Mike Solomonov opens oyster bar in Kensington

One of Philadelphia’s most esteemed chefs, Mike Solomonov, brings another potential culinary success to the city.

With partner Steve Cook, the Zahav chef plans to open Jaffa Bar, the city’s first Israeli-inspired seafood restaurant, in Old Kensington this fall.

The duo behind hits like Goldie, Federal Donuts, Laser Wolf and K’Far named Jaffa Bar after the coastal port city outside Tel Aviv. Housed in a 19th-century firehouse, Jaffa Bar will seat 120 guests on two floors. Reservations will be available, and walk-ins will also be allowed. The project is an amalgam of East Coast and Middle Eastern flavors.

“If you think about the city of Jaffa, which is thousands of years old and is on the coast, it’s a port where so many different cultures have passed through over the years,” Cook told ABC. “To be able to play with the traditions of the Philadelphia Oyster House, which is such a big part of our history here, through the lens of Israeli flavors and the Mediterranean coastline, is really exciting.”

For dining, Solomonov will offer oyster bar dishes and seafood snacks like yellowtail pastrami, escabeche mussels, scallops with merguez sausage and harissa, Yemeni monkfish, whole chraime sea bream, and for those who prefer land-based proteins, fried chicken thighs with amba-spiced honey, as well as a green chili burger with schug mayonnaise.

For drinks, bar manager Sean Byrne has designed a cocktail menu that emphasizes citrus, like the Jaffa Orange, a Middle Eastern take on the American classic Orange Julius. This frozen concoction made with vodka, Aperol, orange and vanilla is already a hit in New York, where Solomonov owns and operates a restaurant of the same name.

The Hoxton Hotel’s Jaffa Cocktail and Raw Bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which also houses Philadelphia favorites Laser Wolf and K’Far, is Solomonoc’s third project at the popular property. Brooklyn’s Jaffa is an indoor-outdoor cocktail and raw bar, with dishes like jumbo shrimp cocktail with spicy Jaffa cocktail sauce, raw scallops with shipka peppers, plus hummus and more.

No opening date has been set for Philadelphia’s Jaffa Bar, which will be located at 1625 N Howard Street.