Caribou Cafe Relaunches Under Townsend Wentz

Caribou Cafe, the classic French bistro on Walnut Street, is under new ownership. / Photograph by Eleanore Starkman courtesy of Caribou Cafe

Howdy, buckaroos! And welcome back to the weekly Foobooz food news round-up. Just a few quick things to get to this week, including (but not limited to) cheesesteak flights, whole pigs, disco sushi and food trucks. But let’s kick things off this week with an update to a story that’s been almost a year in the making.

Townsend Wentz and the Caribou

Once upon a time, the Caribou Cafe was nothing but a Fitler Square coffee shop.

That was decades ago — back in the late ‘80s, when it was owned by founder Bruno Pouget. It would only last a year in that space (and that format), moving crosstown in 1989 to 1121 Walnut Street in Center City, and then again a few years later to its current home at 1126 Walnut, basically right across the street.

It went from a little French coffee shop to a full-on bistro to one of the hottest restaurants in the city in the mid-‘90s. Celebrities loved the place. Actors from the local theaters considered it their second home. One night, in the middle of a snowstorm, Pouget’s mom (who doesn’t speak a word of English) was tending bar when Lenny Kravitz showed up. Despite the limo parked out front, she thought he was homeless because he was wrapped up in a long, vintage fur coat.

Chef Olivier Desaintmartin (ex of Le Bernardin in NYC and La Campagne in Cherry Hill) bought Caribou from Pouget in 2003 and made it a destination. He would go on to open other French restaurants in Philly — including a little takeout rotisseur called Petit Roti that closed in 2017 to make way for the original Middle Child — but Caribou was where he made his name in this town. And he would spend the next 20 years putting out moules frites, escargots de Bourgogne, poulet roti and other classics of French brasserie cuisine for generations of fans.

But around this time last year, news broke that Desaintmartin was selling the place. And he didn’t have to look very far for a buyer, because Townsend Wentz — whose Spanish tapas and sherry outpost, Oloroso, currently operates in the 1121 Walnut space that Caribou vacated years ago — was VERY interested in having a little French operation of his own.

The deal was done in December of last year. And for the past several months, Wentz and his team have been working quietly behind the scenes, renovating the kitchen, refreshing the interior and testing new menus. Chef Eric Starkman (who used to run the show at Wentz’s eponymous restaurant Townsend back in the day, before skipping town for New York and a gig at the Michelin-starred L’abeille in Tribeca) has been brought home to stand as exec. His fiancée, Stephanie Blanc (ex of Gramercy Tavern), will be running FOH.

Eric Starkman and Stephanie Blanc, Caribou Cafe / Photograph by Eleanore Starkman courtesy of Caribou Cafe

And Wentz has serious plans for the place.

“Our vision is for Caribou Cafe to be one of the country’s top brasseries, a must-visit for everyone who visits or lives in Philadelphia.”

So yeah. It’s a big swing. Caribou’s new menu features hyper-seasonal plats du mois — a rotating monthly dishes like blanquette de veau, an October choucroute garnie with smoked sausage, pork shoulder, braised bison and sauerkraut and pot au feu with poached foie and truffles for December. There are pike quenelles, steak frites served on mismatched china, pied de cochon fritters in sauce ravigote and frisée aux lardons.

Short rib at Caribou Cafe / Photograph by Eleanore Starkman courtesy of Caribou Cafe

There’s no big grand opening planned (as of yet), but the new menu is running now, the new crew is in place, and the space looks beautiful. Reservations are available, so check it out if you need a little more steak frites in your life.

And really, who doesn’t?

Now what’s next …

Sushi at Studio 54

Sushi by Boū, Midtown Village / Photograph courtesy of Sushi by Boū

We’ve talked about Sushi By Boū before — it’s the sushi/omakase/speakeasy concept from SimpleVenue (out of New York) and GLU Hospitality (from right here in Philly) that turns underutilized spaces into omakase “experiences.”

Their first foray into the Philly market was an omakase restaurant themed after 90’s-era hip-hop, opened in a space that used to be a different omakase restaurant (the old Sushi Suite behind Izakaya Fishtown). And now, they’ve opened a second one.

SBB Midtown Village opened this past Friday in the former “secret music hideaway,” Leda’s Cocktail Lounge at 1224 Chestnut Street. And the theme this time around is glittery, Studio 54-era disco. Because when you think of Studio 54 the first thing you think of is … sushi.

The new location has taken over the entirety of the old Leda’s space — bar, lounge and upstairs. They’ve covered the place with glitter, disco balls, installed velvet booths in the lounge, and hung “a black-and-white gallery of iconic moments from the legendary disco era.” But the big draw here is, again, the omakase experience — 60 minutes for 12 courses that’ll run you $65 (a lowball price by omakase standards) or $125 for a 17-course “bou-gie” upgrade.

And look, it is an “experience,” but the menus also look pretty solid. We’re talking edomae-style sushi sourced both locally and globally; yellowtail, botan ebi, salmon roe, o-toro, a surf-and-turf riff they call “wagyuni” (wagyu and sea urchin roe). All of this is paired with custom cocktails and sake, and there’s even mochi ice cream for dessert. “Sushi for the people” is kind of like the Sushi By Boū motto, and this kind of experience (music and disco balls included), along with the price point, is certainly one way of making an omakase menu a lot more approachable to a much wider audience.

Oh, and also? The Midtown Village location is the first Sushi By Boū to be launching their BouBar concept. On Friday and Saturday nights the space transforms from what I can only imagine is a sedate and tasteful homage to Studio 54 into “a chic and vibrant lounge experience with live DJs spinning a mix of classic disco and house music [with] bottle service and exotic cocktails … to elevate your evening.”

So anyway, if this sounds like your kind of thing, they’re up and running on Chestnut Street right now. They only seat 10 people at a time at the sushi counter, so reservations can be hard to come by, but shoot your shot. If nothing else, it’ll be a memorable night. A Boogie Wonderland, even.

An Update From Picnic

Picnic / Photograph by Mike Prince

A couple months back, I told you all about the opening of Picnic, the new project from Defined Hospitality — the cats behind some of the city’s biggest (and most successful) restaurants. (Kalaya, Suraya, and Pizzeria Beddia, for example.)

But now that Picnic has had some time to shake out the kinks, they’ve made a few updates to the 225-seat, 11,000-square-foot location at 2421 Martha Street in East Kensington.

Most notably, they’re now offering all-day service on the weekends. Last week, they started Saturday services — opening at noon and running straight through until 10 p.m. And this weekend, they’ll be adding a Sunday service as well — from noon until 9 p.m. Going forward, they’ll be doing daytime service every weekend, with the same menu available all day, plus some additional brunch drinks for the early risers. This had been the plan from the start, so it’s good to know Picnic is confident enough to be adding some hours to the schedule.

Another change: Opening chef Mark Jerome Hennessey is out and Joe Mooney (ex of Condessa, another Defined property, plus Mistral and Elements in New Jersey) is currently standing as exec.

Also, because I guess 225 seats just wasn’t enough, Picnic has added bar seating and, to celebrate, just launched an oyster happy hour, Mondays through Thursdays from 5 to 6 p.m., with buck-fifty bivalves, $5 drafts, $9 cocktails, and wines by the glass.

They’re also doing takeout now (something that wasn’t allowed until very recently), and orders can be placed right on the restaurant website.

And finally, due to the fact that pretty much everyone hates it, they did away with QR code ordering and moved to a full-service model with menus and servers and everything. You know, like a real restaurant.

The QR code thing was a nice experiment (especially for a place as big as Picnic) but there’s something about that kind of automation that will always feel a little cold and alienating. It makes every restaurant feel like a Chipotle. Or one of those Amazon stores with no human employees. And at Picnic, it just didn’t work. According to Al Lucas from Defined, “First and foremost, we always make sure to listen to our customers and accept all feedback that comes our way. Over the past couple of months we learned that our guests do prefer full-service ordering, so we decided to go in that direction, and we’re happy we did.”

A Fishtown Food Truck Night Market

Nope, not a dream. This is a reality — at least for now.

Underneath I-95, on Allen Street, just staggering distance from the Fillmore, Philadelphia Distilling and a bunch of other large-format, late-night haunts, the city has set up a dedicated lot for a half-dozen food trucks which will operate Thursday to Sunday, from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. The market, nicknamed “The Fishbowl,” is basically an experiment that is promised to run until October 31st. Six trucks will set up in the Live Nation lot at 25 East Allen Street and serve all the concertgoers, bar crawlers, night-shifters and hospitality industry employees looking for something to eat long after the sun has gone down. If it works, it may run later than the end of October.

It may also be replicated in other neighborhoods. And if it isn’t? Well, I still think there’s something noble in the effort because this is one of those things that seems like a great idea — a way to feed folks badly in need of some tater tots or mac and cheese at 2 a.m. without all the noise, mess and congestion that comes with the way the food trucks in Fishtown operate right now.

The late-night food truck market is the brainchild of Raheem Manning, the city’s “director of nighttime economy and business development” — which, I gotta say, is just about the most badass job title of anyone in city government. I mean, seriously? How cool does that job sound? Catering exclusively to the city’s night owls and vampires, club kids and all-night diners. When I grow up, that’s the gig I want. Seriously.

Anyway, over at the Inky, they talked to Manning about all the details of the new experimental food truck compound. It’s a good read if you’ve got a few minutes. And an even better idea. Here’s hoping it works out — and not just because I like the idea of another place to score burnt ends at three in the morning if I happen to be in the neighborhood.

Now who’s in the mood for some leftovers?

The Leftovers

Focaccia at Spread Bagelry / Photograph by Gab Bonghi

Last week, Spread Bagelry opened its newest outpost at 102 Squire Drive in Newtown Square. This is the 17th location for the Montreal-style bagel specialists, so you’d be right in asking why I’m mentioning it here.

Well, it’s because this Spread is the first one in the chain to be offering a dinner menu. Really, an evening menu. But for a bagel place, that’s still a pretty big deal.

The menu consists of a half-dozen focaccia sandwiches cooked in the wood-fired oven, along with salad bowls, dips, and desserts. So something like a fried chicken cutlet sandwich with pickled red onion and pimento cheese, fresh focaccia dragged through a loaded, whipped ricotta dip, and then fried cinnamon-sugar bagel holes for dessert.

The new evening menu is only available at the Newtown Square location, and only on Wednesdays through Sundays, from 2:30-8 p.m. In the mornings and on every other day, it’ll still be the Spread we all known and love.

Jansen in Mount Airy is doing a nose-to-tail pop-up dinner this Thursday, the 26th, featuring dishes from every part of the pig. They’ve got prosciutto-wrapped scallops, head cheese fritters, Korean jeyuk bokkeum lettuce wraps, Serrano ham with octopus, a German schnitzel and porchetta. Hell, the kitchen is even doing a panna cotta with chicharron and pancetta caramel for dessert. It looks like an awesome dinner, and Jansen is a lovely space, so if you’re down, it’s $115 per person and dinner starts at 5:30pm. Reservations here.

Jansen / Photograph by Gab Bonghi

If you’re looking to find poutine, stir fry, shrimp tacos with Thai chile pico and dumplings in black vinegar sauce all in the same place, I’ve got some good news for you. Departure — a global small-plates restaurant in Media — just opened the doors a couple weeks ago. And, at least right now, they seem to be killing it in Delco.

The concept is simple: an ever-changing menu of internationally inspired small plates, plus booze. And the space is designed to look kinda like an upscale airport lounge — but, you know, in a good way. I kinda love the idea simply because it’s so universal.

It gives the kitchen license to try anything, and the customer the ability to order widely and fearlessly because everything is a small plate. So butternut squash bisque, mussels in miso broth, a plate of fish and chips and a flight of tandoori chicken, jerk shrimp and pineapple carne asada skewers can all share the table at the same time, and even if one of those dishes is a failure, you’ve still got plenty of other options to choose from. Also, a Philly rarebit with house-cut ribeye and Welsh cheese sauce? That’s just a nice touch, right there.

Speaking of international inspiration, over at Lacroix, chef Eric Leveillee is doing another collab dinner, and this time he’s bringing in the crew from Paffutto. Leveillee, along with Daniel Griffiths, Jake Loeffler, and Sam Kalkut, will be doing a multi-course prix fixe. And I love this for all four of them because, on the one hand, I can’t think of a restaurant more diametrically opposite to Lacroix on the culinary color wheel than Paffutto during the day when it is all plum bomboloni, panzeroti and tater tots with Castelvetrano aioli. But on the other hand, the Paffutto guys also do a dinner service now, and between the sweet corn ravioli, poached mussels with brioche crisp and chicken liver mousse with pistachio and marsala geleé, I think the kitchen at Lacroix is exactly where they belong.

At least for one night.

Dinner is Sunday, October 6th, at Lacroix. Tickets are $125 and there are only 30 seats available total — three seatings of 10 people each at 5:30, 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. Get your reservations right here.