The Philly 15: Philadelphia’s Best New Restaurants
Philly’s most exciting new restaurants, what to order when you go, and why you'll love them.
Eggplant roll and khinkali with cheese from Kinto / Photographs courtesy of Kinto
Welcome to the Philly 15, our list dedicated to Philadelphia’s best new restaurants. Now, this isn’t just a list of new, recently opened restaurants. This is a guide to new spots we’ve tried, loved, and avidly recommend to diners passionate about our dining scene.
What does it take to qualify for this list? First, the restaurants below have opened within the past year, hence why they’re “new.” Second, this is a list of spots we’ve tried, loved, and avidly recommend to diners passionate about our dining scene.
Hopefully this list helps you impress your next date, shows your parents how much you’ve grown up, and gives you the confidence to make reservations on behalf of the friend group. We’ll be updating the Philly 15 regularly, so you can always come back here for fresh takes and up-to-date restaurant recommendations.
Got a place you think deserves to be on the Philly 15? Send an email to kpalmisano@phillymag.com.
Kinto, Fishtown
Behind the bar, there’s a diorama that’s like a miniature version of Tbilisi at night — dozens of balconies, flickering with light. In the dining room, servers bring bowls of chicken satsivi in walnut cream sauce, carrot pkhali, chvishtari like cornbread arancini, and platters of fat khinkali soup dumplings already leaking broth. There are a half-dozen versions of khachapuri, from the classic bread bowl filled with molten cheese and egg (done here in miniature, like the Tblisi skyline behind the bar) to Imeruli like a stuffed-crust pizza made only of crust and Penovani wrapped in crisp, flaky dough. And all of it is delicious. All of it is made with such care and attention to lovingly remembered details and flavors from home. And all of it is served in a small, close-set dining room off an alley in Fishtown, which can make a night here feel not just like dinner but a discovery. 1144 Frankford Avenue.
Kare pan and a sake juice box / Photograph by Aaron Richter, originally published in Inside the Retro-Cool Dreamscape of Dancerobot
dancerobot, Rittenhouse
Want to know what dancerobot isn’t? It isn’t Royal Sushi & Izakaya 2. It isn’t just more tables, more chairs, and the same thing that partners Justin Bacharach and Jesse Ito have been doing for years. Instead, dancerobot is a kind of deliberate head trip, a mash-up of the partners’ Japanese and American childhoods, sketched out with VHS-era movie posters, a ‘90s playlist, and food meant to evoke a sense of long-gone-or-never-was childhood full of kare pan fried in Krispy Kreme-style doughnut dough, shrimp gyoza, toothpick-speared takoyaki, jidori egg omelets cut with Cooper Sharp, and towering katsu sandwiches that are impressive on Instagram, but even more so when you’re shoving one in your face. 1710 Sansom Street.
Sao, East Passyunk
Noodles with spicy crab curry and shrimp head oil. Papaya salad dusted with tamarind. Soy-brined chicken parm with fish sauce caramel. Cornmeal hoe cakes drenched in melted honey butter, topped with trout salad and caviar. Bowls of mussels in crab fat butter broth. There’s no saying for sure what will be on the menu when you go to Sao, but there are lots of things that could be. Owners Phila and Rachel Lorn change it up whenever the mood strikes, or whenever it suits them, but the vibe is a Cambodian beach party, lots of grill smoke, lots of sour, lots of sting from vinegar and chiles and fermented things, and lots of oysters, all of them served with the house black pepper mignonette (made famous by the couple’s other restaurant, Mawn). Originally, Phila and Rachel had the idea of opening their own oyster house primarily because they were tired of getting parking tickets every time they went out to eat oysters somewhere else. Lucky for us, we all get to hang out there, too. 1710 East Passyunk Avenue.
Huda Burger / Photograph by Mike Prince
Huda Burger, Fishtown
There are a lot of great burgers in Philly, but there are very few places that specialize in them. That make burgers their whole thing and treat them with the seriousness they deserve. But Yehuda Sichel (formerly of Michael Solomonov’s restaurant universe) does exactly that at Huda Burger — his mostly-takeout, chrome-and-tile Frankford Avenue burger joint. The menu is simple: smashed burger patty, milk bread bun, a dozen variations. That’s the core of it. He does them with pickled green tomato, with bacon jam and pickled jalapeño, with house-smoked pastrami, Swiss and sauerkraut, but always on those milk buns, and always with those crispy, fatty edges that denote a real smash burger. There are fries (straight and curly), a chicken sandwich, milkshakes, and a handful of other diversions, but the burgers are the draw — perfect when you’re looking for the ease of fast food, but done with care and attention by a team focused on little else. 1603 Frankford Avenue.
Banshee, Grad Hospital
It’s an American bistro with a Scandinavian design aesthetic. The menu is French. And Spanish. And Mediterranean. And a little bit Japanese, too. At the bar, there’s High Life and dirty martinis and modern, low-intervention wines, and if this all seems a little bit jumbled and confused, it’s really not — because it’s also the newest restaurant from Ben Puchowitz and Shawn Darragh, and they know how to make that kind of thing work. The two of them cut their teeth back in the day doing loud, aggressive, cross-cultural mash-ups at Cheu Noodle Bar and Nunu and Bing Bing Dim Sum. Then they got out of the game entirely, and now they’re back with this more comforting, more welcoming, more grown-up restaurant that chases those same impulses but does it with a cool, calm maturity. In place of ramen and dumplings and graffiti on the walls, now it’s roasted half-chickens with Marcona almonds, Wagyu beef tartare with shards of puffed tapioca, grilled swordfish in brown butter laced with a razor of chili oil, and all the clean lines and pale wood of an IKEA entertainment center. It’s bowls of mussels and cubed turnips in a coconut milk broth sparked with harissa. It’s craft and patience given priority, making for a dining experience that feels mature in the best possible way. 1600 South Street.
The pastrami-spiced tongue sandwich at La Jefa / Photograph by Ed Newton, originally published in La Jefa: Where Guadalajara and Philly Meet
La Jefa, Rittenhouse
Dan Suro’s new bar in the back half of the Tequila’s space on Latimer Street is a lot of things. During the day it’s a cafe and coffee shop. At night, it’s a restaurant featuring modern interpretations of Guadalajaran American food as seen through an immigrant lens (he calls it “Guadaladephian”) with a dark, curtained, experimental cocktail lounge and mad scientist’s fermentation lab in the back called the Milpa Bar. The bar and dining room share a food menu — swordfish tacos with shallot and purple cabbage, shrimp aguachile, tacos dorados with shells that crack like glass — but offer two different cocktail boards. In the front, simple tintos, Palomas, and a burnt-tortilla mai tai are easy and approachable. Meanwhile, in the back, the Milpa crew turn out milk punches, ginger and lemongrass mojito variants, pour little bowls of excellent tequila and mezcal, and make water ice-inspired raspados. The whole thing is daring, smart, and unlike anything else being done in Philly right now. 1605 Latimer Street.
Concordance Ferments, Hatboro
Set alongside the Pennypack River, Concordance is a warm, rough-edged, comfortable space full of leather couches and board games, exposed beams, and trivia nights. The food is almost elemental in its stripped-back simplicity (roasted tomato soup, plates of meats and cheeses, tortellini with mushrooms, and a very good grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough from Baker Street), but that’s refreshing, actually, after years of showy gastropub fireworks. And the beer is phenomenal — a handful of soft, easy-drinking house brews like a sharp and almost floral Bavarian pilsner or a Nordic farmhouse ale infused with white tea, each available in three sizes so you can make a whole night out of tasting your way through everything Concordance has on tap, or just pick a favorite and stick with it. 18 Horsham Road.
Emilia, Kensington
Greg Vernick has only opened three restaurants since 2012. There was his original, Vernick Food & Drink, followed by Vernick Fish in 2019, and now Emilia — a trattoria-esque Italian concept opened in collaboration with his longtime chef de cuisine, Meri Medoway. One thing they all have in common? A focus on wood-fired cooking, which has always been a signature of Vernick’s style. Another thing? The best seats are at the bar. There are 20 or so of them in the bar/lounge area, and they’re held open every night for walk-ins only. And this is the kind of place where settling in with a mezcal and vermouth “Ti Vedo,” a plate of crispy artichoke leaves, an order of pigtailed radiatori in a mushroom bolognese dusted with a snowfall of fresh parm, and your own thoughts is an excellent way to spend an evening. Alternately, taking a table in the broad, open dining room and filling it with bowls of rigatoni, grilled fish, glasses of wine, lamb with wood-roasted eggplant, and braised rabbit is another option for those uncomfortable in their own company. Either way, seeing Vernick and Medoway lean heavily into neighborhood Italian is an exciting change from the norm. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait another seven years to see what they do next. 2406 Frankford Avenue.
Dishes from Fleur’s / Photograph by Mike Prince
Fleur’s, Kensington
“French spirit, Philly sensibilities” — that’s how Fleur’s sells its vibe. And both of those things are true. It’s being run by an all-star team of Philly restaurant pros (Vetri alum Graham Gernsheimer, Josh Mann who spent more than a decade with Starr, and George Sabatino, ex of Fork, Ansill, Aldine, and elsewhere), and is serving uni custard tartlets, pork terrine with pear mustard, duck confit, and Parisian gnocchi with a ragout of Mycopolitan mushrooms and a lace of hazelnut. It’s a big, bright swing of a spot with high ceilings and a marble bar, perfect for fancy nights out with martinis and seafood plateaus, or for anyone longing for that particular intersection of French technique and modern flavors. Pro tip: You can still snag a walk-in seat on weeknights, so put this one on the list for a surprise Wednesday night dinner. And if the squash velouté is on the menu when you drop by, just order it. You can thank us later. 2205 North Front Street.
Peter Chang, King of Prussia
There is not a lot that could make us suggest that you make the drive out to King of Prussia just for Chinese food. But one of those things is a two-time James Beard Award winner, former Chinese embassy chef, and legit food-world legend opening a Sichuan restaurant across the parking lot from a Wendy’s. Seriously, Peter Chang is like Bigfoot — a guy who spent the bulk of his career bopping up and down the East Coast, and being chased down by obsessives and fans everywhere he went. Here, he’s doing a massive menu that’s half hot pot, cumin-spiked lamb shank, Singapore-style curry noodles, and jade tofu soup with duck, and half dim sum and small plates that cover the spectrum from bang bang shrimp to tofu skin salad. It’s wild, it’s expansive (in terms of flavors, if not seats), and it’s different in almost every way from what you’d expect, from the olives in the dan dan noodles to the lovely bento-box-style presentation of the dim sum sampler. And it is absolutely worth checking out for yourself. 314 South Henderson Road.
Bomb Bomb Bar, South Philly
Joey Baldino’s newest experiment in neighborhood preservation is not fancy. The tables wobble and are covered in plastic. The staff are in t-shirts. And there’s a really big fish mounted on the wall. But don’t let any of that fool you because what the kitchen does here is a genius-level magic trick, glorifying the kind of simple Italian seafood dishes served at a hundred similar neighborhood joints over the last century of this city’s history and turning them into masterpieces with nothing more than the kind of devotional attention that Baldino (and Max Hachey, formerly of Friday Saturday Sunday) that great chefs can bring to anything they truly love. The result is a prix-fixe menu that’s among the best Italian meals in a city with no lack of great Italian food — plates of crab cakes scattered with tiny pickled cherry tomatoes, perfectly cooked shell pasta studded with chunks of fresh lobster meat, black tangles of spaghetti in briny squid ink, plates of stewed greens sparked with garlic, and a stunningly silky and deep carbonara. Beers are $7. There are ice cream sundaes for dessert if you want them. It’s like a museum installation focused on classic Italian neighborhood cooking where you can eat all the displays. And the only real problem here is trying to get a reservation (and find parking). 1026 Wolf Street.
The duck breast at Leo / Photograph by Kae Lani Palmisano
Leo, Center City
This restaurant isn’t just a preamble or finale to a night at the Kimmel. The unexpected presentation of Leo’s eclectic menu served up in this sleek dining room is a rousing performance all on its own. We’re talking thick-sliced hiramasa with briny olives and sweet cherries, smoky lamb merguez enveloped in a crêpe-like shell of crispy squid ink pasta, succulent duck lacquered in burnt honey and peach, and the pillowy, Parmesan-dusted gnocchi with grilled corn and peas. Meanwhile, the cocktails — aptly named for the parts of a play — follow the progression of the five-act structure and are an excellent accompaniment to the ensemble of dishes. The Prologue — a tequila and sherry cocktail with sherry, lime juice, agave syrup, and orange marmalade — is a lightly sweet and refreshing introduction to a bar program that crescendos into the Finale — a potent number made with gin, ruby port, pomegranate juice, beet shrub, and Peychaud’s bitters. Those two drinks are the perfect bookends for the night, but if you’re feeling like a third cocktail, the Encore, Leo’s take on the espresso martini, is a great closer. Though it is absolutely worth getting a meal before a show and drinks afterward, you don’t have wait for the new season at the Kimmel to begin to check this place out. Bonus: Keep your eye out for monthly themed wine tastings and events. 1414 Spruce Street.
TingTing’s, Chinatown
It’s a very specific set of circumstances that could cause a person to need five-spice chicken wings, beef satay, a plate of barbecued unagi over fluffy, yellow scrambled eggs and a bowl of clam chowder all at the same time, but when that kind of urge strikes you, TingTing’s — the new cafe from the team at EMei just around the corner — is exactly the spot you’re looking for. It’s small, crowded, BYO, and serves late breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and late-night bites from a sprawling menu inspired by the all-day cafes of Hong Kong where egg sandwiches, curried beef brisket, spaghetti and meatballs, and Portuguese custard tarts are all on offer. There is something for literally any appetite here, but if you’re looking for a couple solid winners, go for the soy-spiked unagi over eggs and rice or the pork char siu omelet sprinkled with diced scallions. You won’t regret it. 125 North 11th Street.
Dishes from Corio’s dinner menu / Photograph by Gab Bonghi
Corio, University City
Does Philadelphia need another pizza joint? The answer is yes when a trio of Vernick alums are slinging pies topped with hazelnut pesto and béchamel, spicy Bolognese with beef and pork sausage, and braised rabbit mingling with ricotta cheese. And though the pizzas are excellent it’s not all Corio does. There are plates of pastas and meaty mains that are rich and hearty enough to stand on their own. The spicy crab bucatini is a must-have this summer, and the pork Milanese is everything it should be — not too thin, lightly battered, and fried until golden. And the sharp and zesty endive and chicory salad with lemon vinaigrette served on the side cuts through the fat of the battered pork, similar to how champagne brightens any fried dish. Swing by for a casual after-work dinner over beer from the neighboring Two Locals brewery, or, if you’re a student, order takeout to fuel your next big study sesh. 3675 Market Street.
Heng Seng, Cherry Hill
If you enjoy Anthony Huong and Pouv Song’s original Heng Seng location in South Philly, you’ll love their three children’s venture out in Cherry Hill. Named for the restaurant they grew up in, the siblings are offering up comforting Cambodian noodle soups, congee, and stir-fries. For folks craving a funky, spicy papaya salad, this is the place to get it. They’re not timid with their use of chili peppers and fermented fish, crab, and shrimp paste. For more savory flavor, try their Phnom Penh-style noodle soup loaded up with sliced pork, pork liver, pork heart, ground pork, shrimp, squid, and fish tofu all swimming in a rich pork broth (you also have the option to get the noodles dry with the broth served on the side). If you’re in the mood for something sweet, grab the coconut juice (with generous chunks of coconut floating in the glass) and spring for the pandan foam. It drinks like a dessert but it’s an excellent palate cleanser between spicy and super umami bites. 1467 Brace Road, Unit C1B.
