“It tastes like oil from a real cheesesteak wrapper,” proclaims the slogan of Mama-Tee’s Philly cheesesteak-flavored extra virgin olive oil.
Mama-Tees are community fridges, notable for their bright yellow paint jobs, that are scattered around Philadelphia. The cheesesteak oil ($19) is part of a fundraiser to combat food insecurity locally, along with three other flavored oils: Basil Bliss, Truffle Love, and Pepper Pleaser. Proceeds go to helping fill the fridges with food. So if the oil prompts cheesesteak-flavored burps, it would do so in the name of a noble cause.
We at The Inquirer had to do a taste test.
Is this merely a novelty or could it have legitimate culinary applications?
The ingredients of the Philly cheesesteak-flavored oil intriguingly are only “extra virgin olive oil” and “onion flavor.” How could these two ingredients, neither of which involves cheese nor steak, encompass the nuanced experience of consuming an actual cheesesteak? The Inquirer sought to get to the bottom of these questions.
“It smells like a deli case,” said food editor Margaret Eby. “There is a cheesiness to it. It’s like that cheese oil that gets trapped in a charred, upturned pepperoni cup on your pizza.”
“I think it should be called ‘hoagie oil,’” said food reporter Beatrice Forman.
“It is like unwrapping a hoagie,” agreed critic Craig LaBan. “When you get the vinaigrette soaking through the wrapper. And it tastes like French’s fried onions, but burnt.”
“I don’t know what it could be used for,” said food reporter Michael Klein.
“It tastes like old fryer oil,” grimaced reporter Ryan Briggs. “It’s gravitating toward capturing that cheesesteak shop smell when they’re frying all the onions.”
Reporter Max Marin poured the oil over his youtiao, a savory Chinese cruller, while at lunch at Lau Kee in Chinatown. “It’s got a chemical taste that makes me think there’s a number in one of its ingredients.” But does it make the youtiao taste like a cheesesteak? “It does not.”
Inquirer reporter Max Marin pours Mama-Tee’s Philly cheesesteak-flavored oil on his youtiao at Lau Kee.
Various Philly chefs were more open-minded in the cheesesteak oil’s applications.
“I think the flavor is great,” said Juan De Ocampo, sous chef at Fairmount’s Manong, as he poured the oil onto a pile of fried shrimp chips.
“I kind of like the cheesesteak oil,” said dancerobot’s Justin Bacharach. “It’s pungent and although I don’t cook with olive oil, I would use it to add a little funk and fat to a dish, like to dress an antipasto with South Philly vibes like sharp provolone and soppressata, and in the Japanese canon, I think it would be fun drizzled on top of a gyudon (beef and onions over rice) where you’d normally use mayu (a Japanese scorched black garlic oil).”
“It feels really heavy,” said Melissa Fernando, the chef behind long-running pop-up Sri’s Company. “In Sri Lankan food, we mostly use coconut oil to cook, but I suppose I’d use this to sauté onions and garlic.”
That perceived “heaviness” is easily addressed, according to 637 Sushi Club’s Kevin Yanaga, no stranger to unusual pairings. “I just need a lemon or something acidic with it. I could then use it on a fluke crudo. It’s rough and funky on its own, but salt and acid would help.”
After careful consideration of these diverse opinions, the Mama-Tee cheesesteak oil had only one test remaining to undergo: a side-by-side comparison between it and the oil from an actual cheesesteak wrapper.
A Del Rossi’s cheesesteak (wit onions, of course) was summoned. A wrapper was licked. A shot of cheesesteak oil was taken. The wrapper had the distinct advantage of beefiness. When applied directly to the cheesesteak, the oil oddly enhanced the cheesesteak’s flavor. And another thing the oil had in common with a real cheesesteak? Real cheesy, oniony burps after consumption.
A Del Rossi’s cheesesteak and Mama-Tee’s cheesesteak oil, consumed in unison.
Mama-Tee’s Philly cheesesteak oil ($19) can be purchased at Wegmans in King of Prussia, though more locations may be added soon.
A non-alcoholic Philly spirits brand is finding early success by doing everything — from blending to bottling — by hand.
Cult of Trees is a new line of alcohol-free aperitifs produced at Maken Studios in Kensington. Inside the sunny production space, founder Meredith Sheehy spends hours each week distilling homemade herb blends into a line of zero-proof cocktails that taste like fizzy spritzes.
The brand’s three flavors include Hare Brain, which is akin to a cola-spiked negroni; Meadow Core, a citrusy and floral blend of red fruits; and Billy Goat, which tastes like rolling in a field of wildflowers thanks to a mixture of herbs, honey, and elderflower. Since sales began in January, Cult of Trees has been selling well at local grocery stores and bars, such as Solar Myth and Enswell, where the drinks are served straight or floated with sparkling water or cold brew.
For Sheehy, who moved to Philly in 2022, the city is as much an inspiration for the brand as the ingredients themselves. After closing her Brooklyn-based Mezcal bar La Loba Cantina due to the pandemic, Sheehy began bartending at Philadelphia Distilling. Philly, she said, had a refreshing scene.
“People will answer questions and pour tastes of curiosities on their back bars, with genuine excitement to share,” said Sheehy. “It’s a beautifully welcoming culture here.”
From left: Hare Brain, Billy Club, and Meadow Core, Cult of Trees’s three flavors of non-alcoholic aperitifs. Bottles are sold at Riverwards Produce in Old City and Herman’s Coffee in Pennsport.
Fascinated by distilling alcohol, yet increasingly conscious of her own dwindling consumption, Sheehy was inspired by the growing sober curious movement to start her own non-alcoholic cocktail brand.
Sheehy wanted to create something that wasn’t just about emulating the experience of drinking alcohol. Abstaining “shouldn’t mean that you need to take away flavor or an interesting story,” she said.
At Cult of Trees, each aperitif is made with ingredients sourced from Pennsylvania farms and requires a multiday routine of distillation, carbonation, and bottling. It’s an analog process that contrasts with that of large scale brands, which Sheehy said often rely on commercial flavor extracts — as opposed to dried botanicals or herbs — to quicken production and lower costs.
Meredith Sheehy, owner of Cult of Trees, sprinkles caraway seed into a mortar and pestle to make one of the herb blends for her line of zero-proof spirits.
Getting started, then getting set back
While at Philadelphia Distilling, Sheehy became close with Jack Falkenbach, the expert distiller and legendary Philly bartender that died last year at 44. Falkenbach, she said, was always “willing to explain specialized process details at the distillery. We both liked deep-diving on things like acid phosphate,” she said. “I deeply trusted his style of drink making and technical know-how.”
Falkenbach was among Cult of Tree’s earliest supporters, Sheehy said, and one of the first people she involved in building the company. Around this time last year, the pair was making test batches together; Falkenbach was focused on nailing the carbonation as Sheehy refined the packaging.
Then the first real workday arrived. Falkenbach did not.
Meredith Sheehy, owner of Cult of Trees, poses for a photo while preparing one of the herb bases for her line of zero-proof spirts, which is based at Maken Studios in Kensington.
His passing, Sheehy said, was doubly “heartbreaking,” but launching Cult of Trees left little time to grieve. “I did what all business owners have to do,” she said. “You recover and pivot, or you don’t and you lose the idea.”
Sheehy went on to launch the business with a single employee: Gordon Grubb, a veteran brewer who had been put out of work by Iron Hill’s sudden closures. Together, they make each batch of aperitifs.
Hand-bottled and hand-carbonated
Zero-proof spirits still require distillation to get the right flavors and mouthfeel, which is why many come with a higher price tag.
Each batch of aperitifs takes at least three days to produce, Sheehy said, and begins with her macerating and boiling the original herb blends that serve as the base for each beverage. Distillation is the longest part of the make process and can take upwards of several hours. After, Sheehy andGrubb carbonate and bottle each beverage by hand.
Hare Brain from Cult of Trees, a zero-proof aperitif that tastes like cola.
A single batch yields only 18 to 20 cases, according to Sheehy. “It’s labor intensive right now,” she said, “but will start to get more turnkey as we grow and are able to incorporate more equipment.”
“It’s a popular suggestion from our entire team when guests are looking for a unique and local NA option,” said Enswell manager Chelsea Boyer, who often pairs Hare Brain with Rival Bro’s Whistle & Cuss espresso. “The bitter nature and gentle carbonation of the Hare Brain pairs perfectly with the candied nuttiness of the espresso.”
Meredith Sheehy, owner of Cult of Trees, caps a bottle of Hare Brain at her Kensington production facility. Each bottle of the non-alcoholic spirit is packaged by hand.
The drinks have been selling well at Riverwards’ Old City location, said CEO Dan Morgan, buoyed by an April pop-up where Sheehy poured samples for guests. “I think their great flavors and beautiful packaging will really help them stand out,” Morgan said.
Cult of Trees production manager Gordon Grubb fills bottles of Hare Brain during the carbonation process at the brand’s Kensington studio.
Sheehy is betting on the same. “In my opinion, consumers increasingly want transparency, local sourcing, and a story behind what they drink,” she said. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”
What makes Philly’s halal dining unlike any other city is the diversity of cuisines available. It’s what made dining so exciting for me when I moved to Philly in 2020. As a Muslim growing up in Tennessee, halal options — aside from chicken and rice and one barbecue hotspot — were hard to come by. From the moment I began eating my way through my new home, it was clear Philly’s robust dining scene offered a grander landscape of halal eats.
Halal meat follows the tradition of zabihah, defining whether the animal has been fed and treated humanely before and during slaughter, blessed in the name of Allah, and drained of blood. The literal meaning of halal is “permissible,” which can be used to describe various parts of Muslims’ lifestyle, including dining habits. For example, rice and bread are halal, but alcohol and pork are haram — or prohibited.
Most halal-serving restaurants will identify themselves as such on their website or menus but a simple ask also helps verify. Similar to kosher meat, halal certifications are available, but “if it’s a Muslim-owned restaurant and they are guaranteeing and promising you that it’s halal, then that’s really the only research that’s required,” said Toba Hoda, who runs the Instagram account @phillyhalalspots.
Over the years, I’ve compiled a list of my favorite halal spots, from crispy Ethiopian fried chicken in West Philly to slow-cooked beef rendang in South Philly. Here are a handful of them that show the breadth of cuisines to try in Philly. — Hira Qureshi
Al-Baik Shawarma
Tucked into a commercial strip on the ever-busy Willits Road, Al-Baik Shawarma is one of the best Palestinian restaurants in Philadelphia. Hailing from Ramallah, chef-owner Sohaib Al-Haj and his family serve juicy cuts of chicken, beef, and lamb seasoned with aplomb. Nestle into one of the plush booths and order the mashawi mixed grill platter to savor it all: kufta, chicken and beef kebab skewers, and chicken wings alongside rice, salad, hummus, grilled onions, tomatoes, and fresh laffa bread. The Northeast restaurant also has some of the best falafel in the city. Here, you can sip on Palestine Colas and enjoy sweets like coconut basbousa and pistachio Nutella cookies from local bakers. At least, that’s what I do.
In West Philly, chef Kurt Evans is serving an entire halal menu featuring Black American Chinese takeout. That means I’m walking in ready to order their crispy collard green egg rolls, saucy oxtail “lo-mane,” sweet and spicy General Roscoe’s chicken, sweet potato chili wings, and jerk chicken skewers. With limited seating, it’s best to take your order home — although I usually sneak a bite inside and end up scarfing down the rest while standing on the sidewalk.
What if halal fried chicken was also gluten-free? At Doro Bet, sisters Mebruka Kane and Hayat Ali (who also own the nearby Alif Brew, which offers traditional Ethiopian coffee service with fresh-roasted beans, and Salam Cafe in Germantown) make those dreams a reality. The fast-casual West Philly hotspot — an Inquirer 76 pick two years in a row — serves crispy, teff-coated fried chicken spiced with either berbere or lemon turmeric. It’s just a few blocks west of Clark Park, perfectly located for a savory treat after my farmers’ market visits. The restaurant also has Ethiopian classics like doro wot and tibs, along with vegetarian options like falafel wraps and teff-flour fried mushrooms. And don’t sleep on the tiramisu, made with the richness of that same Ethiopian coffee.
Philly’s new era of Indonesian cafés includes a South Philly spot that’s got a halal, pork-free menu. Griddle & Rice is all about dishes that marry Indonesian traditions with current trends and American breakfast foods. Take the nasi uduk, a breakfast coconut rice platter packed with crispy fried marinated chicken, sweet chili egg and tofu, sweet soy tempe, crunchy veggie fritter, sambal terasi shrimp paste chili, and crackly garlic crackers; or the iga bakar platter with grilled, Indonesian-spiced braised beef ribs, white rice, fried egg, more sambal terasi, and a salad. I would recommend ordering one of the best bowls of congee — with halal curry chicken broth and shredded chicken breast — in the city. And don’t sleep on the drinks — I slurped up the es kopi gula aren, a smoky Indonesian palm sugar latte, and mango matcha with coconut water in one sitting.
The beloved late Ena Widjojo’s family-run restaurant has been feeding South Philly for more than 20 years. These days it’s her daughter Maylia who runs the place, but they’ve stuck to the script — halal Indonesian classics. I love venturing to South Philly for their slow-cooked beef rendang, saté chicken (marinated in sweet soy and makrut lime juice, topped with peanut sauce), and crunchy Krupuk (garlic and tapioca chips). And I’m always reminded why the menu earned a semifinalist nod from the James Beard Foundation in 2018.
Since its inception in 2023, Korea Taqueria has mostly operated with a non-halal menu, with halal chicken offerings on a if-you-know-you-know basis. But as of March, owners Alexander Sherack and Rene Lopez announced their shift to a fully halal menu. “We’d be getting DMs [about halal offerings] just about every month, so there was always this seed planted from day one,” Sherack said. “Once we found local suppliers we made the shift.” The Korean Mexican grub, located in South Philly, Fishtown, and West Philly, includes bulgogi beef birria tacos, gochujang wings, Kimchi cheese fries, Korean fried chicken sandwich, and more. Consider ordering my go-to: the meal sampler, for all of it one order. Wash it down with horchata or watermelon agua fresca.
One of the 76 most vital restaurants in the Philly area sits in the middle of Montgomery County. The hour drive to Madness of Masala becomes a mandatory pilgrimage for those seeking halal goat pepper fry, malai paneer kabab, andhra shrimp curry, and other South Indian classics. The fiery tandoori spices tingle on my tongue as I devour stuffed mirchi bajji, kali mirch paneer, and goat ghee roast. I only need to order their syrupy gulab jamun and a Hyderabadi masala chai to cool down.
What makes this a West Philly institution? It’s owner Saad Alrayes’ chicken shish tawook — best known simply as the chicken maroosh. The first time I took a bite of the sandwich packed with juicy pieces of grilled chicken, tomato slices, sautéed onions, and snappy pickles, generously drizzled with creamy garlic sauce in a long hoagie roll — the namesake “maroosh way” — I understood. This was most definitely the best sandwich in the city.
In an unbearably massive oversight, the city of Philadelphia has left National Treasure Nicolas Cage completely out of its Semiquincentennial festivities, despite the fact that he’s the only known person to have stolen the Declaration of Independence and climbed Independence Hall free solo in the last 250 years.
But fear not, for a group of suburban bars have mustered to pay homage to this chameleon king of cinema, this skin-shedding Snake Eyes of the silver screen with their revolutionary event: “Uncaged in Jenkintown: A Nic Cage cocktail crawl.”
Nic nugget: Cage has portrayed twice as many people as there were members of the First Continental Congress.
From 4 to 8 p.m. June 28, four Jenkintown bars within stumbling distance of each other — the Keep Easy, the Drake Tavern, Buckets Bar, and Kings Corner — will be featuring Cage-themed cocktails, showing Cage movies, and hosting “Cage matches.”
Songs from Cage’s films will be performed live in an alley, the local movie theater is hosting a late-night screening of a Cage film, and, for the Wild at Heart, even a tattoo parlor is getting in on the festivities.
In an Adaptation of a typical bar crawl, participants who register for this event will receive a pretty Kick Ass “Uncaged Cocktail Crawl Kit” filled with goodies that would be a Dream Scenario for any Cage fan.
Mel Hager — an owner of the Keep Easy who described her Cage fandom as “AhaHAhahAA [maniacal Cage laughter] OUTRAGEOUS OOooOO!!” — said the participating bars host a Festivus-themed crawl during the holidays and they wanted to create a summer-themed crawl too (luckily, there’s no chance of getting Snowden at this time of year).
“Who doesn’t like Nic Cage?” she said. “It’s insane how he puts in the work. Every time I turn around I’m like ‘Is he a robot? How does he do so many movies?’ He’s an enigma but yet he does seem like all of us but also maybe he’s an alien? I don’t know, but it’s fantastic.”
Nic nugget: Cage has never played an alien, but he was convinced he was one as a kid.
The event is free to attend, but participants who want to compete for Cage-themed prizes will need to either preregister online for $15 or register in person the day of at the same price to receive their Uncaged kit. Each kit contains one of five random Cage masks to be worn during face-offs against opponents in “Cage matches.”
Every bar will have its own Cage match competition that will pit two players in a tête-à-tête game based on a different Cage movie to determine who’s the Lord of War. The game at Buckets, for example, is called the “Flying Elvis” and it’s based on the scene in Honeymoon in Vegas where Cage goes skydiving with a group of Elvis impersonators. Contestants will have to throw toy parachute soldiers (hand-painted to look like Elvis) to see who can land them closest to a tiny mock-up of the Vegas strip.
For every challenge won, participants will get a stamp in their Cage pub passport, which is included with the kit. At 7:30 p.m., an awards ceremony will be held and those with the most stamps will receive Cage-themed prizes. Hey, It Could Happen to You.
Cage crawlers are also urged to get stamps in their passport for every Cage-themed beverage they consume. The Keep Easy will be serving “Mandy’s Electric Lemonade,” a reference to the surreal horror film, Mandy,that’s made with blue Curaçao, a libation just as colorful as Cage’s career.
“We’re trying to bring out his spirit in our spirits,” Hager said.
Also included in the kit is a photo scavenger hunt with challenges at every establishment, like snapping a picture with Picolas Cage, a life-size cut-out of Cage as a pickle (he’s kind of a big dill).
“We had Picolas Cage already because we had a pickle crawl one year and I love Nic Cage…so he’s making a comeback,” Hager said, gherkin out.
Those who preregister will also receive a piece of Cage cash, a very not legal form of tender with Cage’s face on it that will get you a specialty shot at one of the four participating bars, if you want to cash it in.
Nic nugget: Cage once spent $276,000 on a dinosaur skull he later had to turn over to the Mongolian government.
A Nic Cage-themed bar crawl? Just take our money now.
During the crawl, local musician Gerard Regan will Rage in nearby Yorkway Alley, playing songs from Cage movies. Prior to the festivities, Nobleheart Tattoo Gallery will have a special on Cage-themed tats from 1 to 4 p.m. And following the crawl at 9:30 p.m., the Hiway Theater will show Cage’s 1988 film, Vampire’s Kiss, if you have Time to Kill.
Costumes are encouraged and given that Cage has portrayed every kind of character from an angel to a vampire, the possibilities are endless. So get Primal with it, because you don’t want to be Left Behind.
“It’s like the whole town is getting involved,” Hager said. “Like Nic Cage would, just come on out and have fun. You deserve it.”
As Philadelphia prepares to welcome visitors for the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations, one of its most notable historic sites will stir back to life — at least outdoors.
Historic Philadelphia Inc., through an agreement with Independence National Historical Park and in partnership with event company Cescaphe, plans to open the Garden at City Tavern on June 25, transforming the shaded plot behind City Tavern into a seasonal destination featuring food, drinks, historical interpreters, lawn games, and special events.
The garden behind City Tavern, Second and Walnut Streets, on June 18, 2026.
The garden will operate from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday to Sunday through Labor Day on the grounds behind the shuttered restaurant at Second and Walnut Streets, offering visitors a chance to gather at a site that played a prominent role in Revolutionary-era Philadelphia.
What visitors will not find, though, is a reopened City Tavern.
The restaurant inside the three-story brick building has been dark since October 2020. Though the closure became associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, former chef-proprietor Walter Staib said the building’s mounting physical problems were the larger issue.
City Tavern chef/proprietor Walter Staib serving Ralph Archbold, portraying Benjamin Franklin, on Dec. 21, 2005.
“COVID was the perfect excuse to close, but it wasn’t the real reason,” Staib said Thursday. “The tavern would have closed anyway. The liabilities had become too great.”
The National Park Service sought a long-term operator in 2023, but no successor has been announced. “Lease negotiations are in process, which we hope to conclude by the end of summer,” park superintendent Steven Sims said in a statement to The Inquirer.
For now, Historic Philadelphia is concentrating on the garden.
“We really wanted to activate City Tavern itself,” said Amy Needle, president and chief executive officer of Historic Philadelphia. “The garden has always been a gorgeous space. For now, we’re focusing on that.” She said the seasonal run could be extended if demand remains strong and hopes to bring the pop-up back each summer.
City Tavern, on Second Street near Walnut, on Jan. 26, 2023.
Founded in 1773, City Tavern served as a gathering place for merchants, politicians, and many of the nation’s founders. Delegates to the First Continental Congress dined there, while George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin were among its patrons.
The original structure was damaged by fire in 1834 and demolished two decades later. The current building is a reconstruction commissioned by the park service and opened in 1976 as part of the nation’s Bicentennial celebration.
For decades, City Tavern operated as both a restaurant and a living-history attraction, eventually becoming closely identified with Staib, the German-born chef, historian, and television personality who took over the operation in 1994. Under his stewardship, the restaurant gained national recognition for menus inspired by colonial recipes and traditions, helping launch cookbooks and the PBS series A Taste of History.
Chef Walter Staib is shown at City Tavern in 2013.
Staib said many people still contact him, especially around patriotic holidays, asking when the tavern will reopen. “I tell them, ‘I’ve got nothing to do with the tavern,’” he said.
He said he declined an invitation to appear at the garden’s opening, but he would be delighted to advise a new operator. At 80 years old, he said, his days of restaurant ownership are history.
Among the building’s challenges, Staib cited the lack of a sprinkler system in dining rooms, aging infrastructure, and the absence of an elevator. Even before the closure, he estimated that bringing the property into compliance would require millions of dollars. “Add another six years of deterioration,” he said, “and it’s even more expensive now.”
The garden behind City Tavern, Second and Walnut Streets, on June 18, 2026.
Historic Philadelphia, meanwhile, saw an opportunity to bring activity back to the property. Backed by a grant from the Connelly Foundation, the organization upgraded the garden with new landscaping, seating, and other amenities. It also enlisted Cescaphe — Historic Philadelphia’s partner in other ventures, including Franklin Square — to operate the seasonal pop-up; financial terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.
Despite the historic setting, the food and beverage offerings are decidedly contemporary. The menu includes turkey sandwiches, wraps, charcuterie boards, pretzels, beer, wine, and canned cocktails with names such as Patriots Punch, Birthday Brew, and Liberty Lemonade. Cescaphe will use an off-site commissary rather than City Tavern’s dormant kitchens. Unlike the former restaurant, staff will not wear colonial-era clothing.
City Tavern, Second and Walnut Streets, opened in 1976 on the site of a former colonial tavern.
Historic Philadelphia’s “History Makers” interpreters will appear regularly at the site, and the organization’s Independence After Hours tours will conclude at the garden on Saturday evenings. During the Historic District’s Red, White & Blue To-Do celebration on July 2, the garden also will host live music.
Needle said the project reflects Historic Philadelphia’s broader mission of bringing activity to public spaces and historic sites.
“The garden is already used by neighborhood residents,” she said. “People walk their dogs there, and visitors come through as well. Part of our mission is bringing these places to life, so we’re excited to do that here.”
Popular Main Line bakery The Buttery is officially opening its doors in Bryn Mawr this weekend, marking the third location in a growing collection of cafésowned by husband-and-wife duo John and Silenia Rhoads.
Known for its sourdough breads, homemade pastries, and seasonal dishes, The Buttery describes itself as “part village bakery, part coffee shop, and part scratch kitchen.”
The Rhoadses opened the first Buttery location in Malvern in 2015 and have since expanded into the Ardmore Farmers Market and now Bryn Mawr, at 836 W. Lancaster Ave. The Buttery previously had a satellite location at the Malvern train station, which closed in December.
Vinny Petraglia, culinary operations director, drizzles olive oil on the avocado toast at The Buttery in Bryn Mawr.
Joli Ridenour, The Buttery’s community manager, said customers have been asking the bakery to expand for years. When they opened in Ardmore in October, patrons were over the moon about not needing to drive to Malvern to get their beloved kouign-amann and sourdough.
John Rhoads grew up in Devon, and he, Silenia, and their three teenagers now live in Paoli, so finding another outpost on the Main Line just felt right.
Bryn Mawr felt like “a good center point on the Main Line,” John Rhoads said.
“We’re so excited to be in this town. There’s such a hustle and bustle,” Silenia Rhoads said, adding that she’s already seen a “sense of community.”
At the bakery’s soft opening on Wednesday, loaves of sourdough and baguettes peeked out from behind long glass cases stuff with butter croissants, lemon currant scones, and fresh bagels. Packaged cookies, branded T-shirts, and bags of homemade granola lined the walls, and customers stopped to chat with the Rhoadses.
The 82-seat café is spacious, laid out with long communal tables, corner booths, and scattered two- and four-tops. The Buttery team wanted multiple kinds of seating options to allow for different dining experiences, from neighbors grabbing a quick coffee to families coming in for a long lunch.
Silenia (left) and John Rhoads, owners of The Buttery, at their new location in Bryn Mawr. Said Joli Ridenour, The Buttery’s community manager, “We want people to feel really at home and welcome and like they’re walking into an old friend’s house.”
“We want people to feel really at home and welcome and like they’re walking into an old friend’s house,” Ridenour said.
The Buttery’s Bryn Mawr location is serving its full breakfast and lunch menu, which includes bagels, quiches, sandwiches, open-face tartines, salads, and speciality Passenger coffee and tea drinks. The Rhoadses said they are hoping to expand to dinner service, as they have in Malvern, in the fall or winter.
Ridenour said the bakery always tries to source locally, milling flour out of local grain and purchasing eggs from Highspire Hills Farm in Glenmoore. Almost everything is made in-house, including roasting their own meat for roast beef sandwiches.
What to order? The Buttery’s staff says you can’t go wrong. The sablé cookie, a buttery French shortbread cookie, is a signature dish. Silenia Rhoads recommends the seasonal panzanella salad, made with fresh smashed cucumber, asparagus, homemade croutons, and a potpourri of herbs. The breakfast sandwich, serviced with harissa aioli on an everything brioche bun, is also a fan favorite.
Turkish eggs with homemade naan at The Buttery in Bryn Mawr.
The Buttery has been able to expand in large part due to a bakehouse the Rhoadses opened in Norristown a year ago. With more space and a centralized food preparation location, the bakehouse has “enabled us to set our sights on more,” John Rhoads said.
The couple said a Northern Liberties location will open later this year, and further growth is on the horizon for 2027.
The Buttery’s Bryn Mawr grand opening will kick off on Saturday. The bakery will debut a special Bryn Mawr-only pastry, a lemon poppy kouign amann baked with house-made creamy poppy seed spread and lemon sugar. The first 50 customers will get a branded tote bag and the first 100 will get a sablé cookie, on both Saturday and Sunday.
The Buttery will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., with kitchen service until 3 p.m.
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.
Angelo’s Pizzeria owner Danny DiGiampietro has been pursuing two ambitious goals: reviving a landmark Montgomery County bakery and opening a branch of his Michelin-recommended pizza-and-sandwich operation in South Jersey, where it all began.
Both projects now appear to be gaining momentum. While Angelo’s vaunted rolls are being baked at the former Conshohocken Italian Bakery property, which DiGiampietro purchased last year, the long-held plans to reopen the bakery’s counter to retail customers remain on hold. DiGiampietro said the building requires additional work, which he declined to specify. “Every time we fix one thing, something else comes up,” he said.
Danny DiGiampietro (left), owner of Angelo’s Pizzeria, with partner Jared Braunstein at the bakery in Conshohocken in December 2024.
But Angelo’s is moving into wholesale bread production, the backbone of Conshohocken Italian Bakery’s business under the Gambone family for more than a half-century before its 2024 closing.
A key piece of the puzzle is on the way: a massive Polin oven imported from Italy to give his bakers more flexibility, DiGiampietro said.
The future location of Angelo’s Pizzeria in West Collingswood Heights, previously Di’Nics, on June 18, 2026.
At “Conshy,” as the Jones Street bakery was known, the Gambone family supplied rolls and bread to hundreds of restaurants and sandwich shops throughout the region. Its closing created a frenzy among customers and competitors.
DiGiampietro said the new oven will allow bakers to create a line of kaiser rolls, potato rolls, steak rolls, and hoagie rolls. Although he will in effect be selling to his sandwich shop competitors, he likens it to giving shops “the canvas to make their art,” DiGiampietro said. “Everyone’s different.”
A return to wholesaling was not in the initial plans for DiGiampietro, who owned a bread bakery in South Philadelphia about 20 years ago. “I went bankrupt the first time. So hopefully I don’t go bankrupt again.”
Meanwhile, demolition and rebuilding are underway at the future Angelo’s Pizzeria location at 310 Black Horse Pike in the West Collingswood Heights neighborhood of Haddon Township, Camden County. The stand-alone building was formerly Di’Nics.
Crews recently gutted the building, which DiGiampietro hopes to transform into a full-service Angelo’s within the next several months.
The project will mark his return to New Jersey. DiGiampietro opened his first Angelo’s in Haddonfield in 2013 before closing it in 2018 to focus on the Ninth Street location in South Philadelphia, which opened in 2019 and helped turn Angelo’s into one of the region’s most sought-after pizzeria and cheesesteak shops.
The Angelo’s in West Collingswood Heights, about 10 minutes from the Walt Whitman Bridge, will include table seating as well as a counter overlooking the kitchen. Initially, DiGiampietro wanted more seating. Then he began talking about a takeout-only operation.
“But people love the show,” he said. “They like to see everything happening.”
The build-out still requires installation of a pizza oven, walk-in refrigeration, and other equipment. Even so, DiGiampietro believes the compact space can work.
“We think we can keep a dining room and still fit everything we need in there,” he said. “It’ll be tight, but we work on Ninth Street in basically a submarine, so how much tighter can it get?”
At noon on a bright June Tuesday, the scene at Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks & Pizza on the Wildwood boardwalk felt more like a South Philly block party than a soft opening.
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino worked the crowd at his new shop — hugging, shaking hands, posing for photos — moving easily among his friends and admirers. At 64, five years removed from the criminal justice system, the onetime alleged head of Philadelphia’s underworld is enjoying a second act that few could have predicted: cheesesteak entrepreneur, podcaster, and social-media personality.
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino (left) and Joe “Lil Snuff” Perri Jr. (right) posing with a customer outside the Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks & Pizza shop in Wildwood.
Orbiting him with a phone and a grin was Joe “Lil Snuff” Perri Jr. — 30 years his junior — Skinny Joey’s collaborator and the man who helped set him up with a new career. While customers lined up out front for steaks, slices, photos, $35 hats, and $25 T-shirts, Perri was shooting clips for social media.
Their partnership has transformed Merlino from a flashy, polarizing tabloid fixture into a flashy, polarizing Instagram-age brand. Merlino provides the mythology, while Perri supplies the algorithm.
Symbiotically, they are building an unlikely enterprise. Merlino gives Perri access, credibility, and a bigger stage. Perri gives Merlino comic relief, social-media fluency, and a way to be seen as entrepreneurial rather than simply infamous as a reputed former mob boss.
“Without me, there’s no him,” Perri said. “Without him, there’s no me. It’s just a good mix.”
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino joining customers at Skinny Joey’s in Wildwood during its soft opening on June 2. They call themselves “the Schuylkill Girls” (from left): Julie Shelton, Cindy McCullough, and Terry Landy, all of whom now live in Wildwood.
A ‘mob media’ moment
George Anastasia, who covered organized crime for more than 30 years at The Inquirer and now teaches an organized-crime course at Rowan University, said Merlino’s new career fits a broader moment in mob media.
Former wiseguys, associates, historians, and fans now gather in a true-crime subculture known online as “MobTube,” where the lore is packaged into YouTube shows, Patreon feeds, podcasts, clips, and merch.
Merlino has lived the story that fuels the genre. One of Philadelphia’s most recognizable organized-crime figures, Merlino was convicted in 1990 for his role in a $352,000 armored truck robbery in 1987.
In 2001, he and six co-defendants were tried on federal racketeering charges, including three counts of murder and two of attempted murder. Merlino was acquitted on those counts, but served about 12 years on other charges, including gambling and extortion. A supervised-release violation briefly returned him to prison in 2014, and a second major racketeering case ended in 2018 with a guilty plea to a single illegal-gambling charge after a mistrial. In a separate trial in 2004, he was acquitted of the 1996 killing of Joseph Sodano, an underling in North Jersey. Merlino completed federal supervision in 2021, but he’s been banned from New Jersey casinos since 1988 and from Pennsylvania casinos since a 2016 incident at the former SugarHouse Casino.
And Merlino has made it no secret that he is different from many of the former figures who populate the MobTube genre. Unlike Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, John Alito, and Jimmy Calandra, Merlino never cooperated with prosecutors.
“He saw guys who cooperated come back and become media sensations,” Anastasia said. “And I think he got [annoyed] that these are all guys who, in his view, violated the code, and now they’re making money on that old life. He did his time as a stand-up guy. ‘So [to heck with that] — I’m going to make money, too.’ And he created this brand.”
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino (left) and Joe Perri Jr. on the set of “The Skinny” podcast.
Perri helped make that legible to a younger audience.
“Lil Snuff is part sycophant and part guide,” Anastasia said. “He’s the one who, in a lot of ways, sets the flow. Joey is going to be Joey, but somebody has to keep bringing him back to the point.”
The rise of Lil Snuff
Before he was Merlino’s co-host, Perri was Lil Snuff.
The nickname came from his father: As a 10-year-old, Joe Sr. turned around when a cousin was calling for a dog named Snuffy. Boom. He was Snuff. When his son was born at Methodist Hospital in 1992, Snuff became Big Snuff.
As a teenager, Lil Snuffbussedtables at Stogie Joe’s, the Saloon, and Fitzwater Cafe. At 18, he joined the stagehands union. At 21, he got a job at Mall Chevrolet in Cherry Hill. The older salesmen had relationships and repeat customers. Perri’s mentor told him that he needed a lane.
It was 2013, and social media was beginning to reshape promotion. Perri started making his own brassy, unscripted commercials. “Selling Chevys for less” became his tagline.
He also made videos about gambling and food, his two passions. He was not famous, but he was visible in the South Philly-to-South Jersey social media corridor where restaurants, sports, betting, family, and neighborhood identity blur into one feed.
At the same time, Perri said, he was abusing pills. In 2014, at 22, his parents found him a rehab center in South Florida. To make sure he got there safely, they called a family friend whose Italian restaurant in Boca Raton had recently opened:
Joey Merlino.
“My father grew up with his grandfather,” Merlino said, explaining the bond. “I grew up with his father. I’ve known him since he was born.”
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino in 2014 at the Boca Raton restaurant bearing his name.
Perri said it took several attempts before recovery stuck. He has been sober since Sept. 11, 2016. “I’m big with recovery,” he said. “That’s the main thing in my life. I put sobriety first and then everything after that.”
Merlino’s — where Merlino was maitre d’ because his legal situation then precluded ownership — closed in 2016, just before the feds arrested Merlino at his home in Boca in the lead-up to his second racketeering case. “If I didn’t have this trouble, it would still be open,” Merlino said earlier this month.
After Merlino attained freedom in July 2021, producers called with movie, television, and book deals. Merlino turned them all down. “Nothing seemed right,” Merlino said. Someone brought up the idea of a podcast.
“I didn’t even know what that was,” Merlino said.
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino leaving the federal courthouse in Manhattan after being sentenced on Oct. 17, 2018.
His friend Raymond “Wags” Wagner explained the concept and suggested a loose format built around food and sports betting. Actor Kevin Connolly of Entourage fame, who was involved early as a producer, told Merlino that he needed a co-host.
“They said, ‘Who would you want?’” Perri said. “They were sending him people, and he was like, ‘I’m not doing nothing with these people.’”
Then Ray Wags suggested Perri.
“Joey was like, ‘100 percent. Get him on the phone,’” Perri said. “Kevin Connolly said, ‘Send me your videos.’ I sent him my videos, and he said, ‘You’re the guy.’ The rest was history.”
The world of ‘MobTube’
Merlino and Perri launched the video podcast in 2023. Viewers are not just watching Merlino talk about the old life. They see him bust Perri’s chops about eating too much and mock his parlays. They get gambling tips, watch them interview athletes and celebrities — all part of a South Philly generational comedy.
Perri describes it in family terms. “My dad’s my dad, but he’s also my best friend, too,” Perri said. “We gamble together. We go out together. We have fun together. So they see me and Joey as that, and they can’t figure out how we mix so good.”
“He’s good,” Merlino said. “I’m old, he’s young. He talks good, he’s funny. He’s a pain in the balls, but it’s a good fit.”
They began The Skinny podcast on YouTube, but now focus more on Patreon, where the content is unfiltered. And better monetized. Perri says TheSkinny has 1,600 Patreon subscribers paying $15.95 a month. He said their social-media pages combined average 30 million views a month.
Perri’s wife, Danielle, handles bookings and schedules. “I produce,” Perri said. “I cut the clips. I do everything. It’s me and Joey. Two-man show.”
A wider audience
When they started, Perri was still selling cars at Mall Chevrolet. But the now-shuttered dealership got tired of people showing up hoping to see Merlino instead of test-driving a Suburban.
Perri quit. The show grew.Merlino’s reinvention has coincided with a broader shift in the gambling world. Legal sportsbooks, now ubiquitous on television and online, have largely supplanted the corner bookmaker, turning an activity once associated with organized crime into a mainstream consumer business. Guests span sports, hip-hop, gambling, and entertainment, including Wallo267, Fat Joe, Ric Flair, and Bernard Hopkins.
Each booking widened his audience, and Merlino was being absorbed into a broader celebrity ecosystem.
Last October, Netflix released Mob War: Philadelphia vs. The Mafia, a docuseries revisiting the violent 1990s power struggle between John Stanfa and Merlino’s younger faction. It steered even more viewers to Merlino and Perri’s world.
‘Skinny Joey,’ wit’
Then came the cheesesteaks.
One night, Perri, Merlino, and friends were playing poker. Merlino wanted cheesesteaks. Perri said he’d make them.
“He’s like, ‘You can’t make cheesesteaks,’” Perri said. “I said, ‘Are you nuts? I’ve been making them my whole life.’”
Perri cooked some. “He was like, ‘This is the best f— cheesesteak ever,’” Perri said. “He said, ‘Let’s open up a cheesesteak place.’ I said, ‘All right. Call it Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks.’ And that was it.”
The first shop opened in March 2025 at 3020 S. Broad St., near the sports complex. From the start, Skinny Joey’s was more than a sandwich shop. It was a set. The shop leaned into Merlino’s notoriety; the sandwiches are wrapped in a collage of newspaper articles about his past.
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino (left) working the grill beside Joe “Lil Snuff” Perri Jr. at the Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia at its opening in March 2025.
Celebrities showed up: Jason Kelce, Landon Dickerson, Mack Wilson. A customer eating a cheesesteak was good content. A recognizable person eating one on camera was better.
The restaurant also became a magnet for the kind of drama that fuels digital engagement: online beef. Podcaster Gene Borrello, a former Bonnano crime family associate and Merlino antagonist, weighed in last year on an apparent feud between Skinny Joey’s camp and Frank Olivieri of Pat’s King of Steaks. Merlino and Perri had taken issue with a video posted by Olivieri — whose great-uncle invented the steak sandwich — in which he chided shops that chop the meat on the grill. Like most online food feuds, this seems to have subsided.
Then came the deal for Wildwood, where Skinny Joey’s replaced Joe’s Pizzeria, which had been on the boardwalk at Magnolia Avenue for 15 years. There, Skinny Joey’s added pizza and stromboli, which are not sold at the South Philadelphia location.
Reflections in the pizza display case on the boardwalk at Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks & Pizza in Wildwood.
The pizza recipe comes from Vito’s on Haddonfield Berlin Road in Cherry Hill, and the stromboli from Pizza Shack at 15th and Oregon in South Philadelphia, both owned by Skinny Joey’s business partners Stephen Casasanto and John Fioravanti, whom Merlino also described as longtime friends.
More locations are planned. Perri said a Boothwyn shop is expected around Sept. 1, and several others are in the pipeline.
Bypassing the gatekeepers
Merlino is an extreme case of a recent phenomenon. People with complicated histories — criminal, scandalous, controversial, or simply overexposed — no longer need traditional gatekeepers to reintroduce themselves. They can speak directly to followers and monetize the attention.
Perri is not a journalist, of course, or a publicist, exactly. He is not merely a manager, producer, or sidekick. He is something in between — a new kind of local media operator.
He knows the scene, and how to make content feel unscripted even when the business behind it is deliberate. He is close enough to Merlino to bust his chops and deferential enough to preserve the hierarchy. He can translate Merlino to younger audiences without making him seem managed.
Perri softens Merlino without sanding him down. Merlino still curses, rants, and mocks rivals. Anyone they disagree with is a “bedbug.”
Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino greets a table of customers at Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks & Pizza in Wildwood.
“At the end of the day, Joey isn’t going to change who he is for anybody,” Perri said. “If he can’t talk the way he wants to talk, what’s the point?”
That is part of the appeal and part of the discomfort. The audience knows Merlino’s history. They may see him as funny, defiant, loyal, misunderstood, or simply entertaining.
“There’s a segment of the American population that has always been fascinated with the outlaw: Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Don Corleone, Al Capone,” Anastasia said. “What the internet has provided is: Here are these guys in their own words. Are they being genuine? I don’t know. You can say that about any personality. But here’s a look at them without any filter.”
The filter used to be people like Anastasia.
“I was, in a lot of ways, the middleman between the people who were interested in this and the guys who were doing it,” he said. “And people who are interested in this don’t need the middleman anymore. They just go online and listen to whoever they want to listen to.”
There are fire bowls ablaze atop the columns flanking the front door of Mi Vida. At our table, a steak is, too, as the server who delivered the big chop known as “El Chingón” lit a cup of Mexican whiskey, then poured its blue flames up and down the arching bone of this 40-ounce mega-steak. The fire wasn’t hot enough to risk igniting the faux branches of the “tree of life” that rises over the tables near the bar — nor did it spark extra flavor on the steak. But pyrotechnics and dramatic decor are as much a part of the experience as the food at this ambitious newcomer in National Real Estate Development’s $400 million East Market development.
Mi Vida, which opened in March as the first Philly project from Knead Hospitality + Design, a James Beard-nominated restaurant group based in Washington, aims to conjure Mexico through splashydesign, the accents of hot pink lava meant to evoke the volcanic landscape, the tree rising from the ashes with branches dangling folk art flowers a symbol of resilience (and cue for Instagram selfies). Even the big bar that lines this theatrically lit 286-seat spacetucked off Ludlow Street is fringed with a tassel-like rope sculpture woven from agave fibers, appropriate for a bar offering more than 150 tequilas and mezcals.
The entrance to Mi Vida in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.A 40-ounce ribeye, dubbed “El Chingón” is doused tableside with flaming Mexican whiskey at Mi Vida in East Market.
I only wish the food was as richly nuanced as the restaurant’s moody design. The menu of classic Mexican flavors with modern touches, designed in part by Knead’s culinary director, Roberto Santibañez, and recently updated by corporate chef (and current Top Chef contestant) Jonathan Dearden, is the same produced at all three other Mi Vida locations spread between D.C. and Virginia Beach.
But this crew cannot even make a decent guacamole. Every order I scooped into over multiple visits was half-mashed into spoon-size chunks of unripe avocados so pale and lacking in natural creamy sweetness, it was like eating a bowl of slippery green potatoes.
The inside of Mi Vida in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.Guacamole with blue cheese, grapes, and smoked almonds at Mi Vida in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.
I’d normally resist a seemingly random topping like blue cheese, grapes, and smoked almonds, but it was an admittedly tasty distraction from the guacamole travesty lurking below.
“Is everything yum, yum, yummy?” said our server, with perfect timing and an earnest chain restaurant perkiness I could not bring myself to disappoint with the truth.
Fresh guacamole is obviously basic, but it’s also something that relies on finesse and a consistent touch. A bad miss on something so elemental is a red flag. Jason Berry, Knead’s principal and cofounder, surely knows this, having previously been the chief operating officer of Rosa Mexicano, the tableside guac-pioneering restaurant group that, beginning in the 1980s, helped redirect Mexican chain culture away from the Tex-Mex clichés of Chi-Chi’s to more elegant spaces showcasing regional dishes such as mole. Mi Vida has successfully built on that model in the past with its own spin, albeit skipping the tableside show for kitchen-made guacamole, ironically, in the service of consistency.
Booth seating with mural paintings on the walls at Mi Vida in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.
Berry launched Knead 11 years ago with his husband, designer Michael Reginbogin. They now have 17 restaurants in all, a diverse concept portfolio including Southern/Korean (Succotash), an American diner (Gatsby), and a Jewish deli (Beresovsky’s). The duo have Philly history, as Berry graduated from Wharton in 2002 and Reginbogin worked for Stephen Starr at Washington Square. This sprawling new, L-shaped space with a 50-seat enclosed patio nestled inside the ambitious East Market development logically offered a tempting opportunity for this expansion-minded duo to return, especially with its close proximity to visitors from the Convention Center and several nearby hotels.
Much has also changed in Philly since the pair left nearly a quarter century ago. In particular, we’ve seen a dramatic growth in quality Mexican options driven by immigration, from the many Poblano taquerias of South Philly to creative BYOBs like El Chingón and El Mictlan, and thrilling new modern Mexican fine-dining destinations such as Amà and Tequilas-La Jefa. I don’t see Mi Vida competing directly with those places so much as a more mass-market concept like Starr’s El Vez less than three blocks away, which, based on a recent revisit, has held up remarkably well over its 23 years.
Mi Vida has a darker, sexier vibe, and the virtue of a large space that can handle groups. But its kitchen has a way to go before it can compete.
A platter of taco dorados, huevos rellenos, croquetas, naranjas enchiladas, empanadas de mariscos, and chicarrones at Mi Vida in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.Seafood Empanadas at Mi Vida in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday., May 21, 2026.
There were some bright spots. The appetizer sampler brought an appealing platter of deviled eggs piped with fillings turned nutty green by pumpkin seed pipián, esquites croquettes, and seafood empanadas that were delicately crisped and bursting with a stuffing of sweet lump crab, ideal against the fruity heat of a mango-habanero salsa. A generous helping of chicharrónes piled overtop like crunchy clouds gave me hope this kitchen was ready to dive deep into true Mexican street food.
It’s clear this kitchen is capable. The carnitas tacos were a vision of simplicity perfected, stuffed with juicy shreds of slow-braised pork, dusted with cilantro and onions, topped with a pale green drizzle of avocado salsa and the snap of more crushed chicharrónes. The beer-battered cod tacos were solid, though overwhelmed by an unwieldy slaw cut into chunky ribbons bigger than the tortillas themselves. A plate of chicken-stuffed tacos dorados was more successful, showcasing the contrasting salsas of a bracingly tart verde blending tomatillos and serranos and the smoky brown spice drawn from earthy pasilla de Oaxaca chilies.
Tacos Dorados at Mi Vida in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday., May 21, 2026.
But then came the gimmick of a smash cheeseburger taco, an overcooked patty welded to its tortilla on the plancha before it’s dressed in shredduce and a “pickle de gallo.” I went in hopeful, as someone passionate about both burgers and tacos, but the burger was so dry and overcooked it was a loveless marriage.
There were some creative ideas that were absolutely delicious, especially those with vegetarian alternatives on traditionally meaty dishes, like the enchiladas stuffed with a coriander-scented mushroom, kale, and cauliflower blend that was complemented by a tomatoey salsa ranchera vibrant with ginger, guajillo chilies, and herbal epazote. The aguachiles, however, seemed to be driven more by the impact of colors than flavor, the strikingly black broth for one aguachile opting for the bland shortcut of activated charcoal for its pigment rather than the more traditional recipe of charred chilies and onions. The choice of beets in another aguachile overshadowed the taste of tuna.
Aguachile tropical at Mi Vida in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.
Mi Vida’s version of Oaxacan mole negro hit all the right notes — spicy, rich, subtly sweet, and layered with complexity. But why go to the trouble to make one of the world’s most time-consuming preparations only to pair it with enchiladas stuffed with brisket braised in smoky chipotle tinga sauce, a completely different and competing flavor? A great mole should be the star of the show.
It wasn’t the only time this kitchen outsmarted itself with presentation. Covering the entire fajita skillet with molten cheese might sound novel, but the pasilla-marinated rib eye reposing atop that queso was robbed of the honor of arriving to our table with the ASMR sizzle of meat on metal. The steak itself was also a letdown, too fatty and with too little meat for $69. For that matter, the big tomahawk chop that arrived at our table as a flaming centerpiece for four was plentiful, but at $149, did not deliver a deep and lasting savor compared to other large format steak splurges I’ve ordered recently.
Two other potential showstopping dishes stumbled on execution. A huge red snapper was deboned and cubed into masa-crisped nuggets that arrived cradled in the curve of its deep-fried skeleton beside a sweet-and-sour tamarind chili dip. The risky move of a double-fry method, however, left the fish overcooked. And “chewy” does not even begin to describe the texture of the big chamorro, a 1½ pound mallet of pork shank slow-braised in adobo broth then dropped in the fryer to crisp on the pickup. What finally arrived was so leathery and dark, I can’t even imagine what the first attempt looked like, given the chef had abandoned it for a second try, according to a manager who explained our plate’s delay.
The bar at Mi Vida in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.The Piñada at Mi Vida in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday., May 21, 2026.
We used that time to explore the drink list, which ably quenches any margarita cravings (try the apricot-tamarind variation called La Fiesta Dorada), and resort vibes cocktails such as the rummy Piñada in a pineapple-shaped glass. The impressive agave spirits list offers copitas for the serious sipper, such as my favorite, Fortaleza, or smoky Siembra Ancestral Blanco produced by Philly’s Suro family, along with several excellent mezcales, raicillas, sotol, and bacanora.
By the time you get to dessert, tres leches and churros hit all the usual sweet notes. One pleasant surprise is the volcán de helados, Mi Vida’s take on the now trending sundae, covering cajeta, chocolate, and vanilla ice creams with guava sauce, pecan brownie bits, and pumpkin seed brittle that was a festive way to finish off an otherwise mundane meal.
Based on Knead’s well-established success and significant investment, I can only hope this Mi Vida is just going through the growing pains of building a team in a new city. I have little doubt it will eventually find its niche as an easy destination for visitors and business groups. But with a Mexican dining scene in Philly that demands more than corporate flash to be impressed, this kitchen will need to level up considerably before it can become more than that.
The Volcan de helados sundae with ice cream and pepita brittle at Mi Vida in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday., May 21, 2026.
Lunch Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Dinner Sunday through Thursday, 4-10 p.m.; Friday, 4-11 p.m.; Saturday, 3-11 p.m. Brunch Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Tacos and enchiladas, $13.75-$21; entrees, $19.50-$69.
Wheelchair accessible.
About 80% of menu is gluten-free. There is also a dedicated gluten-free fryer to avoid cross contamination.
Menu Highlights “Un Poco de Todo” app sampler (deviled eggs; esquites croquetas, chicharrones); crab empanadas; enchiladas rancheras and suizas; carnitas tacos; volcán de helados.
Drinks An array of the usual margarita variations and colorful cocktails with a Mexican twist keep the meal festive. Check out the collection of 100-plus tequilas and nearly 50 mezcales.
A dining table at Mi Vida in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.
For more than a decade, South Jersey bartender Danny Childs has been developing “Slow Drinks,” an award-winning bartending approach that uses locally farmed and foraged ingredients for boozy and booze-free beverages, resulting in drinks that are essentially liquid snapshots of a place and a season.
Now Childs and his wife, Katie, are turning that philosophy into a bar of their own. Work is underway on Field Day, set to open in September in a street-facing space at 923 N. Second Street, inside the Cescaphe Ballroom in Northern Liberties. (Cescaphe will continue to operate in the rear of the building.)
Field Day will be a showcase for Slow Drinks-style cocktails, sodas, and ferments, complemented by a food menu from Sweet Amalia chef Melissa McGrath, a consulting partner.
Danny Childs, former bar manager at Cherry Hill’s Farm and Fisherman Tavern, fills jars with foraged botanicals in 2021. Childs invented the “Slow Drinks” method of bartending.
The Childses envision Field Day as a neighborhood bar with a family-friendly vibe. More than half of the 68-seat, 1,250-square-foot-space and the entirety of the bar will be held for walk-ins. “We want it to be super-casual,” Katie Childs said. The couple hopes that the bar — the entryway to a former movie theater — becomes a go-to for locals to drop in; there’s capacity for 100 when you factor in standing room plus Cescaphe’s patio, which they’ll be able to use when events allow.
But the Childses are also framing Field Day as a “regional cocktail bar” that tells the story of the various (agri)culturally rich pockets around the Philly area: “We’re talking Poconos, Lehigh Valley, Delaware River Valley, Chesapeake, Pine Barrens, Jersey Shore, South Jersey farmland. We’re going to really try to tell that story on the menu,” Danny Childs said.
Ingredients from those areas will inform not only the drinks but also the food from McGrath, who became a fan of Danny’s work after frequenting the bar at Farm & Fisherman. The intention is for Field Day to be “a bar with good food,” McGrath said.
The planned menu includes house-made soft pretzels, fried olives, and Pennsylvania Dutch-driven sandwiches featuring the likes of red beet eggs and custom-made Lebanon bologna. McGrath plans to weave various Slow Drinks ferments, such as pickled mushrooms, into the food menu and snack plates, which are odes to Katie Childs’ hometown of Hanover, aka “the snack food capital of the world.” They also plan to use tomato pie as a format to riff on other area specialties (think hoagie pie).
Danny Childs (left) and his wife Katie sift through tomatoes picked from their garden at their home in Pennsauken. Field Day — the couple’s first bar — will feature ingredients found across Philly, South Jersey, and the Jersey Shore.
Highballs, boozy gelati, and the occasional F&F favorite
Another anchor of the Field Day menu: year-round boozy gelati. They’re planning to marry John’s Water Ice with Lancaster-sourced soft serve from 1-900-Ice-Cream. (There will be soft-serve cones for kids, too.) Danny, a Delco native, looks forward to recreating a treat he grew up with: “When I would go to John’s or Pop’s as a kid, you would get a soft pretzel and use it as a spoon.”
The cocktail menu will go heavy on highballs that will mix booze with Danny’s seasonal, house-made sodas (many of which will be available for takeout). He’s envisioning approachable combos like bourbon and birch beer, rum and clarified cream soda, and sherry and black cherry wishniak. More offbeat pairings will include Fernet and root beer, tequila with chicory-corn cola, and mezcal with celery soda. (That last one, the Cel Rey, will be familiar to patrons of Farm & Fisherman; a few other classics from the F&F menu — the black walnut Old Fashioned, La Poblanita — will grace the Field Day menu on occasion.)
Besides highballs, Danny promises several other drinks, including freezer martinis, citywides, natural wines, and a few draft beers, namely Guinness and Slow Drinks’ collaborations with South Jersey’s Tonewood Brewing.
Danny Childs picks tomatoes from his garden at his home in Pennsauken, N.J. on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2025. A Delco native, Childs plans to include boozy gelati on the menu at Field Days.
For all the emphasis on beverages, the Childses don’t want Field Day to read entirely like a cocktail bar. They’re designing it to be warm and welcoming. At night, the sunny, high-ceilinged space will be illuminated by vintage pendant lights and small table lamps. Designer Laura Weiszer, of Kensington-based Betsu Studio, “loves a strip light,” Katie said, “so every little ledge that you see is going to basically glow.” (Weiszer’s previous projects include Middle Child Clubhouse and Sacred Vice’s taproom.) Wood banquettes, booths, and a modular back bar with hidden TVs — to be revealed for Eagles games — will come from North Philadelphia furniture maker Loubier Design (Le Cavalier, Gabi).
A partially enclosed hutch in the front of the space will be stocked with Slow Drinks merchandise, house-made soda and kombucha, and wine. The mini outpost is inspired by Sullivan’s Fish Camp in Charleston, S.C., one of a long list of cities the Childses have traveled to since Danny left Farm & Fisherman in 2023 and started working as a beverage consultant.
Danny Childs forages for mimosa tree blooms in Cherry Hill in 2021. The menu at his cocktail bar Future Days will include highballs, freezer martinis, and citywides, among other drinks.
In that time, he and Katie, a former events stylist for Terrain, have been building the Slow Drinks brand on social media and through classes, pop-ups, and beverages conferences. (Slow Drinks will have a headquarters and R&D lab on the second floor of Cescaphe’s building.) They’re weaving in their favorite takeaways at Field Day: nostalgia-driven aesthetics similar to Tina’s in Tulsa, house-canned cocktails like at Semiprecious in Denver, and a zero-waste program between the bar and kitchen inspired by Mexico City’s Baldio. Likewise, the bar will draw on globally sourced spirits made by producers who value “good, clean, and fair values,” Danny said.
“It’s very personal for us,” he said. “It’s the Slow Drinks bar that we’ve wanted to build forever.”
