Just yesterday, we told you about the new Metropolitan Cafe space that just opened on the south side of Rittenhouse Square. Today, we have some information about a change that just took place in a commercial space on the north side of the square. According to a story from Philly Chit Chat, the Kiehl’s has closed on the extremely prime corner of 18th & Walnut, and will be replaced by an extension (though not an expansion) of the popular A.Kitchen.

The store

Closer look

Foobooz tells us to look for a “little sister to A.Kitchen,” opening in May. The space will have thirty-five seats and will focus on cold foods, as it will lack a hood. We’re fans of A.Kitchen so we’ll probably check it out,…

Today, we checked out HipCityVeg, the vegan sandwich shop that replaced Pad Thai Shack at 127 S. 18th St., just north of Rittenhouse Square. This brand new spot had a line out the door for the second day in a row today, as suits and hipsters alike piled in to sample the wares of Nicole Marquis, previously of Horizons.

End of the line

We bring this to your attention not to brag about the delicious curry tofu wrap we devoured for lunch, but to bring into focus the significant changes to the commercial landscape on this little stretch over the past couple of years. Retail spaces turn over all the time in this town, but the new places on this extremely trafficked stretch have really changed the vibe here recently. Let’s take a look:

A.

…

We just walked by 135 South 18th Street and peaked into a.kitchen, the new restaurant coming into the ground floor of the AKA Rittenhouse Square. The construction and management staff we ran into (read: harassed) told us they are hoping for a late June opening, and that a.kitchen will serve “American-European flare” breakfast, lunch and dinner for eat-in and take-out. The restaurant will have its liquor license, so the bar you see in the photos will actually be a bar (the kind where you can have a proper lunch break). Along with a weekend brunch and nice selection of wines, you can also expect outdoor seating and dinner items like Hawaiian snapper with garlic oil and grain mustard, chorizo-stuffed calamari with tomato fondue (or, as we say, galamare), pork belly and spring onion risotto fritters, and a Berkshire pork blade steak. We…