Grace Tavern Is Making a Comeback

Inside Grace Tavern / Photograph by Mike Prince

Howdy, buckaroos! And welcome back to the weekly Foobooz food news round-up. Just a few quick things to get through this week, including (but not limited to) a long-awaited reopening on South Street, a seasonal speakeasy returns, video games at Craft Hall, the goats of Octoberfest, and Philly’s really big week. So let’s get right into it, shall we? We’ll kick things off this week with …

Grace Tavern Comes Back to Life

After more than 20 years spent serving the neighborhood, Grace Tavern at 23rd and South shut the doors in January of this year. It’d been a rough run for the place the last few years, just like it’d been a rough run for just about everybody. But Fergus Carey decided he’d had enough and quietly let the place go dark — which is exactly how it remained for about nine months.

But even back in January, I was speculating that there was just no way the space that had stood so long at the intersection of the Graduate Hospital, Grays Ferry, and Devil’s Pocket neighborhoods was going to stay shuttered. Back then, I wrote, “If I were a betting man (and I absolutely am a betting man), I’d wager that this space isn’t going to stay empty for very long.” And as it turns out, I was right. Grace Tavern will be reopening under its original name, but with new owners, on Monday, September 22nd.

For a little while now, the team from The Tavern Group — bar pros Stephen Carlino, Randal Mrazik, Ed Chrzanowski, and Brian Moyer — have been working on bringing the place back to life. As they recently did with Tavern on Camac, they’ve been rebuilding Grace from the inside out. It’s nothing serious, just what they’re calling “modest renovations.” But that still means an interior remodel with new furniture and fixtures, replacing all the beer lines, and the entire draught system behind the bar, and giving the whole place “an interior glow-up.”

That new draught system will be pouring nothing but craft beers come Monday. And the kitchen (under the command of Tavern Group exec chef David Sposato) will be doing a short, tight menu of all-day egg sandwiches, a classic burger mounted on a split English muffin (“An ode to other Philadelphia neighborhood bars,” according to Mrazik), house-made chips with dip, daily soups, and chili with grilled bread. Solid bar food. Nothing spectacular.

But the team did go out of their way to mention that they’ve spent a long time trying to recreate the beloved blackened green beans that Grace used to serve. They think they’ve cracked the recipe, though, so their version will also be available on Sposato’s menu starting on opening day.

For the first week, Grace will be opening at 4 p.m. and running ’til 2 a.m. All-day service (11 a.m. to 2 a.m.) starts on Monday the 29th.

Now, what else is happening this week?

Kitchen + Kocktails by Kevin Kelley Coming to South Broad

Dishes from Kitchen + Kocktails by Kevin Kelley / Photograph courtesy of KK Concepts

For starters, yes. That’s the real name. But for a moment, let’s just set that aside.

This new restaurant — part of a growing chain founded five years ago in Texas by attorney-turned-restaurateur Kevin Kelley — will be opening in October. It’s taking over the former Del Frisco’s Grille space at 225 South Broad, which is basically Broad and Walnut, giving it a location right between two of the city’s busiest restaurant neighborhoods: Rittenhouse and Midtown Village. It’s opening on the ground floor of the Cambria Hotel, adding 7,200 square feet of restaurant space to the mix (which, according to Kelley’s press, will make it the largest Black-owned restaurant in the city), plus 125 hospitality jobs — all of which is great.

Plus, the menu looks good. The kitchen is doing “elevated Southern comfort” and there’s honestly no such thing as too much of that. We’re talking fried green tomatoes and jerk lamb chops, shrimp and grits, fried chicken and waffles, fried catfish, candied yams, and collard greens.

No, there’s nothing startlingly original about the menus at any of their existing locations, but Southern food — when it’s done well — doesn’t require much in the way of innovation. It’s one of those cuisines that fiercely resists modernism and deconstruction, and makes an art of simplicity and craft. It can be done with an eye toward high-end technique (see: Honeysuckle, most notably), but, as with Italian cuisine or sushi, it tends to hold up best when its recipes and traditions are respected.

My concerns here are twofold. First, this is a chain coming out of Dallas and nothing coming from Dallas is ever easily welcomed by Philadelphians. Kelley’s kids go to Princeton. He’s spent a fair amount of time in Philly. And he seems truly excited for the opportunity to open here. But with restaurants already up and running in Dallas, Chicago, Washington D.C., Charlotte, and Atlanta, my concern with Kitchen + Kocktails is that its cookie-cutter, fancy chain approach to Southern cuisine might not play here, in the heart of Philly, as it does elsewhere.

Second, the name. Kitchen + Kocktails by Kevin Kelley bothers me on so many different levels. The plus sign, the deliberate misspelling of cocktail, the raw ego of having your name attached to the restaurant’s official name. All of it rubs me wrong. And maybe this is more of a me-thing than an everyone-else-thing, but names matter. Names are how you enter the world. There’s a mile of difference between, say, Vetri, and Kitchen + Kocktails by Kevin Kelley. Even a.kitchen (with its internal punctuation and annoying lowercase convention) is leaning into self-deprecation. But this one? It just … bothers me.

Anyway, K+K by KK has an opening planned for October, so I guess we’ll see how things go next month.

Last Week’s Really, Really Big News

From left: Chef Phila Lorn; a bowl of khao soi at Mawn. / Photography by Michael Persico, originally in A Noodle House With No Rules Is Exactly What Philly Needs Right Now

Last week was one of the biggest weeks for Philly in the national food spotlight that I can remember. There were awards and honors being handed out faster than we could keep track of them. So in case you missed any of the big news, here’s how it all went down.

First, there was Phila Lorn of Mawn. Earlier this summer, Phila brought home the James Beard Award for Emerging Chef — which, in itself, was a really big deal. Then, on the eve of opening his new restaurant, Sao, it was announced that he’d also been named as one of the 10 Best New Chefs of 2025 by Food & Wine magazine. Which was awesome. And totally deserved. And made Phila one of only a handful of Philly chefs to ever make that particular list.

But then, while I was right in the middle of writing about that, I got word that Mawn had also been named as one of the 50 Best Restaurants in America by the New York Times. Which is just kind of a remarkable trifecta for Phila, his wife, Rachel, and the entire Mawn crew.

But Mawn wasn’t the only Philly restaurant that made the NYT list. Meetinghouse in Kensington was also named one of the best restaurants in America, and that will never not make me smile because Meetinghouse is just such a perfectly Philly, perfectly neighborhood-y, perfectly casual kind of joint that I’m amazed every time someone from outside of our little Philly bubble recognizes it for just how good and cool it is.

So, all that happened.

And then, on Friday, Bon Appétit entered the chat and tagged Nich Bazik’s Provenance as one of the 20 Best New Restaurants in America. BonApp gave Provenance a stunningly good write-up (which you can read here) and called out one of the place’s great strengths — its ability to stop time with a single bite. Not every bite, mind you. Just some of them.

In any case, all of this — every award, every fawning mention, every gorgeous photo — just stands as proof of what all of us here already know. Philly rules.

Now who has room for some leftovers?

The Leftovers

Philly Goat Project’s GOAToberfest / Photograph by Veracity Studios

Looking for an early hit of Spooky Season vibes? The Fallser Club in East Falls has you covered with its second annual Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy pop-up happening October 9th through the 11th. This second chapter will dive into more of Poe’s work, encompassing “The Cask of Amontillado,” “Annabel Lee,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” — all of which seem ideal for such an event.

Each night includes gothic storytelling, themed cocktails, and a venue transformed “into a playground of literary horror and macabre delight.” Tickets include four cocktails, the immersive performance, and an evening “steeped in gothic glamour.” Cocktail attire (or Poe-inspired costumes) are, of course, encouraged. And considering that last year’s event sold out fast, was extended, and then sold out the extended run, too, I’d make your plans quick if you’re down for this. Tickets and details available here.

But hey, maybe a few games of Metroid are more your speed. If so, I can help you out there, too. The Den at Craft Hall in NoLibs has recently been renovated and now includes a bunch of free classic arcade games. We’re talking two Pac-Man machines, a Ms. Pac-Man, NBA Jam, Pong, Street Fighter, X-Men, Galaga, Fast and Furious, and two Nintendo consoles. They’ve also got Skee-Ball, two basketball hoops, billiards, foosball, and pinball — all of which are absolutely perfect for the teenage nerd in me.

Oh, and also, on Saturday, September 20th, Craft Hall is holding a “Bark & Browse” benefit at their newly expanded and reopened Unleashed dog park to benefit the PSPCA. From noon to 4 p.m. there’ll be a pet-centric flea market for you to browse while the dogs play off-leash in the new dog park, and during that time $1 from every cocktail sold will be donated to the PSPCA with all donations being matched by Tito’s Vodka. Entry is free and open to the public, so just grab your pup and head on down.

And if gothic cocktails, video games, Skee-Ball, and dog parks don’t excite you, how about this? Dock Street is having a fall book swap this Wednesday. Basically, you bring a book, add it to the shelves at Dock Street, then take a new one with you when you go. Want two books? Cool. Bring two to leave behind. Got a hundred books you want to donate? They’d love that, too.

“The goal is to clear our shelves for the new season, share a surplus of books, build your library (for the cost of a swapped book!), and maybe make a new friend over a shared favorite.”

Sounds nice, right? As a longtime bar reader, there is nothing better than a good book and beer to go with it, so I am 100 percent down with this event. Also, I’ve got a lot of books stacked up around the house that could really use a new home, so I might be stopping down to this one myself.

It’s happening tomorrow, so plan accordingly. More details here.

And if none of that really moves you, then what about goats? You like goats, right? Well if you do, then you want to block off Saturday, October 18th on your calendar because that’s the day that the Philly Goat Project (which would be a great name for a band, btw) will be bringing its 13 goats, drag queen Dominique Lee, and some custom beer from Triple Bottom Brewing to the Laurel Hill West Conservatory for its fourth annual GOAToberfest. There’ll be lawn games, a goat photo booth, beer, goat art raffles, historic cemetery tours, s’mores — everything a proper goat party requires. It’ll also be the first chance for you to purchase the official 2026 Goat Project Goat Calendar. And who doesn’t want one of those?

So mark it: Saturday, October 18th, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets and details can be found here. And if you’re looking for more Oktoberfest fun, you can check out our Oktoberfest guide to all things beer, brats, and lederhosen.