Love & Honey Reveals Plans to Open Six New Locations

Photograph courtesy of Love & Honey

Howdy, buckaroos! And welcome back to the weekly Foobooz food news round-up. With Christmas nearly upon us, things are pretty quiet in restaurant world this week. So how about we just get through a few quick things, including (but not limited to) Greg Vernick’s new restaurant, fried chicken in Bryn Mawr, the end of the line for Blackfish, and a couple suggestions for your New Year’s revels. After that, we can all get back to our last-minute holiday shopping and watching Christmas specials on the couch. So let’s start this final round-up of the year with …

Love & Honey on the Main Line

No one really thinks of Bryn Mawr when it comes to scoring good fried chicken, but that should change with the opening of the newest location from NoLibs-based Love & Honey.

I first reviewed the place way back in 2017 and fell in love with the long-brined, crisp-skinned chicken that chef Todd Lyons spent years working on before he and his wife, Laura, first went looking for a space. Now, it is eight years later. Questlove and Kylie Kelce are both big fans. Love & Honey has a location in Newtown. And the newest spot, at 1111 Lancaster Avenue in Bryn Mawr, just opened.

It’s a small space with a short counter and a handful of tables in a former car dealership, redeveloped for retail and upstairs apartments. The menu is exactly what you’d expect — chicken sandwiches, wings and tenders, legs and thighs, with sides of tater tots, potato salad, pimento cheese dip, and banana pudding for dessert.

The new Bryn Mawr spot is a franchise, and it’s not the only one on the books. Word is, there’ll be at least three Main Line locations, plus new shops coming to East Passyunk, King of Prussia, Cherry Hill, and University City. There are also expansions planned for other states, but those matter less to me. No reason to drive all the way to Washington D.C. when I’ll soon be able to get my fried chicken fix in South Philly.

So anyway, 2026 is looking to be a big year for Love & Honey. And it’s about time I got back to check the place out again.

In the meantime, what else is happening this week?

Some Bad News for the End of the Year

Blackfish BYOB’s seasonal menu / Photograph courtesy of Blackfish BYOB

I don’t mean to bring anybody down here as 2025 winds to a close, but we’ve got a couple closures that are worth talking about before we wrap thing up for the year.

First, in Conshohocken, it looks like Chip Roman’s Blackfish — the BYO he opened way back in 2006 after time spent working for some of the city’s heavyweights (Georges Perrier, Marc Vetri, etc.) — is going to be shutting down on New Year’s Eve after nearly 20 years of service.

Blackfish has been a part of Philly’s restaurant scene for as long as I can remember. It made it to the top of our 50 Best Restaurants list in 2011 — in the days before most of the chefs working in the city’s best restaurants now had even opened their first restaurants — and I wrote about it five years after that, checking in to see how the place was holding up just as the scene was beginning to boom with places like Double Knot, Laurel, Fork, Vedge, and Greg Vernick’s first spot. It is one of those places that has encompassed the whole history of Philly’s second restaurant renaissance; that’s been there through all the ups and downs. And now Roman has decided that it’s time to turn out the lights.

“After nearly 20 years, I’ve made the heartfelt decision to close Blackfish BYOB and begin the next chapter of my life,” he wrote on Instagram. “This is not a decision I made lightly — this restaurant has been a defining part of my story, my work, and my heart.”

New Year’s Eve will be the final night of service at Blackfish.

On the same day, we’ll also be losing the Fishtown location of Goldie at 1601 North Front Street. CookNSolo announced (also on Instagram) that their falafel-and-milkshake spot would be ending its run after three-ish years and that the space will be becoming a part of their event venue, Lilah.

The other four Goldies? Looks like they’re all good for now.

Greg Vernick’s New Spot

Chefs Meri Medoway and Greg Vernick making pasta. / Photograph by Liz Barclay

In case you missed it last week, we had all the details on the new restaurant coming from Greg Vernick and long-time chef de cuisine Meri Medoway.

The new spot will be called Emilia, and they’re hoping to have it open early next year at 2406 Frankford Avenue in Kensington. It’ll be a mid-sized spot (80 seats, give or take), with bar and lounge seating held for walk-ins. The menu will be Italian, pasta-focused, and feature plates coming off a wood-fired grill because that’s become something of a defining flavor for Vernick’s restaurants. There’ll be six pastas, a mix of small and large plates, tortellini in brodo, rabbit cacciatore and a chicken ragú bianco. Medoway will be in charge of things on the line, and the menu is a collaboration between her and Vernick, focusing on dishes that they’ve loved, things they’ve eaten during research trips to Italy, and plates that have meant something to them across the years that Medoway has spent working in Vernick’s kitchens (she started at the O.G. Vernick as an intern back in the day).

Best guess for an opening night is early 2026, but I hear that the team is pushing hard for something in late January. So there’s something to plan for in the new year, right? Having something to look forward to is always nice.

Speaking of the New Year …

There’s two pretty awesome parties you should know about: One on New Year’s Eve, the other on New Year’s Day.

First, on NYE, Southgate is doing a late-night, all-you-can-eat spread with an open bar from 10 p.m. ’til just after midnight. There’ll be mountains of Korean fried chicken, bao buns and fries, plus an open bar pouring bubbly wine and cocktails. I like this one because Southgate is one of those places that we just don’t get the chance to talk about enough — a solid, dependable neighborhood spot that has served me well on countless occasions. These days I don’t get there nearly as much as I used to, but one of my resolutions for the new year is to remedy that.

Tickets for the New Year’s Eve party are $100 and you can get yours by emailing the restaurant here.

Then, on New Year’s Day, there’s Harper’s Garden. They’re offering space for four to six people in their newly re-done Garden Cabins if you’re looking for a spot to gather for brunch. So if you’re looking for beignets, avocado toast, pancakes, breakfast tacos and strawberry shortcake zeppoles with a few close friends to kick off 2026, this is your spot.

Reservations are available for the New Year’s Day brunch in the cabins (or in the restaurant, for larger parties) from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. You can get yours right here.

Looking for more? Check out Philly Mag’s guide to New Year’s Eve celebrations around town.

Now who has room for some leftovers?

The Leftovers

If you’re looking for something else to do on New Year’s Eve, the crew at Andra Hem (whom we talked up in our recent cocktail package) is partnering with Party Girl Bake Club for a one-night-only shot of sweetness to ring in the new year. Andra Hem will be serving Princess Cakes, courtesy of PGBC — classic Swedish desserts made of vanilla custard and raspberry jam squished between two layers of angel food cake. Reservations are still available if you’re looking for a place to hang out, drink, and eat cake.

Speaking of Andra Hem, after New Year’s, they’re rolling out three new mocktails for Dry January, including the Squirt Gun (which is a shot of espresso and bitter soda), and The Linc with cucumber water, dill and lime (because they’re all green, get it?). And over at Wilder, they’re running with a whole menu of N/A cocktails for January, including a vanilla and lime sarsaparilla, Top Shelf Bubbles with orange, lime and non-alcoholic sparkling wine, and a rum, coffee and condensed milk cocktail made with Philter’s N/A rum.

Finally this week, The Buttery in Malvern is working to keep everyone warm this January with a month-long Bread & Soup Club.

Every Thursday, they’ll be doing a new soup, paired with their house-made sourdough, for pickup only. Basically, they’re doing weekly hot soup and fresh bread dinners for you to take home with you, with options for two or four people, plus a variety of add-ons. It’s a subscription service, so you’re buying in for all four weeks. Pickup is at the Malvern location at 233 East King Street.

But hey, if you’re looking for some easy dinner solutions in January — or a last-minute gift idea for someone who could use some warm soup — this is perfect. Sign-ups will be available through January 3rd. Soup for two for all four weeks will run you $100. And you can sign up for The Buttery’s Bread & Soup Club right here.