David Snyder visits the bare Root on on Spring Garden Street and finds that chef Christopher Hora is doing local right.

But Hora doesn’t even need anti-décor décor to get people to focus on his food. As one would guess from his restaurant’s name, he uses fresh, local ingredients. “It makes no sense why anybody would do it any other way,” explains the California native, whose family owned a farm in that state growing up. Indeed, it’s tiresome to hear restaurants brag about going fresh and local given how ubiquitous the practice has become. But what I like about Hora’s cooking is that fresh and local is not treated as a goal or a gimmick. Rather, it’s merely a launching point from which Hora builds complex yet accessible flavors in bold, refreshing ways.

His Dark Materials [City Paper]
Root [Official Site] 

After the jump take a look at Root’s updated Fall menu.

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Rick Nichols visits several spots north of Center City for his piece in yesterday’s Inquirer. He starts off with praise of Cafe Lift, crosses his fingers for Cafe Estelle, stops off to slam Root and ends at Zhi-Wei-Guan, a new restaurant in Chinatown that doesn’t really excite. All-in-all, an odd spin around that section of the city.

New cuisine heard from [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Oh if only the online version had paragraph breaks, luckily the PDF (p. 6) does or we might not have figured out that Kristen Franke of 34th Street Magazine was impressed by chef/owner Christopher Hora and her meal at Root on Spring Garden Street.

Root For It [34th Street]
Root [Official Site]

Owen Kamihira is an ambitious man. He’s turning Deuce into El Camino Real, a “Mexican border bar.” He’s also looking to bring an izakaya to Northern Liberties, a gastropub to 44th and Spruce and A.D. Amorosi reports he is also looking into the bar black hole at 20 S 20th Street that was the Blue Horseshoe and 20 S 20 for a split second each. [Icepack, City Paper]

Michael Klein says Minar Palace is returning the week of May 19th but the facade of the former Time Video at 1304 Walnut Street looks the same as it does in this Google Street View image from last summer. [Table Talk, Philadelphia Inquirer]

South Philly Bar & Grill has their liquor license in hand and is now aiming to open the 9th Street sports bar around June 1st. The interior definitely reminds us of Jose Pistola’s, lots of exposed brick, cherry wood and green walls. [Feeding Frenzy, City Paper]

Noble is the name of the “seasonal-American” restaurant slated to take over the Gioia Mia space at 2025 Sansom Street. The Apothecary’s Bruno Pouget and Steve Cameron are among the partners. [Table Talk, Philadelphia Inquirer]

El Fuego is looking to expand from it’s Washington Square storefront with a second location at 21st and Chestnut. Look for the doors to swing open around June 1st. [Feeding Frenzy, City Paper]

Turns out there are some one word names left for restaurants. Root is set to open later this month or early June at 1033 Spring Garden in the former home of Palate. Chris Hora whose local resume includes Coyote Crossing is talking “slow food and sustainable agriculture. [Food & Drinq]

Another tidbit in Icepack this week has the Happy Rooster getting a new owner and decor redo. [Icepack, City Paper]