Tazia
101 N 11th St, between Arch ; Chinatown; 215.922.2688
Doing anything substantial in less than a week's time can be tough: even God took that long to create the world, although granted, that was with technology created over 6,000 years ago. Pulling off lightning-quick cosmetic and culinary transformation, Tazia.
After an intense four-day renovation process, the former Ly Michael's owners are reopening it today as Tazia, which'll be serving "Dim sum meets tapas" in a 100-seater boasting a new raw bar, a plush banquette-lined corner lounge, and an airier atmosphere than the former incarnation (thanks to the removal of the wall that once separated the dining room from the 20-seat bar area), all now bedecked in maize and plum walls glazed with the gold you were told Philadelphia's streets were paved with. The similarly revamped menu's heavy on smaller Asian dishes, like pork & shrimp Vietnamese spring rolls, duck dumplings w/ shiitake 'shrooms, daily sushi & sashimi selections, pork potstickers, and crispy shrimp dumplings w/ sweet garlic sauce dubbed the "Beggar's Bag", which is amazingly free of half-smoked cigarettes and empty Slice cans. On the bigger-bite side, Tazia's cooking up a Vietnamese wok-tossed filet in a sweet soy reduction, lamb lollipops w/ wasabi pepper sauce, crispy duck leg confit in raspberry cognac sauce, and pan tossed Siamese wild boar, which survived a painstaking, 14-hour separation surgery only to get eaten.
Booze-wise, Tazia's mixing up ten martinis, including the Sake-tini w/ vodka, cucumber & mint, mojitos, "Chinatown Iced Tea", and a slew of specialty cocktails like the Myers/blackberry brandy/grenadine-fueled Scorpion, which will quickly accomplish its substantial undertaking of rocking you like a hurricane.
