Everything You Need to Know About Pine Street Grill’s Surprise Opening
Expect upscale smashburgers, late-night beer specials, and plenty of room for walk-ins. Plus, where to dine out for Hanukkah and the new coffee and wine bar opening at the Navy Yard.
Dishes at Pine Street Grill / Photograph by Bre Furlong
Howdy, buckaroos! And welcome back to the weekly Foobooz food news round-up. With the holidays upon us, you’d think that things would be slowing down in restaurant world, but we’ve got lots of big news happening this week, including (but not limited to) Amanda Shulman and Alex Kemp’s new restaurant, a coffee shop for the Navy Yard, high-end Mexican in Market East, last-minute gift ideas, and a big Dry January event for all you N/A cocktail fans out there. So let’s get right into it, shall we? We’ll start things off this week with …
Pine Street Grill’s Surprise Opening
Pine Street Grill-co-owners Amanda Shulman and Alex Kemp / Photograph by Bre Furlong
It was way back in July when we first heard the name Pine Street Grill. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and we got tipped off (courtesy of some internet sleuthing) that chefs Amanda Shulman and Alex Kemp were sniffing around Fitler Square for a third location, looking to capitalize on the twin successes of Her Place Supper Club and My Loup.
They had a space (the old Dmitri’s at 2227 Pine Street) and they had a name — Pine Street Grill — but back in July, that was pretty much all we knew. And up until about a week ago, we didn’t really have any additional details other than it was going to be an American-style neighborhood spot with a bar and lots of seats held out for walk-ins.
Then, a few days ago (and just weeks after Her Place brought home a Michelin star for Philly), Pine Street Grill opened. I mean, I’m sure it looked different from behind the curtain, but out here in the world, Pine Street just popped into existence, fully formed and ready to serve.
“Join us for a burger and a beer, a rotisserie chicken, a familiar eggplant parm, wings or a salad,” the team said on Instagram. “Bring your babies. Come watch the game. We’ll soon be open every day but Tuesday but have a few funky days while we get our footing and celebrate the holidays. We are so proud of our team and can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on. Cheers!”
Reservations are available, but half the tables are reserved for neighbors and walk-ins (a new-ish trend in our suddenly-reservations-starved city that I am a big fan of). The menu is straightforward, comforting, and approachable. There are mortadella-stuffed cherry peppers and chicken nuggets with buttermilk ranch, shrimp Louie and soft pretzels with mustard hollandaise. You can have wings or a half rotisserie chicken with gravy, a double-decker smashburger with a side of house mac and cheese, matzah ball soup or a French dip au poivre with horseradish and watercress, all of it done with the kind of attention to detail that Shulman, Kemp, and their team (including chef de cuisine Jonathan Rodriguez) lavish on everything. There’s a happy hour program with $8 small plates and $10 glasses of red, a kids’ menu, and late-night burger-and-a-beer specials for the adults: $20 for a pint and the house PSG burger with two dry-aged patties, Cooper Sharp, and onion on a seeded milk bun.
Pine Street was open Monday, closed on Tuesday, and is coming back today at 4 p.m. for happy hour. You can make reservations or, you know, just walk right on in if you’re feeling lucky.
Now what else is happening this week …
Hanukkah at Famous 4th Street
Latkes at 4th Street Deli / Photograph by Gab Bonghi
Speaking of Michelin restaurants, Famous 4th Street Delicatessen, the 100-year-old Jewish deli which scored a Bib Gourmand nod at last month’s Michelin ceremony, is right in the middle of its big Hanukkah prix-fixe.
It started on Sunday, December 14th and will run through the 22nd. Included in the multi-course spread are chopped liver with onions served on challah, kreplach dumplings, potato latkes with applesauce and sour cream, herb-roasted chicken or beef brisket, roasted green beans with herb butter, and an assortment of sweet rugelach and sufganiyot for dessert. Best thing about this dinner? They’re letting it go for $39 per person, dine-in or take-out, which is a great deal. Second-best thing? For $155 they’ll set up a whole to-go Hanukkah dinner kit for four people, available for pickup or delivery right here.
Coffee and Wine in the Navy Yard
Happy Bear Coffee rendering by RHJ Associates
The Navy Yard is in the process of turning itself into a destination — a mixed-use retail/residential/service community with a multi-year plan to bring in apartments, shops, restaurants, and everything else a redeveloping neighborhood needs.
One of those necessary things? A coffee shop. A place for people to gather, get their morning jolt, sip lattes and maybe have a sandwich, too. And right now, it looks like Happy Bear is set to be that coffee shop. Founded in 2023 by pals Dan Kredensor and Frank Orman, Happy Bear was a purely online venture — a coffee company and hospitality brand with a charitable bent, pledging five percent of all proceeds to causes chosen by their customers.
Now, though, it looks like Kredensor and Orman will be moving from the virtual to the physical because they’ve just signed the papers on a 3,000-square-foot space on the first floor of a life sciences building at 1201 Normandy Place and will turn it into their flagship brick-and-mortar location — a combination coffee shop, cafe, and wine bar with an opening planned for spring 2026.
Happy Bear will be doing the specialty coffees they’re already known for and expanding into offering a curated wine list and “a refined menu of sandwiches, breakfast items, soups, salads, flatbreads, tomato pie, and other chef-inspired grab-and-go offerings.” So an all-day cafe, essentially, offering all the Philly classics courtesy of a partnership with Carlino’s Specialty Foods.
When construction is done, there’ll be a wine bar and indoor seating, plus an outdoor space overlooking the five-acre Central Green Park. The interesting thing about all this is that, right now, much of what the Navy Yard might become is still speculative. The “retail corridor” that Happy Bear is supposed to be a part of is still being constructed; some apartments are for lease, but many are not. The whole thing becomes a kind of chicken-or-the-egg problem: People won’t want to move to the area if there are no amenities (like coffee shops and wine bars) in the neighborhood. But without many people living there (yet), who is going to visit the coffee shop?
Yes, there are businesses in the area. And yes, people move through the Navy Yard for a variety of reasons. But it’s still going to be an interesting project to watch. I mean, look at Fishtown a decade ago. Or Kensington. Or North Broad. Who knows what might happen at the Navy Yard.
But in any event, soon there’ll soon be a place to get a cup of coffee and a glass of wine. Because you gotta start somewhere.
Now who has room for some leftovers?
The Leftovers
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We’ve got another opening just recently announced, this one in Market East, and it’s kind of a big deal.
Washington D.C.-based (and James Beard Award semifinalist) KNEAD Hospitality is coming to town with their first expansion outside of the D.C. market. They’re taking 8,000 square feet of space at 1150 Ludlow Street and turning it into the first Philly location of Mi Vida — an upscale Mexican concept inspired by Mexico City’s culinary scene. Chef Roberto Santibañez already has three locations in D.C. in partnership with KNEAD, offering bright colors and modern Mexican vibes. The new spot will be big, and plunked down just steps from the Convention Center, Reading Terminal Market, and all those tourists. So yeah, it’s gonna be a thing.
They were originally hoping for a mid-2025 opening. When that didn’t work out, the date got pushed back and the best guess right now is a mid-January grand opening. Another thing that makes this interesting is that KNEAD’s founders, Jason Berry and Michael Reginbogin, got their starts in Philly. Berry went to Wharton, and Reginbogin spent a year here working for Starr. So while up to this point they’ve focused their attentions on D.C., this new Mi Vida location will be something of a homecoming for them.
Looking for a last-minute gift for the Eagles fan in your life? Bird Gang Spirits and BOTLD have a limited-edition Irish whiskey with a Kelly-green bottle and the 2025 Super Bowl ring on the label. Distilled and aged in Cork, and bottled in PA, it’s a three-year Irish whiskey, but you’re really picking it up for the pride. Bottles are available online and in all BOTLD shops.
Photograph courtesy of Bird Gang Spirits
And finally this week, if you’re looking forward to Dry January, then I’ve got the perfect event for you.
Dry Vibes, Philly’s biggest zero-proof “social celebration,” is coming back to Philly on Saturday, January 31st at Billy Penn Studios. There’ll be speakers, vendor tastings, an open dry bar full of mocktails, pop-ups from Philly “wellness brands” and celebrity guests from within the non-alcoholic, better-for-you lifestyle space.
Look, it’s not my kind of thing (the word “wellness” just makes me itch), but I know there are lots of you out there who are trying to make changes, live healthier or find some social options for yourselves that don’t involve the liberal application of gin, tonic, and some limes. And that’s cool. The new year is for making changes and trying to live a better life despite the myriad horrors of being alive and sentient at this moment in history. Me? I’m going with tacos, pasta, pie, and cocktails. But you do you.
So if you’re down, tickets for Dry Vibes are available now for around 50 bucks. You can get yours right here.
