We already told you that Ro-Zu, that shrouded-in-mystery sushi spot at Seventh and Bainbridge, would be soft-opening tonight. What we haven’t yet shared is what chef Todd Dae Kulper has in store for Philly’s sushi fanatics. In an extremely detailed message to Meal Ticket, Kulper, who relocated to Philly from Hawaii to tackle this project with partner Ralph Pecca, broke down what he’s got planned for the BYOB.

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In July ‘09, six chefs came together in one tiny kitchen at MĂ©mĂ© to create a snout-to-tail dining experience that had team Meal Ticket and their fellow diners drunk on pork.  Now, four of those same six chefs, including Peter Woolsey (Bistrot La Minette), Mike Solomonov (Zahav, Percy Street Barbecue), Pierre Calmels (Bibou) and David Katz (MĂ©mĂ©) and collab-rookie John Taus (Snackbar) will re-form at Bistrot La Minette (623 S. Sixth St.) on Tue., April 6 for another gustatory adventure.

“This time the theme is not an ingredient, but a genre,” explains Woolsey. “Each chef will present his modern take on classic French bistro fare.” The dinner will comprise five courses for $55, or $75 with wine pairings, with two seatings, at 6 and 8:30 p.m. Guests can call Bistrot La Minette to make reservations, 215-925-8000; keep in mind each seating can only accommodate 45 people.

“It’s a little early to know what dishes we are doing, but Mike Solomonov has promised to do dessert,” adds Woolsey. To which Solomonov added, “I’m thinking a pineapple tatin.” We hear Taus has his heart set on doing a lamb dish.

UPDATE [05mar10]: The official name for this little get-together? Chefs Gone Wild. Hee. Also, re: the lamb dish that Snackbar’s Taus is doing, alluded to above? This is subject to change, of course, but we’re told it’ll be a lamb loin with creamy leeks, fava beans, pickled lamb’s tongue and a thyme lamb jus.

Eight months after closing his restaurant Ansill, chef David Ansill has found a new home at Ladder 15 (1528 Sansom St.). Owners Max Tucker and Mike Mastellone, unhappy with Ladder’s less-than-stellar food reviews, sorted more than 150 chef resumes before receiving Ansill’s.  “I called my partner immediately,” says Tucker. “I was so excited. Our vision was for phenomenal food, and you need a phenomenal chef to make it happen — I can’t believe we got David Ansill.”

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Old City’s Zento Contemporary (138 Chestnut St.) has recently brought in a new chef and partner: Sam Ho, who worked as a sous chef at Morimoto, has joined the fray with Zento owner (and fellow Morimoto alum) Gunawan Wibisono. Ho is handling the kitchen, leaving Wibisono to concentrate on the sushi menu. Ho has introduced hot dishes like salmon “nachos” (fresh salmon, jalapeno, diced tomato and anchovy mayo over fried wontons), kobe beef negimaki and panko-crusted crab cakes.

And above is a shot of Zento’s second location, which has a gorgeous outdoor seating area and a liquor license. Let’s go, right? Well, it’s in the Dempsey Hill neighborhood of Singapore and it opened this past summer. It’s gotten a lot of good looks. We remember hearing that Zento was considering doing a West Chester location awhile back — bit of an upgrade, no?

Greg Ling left the chef gig at Oyster House (1516 Sansom St.) in October, but not before getting a good look from our Trey Popp and quite a few others. Now he tells Meal Ticket that he’s been hired as the new chef at Paul, the neighborhood BYO at 1120 Pine run by sisters Effie Boukidis-Schweich and Christina Jimenez. He starts this Saturday, and will introduce a new menu (more seasonally focused, he says) a week from then.

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Konstantinos Pitsillides, chef/owner of Kanella at 10th and Spruce, is someone we very much like to talk to, because aside from being a knowledgable, passionate chef, he’s also pretty damn funny and outwardly opinionated. (You might’ve caught one of the written rants he likes to post in his kitchen window.) Here and there, he’ll call us out of the blue, just to share what’s on his mind. Today was one of those days. After the jump, check out the chef’s thoughts on the so-called trend of chefs serving organ meats (note: Pitsillides does not think this is a trend) and on his recent James Beard nod.

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Photo | Drew Lazor

Last week, we told you about chef Michael Thomas‘ plans to say adios to Owen Kamihira’s Bar Ferdinand in Liberties Walk. Now comes word of his new gig: Thomas will be running the show at the as-yet-unnamed bar the Sidecar’s Adam Ritter is opening up at Girard and Montgomery. See our post for the latest on that spot (right now it’s up for an April opening). More details soon.

Photo | Neal Santos

Xochitl (408 S. Second St.), which has been run by chef Dionicio Jimenez to rave reviews since the Headhouse Square sit-down opened about three years back, is switching things up. Jimenez has left the restaurant to run Stephen Starr’s as-yet-unnamed Latin concept planned for 2013 Chestnut Street. Taking over for him will be chef Lucio Palazzo (above), who opened Percy Street Barbecue with chef/partner Erin O’Shea. Palazzo will be executing a still-quite-Mexican menu (check it out in full after the jump) that has friendlier price points. Signature dishes — think the guacamole, the queso fundido, the parillada (a shareable mixed grill platter for $36) — are still available, but there are now entire taco and torta sections, with prices (as of right now) topping out at $13. The cocktail, beer, wine and tequila lists are also peepable after the jump.

Owners Steve Cook and Michael Solomonov will close Xochitl this coming Sunday, Feb. 7, for a two-week renovation that’ll unify the bar and dining room sections of the restaurant (they’re currently separated by a dividing wall). Starting the week of Feb. 21, they’ll serve food seven days a week.

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The cook’s methods for tenderizing the chewy flesh of the octopus are as various as the rainbow of colors the molluscan cephalopod’s skin can flash though for camouflage.  Varga Bar (941 Spruce St.) chef R. Evan Turney (pictured) cited at least half a dozen anecdotal prescriptions for its preparation, from parboiling the creature with wine corks or cylinders of cut-up copper pipes to applying daikon radish to the tentacles.

Turney put wives’ tales aside and shared the method that makes Varga’s wood-grilled octopus with potato masala, English peas and black olive vinaigrette (pictured) as tender as the inside of your elbow. Learn it after the jump.

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Meal Ticket’s very own Felicia D. stopped by Supper (926 South St., 215-592-8180) to have a look at chef/owner Mitch Prensky’s DIY hot dog kit. For $25, you get four ready-to-cook house-made bacon-wrapped hot dogs, four house-baked buns, and toppings like BBQ onions, sauerkraut, beer mustard and house-cured bread and butter pickles. Ideal for a football game, no? (If only there was a big one coming up … ) Prensky’s also offering his birch beer-glazed wings, with black pepper/buttermilk dressing, for 12 bucks a pound. Place orders by noon this coming Friday, Feb. 5, to secure your kit for Sunday.