Kouklet Is Moving Up East Passyunk Avenue, and the Old Laurel Building Is Why It Can Stay

Kouklet Brazilian Bakehouse's lease at 1647 E. Passyunk Ave. ran out in August, and the landlord didn't renew it. Since then, owner Mardhory Santos-Cepeda has rented the shop month to month. She told The Philadelphia Inquirer that she looked at other neighborhoods but didn't want to leave the one where she had built a following since opening in late 2021. "It took five years for us to build this beautiful community we have here," she said.

She found her answer 16 street numbers up the same Avenue. Kouklet is moving to 1615 E. Passyunk Ave., the former ITV bar, and she hopes to open there by February. That address is available only because the building it belongs to is now being leased as two spaces instead of one.

One building became two

ITV was the bar attached to Laurel, chef Nicholas Elmi's fine-dining room at 1617 E. Passyunk. Laurel closed in November 2025 after 12 years. Elmi had told the Inquirer that summer that the lease was ending. When the final service came, it was a week before Thanksgiving, barely 12 hours after Michelin named Laurel a Recommended restaurant. The Inquirer's coverage of the closing reported that he timed it so his staff could rest through the holiday before starting new jobs in December. Back in June 2025, Elmi had told the Inquirer he hoped the address could become a starter restaurant for another chef.

After Laurel closed, the restaurant and the bar were marketed together as one space. A full fine-dining footprint is a big commitment for any single tenant, and it's far more room than a bakery needs. In mid-October, Santos-Cepeda noticed the two sides were now being offered separately. She contacted the owners and made a deal for the bar side. The former Laurel dining room at 1617 is still available for lease.

Splitting the building did more than fill half of it. It created a storefront close to the size Kouklet needed, at a time when Kouklet needed one, on the block its customers already walk.

What the extra room changes

The new space is about 1,200 square feet. That's half again as big as the 800-square-foot shop Kouklet works out of now. It also has a basement walk-in refrigerator, more kitchen space, and room for tables.

The pastry counter is coming along. According to the Inquirer, it will keep Kouklet's Brazilian specialties, including sonhos, which are filled doughnuts, and bolo de rolo, the thinly layered rolled cake. Cookies and savory pastries stay too. The bakery's bright yellow color scheme will move up the block, inside and out. Back in 2022, the Inquirer's first profile of the shop called bolo de rolo Kouklet's signature item.

The new menu has a precedent. Last fall, when Kouklet opened its second location, the Inquirer reported that the menu there included made-to-order tapioca flatbreads alongside sonhos, cookies, coconut cakes and coffee. The breakfast-and-lunch plan for 1615 builds on food Kouklet has already made. With a real dining area, those dishes can now be eaten on the Avenue.

Santos-Cepeda described the effect she wants in the same Inquirer interview:

"When you get into a Brazilian bakery, you are overwhelmed by all the options. This will be no different."

The kitchen Kouklet left behind

That second location explains the rest of the story. In 2025, Kouklet expanded to 1429 Wolf St. with a takeout bakery and production kitchen. Santos-Cepeda left that space over the summer, so she's now running a single shop on the Avenue.

The Wolf Street space didn't stay empty long. It's now Backyard Cravings, Sal Burgese's pizza and cheesesteak shop. Burgese started the business as a pop-up run out of his South Philly home, and PhillyVoice reported that singer Teddy Swims visited before the storefront even opened. The grand opening was set for noon on Saturday, Oct. 24. By Oct. 28, the Inquirer's food newsletter said the shop had opened the weekend before.

The Inquirer's profile of Burgese describes how the pop-up worked. He made the pizza and the rolls at home and took weekend orders in advance, and customers got a pickup time. At its peak he was making roughly 225 to 250 cheesesteaks a day. "I think people were attracted to the idea of this guy selling food out of his backyard," he told the paper.

The storefront doesn't use pickup times. The announced plan:

• Thursdays and Fridays: 16-inch pizzas. Plain is $22, pepperoni $25, and specials $30. Specials include a vodka pie, a "pizzazz" pie made with Cooper Sharp, and ricotta and pepperoni with Mike's Hot Honey.
• Saturdays and Sundays: cheesesteaks with beef, onions and Cooper Sharp on sesame rolls, $21 including tax.
• Hours: noon to 7 p.m., or until sold out.
• Ordering: first come, first served, takeout only, cash only, with no phone or online orders.

A production kitchen built for one small food business turned out to suit another one moving up from a home kitchen. So within one fall, both of Kouklet's former addresses were taken, and Kouklet itself is staying in the neighborhood.

Your pastry run, from now until February

Most of what changes over the next few months happens within about a block of the Avenue:

1. Keep going to 1647 for now. Santos-Cepeda plans to keep the current shop open until the new one is ready, then move the equipment over. Kouklet's website lists hours of Monday and Thursday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., so it's worth checking before a Tuesday or Wednesday trip.
2. Preorder holiday cake rolls. Kouklet's Linktree links to a local menu preorder. Its monthly local menu lists items like pão de queijo starting at $2 and strawberry sonhos starting at $7. The site says the classic guava roll is made to order and sold in three, six or 12 slices, at $21, $39 and $72.
3. Bring cash for Wolf Street on the weekend. Backyard Cravings sells cheesesteaks only on Saturday and Sunday, and it closes early if it sells out.
4. Look for yellow at 1615. The new shop's yellow color scheme is coming with it, inside and out, so you'll be able to spot the café as it takes shape in the old ITV space.
5. Watch 1617. Laurel's former dining room is the empty space left on that stretch of the block, and it's still available for lease.

If the February target holds, the bakery that started as a home business and found its storefront in late 2021 will be a few doors up the street from where it began.

At Wagner Real Estate Group, we follow storefronts like 1615 and 1617 E. Passyunk because the businesses in them shape everyday life on the block. If you're curious how the Avenue's changing shops fit into the picture for your own home, we're happy to talk it through. Get your free home valuation.