|
|
|
Archive: November, 2012
There are a lot of reasons to love Khyber Pass Pub (56 S. 2nd St.). To be fair, a measure of nostalgia and the fact that it's directly across the street from City Paper offices add to the allure. But even without those factors, the place easily stands on its own merits—the cozy feeling its atmosphere and brews impart together, and come on, the gravy cheese fries. Without flaunting excess or piling things on for the sake of it, it's the kind of place that dresses popcorn in animal fat and invites you to dip fried pickles into pickle dip.
So yes, we're thrilled that KPP is celebrating its 2nd birthday tomorrow, and that they're doing it in a way that includes great beer, animal fat-drizzled popcorn (spoiler: tomorrow night, it's duck fat), the aforementioned pickles, and enough other tasty things to make the choice a frustrating endeavor.
The party is going on all day tomorrow, Nov. 28—from 11 a.m. to last call. They'll be doing a rotating drink special, with a different beer going for just $2 every 2 hours, plus other fun extras that make it a party. Click through to see the full details on special brews and menu additions.
Notes from the Weekend is a feature that sees the members of Team Meal Ticket compiling all the food/drink highlights uncovered during prime eatin' time, Friday to Sunday. We'd love to hear all about YOUR weekend eating adventures in the comments. Go for it! (View past NFTW installments at citypaper.net/notes.)
Adam Erace: AE
Caroline Russock: CR
Emily Kovach: EK
Pie lattes, food and bev changes brewing at Lemon Hill, and a fermentation primer, all on today's Afternoon Snacks!
To be honest, we don’t often go in for elaborate, sweet espresso drinks. But we can appreciate one on occasion if it’s well-done—and we’d say that the pie lattes at Magpie (1622 South St.) fall under that heading. Chef-owner Holly Ricciardi is making all of her own flavoring syrups, from basic vanilla to pumpkin spice, and breaking up the sweetness with touches like mint, cardamom, and pink peppercorn. They even come with a pie fry, so you don’t feel like you’re missing out on the crust (the best part of pie, and we’re not willing to bend on that point). And while it may hard to opt for coffee that’s a dessert stand-in when you’re faced with all of those actual pies, remember that you can always go savory pie for dinner, followed by pie latte for dessert. You’re welcome! (NB, non-coffee drinkers: she’s doing hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows, too—and all of this goodness is now available until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.)
Word from Lemon Hill (747 N. 25th St.) is that they’ve instituted a new weekend special: in addition to their regular menu, they’ll feature a different menu item each week intended for two to share. So far they’ve done a massive 16-ounce bone-in pork roast served with cassoulet-style beans, pickled turnips, and maitakes, and a whole grilled branzino with a nutty-sweet brown butter raisin puree, Brussels sprouts, white beans, and fennel salad. And while they’re keeping mum for the moment, keep an eye out for some new cocktails coming up from Al Sotack. This will be the first time they’ve updated their well-loved drink menu since opening, and we’ll be sure to pass along all the details as soon as the menu is set.
While we’re only dabblers in fermentation ourselves, we can’t get enough kimchi, sauerkraut, or pickled anything. If you’ve been thinking about testing the waters yourself, check out this sauerkraut tutorial from the all-around awesome blog Phickle. If (like us) you are regularly drawn to massive 10-pound cabbages that you can barely fit in your fridge intact, this could turn out to be really crucial information.
Our buds over at Foobooz have released their fourth annual list of the top 50 bars in the city and we've got to say it's making us thirsty. Picks from yours truly and fellow Meal Ticketeer Adam Erace made the cut including Alla Spina for Fernet and Negronis on tap, Stateside's all-American beer, wine and cocktail program, Johnny Brenda's trifecta of great shows, food and drinks, Tria, a place where you always walk away from your beer, wine and cheese a little more educated, and Morgan's Pier for its wonderful warm weather vibes.
Top honors went to Pub & Kitchen for "excellent food, a well curated beverage program plus excellent and dare we say, attractive service." Make your way over to Foobooz to check out the full list but be warned, reading through it might necessitate a Monday happy hour.
Head on over to Fergie's (1214 Sansom St.) tonight to celebrate 18 years of good times with Fergus Carey and Wajih Abed. Beginning at 7 p.m. the Victor North Jazz Trio will be providing the soundtrack for the evening, a buffet will be laid out for your grazing pleasure and seasonal brews like Dogfish Head Chicory Stout and Dupont Avec les Bons Voeux, a Christmas saison will be flowing.
Anyone with a Twitter feed full of Philly chefs has probably seen this developing over giggly tweets carrying the hashtag #offallyexcited for a while now (follow along—Jenn Choplin is dyeing her hair to match her dish as we speak), but now that the details have been ironed out and menu set, it's time for you to start thinking about nabbing a reservation.
Long story short, the dinner will showcase six local chefs' way with offcuts; namely, Joe Cicala of host resto Le Virtù, Pat Cancelliere of 943 byob, Eric Paraskevas of Bainbridge St. Barrel House, Jennifer Choplin (late of ill-starred Butcher and the Brewer), Michael Falcone of Pottstown's Funky Lil' Kitchen, and Sam Jacobson, who recently announced his impending departure from Lansdowne's Sycamore byob and closed-for-retooling NoBL.
On the menu (which you can see in full below), you'll find decadent pig head croquettes, a red-red salad featuring wine-braised heart and beets, foie gras for dessert, an eye-widening and heart-stirring dish of lamb brain ravioli in blood pasta, and more. The 6-course tasting is $60 a head, and they'll do two seatings on Mon., Dec. 3, at 6 and 8:30 p.m.
Sweetbreads, tongue, and pine-needle velouté, right this way! »
Monday, November 19
The South Philly Review's Phyllis Stein-Novack is none too pleased with Red Owl Tavern.
Tuesday, November 20
In booze news both Rhino and Emmanuelle are both open for your drinking pleasure.
Set those DVRs, the Philly episode of Anthony Bourdain's The Layover is airing on December 3rd.
Lemon Hill launches cocktail of the day happy hour. Head over today for $7 Old Fashioneds.
Wednesday, November 21
On today's edition of Afternoon Snacks, watch a Vetri fam member persevere through all kinds of silliness to truss up a gorgeous turducken, mark your calendar for a toasty welcome to December, and read some wise words to head into Thanksgiving with both feet on the ground.
Does the dude in this video (making the turducken you see above) look familiar? Of course he does. He's Amis chef Brad Spence! You may remember him from such online instructional videos as: this one, and this other one, and some other ones. This time he's flying solo (watch your back, Michaud), playing the straight man to a bunch of wonderful nonsense. Nicely done, Thrillist!
Fireplace parties and sound turkey advice, after the jump! »
No doubt Thanksgiving Eve is a great night to go out because, well, tomorrow's obligations don't really involve all that much more than hangover-friendly activities like sitting around and eating a lot. The good folks over at Thought Catalog have put together a pretty spot-on guide to going out on Thanksgiving including the origins of the tradition:
“Say, you got work tomorrow?” wondered one of pilgrims, wearing a particularly stupid hat.
“Nay,” said his friend, deliberately ignoring the fact that he’d signed up for the 9 a.m. Butter Churning shift.
“You thinkin’ what I’m thinking?” inquired the friend, his tri-cornered hat the absolute epitome of all that is ungodly and wretched in the world.
They then cracked open a couple of local-brewed pumpkin-wheat lagers (these were hipster pilgrims) and proceeded to get hammered. A tradition was born.
Head on over to Thought Catalog read the rest of the entry but please don't succumb to the inevitable ritual of "Forgetting to Close Your Tab and Leaving Your Credit Card at the Bar."
Get out of the mall and into the black this Friday at City Tap House (3925 Walnut St.) where porters, stouts, black IPAs and a load of other inky brews are going to be flowing come 2 p.m. You can opt to pay-as-you-go or if you really want to get into the black go with the $35 tasting package that gets you 10 drink tokens good for 5-ounce pours plus a souvenir glass that you can totally regift!
- barstool scientist
- Booze
- Brew Revue
- Chef Salad
- Closings
- Coffee
- Contests
- Dealage
- Dirty Dishes
- Don't Front
- Eat This Immediately
- Field Trip
- Food and Art
- Food and Holidays
- Food and Movies
- Food and Music
- Food and Politics
- Food and Sports
- Food and Web
- Food Blogs
- Food Books
- Food Events
- Food News
- Food TV
- Gifted
- Happy Hour Hopper
- How-To
- In Print
- Interview
- Meal Ticket
- Menu Time
- Not So Quickfire
- Notes from the Weekend
- On Wheels
- Openings
- Patio Drinking
- Philly Beer Week 2010
- Photos
- Private Chef POV
- Product Placement
- Recipes
- Snack Time
- Stiff Drank
- SUPPER
- Tea
- Testing
- Ticket Stubs
- Top Chef
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Video
- Weekly Candy
- Weird Regional Foods
- We're Here to Help
- Where'd We Eat?
- Drew Lazor's Ill-Advised Rant Factory
- Pregame
- Ill-Advised Ranting
- The Week Without Meat
- Philly Beer Week 2009
- Real Big
- Where'd I Eat Last Night?
- Top Chef Masters
- The Good Word
- Next Iron Chef
- Arterial Terrorism
- Food and Radio
