Spring restaurant openings to get excited about

Spring is on its way and that means a very cool crop of restaurant openings.

SEASONAL SIPPING: A trio of colorful new cocktails on the menu at Lolita.
Neal Santos

Culinarily speaking, there’s a whole lot to look forward to in the city this spring. There’s the reopening of loads of local farmers markets with their early spring offerings of rhubarb, asparagus and spring peas; the dusting off of outdoor furniture for al fresco dining (and drinking) and perhaps the most exciting thing on the horizon — a new crop of highly anticipated restaurant openings. Here’s a quick look at a handful that are happening this season. 

+ Lolita  |  106 S. 13th St., 215-546-7100, lolitabyob.com  |  Reopens mid April 

Lolita, the Mexican BYO-tequila spot of Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran’s 13th Street empire, closed its doors a few months back so the owners could embark on a massive redesign. 

Safran and Turney refer to Lolita — now 10 years old — as the baby of their restaurant family and they look back on it fondly, almost like parents. As young restaurateurs, they started out with no liquor license, no reservations and a strictly cash-only policy. When they reopen Lolita in mid -April, all of that is going to change. 

In addition to applying a fresh coat of paint on the warm, exposed-brick walls, they’ve installed a polished concrete bar and open kitchen with rustic black-and-white chevron detailing and shiny, lime-green tile work. The bar, fully stocked with tons of tequilas, blends into the kitchen-front seating. The energy from the kitchen, combined with flowing margaritas, lends a fun, you-just-walked-into-the-party kind of feel. “I want all of our restaurants to feel like that,” explains Safran. “And Lolita should be easy because there’s tequila involved.”

When crafting the cocktail menu with beverage director Terence Lewis, they took classic margaritas and the mixers that were so loved from Lolita’s BYOT days and added Turney’s love for fresh herbs. Taking inspiration from the rainbow of aguas frescas that they sampled in Mexico (“Can we just add a little liquor to those?” wondered Safran), the new drinks menu includes killer tequila cocktails like the Mamacita Agria with white tequila, fresh grapefruit and a scoop of beet-ginger sorbet, and a green margarita with cilantro, jalapeño and kale juice. 

Turney and Safran took an R&D trip to Mexico, something they certainly wouldn’t have been able to do back in 1994. In their travels to Oaxaca and Mexico City they focused on street food, the jumping-off point for the new menu. After two weeks of eating street meat, Turney opted to install a trompo, a vertical roasting spit for tacos al pastor. (They’ll also use the spit for the occasional and not-so-Mexican Korean spiced skirt steak with perilla and ssamjang.) 

Another Mexican takeaway is the vibrant enamel-glazed Cinsa dishes that they imported. Cinsa is most often associated with campsite cooking, but Safran and Turney opted for more vibrant shades of green for Lolita. 

After putting the finishing touches on Little Nonna’s last fall, with its distinctly grandma’s-sitting-room vibe, they were going for something a little more rough around the edges at Lolita. “Little Nonna’s is cutesy and I love it,” says Safran. “Lolita grew up and she’s a bad, bad girl,” Turney says with a laugh.

+ Abe Fisher and Dizengoff  |  1605-1627 Sansom St.  |  Opens late May  

Mike Solomonov and Steve Cook have two openings on the books for this spring in adjacent spaces on the 1600 block of Sansom Street. Cook is calling Dizengoff, a 25-seat counter-service hummusiya, a little sister to Zahav. It’s their take on an Israeli breakfast-and-lunch spot specializing in a simple menu of hummus with accompaniments like fresh salads, pickled vegetables and fresh-baked pitas. “The best places make one big batch of hummus and when the chickpeas run out it’s over and they shut the door,” Cook says, likening it to the policy at his chicken and doughnut chain, Federal Donuts. 

Along with the gorgeous hummus that Solomonov pioneered at Zahav (Dizengoff will serve three or four varieties daily), the vegetable sides will be seasonal. “Our idea is to have the farmer back the truck up to the restaurant and whatever happens to be good that week, we’ll make a salad out of it,” Cook explains.  Beer and frozen nonalcoholic drinks are also on the menu. 

And that name? It comes from a main drag in Tel Aviv named for that city’s first mayor, Meir Dizengoff. Cook says that they’re going for a hip vibe that is reminiscent of Israel in the ’70s and ’80s.

And then there’s Abe Fisher, the new spot right next door. The name comes from a combination of names in Cook’s and Solomonov’s families. And then Cook gives a little more insight into the concept: “Abe Fisher is this mythical guy, a 20th-century American Jewish guy who drove Cadillacs, drank martinis and wore hats.” 

“At Zahav, the food is inspired by Jewish food in Israel. At Abe Fisher, it’s the inverse of that — Jewish food inspired by everywhere but Israel. For the most part Europe, New York, Montreal, places that have strong 19th- and 20th-century Jewish populations that have created their own traditions within the diaspora,” Cook says. There are plans for upscale reimaginings of deli staples like Montreal-style smoked short ribs, corned pork belly and a borscht-inspired beet tartare.

Open for dinner with a full bar and twice the seating capacity of neighboring Dizengoff, Abe Fisher is going to offer prix fixe menus as well as a la carte options. 

+ a.kitchen  |  135 S. 18th St., 215-825-7030, akitchenphilly.com  |  Open now

Eli Kulp, Ellen Yin and the High Street Hospitality Group have taken over the dining options at the AKA hotel. Kulp and chef de cuisine John Nodler have revamped the dinner menu with a one-two-three setup of plates designed to make for a pick-and-choose-your-own-adventure “elemental American” dining experience. Plates are accessible and high-minded all at once with uni-topped rice cakes with smoked pork jowl and mustard, pork cutlet with mustard greens, and caper aioli and Dover sole with lime-brown butter sauce. Kulp says that a.kitchen will be introducing breakfast and lunch menus during the first week of April with morning offerings coming in the form of fresh-baked pastries and breads from High Street on Market. Lunch will incorporate elements from the dinner menu as well as the hearty and smart sandwiches and salads similar to what he’s been doing at High Street. A new raw-bar menu is going to be put in place at neighboring a.bar a little later in the spring.

+ Treemont  |  225 S. 15th St.  |  Opens mid April

Chip Roman’s mini-empire has been building quietly in the city — Ela in Queen Village with Jason Cichonski and Mica in Chestnut Hill — and outside with Blackfish and Tradestone Café and Confections in Conshohocken. For his latest, Treemont, he’s moving into Rittenhouse digs, opening up shop in the swanky Aria condo building on the corner of 15th and Locust. The bilevel space is completely redesigned with handsome woodwork, including a gorgeous walnut-topped bar and lovely second-floor counter seating. As far as the menu goes, Roman says to expect small plates designed for sharing, plus a full bar. “We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here,” Roman explains, meaning that guests can expect seafood-centric fare similar to what Roman’s been doing at Blackfish and Mica.