John’s Water Ice to Open in Deep South Philly

Water ice from John’s / Photograph by Caroline Cunningham 

Howdy, buckaroos! And welcome back to the weekly Foobooz food news round-up. Kind of a slow week here in restaurant world, but the news we do have is pretty exciting. So, there’s just a few quick things to get to this week — including (but not limited to) a new chapter for a collab dinner for Kalaya, brunch options in Fishtown, a martini bar for the swells and a true sign of spring arriving in Philly. But let’s kick things off with…

John’s Water Ice Will Kick Off Season With a New Location

John’s Water Ice is currently closed for the season. But come April — when the flowers bloom and the temperatures rise and everyone starts checking their calendars to see how long before summer arrives — the venerable, third-generation family water ice operation will be reopening with a new location and a partner.

At 2700 South 7th Street (basically 7th and Oregon, way down in South Philly), John’s will be kicking off the season alongside Angelina’s Pizza — which is another new restaurant, scheduled to open next week, on March 25th.

Angelina’s is doing pizzas (obviously), pastas, and wings — a neighborhood Italian menu. And John’s is doing what John’s always does: some of the best water ice anywhere in the region. Seriously, the black cherry water ice I had there the first time I ever stopped in remains a core Philly food memory that I will never shake. Plus, they also serve soft pretzels. And if there’s anything that screams warm weather in Philly more than walking around South Philly with a soft pretzel in one hand, a water ice in the other, and a spoon in your mouth while you try to remember where you illegally parked your car, I don’t know what it is.

Now what else is happening this week?

Korea Taqueria Comes to Kensington

Korea Taqueria owner Alexander Sherack doling out tacos from the business’s food truck / Photograph by Huy Dinh

Okay, technically East Kensington, on Trenton Avenue, across from the skatepark, but still — this is great news.

I’ve been a huge fan of the Mexi-Korean mashups done by the crew at KT for a couple years now. I mean, bulgogi beef birria tacos dripping with consommé, midnight kimchi cheese fries, Korean-inflected cheesesteaks, and garlic-soy fried chicken thighs with chipotle mayo and kimchi slaw? That’s the good shit, right there. Plus, the place has an arc that’s pure Philly. It started as a food truck, run by two friends (Rene Lopez, a chef from Metztitlan, Hidalgo, and Australian-Korean chef Alexander Sherack) who just wanted to see what would happen if they tried smashing their favorite cuisines together. Then it became a weird, rocking little counter-service brick-and-mortar (and pillar of the Grays Ferry culinary community), did pop-ups, did collabs, did catering–basically living on hustle, word-of-mouth, and a killer Instagram feed full of shrimp tacos, chicken wings, and Eagles sombreros. And now, it’s expanding to a second location.

I told y’all about this a couple months back when word first broke that Sherack and Lopez were looking at moving into Kensington. Back then, I had no details, just vibes — I knew they were looking, that they had their eyes on a spot, and … that’s it.

But now, we’ve got some more solid facts. The new Korea Taqueria location will be at 2563 Trenton Avenue in East Kensington. They’re in the process of taking over the old Thin ‘n Crispy Pizza location right on the corner, completely gutting the place, and turning it into another spot for their Mexi-Korean shenanigans. There’s no hard opening date yet, but they’re looking at spring, so I’m hoping for soon-ish. Plus, the sign has now been hung, so that’s a pretty good indication things are proceeding quickly.

In any case, I’m psyched for the crew. And jealous of everyone who lives in the neighborhood. The Instagram post showing the sign going up has already gotten thousands of likes, so I’m actually a little surprised people haven’t started lining up already.

Brunch, Re-Branded

In Fishtown, Aaron Anderson (ex of the Original Hot Dog Factory mini-chain) has been running his breakfast and brunch joint, Brunchaholics, for a year and change. He has another one in Cherry Hill, too. (There was another location in Rittenhouse but it’s closed.) But I just got word that Anderson has decided to rebrand his concept starting, well, immediately.

So goodbye, Brunchaholics, and hello, Sunrise Social — which, honestly, is a better name.

According to Anderson, the new spot will serve an elevated version of breakfast, brunch, and lunch, with a focus on “Southern-inspired comfort with a modern twist.” This means apple pie pancakes, red velvet waffles, fried chicken breakfast sandwiches on honey butter biscuits, cracked fried lobster, and plates of cornmeal-fried fish, shrimp, and lump crab over cheese grits, which, to me, sounds like a pretty nice way to start the day.

Sunrise Social has a liquor license, so there are brunch cocktails on the board, too — everything from blueberry mojitos to mango margaritas. And while these are now both franchise locations (with Anderson as the franchisor, partnered with Bhavesh Patel), it looks like Anderson himself has bigger plans. He’s also looking at turning the Sunrise Social rebrand into a fast-casual concept called Sunrise Social Express, the first location of which he is promising in 60 days.

He has a space: a former Boston Market at 301 South Main in Vineland. And he’s shooting for a quick turnaround, limited indoor seating, and a drive-thru, with a menu focused on smash burgers, chicken tenders, and some of the big hitters from Sunrise Social’s new menu. It’s meant to play like a “modernized version of Waffle House,” according to Anderson. Which is a lofty ambition, honestly. Waffle House has around 2,000 locations across 25 states and, in many quarters, is as ubiquitous (and culturally weighty) as Wawas or McDonald’s drive-thrus. Right now, Anderson has one old Boston Market and a dream.

But hey, everyone’s gotta start somewhere, right? And I’m kinda curious to see how this plays out.

Now who has room for some leftovers?

The Leftovers

Dishes that will be served at the upcoming Kalaya and Fish Cheeks collaboration dinner. / Photograph by Michael Persico

If you’re out and about today, you might notice a familiar name returning to the scene. Tequilas — which we lost in 2023 to a fire that had the place dark for two years — reopened in its old home at 1602 Locust Street in Center City last night.

Yeah, I know. But we’ve been keeping an eye on that space for a while now, just waiting to see when Dan Suro (son of David Suro, who originally opened Tequilas back in 1986) would bring the high-end Mexican restaurant back to the scene.

It’s a newer, sleeker, smaller Tequilas. Half the space is being turned into La Jefa, a more casual cocktail concept (also from Suro) that should be opening in the next month or so. But with 75 seats dedicated to fine dining and a kitchen focused on the cuisine of Guadalajara, it’s still exciting news. I talked with Dan about the new place (both new places, actually), and if you’re interested, you can read more about it here.

Meanwhile, over at Kalaya, owner Nok Suntaranon is teaming up with the team from NYC’s Fish Cheeks Thai restaurant for a killer, one-night-only dinner at Kalaya on Palmer Street.

It’s going to be a 12-course collab, with each restaurant weighing in on every single dish. So that means Fish Cheeks’ famous Zabb Wings with chile and makrut lime, dressed in Kalaya’s sweet chile sauce, or a goat and lamb curry from Fish Cheeks spiked with Nok’s spice blend from the kitchen at Kalaya. There’ll be goong chea nam pla, whole squid stuffed with sticky rice in aromatic coconut milk; moo waan pork belly caramelized in palm sugar; and a half-dozen other delicious things to shove in your face. The dinner is on Monday, April 21st, starting at 5 p.m. Tickets will run you $135 (plus tax and tip), but they’re going to go live on Kalaya’s Resy page at noon on Friday, March 21st.

Word of advice? I would be there waiting at 11:59 a.m. Because these things are gonna sell out fast. Like the man says, you snooze, you lose.

Chef Chris Kearse with a stack of cookbooks from his collection. / Photograph courtesy of Forsythia

Finally this week, there’s a very cool dinner series that’s just getting ready to kick off at Forsythia, and if you’re a cookbook collector, this one is pretty much made for you.

Chef Chris Kearse has spent years reading, studying, and collecting cookbooks. For a chef, that’s not so strange. Cookbooks are to kitchen crews what parts catalogs and repair manuals are to mechanics. Got a problem you can’t figure out? Someone has probably solved it before. Need a way to finish off that Thursday night special? Maybe Julia, Jacques, or Auguste will have an idea.

Kearse, though, is taking this one step further. He’s launching a whole dinner series (on the last Thursday of most months) based entirely around cooking entire meals out of single (very famous) cookbooks. Like this month, for example, when he’ll get things started by focusing on “a little storefront on Walnut Street that started Philadelphia’s ‘Restaurant Revolution’: Le Bec-Fin.”

So yes, a $95, five-course dinner featuring only dishes found in Georges Perrier’s seminal Le Bec-Fin Recipes. That means escargots aux champagne, a mille-feuille de saumon fumé, red mullet with red Zinfandel, veal marrow, magret de canard with turnips, and the classic mille-feuille de framboises, with each recipe being taken directly from the book (page numbers included) and prepared exactly the way Georges demands.

It’s a really cool idea. Thursday, March 27th is the Le Bec-Fin kick-off dinner at Forsythia. And all the information you could possibly need can be found right here.