3 places
The Best Restaurant Openings in Philadelphia – September 2026
Late summer in Philly was defined by a spate of chains making their city debuts, from New York’s 7th Street Burger and D.C.’s Call Your Mother to tea brands with devoted followings like Kyo Matcha and Heytea. And don’t get me started on the lines around the block at Rittenhouse’s Blank Street, which opened on Labor Day. Call it Philly’s Month of the Chain or, more cynically, its Month of Private Capital.
Many of the larger-scale independent openings on the horizon are concentrated in the suburbs. Alessandro’s Enoteca in Bryn Mawr, Bruzi in Bala Cynwyd, Capperini in Glenside, and Donatelli’s in Newtown are all Italian concepts slated for fall, proving once again that the Philly suburbs will always be hungry for Italian food. Chefs known for their work in Center City are heading outward, too. Former Fork executive chef Sam Henzy will lead the live-fire kitchen at Old Friend in Wayne.
The last couple of months have also brought several high-profile closings, including Hiroki, which was included in Michelin’s inaugural Philadelphia selection last year, longtime Mexican restaurant La Calaca Feliz, and the Lodge by Two Robbers.
Philly is still waiting for two major New York imports: Adda, originally expected in late 2025, and Ayat, announced more than two years ago. More on those later this fall, hopefully. For now, September’s list may be extremely short, but it is also fabulous, with a few restaurant industry veterans finally making food that feels unmistakably their own.
Carolyn's Modern Vietnamese
The former Revolution Taco space in Rittenhouse sat dark for eight months before reopening as Carolyn’s Modern Vietnamese, but chef Carolyn Nguyen had spent far longer working toward a restaurant this personal. Raised in Louisiana, Nguyen speaks with a soft Southern twang, and that inflection carries through a menu straddling the flavors of her childhood and those of Philly’s enormous Vietnamese community. Carolyn’s Modern Vietnamese is personal and, frankly, beautiful. Gone is the black-and-white fast-casual branding of Revolution Taco, the global taco restaurant that grew out of Nguyen’s food-truck business. In its place is a stunningly elegant room dressed in sage green, serving Vietnamese dishes Philly has not seen before.
Philly’s robust Vietnamese restaurant scene has never had anything quite like this: bánh canh “seafood boil” noodles, daikon grits fries with Cajun aioli and pickled okra, and a whole fish with a salt-and-pepper cornmeal crust. Nguyen’s dry-aged beef wrapped in betel leaves is among the city’s best renditions of bò lá lốt. She also draws on the handmade-pasta skills she honed earlier in her career, pairing potato gnocchi with curried duck.
Palm Vintage Philadelphia
I know I told you about Palm Vintage back in May, but the concept is finally complete. With its liquor license now in hand, the daytime café has added an exceptional cocktail program and high-quality sushi served in sets. This is not a traditional omakase counter: Nigiri and sashimi arrive all at once rather than piece by piece. The assortments lean into high-end crowd-pleasers such as Maine uni, Japanese hamachi, and plenty of toro, while crispy rice comes topped with generous mounds of fatty tuna. Gold leaf makes frequent appearances on both the sushi and the cocktails.
By morning, the compact, polished room serves Lavazza coffee and pastries. After dark, it settles into a small bar with a lounge-like atmosphere. The setting is nearly as compelling as the food: Palm Vintage sits in the shadow of City Hall, with what may very well be the most stunning restaurant view in Philadelphia.
Panco
Panco gives Philly a restaurant centered on Japanese katsu, a category the city has sorely lacked. Chef-owner Ryo Igarashi began his Philadelphia restaurant career as a dishwasher at Hikaru in 2001 before working his way through kitchens including Distrito, Amada, Morimoto, Laurel, and Liberty Point. At his tiny West Passyunk takeout shop, pork loin, chicken, and soy-marinated eggplant and tofu are coated in house-made panko and served with tonkatsu sauce or curry, as katsu-don, or in a playful katsu Parmesan.
The short menu of kozara, or small plates, includes fried jumbo shrimp, crab cream croquettes, potato croquettes, and octopus sunomono. For now, Panco remains in soft-opening mode, offering takeout from 2 to 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.
