FYI Philly serves up Indonesian, Mexican and healthy eats
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- This week on FYI Philly, we visit an Indonesian popup from a James Beard nominee, a father and son making Mexican fusion and longtime friends serving legumes with love.
Indonesian popup Rice & Sambal takes over Dankbaar for August
Usually Dankbaar on East Passyunk Avenue is a popular place for Dutch food.
But for the entire month of August, Dankbaar is being taken over by James Beard-nominated chef, Diana Widjojo.
Widjojo just launched her new venture, Rice & Sambal, a few months ago after making a name for herself at Hardena, her family's Indonesian restaurant in South Philadelphia.
She used to work for Joncarl Lachman, the chef-owner of Dankbaar.
So when he made plans to go on vacation, he offered Widjojo his space to 'test drive' running her own restaurant.
For her monthlong popup at Dankbaar, she's doing a mini version of an elaborate feast of Indonesian plates, known as Rijsttafel.
It's a Dutch word that translates literally to "rice table," and it was developed during the Dutch colonization of the Indonesian islands.
Chef Diana's dinners are six courses plus dessert. And with every meal, you'll get rice and sambal, which is essentially a collection of hot sauces.
Rice and hot sauce are staples of Indonesian cuisine.
But naming her business Rice & Sambal also has personal meaning for Diana. She jokingly calls her wife Jen rice while referring to herself as sambal.
She's also making grilled tempe, a dish she says that was actually invented in Indonesia. She's serving it with a jicama mango salad, homemade peanut sauce, and a piece of rice paper that she cuts and flash fries so that it magically transforms into a flower.
She's doing special vegan dinners too, which will include a lychee pudding for dessert. The bottom is soy milk; the top is lychee juice, and she added edible gold sprinkles.
Her hope is to build her new Rice and Sambal brand and use it as a platform to showcase Indonesian food.
During the pandemic, she invented what she called not pizza. It's a pizza box packed to the brim with Indonesian favorites, and it was an instant hit. Her pizza boxes are sold out during her popup stay at Dankbaar. But she's planning another pizza box event for Labor Day
Rice & Sambal at Dankbaar | Instagram
1911 East Passyunk Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa.
El Fuerte de Loreto is a family-run spot that honors Mexican cuisine
In the heart of South Philadelphia, a new spot for brunch and more just opened with a father and son team at the helm.
El Fuerte de Loreto showcases the cooking skills of Executive Chef Ricardo Sandoval and the front-of-house experience of his father, Ascencion Sandoval.
Combined, the two have decades of experience in some of the most highly regarded restaurants in Philly's culinary history, including Le Bec Fin.
The restaurant is named after a famous military fort in their hometown of Puebla, not far from Mexico City.
When the family immigrated to the United States, they came to Philadelphia and started a new life here, calling it their second home.
The new spot started out serving classic brunches with Mexican influences - something the father and son found lacking in their neighborhood.
In the short time they have been open, they have expanded the service to include lunch and dinner as well with a unique tableside de-boning of branzino fish being a highlight presentation.
El Fuerte de Loreto | Instagram | Facebook
1412 S. 5th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
267-401-7600
open daily: Monday to Friday 9am-3pm, Saturday/Sunday 8am-4pm
dinner service: Wednesday to Sunday, 4:30pn-10pm
Lentil & Co. highlights the power of lentil in salads, juices, bowls
Lentil & Co. in Ardmore is a new spot for fast casual takeout, focused on the protein-packed lentil.
Co-owners Alia Sobel and Leanne DelVescovo designed a menu that features bowls and salads built around a cooked mix of lentils and quinoa.
Everything is fresh made-to-order, and all dressings are homemade.
If there is an ingredient you don't want in your selection, just request 'wit' or 'witout'.
Also on the menu are fresh juices, and grab-and-go selections like avocado toast.
Both of the entrepreneur owners eat well personally and want their restaurant to become a neighborhood fixture -- both for good food, and as an information resource for healthy lifestyles.
Lentil & Co. | Instagram | Facebook
44 Rittenhouse Place, Ardmore, PA 19003
484-414-4917
open Monday-Saturday, 9am-4pm
Brewerytown's Platinum Fruit Creations is reinventing the fruit cake
Give Irene Council-Grant a piece of fruit and she will turn it into a work of edible art.
For a housewarming party, she built a house out of a watermelon.
For baby showers, she's done strollers and bassinets with a baby doll inside.
She makes fruit cakes for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and for people who just want to say I love you -- with fruit.
Irene opened Platinum Fruit Creations this time last year but her adventures with fruit actually started in 2006 when she went to buy a fruit bouquet and suffered sticker shock.
So she thought she'd do it herself, even though she'd never even seen one being made.
That first fruit bouquet was for her pastor who was so impressed he immediately wanted to place an order for 19.
Feeling over her head, she offered instead to make chocolate covered strawberries.
She nailed it, word spread and business took off.
For years, she treated her fruit sculpting like a paid hobby. But during the pandemic, she decided to turn her side hustle into a main hustle.
The name Platinum Fruit Creations reflects her commitment to quality. Sometimes her customers will share their vision, but usually they trust Irene to just get creative.
She set up shop in a former plant store, and she's made it a one-stop spot for special occasions with balloons and cards offered for sale.
She makes fruit smoothies along with fruit salads, chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate covered apples.
But it's the fruit cakes, that she first started crafting in 2020 that are her biggest seller.
Platinum Fruit Creations | Facebook |Instagram
2732 W Girard Ave, Philadelphia, Pa. 19130
267-773-7113
Localish Presents Vanity Tintype
There's a Fishtown photographer using a nearly 200-year-old process to create keepsakes that will last a lifetime.
Vanity Tintype photography, originally known as ferrotypes, was invented in the 1850s!
It's a pretty amazing process and we learn all about it via our friends from Localish.
Graison Taylor is go-to for glam in custom formalwear
Graison Taylor is the name that owner-designer Syreeta Lash came up with for her formalwear brand.
She says 'Grayson' is her favorite name, and that 'tailoring' is what she does.
Her style is old world Hollywood glamour, and her one-of-a-kind creations often feature shine and other forms of bedazzled bling.
With enough lead-time, she can handmake gowns and suits for proms, weddings, or any special occasion.
The studio is located at The Artist Warehouse in Chester, but any appointments for consultation can also be done virtually.
Graison Taylor - Designs by Syreeta Lash | Instagram | Facebook
The Artist Warehouse / Indigo Mills
114 W. 5th Street, Chester, PA 19013
302-439-0585
PTN visits Honesdale's home for art
Our paid partners at the Pocono Television network take us to Honesdale in Wayne County.
And art has a new home on downtown Main Street at the Wayne County Art Alliance.
The gallery is open Thursday through Sunday year-round.
Philadelphia's Magic Gardens hosts In Unison through Sept. 10
Ceramic Sculptor George Rodriguez is celebrating his cultural heritage with an exhibition titled In Unison.
"It is all about collaboration and community," he says.
It's on view in the interior gallery of Philadelphia's Magic Gardens.
Rodriguez says that within the Magic Gardens, there's all this Mexican imagery.
"I'm Mexican American and I recognized all these figurines, and I thought it'd be great to somehow blend my artwork with this amazing environment," he says.
Allison Boyle is the Events and Marketing Manager for Philadelphia's Magic Gardens. She says that Rodriguez often makes large-scale ceramic works, which is something very unique to our space.
There are three series within the exhibition.
"One portion is a collaborative set of twelve animal heads," says Rodriguez.
He says it's a series he embarked on with different Mexican and Chicane artists, and that the works reference the Chinese zodiac translated into a Mexican zodiac.
For example, the Year of the Rat is reimagined as a grasshopper.
"And each artist decorated a piece that correlated to their birth year," he says.
The collaborating artists work in a variety of mediums. Some work in painting, jewelry, poetry, and textiles, among others.
"The eagle is in place of the Chinese animal, the rooster," says Rodriguez.
Two artists worked on this piece. A tattoo artist worked on the design of the eagle itself and an animator made it an interactive piece. Visitors can scan a QR code to see the work in action.
"What's been really cool to see visitors do is interact with the pieces," says Boyle.
Rodriguez also collaborated with the community on some of his work.
"This piece is titled Los Guardias," he says, which features the "luchador and La Catrina."
The two figures represent guardians, both here and in the afterlife.
And the tiles behind the figures were made by different members of the community.
Rodriguez also made a throne entirely of clay, which he calls, "El Trono del Pueblo."
He says it's a place for everybody to be able to gather around.
"When I'm sitting on it, there's this almost like a halo, this radiation, and for me that signifies kind of a potential and growth," says Rodriguez.
"George's pieces have a lot of really cool details to them," says Boyle.
"I hope people come in, and can smile, and can kind of be playful and find themselves within one of the pieces," says Rodriguez.
In Unison is on view through September 10 at Philadelphia's Magic Gardens.
In Unison: Ceramic Sculptures by George Rodriguez | Tickets
1020 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
