One of the country’s best French bakeries — where the croissants are light and buttery-rich, the focaccia is airy and chewy, and the tangy lemon cream tarts fill the case in tidy rows — occupies an industrial, ground-floor space of a former vocational school in South Philly. Twist. Originally a wholesale operation then a pandemic pop-up, Machine Shop’s retail space opened this year, finally connecting customers with pastry chef Emily Riddell’s spiced morning buns and jam-dotted kouign amann in a permanent home. There is hardly a pastry technique that Riddell has not mastered — her supreme talent is in lamination, her personal favorite technique is chocolate, but her pate sucre tarts, house-made jams, and ice creams are all as good as you can get this side of the Atlantic.
As with many other businesses in this city’s tight-knit food scene, Riddell’s extraordinary boulangerie is a community effort, with furniture made by friends and branding by her favorite tattoo studio. It’s not uncommon to see people at Machine Shop working on laptops while munching apple danishes, as well as parents with their kids covered in croissant flakes. The true thrill in visiting Machine Shop, though, is in not limiting your order — walk down the line of pristine pastries, pointing at and choosing every one, and watch with joy as your to-go box fills up. French patisserie can come with a side of exclusivity but not here; Machine Shop embodies high standards of excellence without any of the pretension. It’s just how we do things in Philly. — Dayna Evans
Machine Shop
Philadelphia, pennsylvania
Photography by Gab Bonghi
Machine Shop
1901 S. Ninth Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Photography by KIMBERLY MOTOS
Not far from the famous zoo and a world away from the expensive restaurants of the Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego’s North Park has everything a sceney enclave needs: eclectic boutiques, music venues, and now, thanks to Mabel’s Gone Fishing, a destination restaurant that attracts the trendy and beautiful from all corners of the city, converts locals into regulars, and impresses out-of-towners, too.
With a natural wine bar already under their belt, owners Chelsea Coleman and Rae Gurne have created a vibrant gintonería, inspired by a kooky origin story about a fish-loving sea dog, named for Coleman’s own pup, getting caught in a Mediterranean maelstrom. (Anyone trying to score a reservation will get the full, fanciful tale online.) Accordingly, wooden folding chairs evoke a sailboat’s deck, the selfie-worthy bathroom has a dolphin faucet and sea-life wallpaper, and a mermaid drapes her barnacled tail over the emerald-clad bar. The food pulls flavors from the Iberian coast — and no backstory is needed to sell a dish as satisfying as the clams and ham, a mountain of steamers floating in a pool of savory ’nduja-laced broth with plenty of grilled sourdough to sop it all up. Hype-chasers can head to the bar for stellar Spanish-style gin and tonics plus snacky bites of crudo, while return visitors will want to linger over locally caught entrees and luscious slices of Basque cheesecake before hitting the attached wine-and-gin shop on the way out. Miraculously, despite the theming, there isn’t a trace of nautical-pub kitsch or tourist trap cliche. Mabel’s is chic enough to pull it all off. — Hillary Dixler Canavan
Mabel's Gone Fishing
San Diego, California
Mabel's Gone Fishing
3770 30th Street
San Diego, California
Chelsea Coleman and Rae Gurne are San Diego’s secret weapon. Over the past decade, they’ve scrappily built a portfolio of businesses that meet previously unrecognized gaps in the city’s food scene: natural wine bar and boutique bottle shop the Rose; sourdough bakery Secret Sister; and now, Mabel’s and its neighboring wine-and-gin shop, Bodega Rosette. San Diego wouldn’t be as cool without them. — Candice Woo
The Tipping Point
