 14-year veteran. He starts whenever Joel Embiid sits out for injury or load-management reasons, and does not play at all when Embiid is in the lineup. That theoretically makes Drummond expendable — and perhaps the most likely (fringe) rotation player to depart at the deadline.
Eric Gordon ($3.6 million): Gordon, on the tail end of a successful career, has played in only six games in his second season as a Sixer. Trading the 37-year-old in a salary-dump move would open up an additional roster spot that could be used to sign Dominick Barlow or Jabari Walker to a standard NBA contract. One wrinkle: Gordon is close with rookie standout VJ Edgecombe, who played with Gordon on the Bahamian national team.
Kyle Lowry ($3.6 million): Lowry is in his 20th NBA season. Like Gordon, he is on a veteran minimum contract. It feels less likely that the Sixers would let go of the Philly native and former Villanova star, given his primarily off-the-court role as a respected leader in the locker room and on the bench.
SAN FRANCISCO — Jalen Hurts said the flag football played in the Pro Bowl Games doesn’t have the negative connotation that it may have once had.
If anything, Hurts believes the NFL’s all-star exhibition is as competitive as ever.
“It is like being a kid again but it also turns competitive with everything’s that at stake,” the Eagles quarterback said after throwing three touchdown passes in the NFC’s 66-52 win over the AFC on Tuesday night. “Even with the (2028) Olympics, there’s a lot of guys that have a great passion to go out there and represent.”
There was plenty of representation from both sides in the high-scoring event, which was played indoors this year at the Moscone Center — a convention center near downtown San Francisco — before a crowd of 3,100.
It was the first time the Pro Bowl was held during Super Bowl week, and the host city was well represented, with 49ers greats Jerry Rice and Steve Young — who have a combined 20 Pro Bowl selections — serving as head coaches. The Super Bowl is Sunday at the 49ers’ home, Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
Dak Prescott of the Cowboys wore a bucket hat and passed for four touchdowns, while the Lions’ Jared Goff threw two TD passes.
For the AFC, the Bengals’ Joe Burrow threw for a touchdown and was credited with a passing and receiving score on the same play when he and Dolphins running back De’Von Achane pulled off a trick play in the first half.
It was a good day all around for Burrow and his Bengals teammates.
Cincinnati wide receiver Tee Higgins caught touchdown pass from Burrow’s backup, Joe Flacco, while receiver Ja’Marr Chase had a highlight on defense — a one-handed interception of Goff that he returned 50 yards for a TD.
Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders started for the AFC and threw for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Sanders was a late addition to the event as the replacement for Drake Maye, who’s preparing to lead the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Broncos tackle Garrett Bolles got in on the fun, catching one of Sanders’ TD throws.
Romantic meals aren’t all going down at buzzy hotspots or white-tablecloth institutions. They unfold in neighborhood fixtures you’ve overlooked, suburban newcomers flying under the radar, or dining rooms more popular among locals than Instagram. We feature 12 such spots around the region, including Northridge at the Woolverton Inn, tucked into the woods just outside of Stockton, N.J., where chef Lance Knowling (above) sauces a plate. Read on for our ideas.
💡Because Valentine’s Day falls on a Saturday this year, the reservation books at the city’s buzziest restaurants are already just about locked up. Consider this your reminder that love is flexible — and so is the calendar.
Why settle for Swiss Miss when you could sip on velvety cioccolata calda, piquant cinnamon- and chili-laced dark chocolate, or creamy chocolat chaud in cozy cafes across the city? Let Hira Qureshi show you what’s hot in hot chocolate.
This year’s Super Bowl may be Birds-less, but a watch party requires food even so. Our food team has you covered for tips on the best cheesesteaks, hoagies, wings, and tomato pie, plus beer and wine. (In our case, whine.)
Gourmet grocer Di Bruno Bros. is closing three of its five locations, including two on the Main Line. Meanwhile, customers say they saw this coming, contending that quality had dipped in recent years.
Deli drama in Cherry Hill
The Kibitz Room in Cherry Hill’s Shoppes at Holly Ravine shut down last week without notice, and its future is unclear. Owner Sandy Parish — who took over last year when her former husband, Neil, and son, Brandon, left to open the Kibitz Room King of Prussia — did not reply to a message seeking comment.
Here’s the history: The Kibitz Room was founded in 2001 by Russ Cowan, who now owns the nearby Radin’s in Cherry Hill. Two years later, Cowan sold it to Neil Parish, his manager. The business evolved into a family-run operation, with son Brandon taking over after the Parishes divorced. Neil Parish moved to the Baltimore area, where he ran delis, until he and Brandon opened the unrelated Kibitz Room King of Prussia in Valley Forge Center in spring 2025. That location is still open.
The food team has been out in the cold, and our tasty finds include a taste of home in Northern Liberties, two warming bowls in South Philly, and these yummy maritozzi from a bakery in Roxborough that keeps quirky hours.
Scoops
Fishtown and Kensingtonhave a lot of restaurant variety nowadays. There’s the usual and now … the unusual. Here’s first word about Philly Curio,targeting a March opening at 2240 Frankford Ave. on the Fishtown–Kensington line. Troy Timpel, founder of Villain Arts and organizer of the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention, is setting it up as an intimate, art-driven restaurant-bar built around his private collection of curiosities. Framed tribal masks will line the walls. Each table will be a glass enclosure featuring a different preserved animal form, including skeletal and taxidermy displays. (Gives new meaning to getting stuffed at dinner, I suppose.) Inspired by Alligator Soul in Savannah, Ga., Timpel is seeking a chef to execute his idea for a Cajun-Creole menu of small plates and unconventional proteins such as rattlesnake. Beverage offerings will include a limited draft list, bottled beers, an extensive wine selection — including natural and nonalcoholic options — and a full cocktail program.
Recent Rowan grad and Elixr Coffee barista Kaitlyn Tran and her mother, Sue Chen, are planning a summer launch for Sora Cafe, a matcha- and coffee-focused cafe at 12th and Sansom Streets, where Edible Arrangements was. Tran says they’ll take a serious, intentional approach to matcha. The menu also will include Taiwanese-style shaved ice desserts made with real fruit.
Restaurant report
February’s restaurant openings include two restaurants’ expansions to Narberth (including Malooga, shown above); a chic, two-level restaurant/lounge in Center City; and an intriguing wine bar/bottle shop in Chestnut Hill.
Briefly noted
The Tasties, the annual restaurant awards overseen by the Delicious City podcast, drew 600-plus revelers to Live! Casino the other night. Beatrice Forman presents the pageantry and the winners.
Zsa’s, the Mount Airy ice cream parlor, is coming back this weekend under a new owner.
Sunrise Social has launched a surf-and-turf special at its Fishtown and Cherry Hill locations, with proceeds benefiting chef/photographer Reuben (“Big Rube”) Harley, who is battling stage 4B prostate cancer and coping with heart and kidney failure. The $32.99 dish features lamb chops, lobster tail, and three-cheese grits. Harley and Sunrise Social founder Aaron Anderson ran ghost kitchens during the pandemic as well as Big Rube’s Fried Chicken together at Subaru Park in Chester. Rube’s GoFundMe is here.
East Passyunk Restaurant Week returns for its 14th edition from Feb. 23 to March 6 with 21 participating restaurants offering $20, $40, and $60 options. Details are here.
New Ridge Brewing in Roxborough says it will be closed by fire longer than previously believed. Firefighters were called to 6168 Ridge Ave. on the morning of Jan. 29.
Miller’s Ale House’s Northeast Philadelphia location (Grant Avenue and the Boulevard) told the state that it will shut down March 30, putting 49 employees out of work.
Fourteen Bahama Breeze restaurants, including those in Cherry Hill and King of Prussia, will close on or before April 5, parent company Darden Restaurants has announced. Fourteen others will shut down over the next year and a half. Both Philly-area locations opened in late 2003.
The Original Charlie’s Pizza’s location in Northeast Philly’s Morrell Plaza announced that its last day will be Feb. 28. Owners say they were unable to negotiate a new lease. (Here’s a backgrounder on the original Charlie’s, which operated for decades on the Boulevard near Adams Avenue.)
❓Pop quiz
The shuttered dive bar McGlinchey’s is on the market. What is the asking price?
There’s been signage for a cafe called Yolotl at the corner of 17th and Tasker Streets in Point Breeze for months, but no sign of an opening. Can you shed some light on what’s going on with it? — Will F.
Yolotl (Nahuatl for “heart” or “spirit”), a Mexican cafe, will be a joint venture between Drexel senior Yenni Meneses-Aparicio and her mother, Juana Aparicio, who owns Pancho’s Cafe in Northern Liberties. (No relation to El Chingon chef-owner Carlos Aparicio.) Meneses-Aparacio says it will offer specialty coffees, juices, tres leches cakes, and other desserts, plus a few light savory options. She attributes much of the delay to the fact that it’s a complete restaurant build-out. They’re hoping to open in March.
📮 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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Sixth and Bainbridge’s French scene is coming back with the new Side Eye, an all-day bar opening Saturday in the mid-19th-century building that housed the late, great Bistrot La Minette.
Owner Hank Allingham has shifted away from La Minette’s tightly focused French bistro style in favor of what he calls “French-ish” food alongside beer, $13 cocktails, and European wines.
Side Eye owner Hank Allingham (left) with lead bartender Ryan Foster inside the bistro.
Side Eye is meant to be flexible — “the kind of neighborhood spot you can use for most situations,” Allingham said. “You can come for a date-night dinner, eat alone at the bar, or watch a game.”
This is the ownership debut of Allingham, who grew up locally and spent his previous career working in restaurant finance and operations for companies such as Sally’s Apizza in New Haven, Conn., and P.J. Clarke’s in New York and Philadelphia.
The exterior of Side Eye, 623 S. Sixth St.
When it came time to open his own place, he and his wife, Kat, wanted to be in South Philadelphia and searched broadly between South Street and Snyder Avenue.
“I know this isn’t technically ‘South Philly,’ but Queen Village is beautiful and incredibly historic,” he said. “A lot of the facades — including this one — are really special, and from a curb-appeal standpoint, it’s hard to complain.”
A bourbon old fashioned, hot penicillin, and vieux pommier at Side Eye.
The location at 623 S. Sixth St. was, in fact, a dream home for the Allinghams’ restaurant. Shortly after moving back to Philadelphia, the couple dined at Bistrot La Minette before its closing in mid-2024. “We remember saying to each other, ‘If only this space ever became available,’” Allingham said. “Then it did.”
The opening, initially targeted to December, has been a case of hurry up and wait. “The holidays just sort of slowed the world down, frankly. When we got approval on Dec. 17, I was fairly certain we were going to be waiting awhile just because of the timing.”
The Side Eye team (from left): Abbey Smith, front of house manager, Ryan Foster, lead bartender, Finn Connors, chef, and Hank Allingham, owner.
Side Eye is named in memory of the couple’s dog Sheba, who would at first give the side eye to anyone she didn’t know. She died in 2021.
The cozy room includes a 20-seat bar (relocated to the opposite wall), with an additional 12 seats along a rail. There are 40 seats in the dining room, a rear dining room with 16 additional seats, and a seasonal patio.
In the kitchen is executive chef Finn Connors, most recently at Sally in Fitler Square, with earlier experience at Wilder and Osteria. Connors makes nearly everything in house, including breads, pastries, pastas, and desserts.
Tagliolini at Side Eye.
Dishes include tagliolini tossed with café de Paris butter; peppercorn burger finished with jus and Fromager d’Affinois on a seeded bun; French onion soup with 12-month Comté; triple-cooked frites; moules marinières with baguette, crab fat, nori, witbier, and crème fraîche; and stuffed cabbage filled with braised short rib, mushroom duxelles, and tomato Bordelaise. Desserts include a classic crème caramel, served warm and finished with salt.
Menus will shift throughout the day from lunch into dinner. Ninety minutes before closing, the kitchen will pare things back and add a late-night menu with snacks such as a raw bar with oysters on the half shell and shrimp cocktail.
Side Eye owner Hank Allingham prepping tables inside the bistro.
The beverage program, overseen by Messina Social Club alumnus Ryan Foster, includes eight cocktails priced at $13, eight draft beers, and a French-leaning wine list highlighting small producers.
Side Eye eventually will be selling wine to go, with bottles displayed along the outer portions of the back bar, in a retail-style presentation similar to the one at South Philadelphia favorite Fountain Porter. The to-go selection, largely separate from the by-the-glass list, will rotate regularly, beginning with six reds, six whites, a few sparklings, skin-contact wines, and a rosé.
Among the beers will be Budweiser served in frozen mugs.
Budweiser?
“Because we like it,” Allingham said.
Side Eye, 623 S. Sixth St. Hours on opening weekend: 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday and 5 to 11 p.m. Sunday. Hours starting Feb. 9: noon to midnight Monday through Thursday, noon to 1 a.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday. Fifty percent of Feb. 7’s proceeds will be donated to People’s Kitchen.
Data centers require a lot of energy, which can increase consumers’ bills. Elected officials in Pennsylvania and New Jersey hope to help as the centers proliferate across the country and region.
⚡ Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro says he’ll prevent data center developers from “saddling” residents with higher energy costs with the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development plan. Presented during his 2026-27 fiscal year budget address Tuesday, the GRID plan would require data centers to supply their own energy or pay for any new generation they need.
⚡ In New Jersey, Gov. Mikie Sherrill has prioritized energy costs by freezing utility rates, expanding programs to spur new power generation in the state, and ordering electric utilities to report energy requests from data centers.
⚡ Other lawmakers in the two states have proposed legislation related to data centers, too. Nearly 30 bills address the facilities’ energy sources, water usage, environmental impacts, and general regulation, as well as rising consumer costs.
See the full details on Shapiro’s proposed $53.2 billion state budget, which focuses on affordability, development, and raising Pennsylvania’s minimum wage.
Learn what Montgomery County’s PJM has to do with data centers, and why the company has been a frequent target of Shapiro, officials from other states, consumer advocates, and the federal government.
A developer wants to increase the size of a proposed data center on a remediated Superfund site in East Whiteland Township, stoking ire from nearby residents.
Not to alarm the procrastinators among us, but Valentine’s Day is in 10 days. Still need to make a dinner reso? Consider these picks beyond the typical date-night dining spots, courtesy The Inquirer’s food team:
🍷 Malbec Argentine Steakhouse in Society Hill offers heart-shaped flan (cute!) and special anniversary deserts alongside lots and lots of meat.
🍷 Abyssinia in West Philadelphia invites you to share a platter of Ethiopian comfort food, then cap off the night with a visit to the cozy cocktail bar upstairs.
🍷 Spring Mill Cafe in Conshohocken is a white tablecloth-type place, yes, but one set in a 19th-century farmhouse.
More food news: February brings a slew of Philly-area restaurant openings, including a slick lounge in Center City and the reboot of a South Jersey brewery. And you simply must try the pho cocktail at Gabriella’s Vietnam, an homage to family tradition.
The Trump administration bought a nearly 520,000-square-foot warehouse in Berks County as it plans to convert such facilities across the country into immigration detention centers.
Sen. Cory Booker, the Jersey Democrat widely considered a potential presidential contender for 2028, has out-fundraised almost every other 2026 candidate for Congress.
A Montgomery County personal injury attorney has been suspended following allegations that he misled at least 16 clients on settlement offers that did not exist.
Princeton University’s president said the school will make cuts, given “political threats” to its finances, as well as endowment projections.
SEPTA will no longer post alerts on social media about potential delays and cancellations due to driver shortages following improvements to its tracking tools and staffing levels.
Quote of the day
The countdown to the 2026 baseball season began Tuesday as the Phillies loaded up the truck for spring training in Clearwater, Fla. Packed items included thousands of baseballs, hundreds of batting gloves, several children’s bicycles, and one very important hot dog launcher.
Strip club Lou Turk’s, a Delaware County staple for more than 50 years, announced it is changing its name to The Carousel Delco — but that it will continue its annual sale of what?
Cheers to Lauri Jacobs, who solved Tuesday’s anagram: Starbucks. The coffee chain’s Schuylkill Yards location is the latest to unionize in Philadelphia.
Photo of the day
A pile of snow and ice sits on Eakins Oval in front of the Philadelphia Art Museum days after a fierce winter storm dropped more than nine inches of snow and sleet, with freezing temperatures leaving large banks of ice and snow on streets and sidewalks.
Someday, all that snow will melt. Probably. Until then, be well.
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Shockingly, Delaware County has only one strip club, Lou Turk’s in Tinicum Township. Not shockingly, it bills itself as “historic” and a “Delco icon.”
Over on Yelp, reviewers call it a “hallowed hall,” “better than expected,” and “the Cheers of the female entertainment industry in the Philly area.”
Now, folks can call Lou Turk’s something else: the Carousel Delco, though the odds that they will actually call it that are exactly zero. It’s as likely as Philadelphians calling the Gallery the Fashion District or anyone saying Columbus Boulevard instead of Delaware Avenue.
A Delco institution for more than 50 years, Lou Turk’s announced it was rebranding via a statement on its social media pages last weekend, prompting comments like “April fools?” “Fake news?” and “This may go down as the biggest travesty to ever occur in Delco … and my god that’s saying something.”
Along with the new name, the club released what appears to be new signage, with the word “CAROUSEL” spelled out using silhouettes of nude women. The establishment also announced recent renovations, new amenities, menu enhancements, and new management. Yeah, new management that did not return my requests for an interview about why this was done.
I have no idea what would inspire someone to name a strip club “The Carousel Delco,” aside from the fact that both have poles. The club’s statement seems to explain why the new name was chosen, but it actually doesn’t. Classic Delco.
“We are still a Delco bar — always have been, always will be,” it reads. “That legacy is exactly why this name was chosen.”
Wait, did Delco bars all used to have carousels inside? If so, I definitely missed this county’s Belle Époque.
When I saw the news, my biggest fear was that one of Delco’s most storied traditions could be in jeopardy — the annual Mother’s Day and Easter flower sales outside of the strip club. It’s been the subject of countless memes and something I’ve used in stories as shorthand to explain Delco culture.
Luckily, whoever wrote the club’s statement anticipated that concern and immediately assuaged all fears:
“We look forward to many more awesome memes along the way … and we will still be selling flowers this Mother’s Day holiday.”
Whew! I mean you wouldn’t want to tell your mom you bought her flowers at the Acme, would you?
Trials and tribulations
The establishment was purchased in the mid-1960s by the late Louis Saddic, who was better known as Lou Turk, a name he picked up as a kid in South Philly, according to a 1983 Inquirer article.
Located in the Essington section of Tinicum, just off of Route 291, the club is situated in between an Irish pub and a Wawa, because of course it is. It’s so close to the Philadelphia International Airport you can see the underbellies of planes flying low overhead, which historically made Lou Turk’s a popular layover spot for travelers. Being near the shipyard didn’t hurt either.
The building itself is a windowless parallelogram painted in a muddy brown, with LOU TURKS plastered in large white letters on a gray patch on the side and “LT’s Cabaret” written on the awning.
Lou Turk’s is at the intersection of Powahatan and Jansen Avenues in the Essington section of Tinicum Township.
It’s unclear if the business was always a strip club, but it definitely was by 1973, when it started to receive citations by the PLCB for “lewd, immoral or improper entertainment,” according to our archives.
In 1983, the club was raided twice, the second time by 55 police officers who confiscated a whopping total of $19 from dancers they claimed had sexual contact with patrons. Turk, who was subsequently hit with prostitution and racketeering charges, vehemently denied the claims, as did five dancers and five other employees arrested in the raid.
William J. Davies, then-deputy district attorney for Delaware County, said at the time of Lou Turk’s: “It won’t reopen” and “We are not going to tolerate this sort of thing out in Delaware County.” Boy, was he off base.
The following year at trial one dancer testified she would “haul off and slug” any patron who tried to get handsy, which tracks for Delco. Investigators who testified used marshmallows and hand puppets to describe what they allegedly witnessed in the club, a Daily News report said.
Turk was represented at trial by the late high-profile attorney A. Charles Peruto Sr., who at one point, while questioning a PLCB agent’s testimony about interactions between a dancer and a patron, “assumed the dancer’s squatting position in front of the jury box and questioned the agent about the physical possibility of the act he had described,” according to an Inquirer article.
It’s unclear if the jurors threw Peruto tips, but what is becoming clear is how the club got its storied reputation in the annals of Delco history.
Turk’s case ended in a mistrial because prosecutors didn’t supply his attorney with the necessary discovery material before the case went to court. You can’t hide anything when prosecuting a strip club.
In 1990, a judge ordered the club to close for a year, after it had racked up a dozen citations between 1975 and 1990, “the longest history of state liquor code violations in the Philadelphia area for lewd entertainment,” The Inquirer wrote at the time.
During the shutdown, the bar operated a sandwich shop with a walk-up window for a few months, but it didn’t cut the mustard.
Lou Turk’s reopened on July 1, 1991, and The Inquirer was surprisingly there on opening day to see a dancer named Gail with palm tree pasties perform to the dulcet tones of ’80s glam metal band Ratt.
The establishment hasn’t made headlines since, according to our archives, aside from a report by unnamed sources that Ryan Howard visited the club in 2008, and several passing references to it in stories about Delco culture by yours truly.
‘Holy mackerel!’
I’m not sure when I first became aware of Lou Turk’s. As a nearly two-decade transplant, it’s the stuff of legends that’s always been here and I’ve always heard talked about, like Wawa or the Lower Swedish Cabin.
Whenever someone asks for a suggestion for the best place to eat or visit on the Delco subreddit or on a local Facebook page, someone inevitably suggests Lou Turk’s, tongue-in-cheek, like they do Woody’s in Philly.
“I think I even got a Lou Turks answer to me asking about vets in the area for my cat lol I died,” one Redditor posted.
“Did the cat survive?” another asked.
“Yeah he got a lap dance and started feeling better.”
Several reviewers on Yelp attest that the club’s food is pretty good. Even Jim Pappas, who’s gained local notoriety for trying and cataloging more than 1,100 cheesesteaks in the tristate area on his Philadelphia Cheesesteak Adventure website and YouTube channel, gave the food a thumbs-up.
“Holy mackerel! Who knew Lou Turk’s would have great food?” he says in his review.
One Yelp reviewer in 2011 even used a cheesesteak analogy to describe the place.
“As far as quality of performers go, think of this place as a cheesesteak shop in comparison to LeBec Fin; you can get a very satisfying quality meal, but it’s not exactly something you’d be bragging about to everyone you meet,” they wrote.
Uncle Lou’s
Changing the name of anything is hard, especially around here, where change is as welcome as the Dallas Cowboys.
But it may be particularly difficult for Lou Turk’s, which is so ingrained in local culture some folks call it Uncle Lou’s.
That’s the great thing about Delco. It doesn’t have famous tourist sites like Longwood Gardens or King of Prussia Mall, but what it has it owns to the bone, including its lone strip club.
I doubt Black History Month will be paid any attention this year by a president who no longer feels the need to be so hypocritical that he would stand among Christians with a smile on his face and a Bible in his hand, only to later confess his ever passing through the pearly gates of heaven is highly unlikely.
Donald Trump no longer feels compelled to go through the motions of pretending to be something he never was. With age 80 rapidly approaching, he knows he’s never going to run for another political office. So why should he put on another performance to cull votes from demographic groups he never really cared about anyway?
Trump fell only 3% short of winning the Hispanic vote in the 2024 presidential race, a 21% improvement from the 2020 election. I wonder how many of Trump’s Hispanic supporters regret voting for him after having family members or friends detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement police and possibly deported?
President’s disdain
More Black folks were enticed by Trump’s blarney, too. He nearly doubled his Black support from 8% in 2020 to 15% in 2024. Trump repaid Black voters by signing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that he pushed through a Republican Congress, which cut taxes for higher-income households by slashing funding for food and medical assistance programs sorely needed by disproportionately poor Black families.
Trump signaled with his recent criticism of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that he wouldn’t be adding his voice to a chorus of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” during Black History Month. He said the law unfairly discriminated against white people.
“White people were very badly treated,” he said. “People that deserve to go to a college or deserve to get a job were unable to get a job. So it was, it was a reverse discrimination.”
Such an uninformed statement being made by a president of the United States is exactly why this country still needs Black History Month. Trump’s comment, however, also underscores the need to change how that 100-year-old celebration has been observed.
Trump isn’t wrong to call the Civil Rights Act a reversal, but he failed to put that assessment in context. He may drive nothing more powerful than a golf cart these days, but nonetheless, he should know that sometimes you have to put a vehicle in reverse to stop it from going in the wrong direction.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington is a repository of Black history.
The Civil Rights Act was needed to reverse the course of both the legal and traditional segregation that persisted in America decades after the Civil War ended slavery. It was hoped that affirmative action laws would, in time, become unnecessary and could end when all Americans were assured of equal treatment regardless of their race.
In fact, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor opined in a 2003 college admissions case before the U.S. Supreme Court “that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary.” But in too many respects, the need for policies designed to reverse the significantly diminished but nevertheless enduring racism in this country has not gone away.
More people might accept that reality if they had a better understanding of American history and realized that laws such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed by Congress on a bipartisan basis and upheld again and again by a nonpartisan Supreme Court because it was the right thing to do. Context is important, which brings us back to Black History Month.
Honoring people and ideas
What began as Negro History Week in 1926 was created by Howard University professor Carter G. Woodson to instill a greater sense of pride among African American students who mostly attended all-Black schools.
Focusing on these and other historically significant African Americans, including Sojourner Truth, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Malcolm X, and Mary McLeod Bethune, may have been fine when I attended segregated public schools in Alabama in the 1960s and ‘70s. But now, with white students attending integrated schools also observing Black History Month, it’s time to move beyond Woodson’s effort to instill pride among African American students.
Instead of celebrating individuals, Black History Month should focus more on the events and ideas that continue to impact how Black and white people coexist in an America that continues to struggle with both covert and subtle racism. Projects and book reports should explore the arguments made when the Civil War began, consider why Reconstruction failed to place African Americans on even footing with whites, and note the similarity of racist rhetoric 60 years ago and now.
A body is removed from the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., Sept. 15, 1963, after a bomb set by the Ku Klux Klan detonated during services, killing four girls. The author, Harold Jackson, was a child in the city at the time.
Sixty years ago, I was a 12-year-old attending an all-Black school in Birmingham, Ala. Two years earlier, 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed by Ku Klux Klansmen, and a child who attended my elementary school was one of the four little girls killed. Four years prior to that, I remember my mother walking me to an alley to relieve myself because no white store downtown would let a Black person use its bathrooms.
Birmingham is so much better than that now. America is better, too. But some days it seems to have prematurely shifted to reverse. Remedies to discrimination are being prematurely discarded even as racist rhetoric rises to levels that are uncomfortable reminders of what America was, and not what we want it to be. Black History Month is a good time to reflect on that reality and take steps to avoid slipping into a past we need to remember but not repeat.
Harold Jackson, who served as editorial page editor for The Inquirer from 2007 to 2017, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1991 and retired from the Houston Chronicle in 2020. His memoir, “Under the Sun: A Black Journalist’s Journey,” was published in April by the University of Alabama Press.
Actor, director, and producer Michael Bertrando was recently appointed to fill a vacancy on Kennett Square’s council.
Kennett Square Borough Council is getting a little brush with fame after Task stuntman Michael Bertrando was sworn in Monday to fill a vacant role, which he’ll hold until December 2027.
The longtime Kennett Square resident is no stranger to the borough. An actor, director, and producer, Bertrando has worked at his family’s 80-year-old sub shop for decades. Outside of his work at Sam’s Sub Shop, he has also been a stuntman for Mark Ruffalo on Task.
It’s been just over 13 years since the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened Exit 320, connecting drivers to Route 29 and slashing commute times to communities like Malvern. The all E-ZPass interchange has since helped spur billions of dollars in economic development throughout Great Valley.
Chester County and Paoli Hospitals both recently ranked among America’s 250 Best Hospitals by Healthgrades. The rankings, released last week, are awarded to the top 5% of institutions in the nation for “overall clinical excellence.”
💡 Community News
Pulte Homes of Pennsylvania is looking to build a new residential community on the vacant land near Ludwigs Corner in Chester Springs at 1246 and 1320 Pottstown Pike and 603 Birchrun Road. Last month, the homebuilder submitted a conditional use application to West Vincent Township to develop Promenade Chester Springs, which would consist of 28 single-family homes and 46 townhomes, as well as a tot lot and dog park. The application is currently under review.
Main Line Health has received a more than $530,000 state grant that will support its planned health center in Caln Township. The center will be at the corner of Lloyd and Manor Avenues and have primary, urgent, and specialty care, as well as imaging and lab services. Plans call for a roughly 145,000-square-foot, three-story facility on 14.5 acres. It’s slated to open in the summer of 2027.
Construction is underway to transform the former Quality Inn and Suites at 943 S. High St. in West Chester into a senior living facility. Charter Senior Living of West Chester will be a 162-unit community with 32 memory-care, 59 senior-living, and 71 assisted-living apartments. Leasing is expected to start late this year, with the project completed in late 2027.
The community is mourning the deaths of two area coaches. Joe Walsh, a longtime football, wrestling, lacrosse, and tennis coach at West Chester’s Henderson High School, where he was also a health and physical education teacher before his retirement, died of cancer last week at the age of 75. He is remembered as “an inspiration,” “a great coach,” and “a positive example for many, many young people.” John Robert Rohde, an Exton resident, West Chester University alum, and former Malvern Prep and Unionville High School lacrosse coach, died last week at the age of 77. Rohde served as commissioner of the Glenmoore Eagle Youth Association Little League and was a cofounder of Lionville Youth Association Lacrosse.
Penn Township Park closed on Monday for construction of an inclusive playground, pickleball, basketball, and hockey courts, as well as other updates. Construction is expected to take about one year. Sports fields are expected to be added in the future.
A monthslong $1.3 million Peco project to upgrade the electrical distribution system is set to begin Monday in Tredyffrin Township. Between now and August, work will take place on Westwind, Coldstream, and Churchill Drives, Contention and Stuart Lanes, Winston Way, and Tory Hollow, Cassatt and Old State Roads. There may be some temporary service interruptions, which Peco says will be communicated in advance.
In case you missed it, a developer is looking to upsize a proposed data center at a Superfund site in East Whiteland Township, despite community pushback. Last week, the developer appeared before the planning commission with an amended proposal that calls for a more than 1.6-million-square-foot center.
A new vintage shop is hosting a grand opening of its storefront at 26 S. Main St. in Phoenixville on Friday. Great Scott Vintage will sell vintage clothing, decor, and housewares.
Penn Vet plans to expand its Chester County presence to the tune of $94 million. The University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine plans to build a new lab building at the New Bolton Center in East Marlborough Township that will combine the state-funded Pennsylvania Equine Toxicology Research Laboratory and the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System. (Philadelphia Business Journal)
🏫 Schools Briefing
The Tredyffrin/Easttown School District’s board of directors adopted the preliminary 2026-27 budget last week, which has a $14.9 million operational deficit. Further budget discussion will take place at a finance committee meeting on Monday.
Owen J. Roberts School District has released its 2026-27 academic calendar. The first day of school will be Aug. 24 and the last day will be June 4, which is comparable to the current academic year.
There are parent-teacher conferences next Thursday and Friday in the Phoenixville Area School District. Sign up for a time here.
🍽️ On our Plate
Looking for a great date night spot? Jolene’s in West Chester and L’Olivo Trattoria in Exton are among the region’s under-the-radar romantic dining spots, according to The Inquirer’s Food reporters. The chic and modern Jolene’s blends “French-leaning food with a strong cocktail and wine list in a moody, unstuffy dining room,” while L’Olivo has a warm, familiar vibe to pair with its Northern Italian cuisine, The Inquirer’s Michael Klein reports.
A new takeout pizza and cheesesteak shop is planning a grand opening in West Caln this Friday. Bada Bing Steaks & Pizza is located at 691 W. Kings Highway and also offers sandwiches on house-made focaccia and wings.
Midway Grill in Thorndale, which is known for its hot dogs, is now under new ownership. The Zambaras family, who owned it for 60 years and across four generations, sold the Lincoln Highway establishment to the Cantalicio family effective Sunday. In a note to diners, the Zambaras family said they were grateful for the “unwavering support and loyalty” over the years.
🎳 Things to Do
🪴 Make Your Own Pot Workshop: Make your own 4-inch pot and then add a plant before taking it home. ⏰ Friday, Feb. 6, 6 p.m. 💵 $80 📍 The Green House, West Chester
🛏️ Once Upon a Mattress: This comedic musical puts a spin on classic tale The Princess and the Pea. ⏰ Friday, Feb. 6-Sunday, Feb. 22, select days and times 💵 $31.60-$41.80 📍 SALT Performing Arts, Chester Springs
👜 Renaissance Faire Flight Night: People’s Light’s first “flight night” of the year will be Renaissance-themed, with a cash bar. Attendees are encouraged to dress for the occasion. ⏰ Wednesday, Feb. 11, 6 p.m. 💵 $45 📍 The Farmhouse at People’s Light, Malvern
There’s a family room off of the kitchen, which has a chandelier, built-ins, and a stone fireplace.
Situated on 3.6 acres, this Landenberg home offers privacy without being too far off the beaten path. The updated home has a dining room with a statement chandelier, multiple sitting rooms, and an open-concept family room with a stone fireplace that adjoins the kitchen, where there’s an island and white cabinetry offset by dark granite countertops and a glass tile backsplash. There are four bedrooms upstairs, including the primary suite, which has vaulted ceilings and a large walk-in closet. There’s also a finished basement. Outside, there’s a deck, a hot tub, and an in-ground pool. There are open houses Friday from 5 to 6:30 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
Muhammad Ali’s one-time home has hit the market again, this time with a higher asking price. Also this week, The Kibitz Room’s future remains unclear after it unexpectedly closed last week, township council has approved over $15 million in bond ordinances, plus sewer work on Kresson Road has begun and will continue for several months.
The Mediterranean-style home spans nearly 6,700 square feet and has a pool and tennis court.
Champion boxer Muhammad Ali’s one-time Cherry Hill home has hit the market again, this time with an asking price of $1.975 million. That’s an increase from the last timethe Mediterranean-style home was listed three years ago.
The sprawling, nearly 6,700-square-foot Voken Tract home has six bedrooms, a greenhouse room, a gym, and a 12-foot wet bar. Situated on 1.5 acres, it also has an in-ground pool, a hot tub, and a tennis court.
While the home has been updated since Ali lived there over 50 years ago, his prayer room remains.
One person died and a firefighter was injured over the weekend after a fire broke out at a Cherry Hill home Saturday night. (Patch)
Township council last week voted unanimously to pass several ordinances appropriating over $15 million for improvements and purchases. The ordinances include nearly $5.6 million for township equipment, information technology equipment, parks and recreation site improvements, facility upgrades, and property or open space acquisition; over $7.7 million for road, sidewalk, and storm drainage improvements; and over $2 million for equipment upgrades and sewer improvements. Council also passed an ordinance appropriating an additional$50,000 for sewer improvements.
Beck Middle School Spanish teacher Kelly Harris is thanking members of the community for their emotional and financial support after a car crashed into her family’s Mullica Hill home several weeks ago, causing a fire and destroying nearly all their possessions. She and her husband Steve are also using the unexpected attention to remember their neighbors, Tom and Lisa Hengel, who were in the SUV and died that day. (Courier Post)
New Jersey American Water has begun construction to replace nearly one mile of an aging water main along Kresson Road between Springdale and Cropwell Roads. The $2.5 million upgrade is expected to take until June. Crews will be working most weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
This week, Red White & Blue Thrift Store announced an opening date for its Cherry Hill location. The store at 949 Church Rd., formerly a Big Lots, will host a grand opening on March 26. Red White & Blue Thrift is known for its selection of discounted clothing and accessories, houseware, toys, and sports equipment.
Preschool registration opened this week and continues through Feb. 13. Find more information on registration for 3- and 4-year-old preschoolers here.
Superintendent Kwame Morton released the district’s latest quarterly goals update last week, outlining this academic year’s initiatives. Recent highlights include integrating career readiness standards into the curriculum, launching a new online internship portal and tracking system, and adding over 200 new preschool students at the Malberg Early Childhood Center and Joyce Kilmer Elementary School. In the next couple of months, the district is planning pre-Advanced Placement training for middle school teachers, and focusing on more career readiness initiatives, including a district-wide framework with grade-specific benchmarks. The district continues to work on elementary enrollment balancing and construction work funded by bonds.
East boys basketball’s top scorer Jamieson Young was scheduled for surgery last week after suffering a fracture to the inside of his right ankle in a Jan. 17 game. Young was averaging 21.8 points per game. (NJ.com)
🍽️ On our Plate
Popular Jewish deli The Kibitz Room closed unexpectedly last week, and its future remains unclear, The Inquirer’s Michael Klein reports. Owner Sandy Parish has been running the Shoppes at Holly Ravine staple solo after her former husband, Neil, and son, Brandon, left to open a King of Prussia location last year.
Work continues on the H Mart on Route 70, including a new food court, and while there’s no reopening date yet, two new eateries have announced they’ll have locations there when it does. Jaws Topokki, which specializes in Korean dishes gimbap and topokki, is targeting a July opening date. It will be joined by Kyodong Noodles, which specializes in Korean-Chinese comfort foods like jjajangmyeon and jjambbong. Chain bakery Paris Baguette is also slated to have a location within H Mart.
Bahama Breeze at the Cherry Hill Mall is closing its doors this spring. Darden Restaurant Group, which owns the tropical-inspired brand, announced yesterday that it was closing or converting 28 restaurants nationwide. The Cherry Hill location is expected to remain open through April 5.
Looking to lock down your Super Bowl menu? The Inquirer’s reporters have put together guides to the best cheesesteaks, hoagies, tomato pies, and more. For party trays, Indeblue in the Barclay Farms Shopping Center offers an assortment of tandoori lollipop lamb chops, shashlik, and samosas, in addition to desserts. If you want wings, NJ.com put together a list of the best in the state, including two Cherry Hill spots, Dolsot House and Hen Vietnamese Eatery.
Looking for a romantic place to dine out this Valentine’s Day? The Courier Post recently rounded up several South Jersey spots, including Caffe Aldo Lamberti, noting the Marlton Pike spot has an award-winning wine list, seafood, steaks, pastas, and a raw bar.
Or if you want a sweet experience, Insomnia Cookies is offering 45-minute reserved seatings at its Cherry Hill outpost. The pop-up event takes place from 8 p.m. to midnight on Feb. 12 and 13, but seats are going fast. Order from the usual menu or try the holiday-themed pre-fixe menu that includes six cookies, three dips, and two bottles of milk.
🎳 Things to Do
💃 The Swing Loft Social Dance Party: Learn the popular “modern swing” at this all-levels dance class, where you can come alone or with a dance partner. ⏰ Saturday, Feb. 7, 7-11 p.m. 💵 $20 📍Storm Ballroom Dance Centre
🎨 I Heart Art: Check out works created by some of the township’s young artists in kindergarten through eighth grade. ⏰ Tuesdays and Thursdays, Feb. 10-19, 4-7 p.m. 💵 Free 📍Croft Farm Arts Center
🍿 Rom-Com Watch Party: Teens in sixth through 12th grade can watch a romantic comedy together. Registration is required. ⏰ Tuesday, Feb. 10, 7-8:30 p.m. 💵 Free 📍Cherry Hill Public Library
🧁 Cocktails and Cupcakes: Get tips and hands-on experience mixing up cocktails and decorating cupcakes at this 21-and-over event. Registration is required by Feb. 8. ⏰ Wednesday, Feb. 11, 7-9 p.m. 💵 $20 📍Congregation Kol Ami
The four-bedroom home spans more than 4,200 square feet.
Located in Short Hills, this spacious four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom home features a two-story foyer, a living room, a dining room with coffered ceilings, a step-down family room with a fireplace, an office, a den, and an eat-in kitchen with an island, granite countertops, built-in wine storage, and high-end appliances. All four bedrooms are located on the second floor, including a large primary suite with a sitting room, dual walk-in closets, and a bathroom with dual vanities and a whirlpool tub. Other features include a finished basement with a wet bar, and a deck with a retractable awning.
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