925 Race Street - Pearl Restaurant - Szechuan Noodles

UPDATE: CLOSED

As mentioned in this review, there's lots of turnover in this location, and sadly, Pearl didn't last long either... it's been replaced by a budget buffet... Oh well.. 

I could almost devote a blog to the comings and goings in this one storefront: it's been the home of a large number of exciting places. Sadly, none of them has stuck around for long.  I first was intrigued by it being the home of a dumpling place, one of those spots where you could get a plate-full for a buck, along with a stuffed scallion pancake, and other cheap and quick snacks.  That didn't last long...

Following that was one I was really pulling for: Zhi Wei Guan, who also called themselves the Magical Kingdom of Dough.   They served the food of Hangzhou, focusing at least initially on dumplings and other noodle dishes. They had some very tasty soup dumplings, and indeed some of the wontons and noodles were quite good, but I found their other dishes to be even better.  But... they didn't last too long either.  I miss them.

There probably was something in there in the interim, but it seems like only a few weeks ago, we were excited to try Tang's Kitchen, which seemed to feature a variety of traditions, but we especially liked their homey Taiwanese and Shanghainese dishes, like Three Cup Chicken and Lions Head meatballs. They made a passable version of soup dumplings as well, and even better: the fried juicy buns that looked like potstickers, but contained soupy, juicy interiors along with the pork filling (pictured at left.)  But... Tang's didn't last long... I swear it was only a few weeks,

We were saddened to see their awning go down, but when the new one went up, we had reason for at least cautious optimism: It said Pearl Restaurant - Szechuan Noodles.  No, it's not a new location for that fusion-y Vasian place on Chestnut st near Rittenhouse square that closed a while back, this is a whole different vibe, not a slickly designed scene with a club upstairs. 


But you don't need a doorman or a velvet rope to get my attention, the phrase Szechaun Noodles will do it!

It's not a big menu, and despite the subtitle of Szechuan Noodles, it's not exactly noodle-centric. The first part of the menu is indeed devoted to soups and other noodle dishes, but there are only 5 or 6 of them. The rest of the menu is made up of fairly sparse descriptions of ingredients, so it's never entirely clear what's going to arrive. There are hoagies, congees, and rice platters, a few vegetables, and a list of meats that just read, Quarter Chicken, or Pork Tongue, or Corned Beef.  Yep. Corned beef. 

More about that in a minute, but first, let's start with noodles! The first item on the menu is the Hot and Sour Crystal Noodle Soup, to which you can add pork, chicken or beef.  The noodles are clear, slippery, and fettuccini-sized, swimming in a slightly spicy broth, studded with ground pork and peanuts. A few slices of tender pork lay on top, marinade and grill-char cutting through the flavorful soup. This was quite good, and made us eager to try the rest) or just come back for this one again and again!)  

We ordered the Pig Tongue, but were told that they had run out. We might be too suspicious for our own good, but we wondered whether the chef just vetoed our order... I hope not, the pig tongue was a favorite dish at these tables back when it was Zhi Wei Guan, so I'd like to see what this version is like.  The waitress suggested the Quarter Chicken as a replacement.  We were surprised to discover that it was served cold, but not disappointed. It was delicately steamed, beautifully tender, and marinated in a light wine-based sauce.

A variety of cold vegetables were lightly pickled, a bright, refreshing accompaniment to the heavier foods. 

The most surprising item on the menu was Corned Beef.  It was indeed brined, and even had the salty, cured flavor of the item you might eat on St Patrick's day. In this case, it was simply sliced  and served warm, over some pickled radish and carrot. 

The flavor was mild, not especially exciting, but the combination of the lightly salty beef and the sour vegetables was pleasant enough.

We're eager to try more of the noodles, but also the sandwiches and rice platters.  Prices are more than reasonable, actually downright cheap - soups are $5-6, the meats at $6.95 are the most expensive items. There's lots for under $5.

It's an odd niche that this place has staked-out, but here's hoping that they can make a go of it in this location, where others have failed.  Philly can use as many Szechuan Noodles as it can get! 

Pearl Restaurant

925 Race St

Philadelphia, PA 

215-922-1018

Regional Cuisine in Chinatown: Fuzhou

On the surface, the majority of restaurants in Philly's Chinatown appear to be variations on a theme: Americanized food, based loosely on Cantonese or Hong Kong style cooking. Of course, there are exceptions, like the Sichuan cuisine offered at Four Rivers, Szechuan Tasty House and E Mei, or the Shanghainese specialties at Dim Sum Garden and Sakura Mandarin.  There's Taiwanese food at Empress Garden, if you pick carefully, or can navigate the Chinese-only listings on the back page of the menu.  Various regional cuisines can be found on the menus of Rising Tide and Red Kings. And of course there are a few obvious non-Chinese places as well.

But among the many places that present themselves as the standard Chinese restaurant, there have long been rumors about the "other menu." It's often true:  many places that outwardly seem like clichéd  Americanized restaurants do offer more authentic food, sometimes on a menu written entirely in Chinese characters.  It's not generally a conspiracy to hide the good food from English-speakers, many of these restaurants simply believe that non-Chinese wouldn't be interested in eating the more traditional food.  When asking about it, it's not uncommon to hear "you wouldn't like that,"  and that opinion might be based on actual experience with unadventurous diners, as much as on vague generalizations about Americans' preferences. It's not without foundation that there are assumptions that Americans don't like meat with bones, or too much fat, or anything with unusual textures.

But sometimes the waitstaff can be quite happy to help you navigate the "other menu." Or even if they're not thrilled about the idea, they can sometimes be convinced to let you order the more Chinese-targeted dishes, and there are often large rewards to going off the familiar path.  But please, for the sake of all of us exploring these more traditional foods, if you're going to do this, play fair. If you order something that you've never had, it's not cool to send it back or refuse to pay for it.  You're exploring, you might get something you don't like.  Suck it up. Try it, even if it looks and smells nothing like you were expecting. If you really don't like it, chalk it up to experience. But you're going to make it harder for the rest of us if you try to send it back, or make a fuss about not liking it.

There are separate, traditional menus at many restaurants in Chinatown, but the majority of the places are still Cantonese. There's plenty of rewarding food to be found there, but we've been most interested lately to explore the cooking of some lesser-known regions. Lurking beneath the surface of some very generic-looking restaurants is the distinctive cooking of Fuzhou.

Perhaps the best example of hiding in plain sight is Chinatown Restaurant. Located at the corner of Tenth and Arch, right in the shadow of the Chinatown arch itself, it would be easy to dismiss this as the typical beef-and-broccoli, sweet-and-sour-chicken joint, serving up all of the usual-suspect dishes for low prices. A while back, we'd heard a rumor that they served the elusive Soup Dumplings (AKA  Shanghai Juicy Buns, or Xiao Long Bao) but when we asked about them they said no, and pointed us to their garden-variety dumplings on the Americanized menu.  But we recently noticed a poster on the wall with pictures of the juicy buns, so we decided to give it another shot.

We were once again provided with a small menu of Chinatown classics, but this time we asked more directly whether there was another menu. Our waitress said that yes there was another menu, that had different food, but did not offer to give it to us. When we directly asked to look at that one, she somewhat reluctantly agreed, and a whole other dimension opened up. The menu is in both Chinese and English, and despite a few perplexing translations,  it's mostly easily decipherable. And after expressing a real interest in those dishes, and asking for advice, the waitstaff was quite helpful, and enthusiastic about recommending things we might want to try.

I'm not sure whether Steamed Shanghai Juicy Buns are traditionally served in Fuzhou, but they make a very tasty version here. The wrappers are a bit thicker and less delicate than those at most of the traditional Shanghainese places, and the buns themselves are a bit smaller too, but this is not necessarily a bad thing: these seem to stay intact a bit better than some, we had no holes or leaks that resulted in soup-loss.  And good thing too, because the broth is delicious, as is the tiny meatball it surrounds. Overall, a very fine example of a juicy bun.

Turning that paradigm inside-out, we tried a Meatball soup, which featured a mild, but satisfying, broth,  which also included several small meatballs, each wrapped in what seemed like a very fine wonton wrapper.

On another visit, our server suggested the Jellyfish soup, explaining that jellyfish wasn't really the right term, that it was some other kind of fish. And indeed, this soup contained a nice light white fish of some sort, with a slightly unusual texture, but not that of what we think of as jellyfish. The broth was slightly sour, from pickled vegetables that also provided some crunch.  We were told that a little red vinegar would be good in it, and indeed, that added acid perked up the flavors nicely.

We did get some actual jellyfish, but prepared in a way we'd never experienced before. Not only were these cross-sections of the bodies, or heads, rather than the tentacles we're used to eating cold, but these pieces were stir-fried, and served hot.  They had the springy-crunchy texture we'd expected from this ingredient, but the shape, the tangy sauce, the temperature, and the inclusion of the surprising element of crunchy fried dough,  all made this a distinctive and very enjoyable dish.

Also from the sea, the Clams in Foo Chow Sauce were another favorite (pictured at top of post.) The tiny clams were perfectly tender, and the red wine-based sauce was unique and tasty.  As similar sauce was served on pieces of bone-in duck. This was almost as tasty, but it was one skinny duck, there just wasn't a ton of meat amongst the bones.

An Oyster Pancake reminded us of a Korean Haemul Pajeun, but with a nice funky, smoky overtone from what were either tiny oysters, or chopped-up pieces, along with scallion in a batter that was crisp in parts, tender and pliable in others.

One of the signature dishes of Fuzhou is Lychee Pork, and it's famous for good reason. It's kind of a really good sweet-and-sour, with a nice balance of fruity and tangy flavors, and no goopy sauce, more of a glaze over the crispy pork nuggets. This would be a crowd-pleasing dish, but was still interesting enough to please our jaded palates.

On the earthier side, we tried a Mutton Casserole, which had tender chunks of what was probably lamb, it didn't display the funkiness of a really old sheep, but it did have nice flavor, as did the broth, which had also soaked into some curls of tofu skin. Black mushrooms threatened to steal the spotlight though, almost tasting meatier than the mutton, making this a very hearty, rib-sticking dish, and a nice counterpoint to the sweeter pork.

We also had some stir-fried rice cakes with pork, and these were a very good version, with tender slabs of noodle interspersed with shredded pork and some greens. We also had some basic stir-fried pea shoots and similarly-prepared water spinach, which were both fine, if not distinctive.

There's plenty more to explore on the menu, and although it might be a small hurdle to convince the servers that you actually want to order the food from Fouzhou, once you do, they can be enthusiastic guides.


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We faced a similar skepticism at Happy Restaurant, at 906 Arch St.  We were initially presented with a small and boring menu of Chinatown standards.  We asked for the other, larger menu, and our waitress somewhat grudgingly gave them to us, and was very skeptical about a few things that we ordered. But we eventualy convinced her that we did indeed want some of the food from Fuzhou, and we were well-rewarded. 

It was a little bit of a hard-sell to convince our server that we wanted the Pork Bone with Seaweed Soup. She scowled, and told us that there's really no meat on it, but we insisted, and were glad we did. It indeed might be off-putting to some people: there are large bones, with little or no meat on them, along with wide pieces of seaweed, tied in knots.  The broth is very thin, salty, and tastes mostly of the sea. We liked it quite a lot, but it's not a familiar-tasting soup, it was austere and exotic, odd and intriguing.

We tried their Beer Duck, which was similar to the Duck in FooChow sauce we had up the street, but we liked this one even better. The duck itself was a bit more substantial, and the sauce was a little looser, delicious soaked-up with rice.

Small chunks of spare ribs and cubes of taro soaked up a vaguely sweet sauce.  We liked them, even if they weren't especially distinctive.   Their version of stir-fried rice cakes was fine, if a little bland, as the dish can easily be. The only greens we could seem to get was another rendition of the snow pea shoots, this time with a some chicken broth and garlic. They were quite tasty, and I can never get tired of them, yet we try to find other greens when we can, just for the sake of variety.

 Happy's menu is even bigger than Chinatown Restaurant's, with many unfamiliar (to us, at least) offerings that bear further exploration.

There's nothing wring with Cantonese food, and the flavors of Sichuan are finally well-represented in Philly, thanks to Han Dynasty, E Mei, Four Rivers and Szechuan Tasty House.  But there are many more regional cuisines in China, and if you'd like to try the food of Fuzhou, you can find it at Chinatown Restaurant and Happy Restaurant.  Just ask for the "other menu." 



Chinatown Restaurant
935 Arch St (at 10th)
215-925-8688
downloadable menu at: http://chinatownmenu.com/ChinatownRestaurant.html



Happy Restaurant
906 Arch St.
215-922-5588
downloadable menu at: http://chinatownmenu.com/HappyRestaurant.html

Red Kings - Diverse regional Chinese

OK, I'll admit it, it was the soup dumplings that drew us in.

Although we still have Dim Sum Garden and Sakura Mandarin providing Xiao Long Bao here in Philly, there can never be too many sources for these delicate dumplings filled with broth.

Restaurants rarely call them soup dumplings, more often they're listed on menus as steamed juicy buns or just Xiao Long Bao. Here, they're called Steamed Shanghai Juicy Dumplings. And they're good - our batch was delicate, tasty, and none stuck to the steamer or fell apart as we tried to eat them. I don't know for sure that these are made in-house, but, no matter, they're prepared carefully, and served with the requisite ginger-soy sauce.

There are a few other Shanghainese specialties on the menu, but the most interesting thing about Red Kings is that there are offerings from many regions and traditions of Chinese cooking: Shanghai, Sichuan, Fuzhou  -  there are even Thai items.  This normally worries me - a kitchen that tries to do too many things usually fails at all of them.  But from an initial sampling (admittedly, we didn't try the Thai) this place seems to be able to produce credible versions of several styles.  

That's not so unique in Philly's Chinatown: both Four Rivers and Sakura Mandarin feature  Shanghainese and Sichuan dishes and more, and do them pretty well, and now Red Kings joins that club.

If I'm seriously craving full-on Sichuan, I'll still head to Han Dynasty, but if I'm in the mood to try a variety of styles at one meal, this place will be a strong contender. 

We're always in the mood for some spicy dishes from Sichuan, so we tried their Wontons with Chili Soy. These were fairly small, and didn't include much filling, but the noodles were nicely tender, and the sauce had a subtle, but very pleasing, chili kick. They were good, I'd get them again, but if one is specifically craving this dish, the other Sichuan places in town all have solid versions.  Han Dynasty is my favorite (yes I know I need to try Yu Kee...) , but they're actually very  enjoyable at Four Rivers and Szechuan tasty House too. 

Staying in that Sichuan zone, we sampled the Lamb with Cumin. This is not as hot, or as fully-encrusted with spices as most versions I've had,  but that subtlety allowed the lamb flavor to shine through in a more pronounced way. The meat was very tender and juicy, all in all a more subtle and elegant version than we're used to, but a nice variation.

 

Heading back to the Shanghai influence, we also ordered the Rice Cakes with Pork and Pickled. We're not sure whether that last word was supposed to be pickles, or if they left-off the word  vegetables from the name, but in fact it was a stir-fry of the chewy, noodle-like rice cakes, with plenty of shredded pork and a bit of sour vegetable.  I could have gone for a little more of the sour, crunchy note, but I often think that with rice cake dishes. 

 

While surveying Shanghai eating, one really ought to try the Dong Po Rou. It's been a challenge to get this dish in Philly restaurants: it involves a complicated and time-consuming preparation, and often requires ordering ahead, if a place even makes it at all. But Red Kings has it on their regular menu, and they seem to have an ample supply of the rich pork belly, slowly braised in a sweet sauce. It's served with steamed buns, allowing one to make pork belly sandwiches that have origins that stretch much further back than the current craze.  For some reason they only brought us two buns, but I suspect we could have asked for more. It's a delicious dish, but a fatty one, so you might want to split this between a few people (although we witnessed a middle aged Chinese gentleman come in and order one for himself... )

 

 

Despite that pile of food, we had a craving for ribs, so we asked our waiter which ones were the best (there are about 4 different preparations on their menu.)  He recommended the Wu Xi ribs, which were in fact very delicious, but a little too similar to the Dong Po Rou. In the future I'd get one or the other at any one dinner, but they're both quite good.

We barely scratched the surface of their very large menu, so we're looking forward to heading back and trying more.  Stay tuned for updates!  And yes, we'll even try the Thai food, even though I remain very skeptical about that...

They keep fairly late hours: they open at 11am  every day, and don't close until 11pm weeknights;  midnight on Friday and Saturday, 10pm on Sunday.

Service was very friendly and helpful, and the place itself, although small, is attractive and well-maintained.


Red Kings
933 Race Street
215-351-5388

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Awesomeness Alert: King Crab at Ken's Seafood

We've been fans of the fresh fish at Ken's Seafood in Chinatown since their opening night almost two years ago. We always scan the tanks at the front of the restaurant on our way in, and also ask Ken if there's anything especially good. We've often enjoyed the fresh, vivid taste of live scallops, shrimp, finned fish, eels, geoduck clams and Dungeness crabs. There's always variation in what's available on any given day, but on a recent visit, we saw something we'd never seen there before: a huge King Crab, looking like it might push its way out out of its tank. They don't regularly have these creatures, but someone had requested one for a special dinner, and Ken got two, just in case. So this one happened to be available. We decided it was a sign.

We happened to be marking a significant event, which made it seem doubly appropriate, so we seized the moment and asked Ken to cook it up for us. It weighed about 7 pounds, a little intimidating-looking, with spiny, spindly legs, but luckily, not very large claws, and was not especially happy about being removed from its tank. If you're looking for fresh crabs, I suppose they're going to fight back a little...

We left it up to Ken about how to prepare it. He told us he'd do it in two courses, but we were left to wonder what those would be, but we knew from previous experience that it would be fairly straightforward, highlighting the super-fresh ingredients.

The first course was the legs, quickly wok-roasted with just a little bit of an XO-sauce-like accent of minced garlic, shallot and other mysterious spices crusting the shells. The legs are so large that it was easy to extract large pieces of pure, sweet, unadulterated crab meat, with just a hint of spicing picked up in the process.

Just a we were thinking that these crab legs were the most delicious things we'd ever eaten, the second course arrived. It was the body of the crab, cracked open and steamed with garlic, served over fresh noodles, and might have been even more tasty.
OK, sure, the odds of stumbling across an unclaimed live King Crab in a tank in Chinatown are pretty small. And it's not cheap - this one was about $120 (a bargain compared to the more common price of $25-30 per pound, if you can even get it) but there's a lot to eat on a crab this size, so we felt like it was actually a good value, not just an extravagant indulgence.

It's good to know that it's possible to get a crab like this, in season, and that the chef at Ken's knows how to cook them perfectly. We might not rely completely on luck in the future, if we have some special occasion to mark, we just might need to see if Ken can order one for us.

Ken's Seafood Restaurant
1004 Race St
Philadelphia, PA
215-351-7811


Other Ken's Posts: New Highlight , Duck Tongues

Sakura - More Soup Dumplings in Chinatown

It has somehow become my role in the Philadelphia dining community to shoot-up a signal flare whenever Xiao Long Bao are spotted in the area. I'm pleased to say that I can report another spot that offers the delicate "juicy buns" and not only that - they just might be the best yet.

The high quality of these dumplings shouldn't come as a surprise: the new-ish restaurant Sakura, at the corner of 11th and Race in Chinatown, is run by former partners in Dim Sum Garden, where the local mania for Xiao Long Bao was stoked. Although there were several dishes from Shanghai on Sakura's opening menu, the XLB are more recent additions, announced on a hand-writen sign on the door. We're told a new menu is imminent, featuring even more regional Chinese specialties, and these will surely be on it, but don't look for "Soup Dumplings." Like at Dim Sum Garden, they're referred-to as "Steamed Juicy Buns."

There are three varieties: one with pork, one with pork and crab, and one with shrimp and pork. We've sampled the plain pork, and the pork and crab, and they're really outstanding (we slightly prefer the plain pork.) The wrappers are paper-thin, but display significantly better structural integrity than those at Dim Sum Garden. We haven't had a single one rupture or tear, a frequent problem at Dim Sum Garden. They might be a little smaller than the ones at Dim Sum Garden, but larger than Zhi Wei Guan's, and come 6 to an order (as opposed to 8 at DSG and ZWG) but these seem in perfect balance. The skins are tender, yet strong, holding in just the right amount of broth. That soup inside is less salty than many other versions, but comes into perfect balance with a few drips of the gingery sauce that accompanies.

It's pretty amazing: not long ago, Phiadelphians would bemoan the lack of XLB in local restaurants, and now we have three places that serve good ones.

The even better news about Sakura is that there's much more worth exploring on their menu. Of particular note is their Scallion Pancake, which threatens to overshadow the Xiao Long Bao as a seductive snack. This version is airy and flaky, not the crunchy puck we've gotten used to at other restaurants. They're still a little oily, but seem more buttery than greasy. There are two versions, regular and onion, neither of which tastes very much like scallions, but they're so good that it's easy to not care.

There are lots more interesting things on the menu, along with some of the same-old Chinatown standards, it will be interesting to see if the new menu tilts more strongly toward the traditional Chinese styles. Although they offer several spicy dishes typical of Sichuan, I think the kitchen is stronger in the realm of the foods from Shanghai.


That said, the Double-Cooked Pork was tasty, if not especially spicy. Tender slices of pork belly were stir-fried with cabbage and chile sauce, which gave a bold flavor, but not a lot of heat, and none of the tingly sensation that comes from Sichuan Peppercorns.

The spicy dishes we got on an earlier visit were good, but they're not going to challenge the versions you can find a few blocks away at Four Rivers, or Szechuan Tasty House, or out in the 'burbs at Han Dynasty.

You'll have better luck here with the Shanghainese dishes, like the Braised Pork Shoulder, the Lions Head, or some of the dishes with Rice Cake.

We tried the Fried Rice Cake with beef. It's mild, but the chewy texture of the noodle-like discs of rice cake along with a little crunch from cabbage an onion make this a nice subtle comforting dish.

I hope to see more homey dishes from Shangahi and beyond on the new menu. I'll certainly be checking in with them soon!

In the meantime, there's no reason at all for you to delay heading over there for Steamed Juicy Buns and Scallion pancakes.


Sakura
1038 Race Street (on the corner of 11th Street)
215-873-8338

earlier post about Sakura here>>

Sakura - Regional Chinese, and Sushi too

Sakura is a restaurant with multiple personalities. One might think from their name that they're a Japanese restaurant, but although they serve sushi, their main focus is on Chinese food. To add another layer of complexity, they serve Chinese food that draws from many parts of China. There are dishes that are typical of Shanghai, some from Sichuan, northern dishes, and the broad selection of Mandarin style typically seen in Beijing.

We chose to concentrate on the Chinese side of the menu, we're still a little unsure about the combination of Chinese food and sushi, we tend to want one or the other, not both at the same time. There's plenty to choose from on either side of the menu, so that was no hardship.

Even though we were concentrating on Chinese, they wanted us to try the special "Wasabi Roll" and kindly sent one out for us to try. It was filled with tempura shrimp and dressed with four sauces. My tablemates all said this was not the kind of sushi they normally order, but admitted that it was tasty!

We started the main meal with Shong Shao Fish Soup, which had a nice thick texture, tender fish, and a bright, complex herbal flavor.

The Scallion Pancake showed no evidence of scallions, but we didn't care, it was a wonderful version, very light and flaky, with many layers, the top adorned with sesame seeds.


House Shrimp were well-liked at the table.

Diced Chicken with Hot Pepper had some serious spiciness.

As did the Baby Shrimp Sautéed with House Spicy Sauce

The Braised Pork Shoulder is a favorite from Shanghai, with a deep, sweet glaze over the luxuriously fatty meat.


Lion's Head is another popular dish from Shanghai, and these baseball-sized meatballs were a flavorful version, despite being just a touch dry. The delicious sauce and braised bok choy compensated nicely.

Sautéed Water Spinach was bright and tender, the hollow stems of the vegetable soaking up the garlicky sauce.

Shanghai Pan-Fried Udon had a great texture from the large, firm noodles.
Steamed Fish with Ginger and Soy was very nicely done, featuring delicate fish, just barely cooked, flavored with a thin but flavorful sauce.
Chicken in Rice Wine Sauce was a favorite around the table. The cold chicken had picked up a pleasingly boozy, sweet flavor from the marinade, and its time in the wine had tenderized it perfectly.
Shanghai Marinated Duck was another cold dish with vivid flavors from a complex dark marinade.

We'd asked if they had any pickles, and these preverved vegetables had a bright sour kick that went well with many of these dushes,

For dessert, they sent a delicious sweet soup with tender tapioca and a touch of wine.

And finally, Banana Tempura. Warm, crunchy, sweet... what could be wrong with that?


Overall we thought the food was very good, and we're thrilled to see more regional Chinese on menus here. It's a big country, with many different traditions. Shanghai-style is represented well here, in fact we recognize some staff from Dim Sum Garden which also serves excellent dishes from Shanghai.

We're still not sure they need to serve sushi here, the menu is already very diverse, but I'm sure they'll find out whether there's a demand for it in this context. We'll be back to explore more of the menu, we barely scratched the surface, and who knows, maybe we'll even feel like some maki too...

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Sakura
1038 Race Street (on the corner of 11th Street)
215-873-8338

(website under construction)