Mubarak Shawarma now open at 225 S. 45th St. (Photo by Rana Fayez)

The 45th street block between Locust Ave and Walnut Ave has seen a couple of new restaurants as of late, the newest of which is Mubarak Shawarma, has opened in the space where Ethio Cafe used to be.

Helmed by Jemila Mohamed, the restaurant will be offering Ethiopian and Middle Eastern food – breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you’ve had injera bread at a restaurant in Philly, chances are good you have already tasted her cooking. She has been making the signature bread out of her home kitchen and supplying it to restaurants, grocery stores and bodegas.

“So far I’m the No. 1 injera maker in Philadelphia,” says Mohamed. “It’s always been my dream to cook, I’ve always been cooking.”

Mubarak Shawarma has been open for about two weeks, but does not plan on making any drastic changes to the interior of the restaurant and the menu, only make additions to the menu. Mohamed says she was friends with the previous owner and that was how she found out about the storefront vacancy.  Continue Reading

Amazon has opened its first Pennsylvania physical site on the University of Pennsylvania campus, at 1920 Commons, 3800 Locust Walk. The facility, which is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 12 to 9 p.m. on weekends, can be used by Penn students and residents alike.

Amazon at Penn will offer more than two million items for same-day pickup for Amazon Student and Prime members and will also accept returns, according to a report by Philadelphia Business Journal.

When walking down South 40th Street over the weekend, we noticed a new sign in the window next door to The Green Line Cafe. A Taiwanese dessert shop is in the works for 32 S. 40th St., the storefront formerly occupied by Dr. Wyatt’s University Herbs. According to the Office of Licences and Inspections records, work is currently underway on the first floor of the three-story building, still owned by University Herbs, to re-fit the space for the new shop, which will include a non-commercial use kitchen and some seating (less than 20 seats).

The business owner, Xia Yang, lives in Chinatown, according to L & I records. We’ll post more information about this new shop when it becomes available.

And we hope that the store has a lot of this stuff when it opens.

The Green Tambourine is now open at 711 S. 50th St. (Photo from The Green Tambourine’s Facebook page)

The Green Tambourine director Ann Schwartz at the new studio near 50th and Baltimore (Photo West Philly Local)

The popular local music program, The Green Tambourine, which started four years ago at The Rotunda, has grown out of its space on 46th and Baltimore and has just moved a few blocks west to a new, bigger location.

“The old space [at 4614 Baltimore Ave.] was great to get us started in 2012 as a designated music space,” says the program founder and creative director Ann Schwartz. “I started looking for a bigger space at the beginning of this year since our schedule was getting tight. When the space came up in March I knew I wanted to make the move.”

The program, which moved to the former warehouse building at 711 S. 50th St., now has lots more space for current and new classes, and is hiring more teachers to expand the instruments that they offer.  Continue Reading

After a year-long hiatus, a popular local Mexican eatery, Guacamole Mex-Grill, has reopened its Woodland Avenue location. The restaurant, owned by the De Luna family, shut its doors last may for the summer with an intention to re-open in late August or September, but had to postpone its opening due to its manager Rony De Luna’s moving out of town. During this time, Guacamole opened a spot at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Despite being closed to customers, the kitchen at 4612 Woodland has been operational. The business also has a food truck, El Guaco Loco, that services Temple University and goes to events.

The restaurant is open Monday through Friday 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. and is currently closed on weekends (until mid-August).

For more information, go to: www.guacamolemexgrill.net

Montrose building at 47th and Baltimore (Photo West Philly Local)

Many people have been wondering what business is coming to the vacant storefront in the Montrose apartment building at the northeast corner of 47th Street and Baltimore Avenue. It was revealed last week (Michael Klein of Philly.com’s The Insider broke the news) that a Fishtown-based L.A.-style taco bar, Loco Pez, is branching out to West Philly and chose this location. No further details were revealed, including the timeline for the opening, and we couldn’t get more info from the restaurant folks either at this time.

One of our readers asked about vegetarian options at the restaurant, and there are quite a few at their Fishtown location, which offers brunch, lunch, dinner and happy hour. What’s interesting is that they only accept cash. Check out their website for more info and the menu. And we’ll keep you posted on this new location.

And here’s a little bit of history of the old Montrose building, which has housed many businesses in its four ground-floor retail spaces over the years. The beloved Carrot Cake Man, Vernon Wilkins, used to have a store in the building for 17 years until 1996.