Fishtown Is About to Get a Taste of El Chingon

Chef Juan Carlos Aparicio of El Chingon / Photograph by Mike Prince

Howdy, buckaroos! And welcome back to the weekly Foobooz food news round-up. Between Valentine’s Day and the impending Super Bowl parade, I know we’re all a little bit distracted this week. But that doesn’t mean we can’t squeeze in a little bit of food news before the entire city goes bonkers. There are some big things happening — including (but not limited to) liquor at Cafe Lift, cheesesteaks in the ‘burbs, a happy hour for Dear Daphni, and updates from the Winnie’s Manayunk saga. But let’s kick things off this week with …

El Chingon Signs a Deal in Fishtown

Juan Carlos Aparicio is having a pretty good run.

He opened his first restaurant, El Chingon, on East Passyunk in 2022. A year later, the New York Times named it one of the best restaurants in America. He was named a James Beard Award semifinalist in 2024 and was named a semifinalist again for this year just a couple weeks ago. We tagged El Chingon as one of the 50 Best restaurants in the city recently, and when I reviewed the place back in 2023, I fell hard for Aparicio’s choriqueso cemitas and gave the joint three stars.

And that’s a pretty good record for a place that’s only been up and running for a few years. But things are about to get even crazier for Aparicio because, apparently, making a name for himself in one of the city’s most highly competitive food neighborhoods just wasn’t enough for him. So now he’s going to try to do the same in two.

Fishtown is where he’s headed next. Specifically, that weird little partly-roofed, mostly open-air triangle of space where Frankford Avenue and Marlborough Street come together. The space that used to be home to Heffe Tacos.

You guys remember Heffe? It was all anyone could talk about for 15 minutes back in 2015-’16, then hung on as a solid (if occasionally wildly unpredictable) neighborhood spot for late-night tacos and poutine for nine years before finally throwing in the towel at the beginning of this year. The plan, as I understood it, was to try and find someone to take on the space as-is once Heffe was shut down. And that is exactly what appears to have happened.

According to the Business Journal, Aparicio has already signed a lease for the spot. And he’s planning on getting something open by spring — which should be either very easy or very difficult, depending entirely on how he wants to operate. If Aparicio is simply looking for a second spot to sling some tacos and El Chingon-style cemitas in the sunshine, then all he really needs to do is hang a shingle, wipe down the picnic tables, and wait for the ice to melt. But if he’s looking at anything more complicated (read: anything that requires walls or a roof), then things could get tricky.

In either case, it’s an exciting move. Aparicio is a great chef (and an extremely talented baker) operating at the top of his game. He has a signature. He has a recognizable style. And he’s got bona fides now from both in and outside of Philly. A second location is absolutely the right move. And that old Heffe space might be the perfect place to make it.

I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on the project. You’ll know more as soon as I know more.

Now what’s next?

Meanwhile, Back on East Passyunk …

Photograph courtesy of Davini & Yu

Here’s something…unusual.

You guys know Flannel, right? That’s chef Marc Grika’s place at 1819 East Passyunk, known for its biscuits and gravy and Southern-fried charms.

Well, Flannel is closed. Gone. Finito.

But in its place, Grika is opening something else. Something new. And he’s doing it this Thursday. The new spot will be called DaVinci & Yu, a fine dining “global dining destination” that’s doing a kind of very straight-forward Italian-Asian fusion, mixing up ingredients and techniques from both regions in the hopes of creating something new and delicious.

So what does that mean, exactly? Well, black cod dumplings for starters. Chinese eggplant flatbreads. Orange chicken parm. Italian wedding ramen. Some kind of arancini-maki hybrid that Grika is calling “Aran-sushi.”

A preview of dishes at Davinci & Yu / Photograph courtesy of Davinci & Yu

It’s all pretty strange, I know. But something to keep in mind here? I like strange. I respect the hell out of anyone who gets an idea and just runs with it, full speed, not stopping for nothing. And that’s what Grika is doing here. Dude decided he was sick of frying chicken, had an epiphany while he was traveling in Rome and chased it all the way back home to Philly. Now he’s shooting his shot. And because I know there’s more to this story, I’m gonna follow up and see what kind of details I can get out of him about the opening, that vision he had for Asian-Italian fusion, and how (in the fuck) anyone can make orange chicken parm that isn’t just … gross.

Look for that later this week. I think it’ll be worth checking out.

Dear Daphni Gets a Happy Hour

I gave you all the details on the Schulson Collective’s newest project, Dear Daphni, back at the beginning of December. Back then it was all saffron snapper crudo and za’atar cocktails in a 150-seat Mediterranean oasis carved into the ground floor of the new Laurel apartment building on Rittenhouse Square.

Now, though, things have calmed down a little, and it looks like the team is looking at expanding their offerings. To start, they’ve just launched a new happy hour program with $6 wines, $5 beers, and two really nice looking custom cocktails for just $7 — an absolute steal in this drinkable economy. The “Birds & Bees” is gin, sumac, honey, and lemon, and it sounds delicious — if not particularly winter-y. The “Marrakesh Mule,” on the other hand, is a drink for all seasons with its vodka, ginger beer, and Moroccan mint.

But really, it’s the food menu that caught my eye. Not for its originality, necessarily (though some of it does look very good), but for the fact that it tops out at $7 and isn’t all just hummus and bar nuts. We’re talking Turkish lamb dumplings with tomato and yogurt, harissa salmon tartare, and saganaki with honey and pistachio. There’s a $7 chicken kebab, $7 shwarma, and lamb kofta for just $6. And the sumac-dusted hummus with pita? Four bucks, and it’s yours. Which means you could roll into the place with $20 in your pocket, eat shwarma, hummus, wash it down with a gin cocktail at the bar, and still have $2 left before tax and tip. Bring $30, and that’s pre-gaming handled.

Dear Daphni’s happy hour runs every day, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. — which, on top of everything else, makes it one of the city’s rare weekend happy hours, too.

Now who has room for some leftovers?

The Leftovers

Nick Moccia and Anthony Billetta of Mangia Mobile / Photograph courtesy of Mangia Mobile

Way back in September, I told y’all about Mangia Mobile — which, I swear to you, was serving the hands-down best cheesesteak anywhere in the region. Also, a really good chicken cheesesteak (for those of you who like that kind of thing).

For several months, they’ve been operating next door to Sunset Hill Brewing Company in Gilbertsville, who are excellent in their own right, serving a constantly rotating roster of beers that are excellent for day-drinking (on the lager end of the spectrum) or more serious skull-melting (on the IPA side).

And that was all awesome. Great beer, excellent cheesesteaks, outdoor seating, and good music. There was nothing about the place I didn’t love. But the world being the world, there was no chance that was going to last, and, unsurprisingly, over the past couple months, Sunset and Mangia have been battling with the township over zoning issues that have resulted in the hours that Mangia is allowed to operate being reduced to basically none.

And that sucked, sure. But late last week, I got word from owners Nick Moccia and Anthony Billetta that they were ready to move into a new space — one without wheels — and that they were changing their name. So everyone, please welcome to the dance floor Nicky’s & Ant’s, which opened this past Saturday (yeah, one day before the Super Bowl) at the High Street Terminal (300 East High Street) in Pottstown.

The new joint is open Wednesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. — or until they sell out, which happens all the time. They’ll still be doing the cheesesteaks that made me fall in love, plus the wood-fired pies that made their name back before I fell for their sandwiches. And talking to Anthony, I learned that while Mangia is gone from Sunset Hill for now, they’re really hoping to get back there soon, either properly (as a truck) or as some kind of catering partner, air-dropping Italian hoagies and square pies to the folks playing cornhole in the brewery’s backyard or whatever.

And as happy as I am for them that Nicky’s & Ant’s has a place to call home, I’m really hoping they find their way back to Sunset, too.

Meanwhile, over in Manayunk, it looks like Winnie’s is back up and running following a front-of-house rebellion, some online shit-talking and a messy shut-down a couple weeks back. The Inky is reporting that owner Winnie Clowry has hired some new staff, unlocked the doors, paid back all (or most) of the employees who were owed for bounced paychecks, and is back in the game again.

Finally this week, some good news for fans of Cafe Lift. For 20 years, this place has operated as a BYO at 1124 Spring Garden Street, but come Valentine’s Day, they’re going to be launching their first-ever alcoholic beverage program.

Yup, that’s right. Cafe Lift has a liquor license now. Owners Mike and Jenniphur Pasquarello will be releasing the menu online, but I think it’s safe to assume that this will be the place to be if you’re looking for an exceptionally drinky Valentine’s Day weekend brunch this year.