Jeremy Asch and Abby Armstrong just wanted a good breakfast sandwich near their Point Breeze home. When they couldn't find one, Asch told The Philadelphia Inquirer, "At some point, you say, 'Screw it, I'll do it myself.'" The result was Schmaltz, at 18th and Wharton Streets. Its latke goes on top of a slow-baked egg, with Tallarico's hoagie spread on a house-baked English muffin.
The same thing happened two more times this summer, a few blocks apart each time. A neighbor saw a gap, found an old building on a corner and opened the place they wanted to go to themselves. Count those three summer openings plus a pie shop that has been on Chadwick Street since early 2024, and Point Breeze now has somewhere to eat or drink from 7 in the morning until 2 the next morning. Not one of them is on Point Breeze Avenue.
Breakfast to last call, block by block
The day starts at the south end of the neighborhood. Little Susie's Coffee & Pie is at 1754 S. Chadwick St., near Moore Street, and is open daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. It has been there longest of the four. PhillyVoice covered its grand opening in February 2024, when it opened as a takeout-only shop selling hand pies in flavors like pork roll and cheese, plus La Colombe coffee and dog treats made from pie crust.
Schmaltz opens at the same hour, a few blocks north. After a September of shifting hours because of building maintenance, the café returned to a regular schedule in October, Thursday through Monday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to its own site. Fall additions include a mushroom kasha soup made with buckwheat, a caramel apple latte and a rose water cortado. Bagels are still off the menu on purpose. Asch told the Inquirer he will "die on this hill," because a bagel program can quickly take over a restaurant's identity.
Afternoons are the slow stretch. Both morning counters close at 2 p.m., and nothing on this list reopens until Anh Em at 4 p.m. Anh Em is a Vietnamese bar-restaurant at 1252 S. 21st St., near Titan Street. A 6abc FYI Philly segment on October 25 listed its hours as 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. every day except Tuesday. Victor Nguyen and Anna Huynh run it. In the Inquirer's summer roundup it appears with pho, bánh xèo and 24 local beers on tap, served at a 20-seat bar. Nguyen cooks dishes he and Huynh grew up eating, 6abc reported.
Lillian's opens an hour later at 19th and Mifflin. It's a bistro and cocktail bar furnished like an old-fashioned parlor. With its July opening, the Inquirer printed hours of 5 to 11 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 5 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, with the kitchen open until 10 p.m. Those were opening hours, so check Lillian's site before you go. The site lists happy hour Tuesday through Saturday in two windows, 5 to 6 p.m. and 9 to 10 p.m. It also says Lillian's takes walk-ins only and doesn't allow strollers or anyone under 21. The current menu has a butternut squash soup with sage breadcrumbs and a Three Martini Lunch Flight of three 2-ounce pours.
None of these places is open every hour of every day, so the day of the week decides your options. Here's the week, built from the hours each business lists:
| Day | Morning, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Evening and late night |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Little Susie's, Schmaltz | Anh Em until 2 a.m. |
| Tuesday | Little Susie's | Lillian's until 11 p.m. |
| Wednesday | Little Susie's | Lillian's until 11 p.m., Anh Em until 2 a.m. |
| Thursday | Little Susie's, Schmaltz | Lillian's until 11 p.m., Anh Em until 2 a.m. |
| Friday | Little Susie's, Schmaltz | Lillian's until midnight, Anh Em until 2 a.m. |
| Saturday | Little Susie's, Schmaltz | Lillian's until midnight, Anh Em until 2 a.m. |
| Sunday | Little Susie's, Schmaltz | Anh Em until 2 a.m. |
Tuesday is the thinnest day, with one morning counter and one bar. Thursday through Saturday, all four are open.
Every address used to be something else
All four took over older buildings that had other uses first.
- Schmaltz is in 1300 S. 18th St., which the owners bought in 2023. It was previously the Pharmacy, a DIY music venue, art gallery and coffee shop. Before that it was the medical practice of Walter Lomax Jr., whom the Inquirer described as a pioneering Black physician.
- Lillian's is in a former barbershop at 19th and Mifflin.
- Anh Em is in the former Madira at 1252 S. 21st St.
- Little Susie's is in the vacant ground floor of a rowhome that last held a deli. The building's owner reached out to Dan Martino and offered him the space.
The Inquirer called Lillian's and Anh Em "two corner bars in Point Breeze." The rooms are small. Anh Em seats about 45. Schmaltz has six stools facing the kitchen and six more along the window, along with some tables. The owners added a ramp toward the back of the room to meet ADA requirements.
The neighborhood has seen this model work before. The Inquirer pointed out that American Sardine Bar has been about two blocks north of Schmaltz since 2011. What changed in 2026 is the count. Three new places opened on side-street corners over a single summer.
The owners live down the street
Most of these businesses are run by people who live nearby, and their opening stories show it.
Sam Ahern, who owns Lillian's, moved to Point Breeze eight years ago. Her first apartment was three houses from where the bar is now. She told the Inquirer that when a property around the corner from her home came on the market while an acquaintance was selling a liquor license, "everything just fell into place." She had already hosted backyard supper clubs with rotating chefs during the pandemic. That's where Lillian's model comes from. Instead of a permanent executive chef, guest chefs take over the kitchen for a weekend or a month.
"I wanted something that felt like you were hanging out in somebody's house." Sam Ahern, to The Philadelphia Inquirer
The first residency was Miled Finianos's Habibi Supper Club, which ran ticketed Lebanese dinners in July. Because chefs rotate, the food at Lillian's in November may not match what neighbors ate there in July. Avdo Babic's cocktail program, built on house-made tinctures, bitters and shrubs, is the part that stays.
The Schmaltz owners said much the same thing. Armstrong told the Inquirer they bought their building to invest in the neighborhood where they live. "We want to nourish it," she said. "We want to be a part of it." Asch said he expects most regulars to come from within a few blocks, not from Center City. The chef, Sam Chertock, once lived nearby. He found the job after biking past and seeing the name freshly painted on the building.
Anh Em grew out of a long career in the city's hospitality business. Nguyen bartended at Mad Mex in the late 1990s, co-owned a Chinatown bubble tea shop and spent 15 years managing Tango before opening his own place.
Owners who live nearby can plan around a few blocks of regulars. That fits a breakfast counter open five days a week, or a bar that puts a new chef in the kitchen every month.
The avenue keeps one evening a month
Point Breeze Avenue still hosts the neighborhood's best-known recurring gathering, and its schedule is about to get much thinner. The Point Breeze Community Market sets up at Point Breeze Avenue and Reed Street on the 1300 block. From April through October it runs every Thursday from 3 to 7 p.m. From November through March it meets only on first Thursdays, from 4 to 7 p.m., rain or shine. The first winter date is November 5. Confirm later winter dates on the market's site.
We've written before about how Point Breeze Avenue fills up on its big civic days and is quieter the rest of the time. Between November and March, the market drops from a weekly evening to a monthly one. The corners keep their regular hours. On November 5, you can take in the market and still have Lillian's and Anh Em open for dinner afterward.
Our June guide to art and coffee in Point Breeze came out before any of this summer's openings. For a wider look at the neighborhood, see our Point Breeze neighborhood page.
If you own a home a few blocks from one of these corners and want to know how they're changing your street, The Eric Fox Team can walk you through what nearby sales show. Request your free market valuation and tailored selling plan to get a clear read on your block.
