The Most Talked-About Dishes in Philadelphia – May 2026

From roast pork sandwiches and stuffed morels to housemade Spam and tavern-style pizza, these dishes had Philadelphia talking in May.

Kiki Aranita

10 Minute read

30 May 2026

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Little Water's Morels Stuffed with Chicken

This past month, I chased the dishes that were most talked about, both online and to my face. I was long overdue for a visit to Bomb Bomb (everyone seems to be obsessed with Bomb Bomb). Manong unveiled its daily brunch, casual in terms of service but not in terms of its Philly-Filipino flavors, while Little Water had everyone buzzing not about fish or caviar for once, but about chicken and what it does with every part of it.

Mod Spuds' Jacket Potatoes

The city may be waiting with bated breath for Ange Branca to reopen Kampar, her Bella Vista Malaysian restaurant that soared to great heights before an electrical fire forced its closure. In the meantime, Branca has introduced Philadelphians to her version of jacket potatoes.

These exist nowhere else in the world. They're a mashup of her memories of studying in Scotland and her Malaysian palate. The beef rendang jacket potato has quickly become a citywide favorite.

Mod Spuds

Bomb Bomb's Roast Pork Sandwich with Broccoli Rabe

Joey Baldino has a way of taking legendary South Philly institutions and, along the way, redefining what it means to be Philadelphian. At Palizzi Social Club, he transformed one of the city's most beloved dining rooms. At Bomb Bomb, he's doing it again with a roast pork sandwich that challenges everything we thought we knew about Philadelphia's true signature sandwich.

We all thought we knew how good roast pork sandwiches, the true Philadelphia sandwich, never the cheesesteak, could be until we met Bomb Bomb's meltingly squishy rendition, topped with a curled-up long hot and crispy chicharron.

Bomb Bomb Bar

Bomb Bomb's Roast Pork Sandwich with Broccoli Rabe

Little Water's Morels Stuffed with Chicken

Randy Rucker's Little Water in Rittenhouse may be known for its exceptional seafood and abundance of caviar, but the restaurant has recently been making non-oceanic waves with its poultry dishes. Its Wednesday fried chicken nights, complete with half-price bottles of wine, have become a thing. But what does one do with all the best bits of the chicken?

Well, if you're Rucker, you stuff them into morels, pair them with cherries, and sink them into the silkiest, most chickeny sauce that ever was.

Little Water

Martini Menu at Vernick Fish in the Four Seasons

Is a shrimp cocktail a cocktail? Vernick Fish's new martini menu poses this philosophical question, and it seems that, to them, the answer is yes.

Cold, poached shrimp festooned with curls of horseradish are both garnish and snack, and the other snack-cocktails follow suit, paying homage to Vernick Fish's best-selling dishes, including its sardine toast and endive salad.

Vernick Fish

Breakfast Sandwich at Manong

The biggest part of this news: chefs Chance Anies and Juan de Ocampo are over at Manong in Fairmount, a fever dream of a Filipino take on all your favorite steakhouses of the ’90s, making their own Spam.

Smothered with melted cheese and stuffed into a pandesal roll, this sloppy, wonderful sandwich is one of the standouts on the restaurant's new brunch menu. I recommend adding the hash brown.

Manong

Tavern-Style Pizza at Lucky Duck

It seems that the hottest pies in Philly these days are all very, very flat, and the tavern-style pizzas at the still-new Lucky Duck on the waterfront are no exception.

Cracker-thin and super crispy, these pizzas may be the ultimate elevated bar snack. They do seem to encourage one to down a few extra onion martinis. Lucky Duck is also very much on trend with its savory martinis.

Lucky Duck

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About the author

Kiki Aranita is chef and owner of Poi Dog, a restaurant and catering company. She has created content and recipe-driven videos for the likes of Philadelphia Magazine, Sakara...

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