4 places
The Best Restaurant Openings in Philadelphia – July 2026
July has been an interesting month for openings in Philly, since the most significant ones feed into three main trends: 1. We hunger for places to get ourselves a little treat. 2. Third-culture baking shows no signs of abating. 3. You have to have a breakfast sandwich. Chibanos, a Cuban Chinese sandwich-focused cafe, has already entranced Philly with its bo lo baos, splayed open and stuffed with eggs and scallion mayo, and its cross-cultural storytelling, steeped in immigrant family histories. Manna Bakery, which also considers itself a third-culture bakery and is known for its large array of pastries set out on butcher paper for farmers’ market customers, has at last opened a brick-and-mortar location.
The longest-awaited of these openings is undoubtedly Manna Bakery, which opened on July 30. And by long, I mean not only the anticipation, but the relentless queues that snake around Rittenhouse Square every Saturday when Manna sets up its stand selling baked goods and hummus. No other market vendor has ever generated so much buzz or stoked so much excitement.
Schmaltz
After spending much of June in soft-opening mode, Schmaltz fully opened in Point Breeze in early July. The neighborhood and adjacent Graduate Hospital had been absolutely desperate for places to hang out, grab an espresso drink, and, on weekends, line up with everyone else for a breakfast sandwich. Schmaltz offers a small, tight menu of latke, egg, and cheese sandwiches, blintzes, chicken salad sandwiches, and beet salads, essentially heftier cafe fare. It uses locally roasted Herman’s coffee, and its merch game is simply and impossibly adorable. Expect to see its schmaltz-themed totes and shirts on everyone by late summer.
Manna Bakery
Chef-owner Saif Manna started his bakery out of his Temple University dorm room, and over five years, it became a cornerstone of the Rittenhouse Square, Clark Park, and Headhouse farmers markets, prompting lines that snaked around the parks for his third-culture Palestinian pastries. The bakery opened July 30 as a 60-seat cafe serving the rather vast array of treats that quickly made Manna famous: cardamom buns, pistachio chocolate chunk cookies, chicken sumac buns, and more. There are also be Jerusalem bagels, which will form the basis of Manna’s breakfast sandwiches. This is Philly, after all. You must have a breakfast sandwich.
Chibanos
Chibanos opened in early July, and its sandwiches have already taken Philly and social media by storm. Truly, those breakfast sandwiches on bo lo baos from South Philly’s Dodo Bakery are brilliant. But Chibanos is also serving some of Philly’s best finger food of the moment: the crispiest, laciest yuca fries (I did not know that yuca could be made lacy until now) and croquetas stuffed with Chinese sausage. The cafe really is the restaurant of the summer, with nostalgic interior design featuring owner Evan Fong Jaroff’s family photos, custom bathroom tiles embedded with mahjong pieces, and a garden where diners can enjoy Cuban sandwiches with Chinese touches.
Lillian’s
Point Breeze gets another major opening with Lillian’s, a cocktail bar with a rotating guest-chef program. Housed in a former barbershop, Lillian’s is named after owner Sam Ahern’s great-great-grandmother, who ran a speakeasy in North Jersey during Prohibition and accepted jewelry as payment. Its decor is suitably old-fashioned, and its concept resembles an ever-evolving supper club. Between chef residencies, a core menu of small plates, including panzanella, charcuterie and cheese boards, shrimp cocktail, and savory toasts, accompanies the cocktails. Guest-chef schedules vary, with some residencies limited to select dates.
