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Archive: September, 2012
There are tons of harvest festivals coming up in the weeks ahead, and while they’re probably all worthwhile, we’re not sure any has such an amazing name or premise as Harleysville’s Apple Butter Frolic. Now in its 39th year, the Frolic is not just a celebration of fall, but also of local history and traditional Pennsylvania German culture. Which means, yes—there will be tons of fun farm fest activities and demos like butter churning and sheep-to-shawl—but there’ll also be some serious grub.
We’re talking scrapple, chicken pot pie, funnel cakes, sausage sandwiches, and one of our personal favorite Mennonite treats: ground cherry pies. If you’re one of those that thralls to exclusivity in your dining experiences, there’s even a farmhand lunch during the event for which only ten tickets will be sold. And if you’ve got baking skills to show off, you might as well throw your muffins or pies into the ring at the Harvest Baking Contest. There are prizes to be won, and all proceeds from selling the entries after judging go to benefit the Mennonite Heritage Center—but entrants win no matter what, because if you come with a competition baked good in hand, your admission fee to the festival is waived. (Otherwise, the entry fee is $8 for adults, $2 for kids 6-12, free for kids under 6.)
The festival will take place at the Mennonite Heritage Center (565 Yoder Rd., Harleysville), rain or shine, on October 6th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. But if you want to get a head start on your daylong binge (or if, like us, you’ve just never met a community pancake breakfast you didn’t need to attend), an extra $6 gets you in starting at 7:30 a.m. for pancakes with stewed apples, apple sausage, coffee, and juice. You’ll need the extra energy for all the frolicking you’ve got in store!
Meal Ticket godfather Drew Lazor has the inside scoop about Café Estelle's closure over at philly.com. He sat down with Marshall Green to talk about the decision to close the doors after five years of memorable brunches.
An awkward location and lack of evening hours clientele contributed to Green's decision to shutter Estelle. On September 29th and 30th the Fourth and Willow spot is hosting fare-thee-well duo of 86 Brunches to clear out the kitchen and dining room. Long time Café Estelle fans can look forward to one last taste of the gravlax and eggs Benny along with the possibilities of take home souvenirs or a shot of whisky in your coffee mug.
With the weather turning chillier in fits and starts, it’s time to start re-acclimating yourself to the idea of a world without sidewalk dining and beer gardens. There, there. You’ve still got a little while left! But when the time comes, say goodbye like you mean it, at Memphis Taproom’s Third Annual Thirstoberfest. On Saturday, Oct. 27th, from noon to 6:00 p.m., the Taproom (2331 E. Cumberland St.) will mark the end of another outdoor-drinking season with one last blowout.
Hot dogs (which they’ll be serving all day from the truck) may be the obvious menu choice for a picnic atmosphere, but chef Jesse Kimball isn’t really known for “obvious,” so expect some inventive toppings. We suspect he’s still dreaming some of them up, but we do have word on the couple that have been nailed down: the White Trash dog (pictured above) is deep-fried and topped with fries, curry ketchup, and mayo, and the Rostok Vampire is a dog off the grill graced with fried apples and roasted garlic mustard.
And it probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone that the party will feature a heap of rare and interesting beers—a taplist more than 25 deep is promised, though as of now they’re only teasing us with half of it. Even so, this could be worth the visit to Kensington on its own:
Russian River Consecration
Firestone Walker Double DBA
Yards Cape of Good Hope
Allagash Confluence
Glazen Toren Canaster
Smuttynose Pumpkin
Dogfish Head 120 minute
Ayinger Celebrator
Great Lakes Octoberfest
Sly Fox Axed Ale
Mahr's Ungespundent Lager
Founders Breakfast Stout
Victory Braumeister Pils
Suddenly, October 27th seems awfully far away.
Up next on Afternoon Snacks, we've got plenty of good news for anyone whose wallet's feeling suspiciously light.
Y’know what our favorite kind of news is? Free beer news! So here’s some: Tonight, the Bottle Shop (1837 E. Passyunk Ave.) is sampling a handful of beers from Lambertville’s River Horse Brewing Co. Starting at 7:00 p.m., they’ll have six brews from the brewery’s year-round lineup ready to sample, plus the seasonal (and adorably named) Hipp-O-Lantern imperial pumpkin ale.
It’s a good thing that Munish Narula re-opened the Tiffin, Etc. space next to his original Tiffin at 710 Girard Avenue in June. This Monday night, his fine Indian restaurant and to-go spot was filled with seated habitués and take out diners, a common sight for this Tiffin.
Part of being packed stems from the fact that Narula – an always-tweaking restaurant conceptualist and CEO – added to Tiffin’s menu the comfort food cuisine of the Indo-Chinese and its hot and spicy sauces like Szechuan, Kung Pao and Manchurian.
Narula didn’t just come up with adding the tastes of Calcutta’s Chinese immigrants who brought their flavors and recipes to bear on Indian culture. “The idea has been floating around for about a year,” says Narula. “At one point, we were looking to do Indo-Chinese as a separate restaurant concept in another part of the city – South Philadelphia in fact.”
Brauhaus (718 South St.) is certainly not holding back with its Oktoberfest line up and looks like Monday night's kick off dinner is going to be, well, a head first intro to the bier-soaked-lederhosen revelry to come.
Chef Jeremy Nolan is hosting a five-course prix fixe with fellow Philadelphia beer aficionados Scott Schroeder of the South Philly Taproom and American Sardine Bar, Joe Cicala, the pasta whisperer-chef of Le Virtu and Ben Puchowitz of nomadic ramen and Matyson fame. Jessica Nolen will be on hand to round out the liverwurst and rye bread-y menu with a seasonally inspired pumpkin roulade with weizenbock syrup.
Beer pairings, Westphalian ham and the menu run down after the jump! »
This week we have Adam Erace weighing in on the barbecue-without-borders sandwiches and platters at Blue Belly.
Carly Szkaradnik has your Oktoberfest kick off weekend all planned out. Spoiler: there's a whole bunch of beer.
And Caroline Russock trains along with The Cheesecake Factory crew in Jersey.
Hey happy hour folks, if you're on the lookout for something autumnal to sip this afternoon head on over to South Philly beer mecca Devil's Den (1148 South 11th St.) from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. to sample Ommegang's latest, Scythe & Sickle Harvest Ale. Unlike most other Fall releases this one is neither an Oktoberfest or a pumpkin ale. It's a toasty amber brewed with rye and oats for a touch of sweetness, great for cool weather sipping.
And if you cant make it tomorrow, Ommegang Scythe & Sickle Harvest Ale will be pouting tomorrow afternoon from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Belgian Cafe (601 North 21st St.) in Fairmount.
Old City Mad River replacer Craft & Claw (126 Chestnut St.) is gearing up to open its doors tomorrow night at 7 p.m. Meal Ticket headed over to get a look at the newly revamped space today and the Craft & Claw folks couldn't be more ready to go. Tables are set in the dark wood and quilted leather dining room and the bar is stocked.
Tomorrow evening and Friday walk-ins can enjoy a full menu of seafood selections from chef Nick Fabian including by the pound crab legs, crab cake BLT sliders, crab and macaroni, bacon blue crab mac & cheese along with a few non crab offerings.
As far as drinks go, Craft & Claw is living up to its moniker with a generous (and very well priced) menu of local beer and a list of not too serious cocktails like the Baltimore-style Orange Crush, a tall glass of orange juice, Stoli O, tripe sec and Sprite and the Birdog Peach Tea with blackberry whisky, peach liqueur and black tea and some pretty stellar happy hour deals.
We've got a seriously decadent tasting menu from Matyson, some nerdiness to pair with your Oktoberfest shenanigans, and an exciting seasonal release from Cooperstown's Brewery Ommegang.
Chef Ben Puchowitz has a way of crafting tasting menus with the ability to quietly chastise you for not paying attention to them—like, say, when you forget to check in on Matyson (37 S. 19th St.) for one week and it turns out you almost miss out on a Butter tasting. Yeah. It’s Butter week! And you can still take advantage tonight or tomorrow. As always, it’s five courses for $45, BYO whatever you want to drink with butter and all the awesome things that it implies. Biscuits? Check (above.) Lobster? Check. Popcorn (puree)? Mmmrmph. Check out the full offering below.
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