2 Philadelphia Restaurants Named Among 50 Best in US

Two Philadelphia restaurants have been named among the 50 best in America by The New York Times.

On Monday, Sept. 9, the Times released its "America's Best Restaurants 2025," naming Philadelphia's Mawn and Meetinghouse to the top 50.

Mawn, the South Philadelphia noodle house with "no rules," has gained national recognition. Phila Lorn, the chef at Mawn, won a James Beard Award earlier this year. He operates the restaurant at 764 S. Ninth St. with his wife, Rachel.

"The pinnacles of the menu at this modestly self-described 'noodle house,' like the wild boar prahak and banh chow crepe salad, tend to lean into the Cambodian cooking the chef Phila Lorn grew up eating at home," New York Times writer Brett Anderson wrote. "But a tour through the whole roster of bright, salty-sour salads, curries, and hot and cold noodles is to experience Southeast Asian cuisine as fenceless terrain. There isn't a dish you won't ache to eat again." 

In addition to the James Beard award and the New York Times "America's Best Restaurants 2025 distinction," Food and Wine magazine named Lorn to its list of the top 10 "Best New Chefs" around the United States.

Meetinghouse opened in 2023 at the old location of Memphis Taproom in Kensington. New York Times writer Nikita Richardson said the menu might appear "basic" on the surface, but "nothing" at the 2331 E. Cumberland St. tavern is basic.

"An expertly dressed green salad is stacked high enough to become the stuff of restaurant legend, the hot roast beef sandwich tastes as if it were invented in the kitchen mere minutes ago, and humble pork-and-beans takes on new life," Richardson wrote in the New York Times report.