Ali’s Wagon

Fairmounters heaved a collective sigh of disappointment when home and gift shop (and 2017 BOP winner) Division IV shuttered earlier this year. But we needn’t have despaired: Owner Jessie Menken simply moved all of her gift-able goodies down the block to sister shop Ali’s Wagon, so we can still buy those terrifically thoughtful hostess gifts – candles, tote bags, tea towels, olive oils, salt scrubs, simple syrups, mugs – for anyone kind enough to invite us over for dinner. 2017 Fairmount Ave , Philadelphia , PA 19130, aliswagon.com.

Vetri Cucina

Twenty years ago, Marc Vetri came onto the scene with an Italian restaurant for the ages. He taught us about the magic of braised goat, and he spooned puffy clouds of Swiss chard onto our plates and convinced us they were gnocchi. He proved to us that Italian food can look a certain way – a way we weren’t yet acquainted with, but a way we should get used to. Now, practically every restaurant in Philly braises goat and makes homemade pasta. But for whatever reason, none do it quite like Marc. 1312 Spruce Street , Philadephia, PA 19107, vetricucina.com.

Hathaway Hutton

Leave it to founder Jen Risk — the Wayne designer who turned upcycled Goyard totes into wearable works of art when she launched her accessories label in 2017 — to dream up this summer’s most coveted frock. Her new line of made-to-order pool dresses transforms vintage towels from fabled maisons like Hermès into chic shifts cut from original patterns from the ’60s, designed with throwback details like vintage faux mother-of-pearl buttons and flirty front pockets. So much for inconspicuous sunbathing. 303 West Lancaster Avenue , Wayne, PA 19087, hathawayhutton.com.

Little Water

Randy and Amanda Rucker’s new Rittenhouse spot explores everything the couple loves about a life spent close to the land, close to food, and in those intersections where earth and water meet. The smartest dish on a menu full of culinary digressions is the highbrow/lowbrow combination of an excellent peekytoe crab salad mounted atop a sharp-edged, perfectly architectural block of golden hash brown. The best is a piece of halibut, beautifully cooked and set adrift on a cloud of aerated potatoes. There’s nothing here that isn’t brilliant, considered, and heavy with personal history. 261 South 20th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, littlewaterphl.com.

Saté Kampar

This cool, new and very popular addition to the East Passyunk restaurant scene offers excellent Malaysian food and a killer coffee service. The one thing it doesn't have? A bar. So the pro move here is to bring a bottle of vodka, ask for a tall glass of ice and a shot of Ribena (a black-currant cordial that, when drunk straight, tastes like the decorative soaps in your grandmother's bathroom), and then just thank us later. Because nothing goes better with a plate of goat satay and some coconut-sweet chicken kurma than this DIY cocktail. 1837 East Passyunk Avenue, East Passyunk, Philadelphia, PA 19148, facebook.com/SateKampar.

Vernick Fish

Memories of January and February dinners at Vernick Fish now are like recollections of a lost summer down the Shore — a dream of fresh scallops and saltwater taffy, grilled dorade with honey crema, and savory beignets with clam ragout. While the restaurant’s pandemic-inspired Four Seasons takeout meals do nothing to capture the weird, luxe magic of actually dining at Greg Vernick’s upscaled ode to Jersey seafood, those nights of smoked bluefish rillette and crab spaghetti might be enough to keep us going until the world rights itself again and new memories can be made. 1 North 19th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, .

John Jarboe

The founder and artistic director of the gender-bending Bearded Ladies Cabaret company plans big things. One of her most recent projects is the Beardmobile, a performance van tricked out with a stage, sound system and lights that lets her bring drag anywhere she damn well pleases, including to libraries and public parks. In September, find her at Late Nite Snacks — the Fringe Festival cabaret she curates — and onstage in her new play, Rose: You Are Who You Eat, which is probably the world’s first musical about a twin who eats her sister in the womb. beardedladiescabaret.com.

Korea Taqueria

Korea Taqueria began its life as a refitted halal food cart selling al pastor tofu tacos and gochujang-chicken burritos. But when partners Alexander Sherack and Rene Lopez decided to open a place with an actual address, Korea Taqueria lost absolutely none of its charm. The bulgogi birria tacos with kimchi consommé, Korean-fried sweet garlic chicken sandwiches, and staff-meal-style bulgogi cheesesteaks with salsa macha and melted mozzarella prove that even without wheels, KT has held on to every ounce of its wild, Mexi-Asian experimentalism and street-corner swagger. 3101 Tasker Street, Philadelphia, PA 19145, korea-taqueria.com.

River Twice

We absolutely did not need any more “New American” restaurants in this town. Mostly because that description means, essentially, nothing these days — it’s a semantically null phrase most often used for restaurants that don’t really know what they are. But Texas chef Randy Rucker knew exactly what he was doing when he brought River Twice to East Passyunk — opening a deeply personal spot that features modernist impulses, house-made pickles, butter beans escabeche, and his mom’s recipe for bread dumplings. In its moment, it was as idiosyncratic as it was startling, as welcoming as it was delicious, and while it pivoted to takeout during the unpleasantness, we’re hoping hard to see it open again one day soon. 1601 East Passyunk Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19148, rivertwicerestaurant.com.

The Roof Doctor

When water is actively leaking into your home, the stakes are high for finding a roofer fast. So when you’ve gone down a list of recommended companies and none reply to calls, emails or carrier pigeons, you, wild-eyed and desperate, might believe that roofers in Philadelphia are an urban legend, like finding a parking spot in South Philly after dusk. Until you call the Roof Doctor, and a pro from the second-generation family business answers the phone. They’ll put you on the schedule and show up when they say they will. The reliability is only part of it, though; they also do quality work at a price that feels fair, even when not taking into consideration your level of desperation. 2315 A Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, roofdoctorphilly.com.

The Washington Avenue Redesign Drama

A three-act tale of Philadelphia government dysfunction: 1) City spends years researching bike-and-pedestrian-friendly redesign ideas for Washington Avenue. 2) City announces a “final design decision” (three lanes) preferred by a majority of community members, only to abandon it for a more car-centric version (a mix of three, four and five lanes). 3) City can’t even implement the revised plan because Kenyatta Johnson (see: Best Reason to Vote in the 2nd District) has unilateral veto power thanks to councilmanic prerogative, which means the portion of the road passing through his district will likely remain the same as it ever was — five lanes. Can we at least agree to fix the potholes?

Takeout Pizza

There are times when we resent how obsessed this city can get with pizza. How in 2020 — an era in dining when we ought to be fawning over Sri Lankan curries and Nigerian jollof rice — pizza still consistently gets top billing.

And there are other times — like … now, when the world feels so unsteady — that we’re very happy seeking solace in the basics. Finding comfort in pizza. Letting Philly’s pizzaiolos, you know, take care of us in our time of need. Because if nothing else, pizza is as comforting as comfort foods get.

When we were still in the red phase, some shops, like Pizzeria Stella(420 South 2nd Street) in Society Hill, Barbuzzo (110 South 13th Street) in Midtown Village, and Wood Street Pizza (325 North 12th Street) in Callowhill (which, not for nothing, is one of the city’s best classic pizza shops), provided us with DIY pizza kits that kept us occupied and well-fed during the quarantine. Wood Street’s Dean Kitagawa even commissioned his wife, Sarah D’Ambrosio, to create artwork on some of the pizza boxes. “It was a small thing we did to establish a connection with our guests — a connection we lost when we pivoted to just doing takeout,” he says.

Philly found comfort in pizza even when the style of pizza was completely new to us. Much as it did in almost every other major food city in the U.S., Detroit-style pizza took over Philly. Of course, it got the aged-dough/high-quality-ingredients treatment we’ve become so used to seeing; witness Dan Gutter’s focaccia-like frico-crusted pies from Circles + Squares (2513 Tulip Street) in Kensington, or even his less Detroit-y pan pizzas — à la Pizza Hut — at Pizza Plus (1846 South 12th Street) in East Passyunk, or the fat, deeply caramelized squares at Sidecar Bar & Grille (2201 Christian Street) in Grad Hospital. The ranch-drizzled, banana-peppered monstrosity at Emmy Squared (632 South 5th Street) was a delicious addition to Queen Village.

Neapolitan pizza, a food trend that came as quickly as it left this city, found new life at Gigi Pizza (504 Bainbridge Street), across the street from Emmy Squared. They do a sort of hybrid NYC-meets-Napoli pie baked in a wood-burning oven, with a crust that’s somehow both airy and stiff — essentially, a big middle finger to the chewy, soupy pies favored by the Neapolitan pizza gods.

We saw our fair share of illegal pizza activity, too, which has become something of the norm in this city after @pizza_gutt paved the way back in 2017. Instagram “pizza shops” like @pizza_jawn and @freelancepizza_ began delivering pies (baked who knows where) to their thousands of eager followers.

And in maybe the longest slog of quarantine, Joe and Angela Cicala, the chef-owners of Cicala at the Divine Lorraine and former owners of Brigantessa in East Passyunk, launched an illicit pizza “speakeasy” out of their backyard in South Philly, with proceeds to help pay their laid-off staff. On its first day, the Cicalas sold 200 pizzas in 40 minutes. They sold out again on the second day. And on the third day, seven cops and two city health inspectors shut the operation down. Pizza-obsessed, indeed.