Two-Way Street

Hits and misses at the latest incarnation of Dock Street.

by Elisa Ludwig

	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: Oct 30, 2007

Michael T. Regan MUG SHOT: Dock Street's Margherita pizza (plum tomato, hand-sliced mozzarella, basil, oregano, rosemary) and selection of fine brews. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

In its long, sometimes confusing history, the name Dock Street has always been associated with quality beer. The locally made ales came to prominence in the mid-1980s as national leaders in the burgeoning microbrew movement. On the heels of that heady success came one, then two brewpubs, both of which were named after but neither located on Dock Street. Then, times changed; the eateries changed hands, split and then eventually closed. One of the two original owners, Rosemarie Certo, sold the bottling business in 1998, then bought it back in 2001. This fall, she has resurrected the brewpub concept in a brick-front building in West Philadelphia.

The former firehouse — most recently used as a farmers market — has an urban-rustic, unadorned charm, with its subway tiles, concrete flooring and pillars layered with bottle labels. An open kitchen reveals a tiled wood-burning pizza stove, while a simple bar runs the length of the room across the glassed-in fermentation tanks. (On-site brewing capacity in the new facility is 10 barrels.) Brightly colored banners with punched hole designs, some oversize sofas and a coat of '70s-kitchen green paint lend the environs warmth. Still, some candles and background music would go a long way to making the room feel a bit more inviting.

The beer, of course, is flowing. The brewpub offers six varieties on tap daily, available by the pint, pitcher and growler (that's a half-gallon jug for you non-beer snobs). The rotation changes, but when I visited, selections included Left Coast Red, a rich, malty American red ale; Gail's Ale, a hoppy, Abbey-style brew; and the astounding Sgt. Pepper, a golden ale that has a delightful spicy peppercorn finish.

The restaurant is still offering its "introductory menu," which consists mainly of salad appetizers and pizza entrées, with a few panini and burgers thrown in for good measure. Early on, we were given a lengthy sales pitch by our server detailing how fresh our ingredients would be, how everything was made to order in-house and which items were most popular. (While we enjoyed the commendable level of attentiveness and the friendly attitude of the place, service remained tentative and awkward throughout the rest of the meal, particularly when it came to actually placing dishes on the table, removing and replacing silverware and bussing plates.)

We started off with one of the recommended signature items, the trio fries, a pile of sweet potato and yellow potato frites tangled with frizzled leeks — a fine triumvirate of flavors, though they needed an extra sprinkling of salt.

We were promised a Caesar salad that was "off the chains," but my dining companion remarked that the delivered romaine with a thickly creamy dressing served on the side tasted more like it was "off the supermarket shelves." The Mediterranean salad, which featured mixed greens along with a housemade raspberry vinaigrette, feta crumbs, soggy cucumbers, and a few token kalamata olives but none of the promised flatbread, was standard issue bordering on lackluster.

Better to head straight for the hand-thrown wood-burned inventory. Dock Street's expansive pizza list might look familiar to patrons of nearby Pizzeria Rustica, from the signature Tony Pepperoni to the Sicilian with black olives, capers and pine nuts. (Certo also once had an owning interest in Rustica, which she sold off a couple of years ago.) It's a fun lineup of toppings, and this being West Philly, there are plenty of vegetarian and vegan options.

It should be noted that Dock Street's pizza is not a thin-crust affair — the house dough is golden brown, puffy and nearly pillowy in texture with a nice toothsome pull. The Flammenkuche, an Alsatian dream of layered gruyere, crème fraîche, applewood smoked bacon slivers and caramelized onion is pure decadence on a peel. Another winner is the Barbecued Chicken, which substitutes tangy sauce for tomato while blanketing its red onion slivers and wood-grilled slices of chicken with familiar, comforting melted mozzarella. Less convincing is the brie, pear and walnut pizza, which would be better on a flatbread with judicious amounts of cheese. Here, the brie ends up drowning out the crunchier elements in a molten mass of bland greasiness.

Our greatest surprise? The superior fish and chips, battered in Dock Street beer. The crust is delicate and perfectly, evenly browned, cracking open to silky, flaking white fish beneath, well matched to their crispy chip companions. The sweet, dill-spiked tartar sauce is very good, but there is also malt vinegar available on demand for purists.

At the moment, Dock Street's desserts are very limited but, we were assured, all homemade. Skip the cannolis stuffed with a sour-tanged, gritty ricotta with a scant smattering of chocolate chips — a much better choice is the tiramisu, with its neat layers of moist sponge, coffee cream and cocoa-dusted goodness. Or you can skip the sweet stuff and opt for one of the current seasonal beers, the Espresso Stout, made with organic fair-trade coffee from the Satellite Café next door. It's a dark, deliciously bitter concoction that wears its storied name well.

(e_ludwig@citypaper.net)

Dock Street Brewery and Restaurant

701 S. 50th St.

215-726-2337, dockstreetbeer.com

Hours: Mon.-Thu., 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Fri., 11 a.m.-mid.; Sat., 4 p.m.-mid.; closed Sunday.

Appetizers, $5.95-$8.95; Entrées, $6.75-$9.95

Handicap accessible.

 

All reader comments are subject to our Terms of Use. By clicking Post Comment, you acknowledge that you have reviewed and agree to these Terms.

Name	please enter your name
Email (will not be published)	please enter a valid email
Comment	please enter a comment
Enter the security code on the right in the textbox below.
Security Code	please enter the code
	Join the City Paper Mailing List

Packin' Pistola's
Feeding Frenzy
Local Shakes
The Week In Eats