Bomb Bomb Bar and Grill Makes NYT’s 2026 Restaurant List

The New York Times named Bomb Bomb Bar and Grill in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of its favorite U.S. restaurants for 2026. The selection came about a year after chef Joey Baldino took over the corner bar.

How the Times Chose

The Restaurant List includes 50 unranked restaurants across the United States. A 16-member scouting team spent several months evaluating restaurants for the annual feature.

The scouts visited anonymously, and the Times paid for their meals. The team considered how well each menu fit together, how consistently the kitchen cooked, where ingredients came from and what the restaurant meant to its neighborhood.

The team considered how well each menu fit together, how consistently the kitchen cooked, where ingredients came from and what the restaurant meant to its neighborhood.

Bomb Bomb was among the long-established restaurants on a list that also included places in their first year. Durant’s steakhouse in Phoenix has operated continuously since July 1950. Yerord Mas Bakery and Deli, an Armenian bakery and deli in Glendale, California, opened in January 2026.

The selections also included Jacaranda, the modern American restaurant that opened in Los Angeles in May 2026 and marked chef Daniel Patterson’s return to upscale dining.

How the Bar Got Its Name

Baldino took over the restaurant in the fall of 2025. The bar occupies a corner at 1026Wolf Streetin Philadelphia, PA 19148. It dates to the 1930s, when two explosions damaged its facade and gave the restaurant its name.

Newspaper clippings on the walls document the explosions. Baldino summed up the history with the words “blown up twice and still here” when describing the restaurant to 6abc.

He grew up in the neighborhood and wants to preserve the part of South Philadelphia’s history that the bar represents.

Two Menus Under One Roof

Baldino’s team serves Italian American cuisine, with different dishes in the bar and the dining area. At the front, the bar serves pork sandwiches and ribs, the kind of comfort food that Baldino kept on offer as he brought his own cooking to the restaurant.

In the back, the team created a menu centered on seafood.

The seafood menu draws on the cooking of earlier Italian restaurants in South Philadelphia.

Baldino’s Work Before Bomb Bomb

Baldino had already earned recognition for his cooking at Zeppoli in Collingswood, a bring-your-own restaurant. He also earned accolades for reviving the Palizzi Social Club.

That project gave him experience restoring a dining institution before he took over the corner bar on Wolf Street.

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