West Philly native Mahari Bailey sees his new coffee shop on 52nd Street as a symbol of sorts. Rue 52 (503 S. 52nd, near the southwest corner of Malcolm X Park) has all the requisite quirks of a trendy urban hangout – great coffee and eats, local art on the walls, free WIFI and an owner who likes to hangout there and prefers t-shirts to ties.
Rue 52, which is officially a crêperie and espresso bar, is unlike just about any other business near it on 52nd Street, once the core of West Philly’s arts and culture scene. Bailey says people always want to know why he’s trying this on 52nd Street. But he sees Rue 52 as a small step in returning that grand street to its former glory. Continue Reading
If you’re “a cup of coffee and a bagel” person the Mood Cafe, which opened last week at 4618 Baltimore Ave., may not be the ideal place for you. It specializes in the lassi, a delicious yogurt and fruit drink originally from India and Pakistan, but gaining popularity worldwide. Indeed, there are 14 kinds of lassi ($2.99), ranging from a more popular mango lassi to a more traditional salted lassi, a drink flavored with South Asian spice. What’s more, you can mix and match the flavors to your taste.
The cafe is the third West Philly venture for owner Hasan Bukhari. His other two ventures, Desi Village (4527 Baltimore Ave.) and Desi Chaat House (501 S. 42nd), have gained huge popularity in the neighborhood. All three have that distinctive saffron paint job. At the Mood, event the tree boxes are painted saffron.
Speaking of chaat, Mood Cafe also offers a good variety of this traditional East Indian and Pakistani street food. Bukhari said he’s ready to teach people about this dish and would be glad to let you have a taste until you find something you love.
Owner Hasan Bukhari in front of Mood Cafe menu.
Freshly-squeezed juices, ice-cream, milkshakes, and shaved ice, all natural, are also on offer. As Bukhari pointed out, “the focus is on healthy stuff.”
Finally, if you still want a cup of coffee, it’s not a problem. Although it’s not on the menu, Bukhari will make one for you, be it a latte or a cappuccino. No doubt coffee will become a staple when the weather turns cold again.
Should we start calling the pocket in West Philly around 45th and Walnut “Little Beirut” or maybe “New Lebanon”? The corner is anchored by the Association of Islamic Charity Projects mosque on the northeast corner, Saad’s Halal Restaurant on the southwest corner and now Manakeesh, a Lebanese bakery and cafe, in the old bank building on the southeast corner.
After much anticipation, Manakeesh, named after its most popular dish, opened this week with a dazzling interior and vast assortment of Lebanese fare. The menu is built on the manakeesh, a Lebanese flatbread sandwich that is made to order in front of you. The standard manakeesh features zaatar, a mixture of thyme and olive oil spread on the bread before it is baked. Other traditional favorites are the cheese manakeesh, which includes an assortment of vegetables, and the lahm bajeen – minced lamb.
These are just three of the nearly 20 different kinds of manakeesh made to order. Some have a distinctly American twist, like manakeesh with pastrami or sausage, egg and cheese. But as vital as the manakeesh is to the menu, this place has a lot more to offer, including several kinds of baklava, cakes, salads and coffee. Oh the coffee. Perhaps the most prominent feature behind the counter at Manakeesh, besides the exceedingly friendly staff and the brick oven shipped over from Lebanon, is the Mac Daddy of espresso machines – the Excelsior. It’s orange and chrome and looks like something that might have come out of a Detroit auto factory in the 1950s.
Yunis Ali works the Excelsior.
The general manager of Manakeesh, Abd Ghazzawi, essentially grew up in the neighborhood. He attended the mosque school across the street from Manakeesh and has invited some of his old friends to work at the cafe. The result is an inviting atmosphere with a lot of chatter. That, he said, is the point. Ghazzawi hopes that Manakeesh becomes more than a cafe and bakery, but a “community centerpiece.” You can hear much more on his thoughts about the neighborhood around Manakeesh and the cafe itself in the interview below.
So stop by and give Abd and the others a hearty mabrouk (congratulations in Arabic). It’s been a long wait, but it was worth it. Here is the full menu.
Most of us have seen the Lebanese bakery and cafe take shape for the past several months at the old bank building on the southeast corner of 45th and Walnut. It appears the wait will be over on Monday. We don’t have a lot of details yet, but the Manakeesh is scheduled to open at 6 a.m. lunchtime (1 or 2 we’re told) on Jan. 17.
A “manakeesh” is a Lebanese flatbread sandwich and is the featured food item on the menu. There will be 14 kinds of manakeesh, both vegetarian and meat (halal, of course). A variety of soups, coffees and sweets (baklava!) are also on the menu.
Depending on your feelings about romantic comedies, going to see the soon-to-open James L. Brooks movie How Do You Know? may only appeal to you because it was partially shot nearby. Scenes for the film, which opens Friday and stars Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd and Jack Nicholson, were shot at the Armory at 33rd and Lancaster Avenue as well as the Widener building near 13th and Chestnut.
Another film with a little more of the West Philly vibe is Cafe, which was filmed here in the summer of 2009. Any of you who have spent time at the Green Line Cafe on Baltimore Avenue will recognize the cafe in Cafe. That’s because writer and director Marc Erlbaum wrote much of the screenplay at said Green Line (renamed “West Philly Grounds” for the movie). The film, which stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, was screened October 16 at the Philadelphia Film Festival. We have been hunting around for other screenings. Let us know if you hear of any.
Here’s some footage from Cafe, including some outside the Green Line, that includes co-star Daniel Eric Gold.
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