Scott Schroeder Is Working on Something New in Queen Village

Chef Scott Schroeder's name is attached to a liquor license application at Fourth and Fitzwater, according to some snooping by the Passyunk Post. The executive chef at South Philadelphia Tap Room and American Sardine Bar confirmed to the Post that he "has been meeting with neighbors to assuage any concerns," but declined to divulge any more details at this early stage. The Post reports that permits have been filed for "a sit-down restaurant on the first floor" of the building, at least, and that SPTR/ASB owner John Longacre is not involved.

Instead, it looks like one of Schroeder's longtime friends is a part of the project: The second name on the license is Patrick O'Malley, a pastry chef for Keith McNally's Balthazar Bakery. And while his Instagram account of course documents plenty of sweet tarts and cakes, he's been quoted in the past as saying he "doesn't really have much of a sweet tooth" personally and that pastry, to him, is "dough and butter; it's more about the oven."

Almost a year ago, a feature in City Paper cited Schroeder's future plans to open a "South Philly pizzeria focusing on non-traditional pies." However, the piece also included Longacre in that equation, and at the time, Schroeder expressed to us that those plans were tentative at best. The LLC attached to this new project, WT Restaurant Holdings, was incorporated just four months ago. So while this new one could be a new iteration of the pizza plan or just about anything else, another quote from the City Paper interview has us thinking it might be quite different from what we've gotten used to seeing from Schroeder in recent years:

Schroeder will be the first to say that Philadelphia doesn’t really need another mac and cheese and burger joint. Or another beer bar, for that matter.