• Pub & Kitchen owners Ed Hackett and Dan Clark appear to have successfully tapped into the magic that propelled their predecessors at 22nd and Spruce streets, Melograno and Meme, to three-bell status with their latest effort, Fitler Dining Room. Inky critic Craig LaBan gives the cozy, 30-seater three ringy-dingies, citing chef Rob Marzinsky’s “sharp focus of flavors and clarity of vision.” His butter-poached oysters, LaBan gushes, “are such an elegant modern riff on stew that they’d make his muse, M.F.K. Fisher, consider the oyster anew,” while his gnocchi, wrought from a “clever new technique,” come off as “ethereal puffs of meltaway potato dumplings.” Other highlights include a “well-informed and generous” service staff; a “surprisingly deep” wine list; and Vietnamese-inspired beef cheeks that are “so memorably tender they’re like beef pudding.” [Inquirer]
• Adam Erace surveys the goods at Cherry Hill’s newest “haute burger bar,” Zinburger, and determines that neighboring Bobby’s Burger Palace is home to “better burgers.” But Zinburger has “better everything else.” “Uniformly overdressed” salads are “better than you’d expect,” but the “impressive 5 inches high” burgers’ “soft golden bun” all too quickly “turned to crumb and mush.” [Courier-Post]
