I never thought about eating duck with my granola. But adding granola to a leg of duck confit has turned out to be one of the most enduring ideas executive chef Dwain Kalup has brought to La Fia since arriving at this globally inspired bistro in downtown Wilmington, Del., almost six years ago. Kalup, who was recently named a James Beard semifinalist in the Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic category, has plenty of excellent dishes with diverse inspirations on the ever-changing menu, including a fabulous update of old-school shrimp toast (topped with crunch green papaya salad), kojinut squash-stuffed agnolotti, and irresistible deep-fried brioche beignets with herb butter.
But I can understand why this duck is one dish that never changes. It is a classic preparation at its heart, the meaty Pekin duck legs cure overnight in herbed salt with garlic before slowly simmering to tenderness in a crock of molten duck fat. The finished appetizer is all about contrasting modern flavors and textures: A glaze of yuzu koshu blends sweetness and citrusy spice while dabs of miso-mustard aioli add richness and zing. The crunch of savory granola scattered over top — oats and sesame bound with honey and tahini — lends a toasty snap to each bite of that meltingly soft duck. Add the juicy pop of tart pomegranate seeds along with the minty whiff of freshly torn Thai basil for a final flourish, and this duck has it all. La Fia, 421 N. Market St., Wilmington, Del., 302-543-5574, lafiawilmington.com
— Craig LaBan
The Nova salmon bagel from Radin’s Delicatessen topped with tomato and red onion.
Nova salmon bagel at Radin’s Delicatessen
Radin’s in Cherry Hillis known (maybe even notorious) for mind-bogglingly enormous portions that make one question their economic viability, but their bagel sandwiches are perfectly portioned and surprisingly easy to tackle. This Nova salmon bagel was no exception. Baked that day, the pumpernickel bagel was warm and springy, with no need for toasting. The red onion and tomatoes — my accoutrements of choice —were crisp and fresh. The salmon was buttery, and the generous layer of chive cream cheese had just the right amount of fluff. I could taste a little bit of everything in each bite, resulting in bagel perfection. Radin’s Delicatessen, 486 Evesham Rd., Cherry Hill, N.J., 856-509-5492, radinsdelicatessen.com
— Kiki Aranita
The Breakfast Board at the Sunroom at the Borgata with tasty tater-tots and espresso martinis. A pleasant start to a slow Saturday morning.
Breakfast board for two at the Borgata
A habitual nibbler, uncontrollable snacker, and expert nosher, there are few things I love better than a charcuterie board. Having so many options at my fingertips lights up my tastebuds. Up until recently I thought this rush only came from hard cheeses, jellies, and salty processed pork. Then I visited the Sunroom Lounge in Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel and discovered its “Breakfast Board For Two.” I waited for it with bated breath.
Arrive it did. There weregenerous portions of bacon, pancakes, croissants, and sugar-topped blueberry muffins. A buttery, cheesy, melt-in-your-mouth quiche was stacked next to a hefty helping of cornbread muffins. A side of golden tater tots made this a totally-worth-the-guilt breakfast experience.
If you are going all in on a totally lazy Saturday morning, wash it down with the Sunroom Lounge’s espresso martini. The splash of vanilla vodka makes it a breakfast-cocktail winner — as in move over, mimosas. Sunroom Lounge in the Borgata Casino Hotel and Spa, 1 Borgata Way, Atlantic City N.J.; 609-317-1000, borgata.mgmresorts.com
— Elizabeth Wellington
The Bowl de Avena oatmeal at La Jefa.
Bowl de Avena at La Jefa
Mornings at La Jefa are usually reserved for coffee and a little treat, like a hibiscus and raspberry concha or a dulce de leche doughnut dusted with pistachio sugar. But on the first warm Saturday in months, I was feeling alive and craved something heartier. This is where the Bowl de Avena came in, an oatmeal that feels special, much like everything else at the cafe from the family behind the historic Center City Mexican restaurant Tequila’s. The oats are steeped in golden milk, dotted with dollops of ricotta and raspberry jam, and then topped with fresh bananas, green apple, and strawberries. Paired with a natural-process pour-over from Guadalajaran coffee roaster Cafe Estelar, it made for the perfect cozy morning with a book and some sunshine. La Jefa, 1605 Latimer St., 215-475-5500, lajefaphilly.com
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
