All the Details on Mulherin’s New Pizza Project in Midtown Village

A rendering of Mulherin’s Pizzeria / Image provided by Method Co.

Howdy, buckaroos! And welcome back to the Foobooz food news round-up. I know it’s sunny outside, and starting to feel more like spring, so let me just get you caught up on a few quick bits of news from the industry and then we can all get back to our weeks. This time around, let’s kick things off with an update on the new Mulherin’s project.

Pizza, Pasta and Soft-Serve At The New Mulherin’s in Midtown Village

Mulherin’s Pizzeria — that’s the official new name. And when I first told y’all about it a couple weeks back, I knew exactly three things about it. First, that it was going to be called just “Mulherin’s” (which turned out to be wrong). Second, that it was going into the ground floor of the Girard at 1175 Ludlow Street in Midtown Village (still true). And third, that it was looking to open in early April. So just a few short weeks away.

Chef Sean McPaul will be running the joint. He has a pretty solid resume, with turns through the kitchens at Parc, Talula’s Garden and elsewhere, and according to those who know, he’ll be “Tak[ing] cues from Wm. Mulherin’s Sons original concept while placing a greater focus on the pizza program.” Hence the name, I guess. Because it would be weird if they called the place Mulherin’s Pizzeria and served nothing but sushi and cotton candy.

Pizza, handmade pastas and “vegetable-forward small plates” are the new marching orders. There’ll be house-made soft-serve for dessert, a craft cocktail menu, and Italian wines. McPaul and his crew will be knocking out new pizza inventions like the “Scarlet O’Hara” with marinara, n’duja, bagna cauda and lemon, alongside OG Mulherin’s favorites like the “Spicy Jawn” — which, back in the day anyway, was a great pie with a shocking heat and excellent, blistered crust from a big, wood-fired oven.

McPaul will have his own wood oven to play with — visible from the open kitchen. There’ll be tile floors, saddle-leather banquettes, and wood-beam ceilings inside, a covered, year-round courtyard for outdoor dining. And the kitchen will be doing an all-day menu once things get up and running — though I don’t know yet whether that means two meals, three, or three-plus-late-nights. It’s always hard to guess with a hotel restaurant (which this kinda is, with owner Method Co.’s Roost extended-stay concept sharing the same building), but I can tell you that they’ll be opening with an 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday schedule.

So mark it on your calendars, friends: Early April, Mulherin’s Pizzeria.

Now what else is in the news? Oh, right…

One Sure Sign of Spring

A lively evening at Bok Bar. / Photograph by Jennifer Strickland

In a list of iconic images of Philly, there are plenty that no one would argue with. The Love Park sculpture, the Art Museum steps, Boathouse Row, the Linc on game day. And while I would argue that in order to truly capture the soul of this city, you’d need a few less obvious inclusions (Friday evening in Chinatown, any Septa train on game day, Two Street after the Mummer’s Parade is over, there are others), one image that could absolutely be used to show the essence of Philly shaking off the cold and damp of winter would be a shot of a busy Saturday night on the rooftop patio at the Bok.

There’s just something about that view over South Philly, the energy of that space, everything. At certain moments, the line at John’s Roast Pork or the El rattling through Kensington might capture a side of Philly, good or bad, but to me, golden hour at the Bok has always felt like Philly at its best. Or anyway, its most wildly utopian.

All of which is a really long way of saying that, come April 11th, the rooftop bar will be re-opening for the season. And this year, they’ve got a BIG roster of seven different chefs and/or restaurants doing seven month-long Bok Bar residencies to feed all those people crowding the patio.

It’s a good list, kicking off with Darnel’s Cakes in April, then Jezabel’s in May, Puyero in June, pizza from Down North in July, Mexi-Korean fusion goodness from Korea Taqueria in August, Gabriella’s Vietnam in September, and finally, all the way from New Jersey, Sweet Amalia to wrap things up in October.

That, friends, is what is known as a winning lineup. All killer, no filler as my man Dave Herrera used to say. There is nothing on that list that isn’t exciting. And the Bok team are rounding all that out with a full schedule of dance classes, drag shows, rooftop yoga, a summer concert series, new art by local artists. Yeah, no one was sitting on their hands during the off-season. Kids and families are welcome any time before sunset on Friday and Saturday nights. Dogs are always welcome. Bok Bar will be open Wednesdays through Sundays, from April 11th all the way through to November 3rd. You can get specifics here (also good for booking a semi-private area if you’ve got a big party in tow), and make reservations for any of the upcoming events right here.

Speaking of Seasonal Openings…

Bok Bar isn’t the only spot in town taking advantage of the longer days and warmer temperatures. Last year, FCM Hospitality and Avram Hornik launched a brand-new pop-up concept called Walnut Garden — an “urban oasis and cocktail garden” built at 17th and Walnut over the wreck of a McDonald’s and a Vans shoe store that burned down during the George Floyd social justice protests.

Socio-political optics aside, FCM turned an 11,500-square-foot vacant spot into a green and beautiful place featuring benches, table seating, a playground for kids, soft-serve ice cream and, of course, a bar.

Two bars, actually, serving craft cocktails, beer and NA beverages to the crowds that flocked there. And this year, FCM is bringing it back again. Same spot, same concept, same beautiful landscaping, but with a few changes. Last year, they had an Asian street-food thing going in the kitchen. This year, it’s more party food — smoked potato salad, garlic soft pretzels with pimento cheese dip, burgers, fried cheese curds, smoked brisket cheesesteaks and a chorizo and kimchi beef hot dog. The bar has canned, draft and hand-made cocktails (including one featuring watermelon lollipop-flavored vodka, if you’re into that kind of thing), beer and wine. There’s a big tent for shade, TVs, an eclipse-watching party already planned for April 8th, and the big grand opening this year is April 4th — like literally just a week away.

Walnut Garden will be open 7 days a week, from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, noon to 11 p.m. on the weekends, and noon to 10 p.m. on Sundays. And if you need additional information on any of this, you can check out the website right here for details on hours, menus, events and anything else you might need.

Now whose got room for some leftovers?

The Leftovers

Photo courtesy of The West Reading Craft Pretzel & Beer Fest

Last week, we spent a BUNCH of time talking about the new Chef Conference coming to Philly. It’s a large event — a magnet for some really big names in the industry, featuring a ton of panel discussions and collaboration dinners — and a super-big-deal for Philly. But it isn’t the only chef conference in town.

The original Philly Chef Conference was an event organized through the hospitality school at Drexel, and it was cool. It brought in some big guns from the national scene, but had a distinctly local flavor. And even though this shiny new conference is getting a lot of ink (largely because it’s happening in mid-April), the Drexel version is still happening as well.

It’s scheduled for October 13th and 14th at Drexel (as it always has been) and will feature a day of workshops, keynotes and a local producer reception, followed by a more hands-on day of demos, panel discussions, tastings and presentations. There’s a heavy educational component to Drexel’s conference — it acts as a way to introduce their students to a lot of big names in the industry — and also as an excuse for a lot of Philly’s chefs and producers to get together in the same place at the same time (something that just doesn’t happen that often).

With months yet before kickoff, the Philly Chef Conference doesn’t have a schedule or agenda — they’ll be announcing that this summer. But if you’re looking to stay up-to-date, keep an eye on the Philly Chef Conference website for updates. I know I will be.

And hey, here’s something else you’re going to have to wait for. It looks like the Southeast Asian Market at FDR Park needs to delay their opening. The original plan was to kick off the 2024 season on March 30th, but that’s not gonna happen. According to a statement, the Vendor’s Association of FDR Park said, “This year there are some requirements for the Market to proceed. That being said, the Vendors Association of FDR Park Board is diligently addressing these requirements in a timely manner so that the Market can open its doors as quickly as possible.”

There’s no hard opening date right now, but we’re likely talking weeks not days. The statement went on to say, “Everyone understands the necessity of these steps to lay a strong foundation for the Market’s future permanent home […]. We are confident that our SEA Market will be welcoming the community soon and we thank you for your patience as we navigate these challenges during this time.”

And finally this week, here’s something we do have a date for: The West Reading Craft Pretzel & Beer Fest. Normally, I wouldn’t be sharing news about something happening in Reading. That’s not really my beat. But this is pretzels and beer — two of the three sections of my own personal Food Pyramid, so I figured I’d pass along the information. The WRCP&B Fest is happening on Saturday, April 27th, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Penn Avenue in West Reading. You can get all the information you need right here.