Guides

Philly Restaurants Celebrating Passover and Easter

Whether you're going out for the holidays or just because it's finally feeling like spring, here are our favorite menus to celebrate the new season.


Photo courtesy of Walnut Street Cafe

This year, the holidays fall quite close together on the calendar, with Easter falling on Sunday, April 1st and Passover running from Friday, March 30th through Friday, April 7th.

Whether you’re celebrating one of the holidays or just feeling festive because — maybe, possibly, hopefully — this extra-snowy winter is finally behind us, here are some of our top picks for brunch, dinner, and other springtime treats.

Passover Menus

Photo courtesy of Abe Fisher

Abe Fisher, Center City
For all eight nights of passover, Abe Fisher is offering a special holiday tasting menu — matzoh with eight different spreads, soup and salad, and a whole roasted black bass “gefilte,” plus dessert – for $48 per person.

London Grill, Fairmount
On the first two nights of Passover — Friday, March 30th and Saturday, March 31st —London Grill will serve a $45 prix fixe seder menu, featuring matzoh ball soup, gefilte fish, and mains like sweet and sour brisket, roasted Cornish hen, and horseradish-crusted salmon, plus dessert. And for the whole holiday week, the restaurant gets decked out with owner Terry Berch McNally’s collection of frog-themed decor (the second plague, you’ll recall) and Passover specials are on the menu.

Hungry Pigeon, Queen Village
To kick off Passover, chefs Scott Schroeder and Pat O’Malley are offering a four-course seder dinner starting at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 30th. The menu starts with bites featuring pickled egg, smoked salmon, and potato latkes, then matzoh ball soup, grassfed beef brisket, and a bitter greens salad, with flourless chocolate cake for dessert.

Panorama, Old City
From March 30th to April 7th, Panorama’s chef, Matthew Gentile, will put out a four-courser of Italian-Jewish eats, like the smoked ricotta matzo ball soup and brisket topped with salmoriglio.

Easter Menus

Photo courtesy of Brauhaus Schmitz

Walnut Street Cafe, University City
You can eat brunch at Walnut Street with extended Sunday hours (10 a.m. until 6 p.m.) — including a special Easter Dinner menu of ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, carrots, and Brussels sprouts for $25. Or pre-order hot cross buns and dove-shaped colomba pasquale, a.k.a. Easter panettone, to pick up on March 29th, 30th, or 31st between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Fond, East Passyunk
Order up the brunch menu all day at Fond, which is open from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Easter Sunday. Starting at 12 p.m., they’ll offer special a la carte additions like haricots verts salad with Parmesan truffle oil and aioli, lobster bisque with blue crab, rack of lamb, and Scottish salmon for the holiday.

Weckerly’s Ice Cream, Fishtown
The locally-sourced scoop shop is open regular hours on Easter Sunday to satisfy your sweet tooth. And all weekend long, they’re serving their cute-as-hell Easter Sundae special — a bunny-shaped waffle cone, a scoop of ice cream with chocolate googly eyes, cookie ears, and a pink marshmallow nose.

Russet, Rittenhouse
The farm-to-table mecca is offering brunch and dinner on Easter Sunday. From 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., get hot cross buns and two courses, with dishes like mushroom frittata with herbed ricotta, spring lamb, and baked French toast with caramelized apples to choose from. From 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., get four courses — house-cured mortadella, spaghetti and scallops with nettle pesto, and veal leg with fingerling potatoes, and dessert — plus a small a la carte dish for $45.

Brauhaus Schmitz, Queen Village
Get German-style Easter specialties from 11:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the South Street beer hall, including rabbit Benedict with smoky confit rabbit and poached eggs and pfannkuchen, crepes filled with hazelnut, chocolate yogurt, and fresh berries.

The Twisted Tail, Society Hill
Al fresco dining at Twisted Tail gives you a great view of the springtime finery on display at Sunday’s Easter Promenade, which ends in Headhouse Square. And the kitchen will be serving a decadent Easter buffet featuring porchetta, spring lamb, waffles, omelets, pastries, shrimp cocktail, fresh fruit, and more between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The buffet costs $48 per person for adults, or $25 for kids aged three to 10.

The Good King Tavern, Queen Village
Chloe Grigri’s chic French spot opens at noon on Sunday with an egg-centric menu perfect for spring — like red wine-poached eggs in a “nest” of potatoes and a sandwich featuring sweetbreads, Gruyère, egg, and sauerkraut aioli.

The Best Restaurants Celebrating Passover and Easter, Mapped