Thanh and Chris Nguyen of Melody’s Grillhouse in Ambler have opened a downtown satellite on East Passyunk Avenue, where chef Thanh is cooking stunning renditions of contemporary Vietnamese dishes from her native Saigon, including a popular vermicelli platter with blood sausage and fermented dipping shrimp sauce, mini banh xeo crepes, and a fabulous whole branzino grilled in banana leaves.

Blood, smoke, and offal are at the core of this daring South Philly venture from chefs Scott Calhoun, David Feola, and their partner, general manager Gianna Spatoulas. The “root-to-snout” concept goes deep with a sweetbread-skate riff on “surf-n’-turf,” massive, curry-braised beef shins served for sharing, lettuce cups, and chocolate-blood pudding for dessert. The commitment to seasonality even makes its way into the local hay-smoked cocktails, some of the best of which contain no alcohol.

This all-day cafe from chef Nicholas Elmi and partner Fia Berisha has been created from the industrial bones of the old Pencoyd Iron Works into a lush riverside oasis for avocado toast, canned cocktails, and bocce. There’s a small dining room, but the big terrace has become a community hub for those arriving by car or bike to partake in the excellent breakfast sandwiches, stellar burger, fried chicken sandwich, and grain bowl. An upscale counterpart, Lark, is expected to debut soon.

After six years of renovations plus a pandemic delay, chef Belaynesh “Bella” Wondimagegnehu and her husband, Demelash Demissie, opened their tribute to traditional Ethiopian cuisine. This bi-level cafe has become a lively Cedar Park destination for herb-infused Ethiopian coffee, berbere-spiced kitfo tartare toasts, and broad injera bread platters topped with the wonderful stews, from oniony sweet doro wot to earthy bozena shiro chickpea pureée studded with spiced beef.

Restaurant and media entrepreneur Dan Tsao has brought a taste of Sichuan fire from his EMei in Chinatown to Susanna Foo’s former Suga space in Rittenhouse Square. His kitchen brings plenty of numbing heat to dishes like the standout cumin lamb with hand-ripped noodles, but there’s also a sweet overture to its targeted mainstream audience with a signature General Tsao’s chicken that, with its delicate crunch and saucy balance of sweetness, tang, and spice, should win a following.

This cozy Northern Liberties takeout storefront turns out a limited menu of excellent platters and sandwiches built around deeply savory pernil (pulled pork), rice and gandules beans, pasteles, and roast chicken. Also not to miss: the cream-soaked pastry dream of one of Philly’s best tres leches cakes.

Chef Patricia Massoud’s transformation of Porch & Proper into an exploration of Lebanese home cooking is a tribute to friends and family she lost in a pair explosions in Beirut in 2020. It’s a lovely BYOB with an easy Mediterranean vibe, but Massoud’s soulful cooking is the draw. From kibbeh to the shish taouk she grew up cooking alongside her grandmother, Suraya El Harouny, who also inspired her cousins’ namesake restaurant, Suraya El Harouny, who inspired her cousins' restaurant, Suraya.

Jollof rice and West African flavors are having a moment if this flavorful fast-casual newcomer in Northern Liberties from Nigerian-born Dera Nd-Ezuma, fiancée Sarah Jost, and chef Omega Dabale is any indication. (The Fudena pop-up, aiming for a location soon, is another jollof player.) Pick your yazi-spiced grilled protein or veg (chicken, beef, Brussels sprouts), choose a rice (spicy red jollof or white uto with sausage gravy), build a platter with plantains and cornbread, and dream of Lagos.

One of the region’s most elegant dining spaces, the oak-paneled Green Room in the Hotel DuPont has been restored to its 1913 grandeur and revived as an updated French brasserie by chef Tyler Akin (of Philly’s Stock and Res Ipsa). We enjoyed a memorable brunch here of a lobster omelette with beurre blanc, a three-cheese French onion soup, shrimp cocktail with berbere-spiced aioli, and a double-stacked smash patty riff on McDo’s — Le Big Cav — that's a contender for the region's best burger.

The owners of Cafe Ynéz on Washington Avenue have ventured north to Kensington’s American Street corridor with style, transforming an industrial shed and parking lot into a cozy dining room and expansive patio oasis. The menu is rooted in Mexican traditions reinterpreted with modern touches that emphasize local ingredients (heritage pork carnitas) and creative vegetable-forward options, from a cauliflower twist on “alt pastor” to a vegan feast steamed mixiote-style inside a banana leaf.

Arturo Lorenzo, of Cafe y Chocolate and La Mula Terce, named his latest project after La Llorona, the tragic Mexican legend of the “crying lady.” But it’s cheery at this West Passyunk cantina, where the cocktail bar is stocked with an array of agave spirits and the kitchen turns out modern twists on regional Mexican flavors, from mole-glazed wings to aguachile seafood bowls, huitlacoche sopecitos, and Oaxacan tlayuda glossed with lard, avocado leaf-scented black beans, and smoky chicken tinga.

Jose “Alex” Medina and Janneth Lorena Sinchi, who owned Purepecha when it was a tiny Mexican grill called Jose’s Tacos, have stepped up to a much larger, polished space with a liquor license. The crispy-bottomed chorizo sopes reminded me why their place was a lunch favorite when The Inquirer was still nearby on North Broad. The dark mole and spicy shrimp in chipotle sauce are also great, while the carnitas burrito mojado, a hefty bundle drenched with salsa roja, is currently my favorite burrito.

Veracruz-born chef Carlos Molina and his wife, native Philadelphian Michelle Zimmerman, recently moved their 14-year-old South Street cantina to a handsome new location on Third Street formerly occupied by Farmicia. Molina, previously the longtime chef at Tequila’s, has cooked traditional Mexican food in Philly longer than most, and specialties like his tortilla soup, cochinita pibil, enchiladas mole poblano, molcajete, and grouper Veracruz are worthy additions to Old City’s menu.

Kurt Evans’ Strawberry Mansion takeout pizza spot is driven by a social justice mission to employ those who’ve been previously incarcerated. Down North also makes some of the best Detroit-style pizzas around, whose crispy-edged square pies are named after Philly rap tunes. Try the classic cheese (“No Betta Love”), the barbecued chicken pie (“Big Head”), the white pie with turkey sausage and “Bodega sauce” made from Goya Malta (“Ima Boss”), or any of the frequent collaborations with local chefs.

Dough geeks like me flip out for the tangy crunch of Davide Lubrano and Vincent Gallagher’s powerfully fermented and crispy sourdough crusts. I love the meaty Salsiccia topped with pepperoni, sausage, creamy ricotta, and a spicy-sweet drizzle of hot honey, while the spinach with ricotta is my choice of the white pies.

Sally likens itself to a small plate neighborhood restaurant and natural wine bar/shop that happens to also make pizza. The seasonal small plates are really good (try the grilled broccoli, salads, and chicken meatballs stroganoff). But the puffy, Neapolitan-style sourdough pizzas are still the draw because they offer creative touches that set this pizza program apart, from the housemade sausage pie to clams and leeks, and an updated ripe tomato take on the Philly Pizzazz.

The timing (opened just before the pandemic) couldn’t have been worse for Joe and Angela Cicala’s throwback fancy Italian dining room in this revived historic building. It’s still a beauty for special occasion dining. But installing Joe’s old pizza oven from Brigantessa on the patio has given upscale Cicala a new draw for the pre-theater crowd, and the best Neapolitan-style pizza in Philly right now (try the Puttanesca or Sorrento lemons with buffalo mozzarella) and soft and flavorful crusts.

I loved the laid-back vibe and heat-blistered rounds of the naturally leavened pies coming out of the oven in this industrial Kensington space shared with ReAnimator Coffee. There were lovely small plates (Italian butter beans!), fresh seasonal salads, smart cocktails, and pours of natural wines to cheer the mood. Only one hesitation — an overly acidic sauce at my visit — is holding me back from considering this potential-filled new neighborhood pizzeria even higher on my list of new favorites.

Hearty Detroit-style square pies are all the rage at this suburban pizzeria — and considerably better than its rounds. Toppings range from Greek to pepperoni with hot honey and an “Acapulco” with chorizo, but I’d return for the classic Italian flavors of the South Philly with fennel sausage and long hots. Extra credit here for the traditional use of tangy Wisconsin brick cheese.

When Yehuda Sichel left his longtime post as chef at upscale Abe Fisher, he wanted a daytime spot to allow more family time and a wide-ranging menu with multiculti flavors. Sichel succeeded with Huda, the fast-casual takeout spot near Rittenhouse where he bakes sourdough and milk bread buns for knockout brisket and swordfish sandwiches, a fried maitake mushroom riff on a torta that’s a contender for best veg sandwich, and a cheesy smash burger with Animal sauce I dream about.

The Miglinos (of long-gone Felicia’s fame) are back with a sandwich shop in Mummers land dedicated to South Philly’s classic Italian sandwiches. Son Peter Miglino (and girlfriend Victoria Rio) make stellar hoagies, including the Henry vegetarian and Pooh Bear turkey hoagie ribboned with a fried pickle. Dad Nick Miglino has resurrected the ‘50s version of a pizza steak (with grilled tomatoes, not sauce) and a thick pork roasted with cherry peppers like his mother Dolores used to make.

This tiny Fishtown corner deli isn’t exactly new so much as it was new to me this year, and I’m thrilled to know it, because the Gabagoool, Franklin, and classic Italian are among the most thoughtfully constructed hoagies around, from the way the meats are folded to the deliberate patterns dressings are drizzled across the seeded rolls.

No, Middle Child isn’t new, either. But this creative force in Philly’s next generation of sandwich artisans gets better every year, from maintaining its signatures (Court St. Reuben, Shopsin Club, Phoagie) to its conscientiousness in accommodating gluten-free customers. Its annual late-summer special — the heirloom tomato BLT — is so beautiful and perfectly constructed that it belongs in the Philadelphia Museum of Sandwich Art.

Philly’s most innovative bread bakery made the leap from wholesale to retail with this Rittenhouse cafe, where not only does it make outstanding sandwiches — try the fried bologna or the midnight turtle falafel — but also outstanding bagels boiled and baked on-site. Of course, they’re unconventional, tangy with fermented rye notes and almost moist with scalded porridge starters, but the earthy local corn bagel dusted with meal and black pepper is one of the sensational new breads this year.

The artisan bagel movement took a step forward at this South Philly corner where early arrivals will find a line and a sidewalk welcome sermon from owner and poet Philip Korshak, whose sweeping beard and flour-dusted smock makes him look like a masked-up Bagel Moses. The bagels are worth the hype, with a sourdough starter that lingers, a distinctively crackly, shiny outer crunch, and centers that manage to have both lightness and a spring, full of life, not fluff.

If you love smoked fish, it’s hard not to feel the pulse quicken in Lauren Biederman’s new store and watch “loxsmith” Gene Mopsik artfully slice paper-thin orange ribbons of salmon with his slender fish knife. There are more than a dozen varieties by the quarter-pound from Samaki Smoked Fish (I’m partial to the belly lox, pastrami-smoked salmon, king salmon and sturgeon), and top-notch caviars and the creamiest smoked whitefish salad in Philly. Try a popular (pre-ordered) brunch sampler.

This tiny but mighty Vietnamese soup house essentially makes variations on one thing — chicken-based pho ga — but it does it better than anyone in Philly. So when it closed its Kensington storefront for renovations after 20 years in business, then opened a new branch in a bustling Washington Avenue arcade, it was a culinary event. That South Philly corridor already has some wonderful pho, largely beef-based. But the miraculous chicken broth cooked by chef Hoa Le is full of restorative aromatics.

No, Stina isn’t new. But chef Bobby Saritsoglou and Christina Kallas Saritsoglou’s Mediterranean BYOB managed to glow-up during the pandemic, with expanded sidewalk seating in its festively decorated cabana, where cries of “Opa!” echo every time a saganaki special erupts in ouzo flames. It cleverly nodded to the takeout crowd by with a feast of gyros, kebabs and dips not available for dining-in. Talented chef Bobby has continued to evolve and refine his wide-ranging menu with strong Greek roots.