Ratchada Thai Opens in South Philly; Le Bec Fin 2.0

SOUTH PHILLY — As quickly as Cafe De Laos shut down, Ratchada Thai & Laos Cuisine showed up in its place. Everything about the restaurant is the same, including the owner, and even most of the dishes are the same. But, check out that shiny new sign. [Grub Philly]

CENTER CITY — Philly's most famous restaurant, Le Bec Fin is struggling mightily since Nicolas Fanucci took over version 2.0. Today, the local CBS affiliate outlined the issues at hand, and mentioned the recent departure of Chef Walter Abrams, as well as the way-too-many open tables on weekend nights. Whether this is the final death knell or not has yet to be seen, but things ain't good. [CBS]

ALAN RICHMAN — While it was quite the honor for Vedge to land on Alan Richman's Most Outstanding Restaurants list, he apparently also gave a shoutout to scrapple Richman, who is a UPenner and a former Sixers beat writer, corrected a server down south who said the daily special, scrapple, was a "northern Yankee dish." Richman namedropped Philly, and told them not to bother trying to make it the right way, because there's no way they'll succeed. Awesome. [Meal Ticket]