Fire, Smoke, and the Best Salatim in Philadelphia
The CookNSolo group — Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook, who also operate Zahav — opened Laser Wolf in Kensington in 2021, and within months it had accumulated the kind of national attention that takes most restaurants years to build. Condé Nast Traveler named it one of the best new restaurants in America. The Michelin Guide gave it a recommendation. Philadelphia diners who previously would not have ventured into Kensington started making pilgrimages.
The concept is a shipudiya — a distinctly Israeli form of restaurant built around a charcoal grill and the ancient art of the skewer. The format is joyful and unambiguous: you begin with the salatim spread, you eat skewers in various combinations, and you finish with something sweet. The execution, however, is anything but simple.
The Food
The salatim spread arrives first: a rotating selection of mezze dishes — beets, carrots, cucumber, aubergine, chopped salads — alongside the restaurant's exceptional hummus and pillowy, blistered pita fresh from the oven. If you do nothing else here, this opening round alone is worth the trip.
From the grill, the Romanian-style beef koobideh kebab is the benchmark against which all other kebabs must be measured: seasoned with precision, char-marked from the coals, served at the precise moment when the exterior is just catching colour. The tamarind-glazed trout — a whole fish lacquered and charred — is the fish course that makes you reconsider the entire category. The charred eggplant, basted with tehina and pomegranate, is sufficient reason to order it even on a fully loaded table.
The counter seats twenty, with additional table seating. Walk-ins have a fighting chance at the bar; reservations are strongly recommended for the full experience.
The Room
Kensington — a neighbourhood that had been largely invisible to Philadelphia's dining conversation before Laser Wolf arrived — provides a deliberately unpretentious backdrop. The room is energetic, loud in the best possible way, and fragrant with charcoal smoke. The open grill is the centrepiece and the entertainment. This is not a hushed tasting-menu experience; it is a room in which people are visibly happy to be eating.
Best Occasion: First Date
Laser Wolf is the ideal first date restaurant precisely because it removes the pressure of decision. The salatim spread arrives automatically; the skewers arrive as they're ready; the conversation fills the gaps between courses naturally. The counter seating — if you can get it — places you and your date side by side, facing the kitchen, which gives you a shared view and a shared subject. The relatively moderate price point is a bonus that removes one layer of awkwardness entirely.
Best Occasion: Team Dinner
For a team of four to eight, Laser Wolf works brilliantly. The sharing format means everyone is eating from the same spread simultaneously — a natural equaliser. The skewers arrive in rounds that keep the table animated. The noise level is high enough that cross-table conversation doesn't require performance. And the bill, split evenly, will surprise everyone in the best possible way.