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Archive: February, 2012
Swing by Molly Malloy's in the Reading Terminal Market (12th and Arch streets) today at 4 p.m. for a taste of Engine 1892 Market Stout, a new beer from Philadelphia Brewing Co. created as a nod to the RTM's 120th year of existence. It's a friendly 6 percent ABV chocolate stout crafted with 70 percent cacao Belgian dark chocolate from RTM's Chocolate by Mueller. Molly's will pour it through the end of February, and don't be surprised if you start seeing it appear on draft towers around town, too.
Photo: facebook.com/mollymalloys
Show your honey you care this Valentine's Day with the gift of excessive violence! Frankford Hall (1210 Frankford Ave.) will be holding four movie nights, from Feb. 13 to 16, in honor of what sometimes turns out to be the bloodiest holiday of them all. The "love-themed" films are as follows (OK Princess Bride isn't all that gory):
Monday, Feb. 13: True Romance
Tuesday, Feb. 14: Natural Born Killers
Wednesday, Feb. 15: My Bloody Valentine
Thursday, Feb. 16: Princess Bride
Screenings start at 7 p.m. and they'll do happy hour-pricing for drinks, as well as movie concessions like Junior Mints, popcorn and Sour Patch Kids. The screenings will be held in the outdoor portion of Frankford Hall if the weather is nice.
I'm a strong proponent of the stay-the-hell-home Valentine's dinner plan. (See also: the stay-the-hell-home New Year's Eve plan.) But if cooking isn't your forte, there are few meals as stressful (and potentially foreplay-dependent) as V-Day. If you've got the cash ($500, to be exact), then leave it to the experts, chef Jean-Marie Lacroix and his team of cooks at Brûlée Catering.
With 72 hours notice, one will come to your casa and prepare a restaurant-grade feast for two. Think lamb chops, black truffle risotto, Champagne sorbet and more. Don’t have five Benjis to drop? Brûlée offers two more affordable options: having a server deliver/serve your meal for $350 per couple, or pick up dinner yourself (and look like a culinary hero) for $125, definitely less than what you’d spend at better restaurants around town. With notice, menus are completely customizable, but here are a few samples after the jump. If interested, email Brûlée Catering at info@brulee-catering.com.
A couple weeks ago, I profiled what I believed to be Philly's only "food rock" band, The Really Cooks. Turns out they're just the only food rock band in West Philly. Sorry. Brian "Brain" Dwyer, co-owner of the upcoming Pizza Brain (2313 Frankford Ave.), recently brought North Philly's Pizza Face to my attention.
Pizza Face started a couple years ago when it was "brewski night," according to lead vocalist Ben "Benriz" Erlacher. "We were suckin' down some heavy bevvies, just talking, and we decided since pizza is the [ultimate] food, that we would combine it with the [ultimate] music and make Pizza Face," he says.
A friend of Erlacher's told him about Dwyer and his endeavors in East Kensington and said they should get in touch. "I went to email him so Pizza Brain would know about Pizza Face," Erlacher says, "and I opened my email, only to find I already had a message in my inbox from Dwyer saying he bought our album and he's a big fan. We've been bad friends and ginger brothers ever since."
When Brian Nagele of Philly2Night/Cities2Night took over the private Arrow Swim Club space from previous operators Nicole Cashman and Bart Blatstein (the latter leased The Piazza’s failing Apollinare to Nagele to open Kings Oak), an indoor restaurant came with the outdoor swim club deal. Nagele promised a few changes when we spoke to him several weeks ago. He gave me the scoop on the swim club’s new name (North Shore Beach Club), its price ($500 a year) and attitude. "DJs and entertainment, yes — but I'm not having public events or $10 parties," said Nagele then.
This week, Nagele reports he's nearly halfway to selling out his season, and that he has a name for his new Cuban-themed restaurant, taking over for Chenango (above): The Havana Room. No menu items could be revealed at press time, but one-time Stephen Starr staffer Sean Elstone (Il Pittore, Parc) is in the kitchen, angling for an April opening.
Open for about three weeks just north of the corner of Eighth and Washington, Archie's (1030 S. Eighth St.) is not a Spanish-speaking hang for Moose and Jughead, but rather a family-owned Mexican restaurant specializing in stacked tortas. (Had a great time watching Home Alone en español with the owners' kids while waiting for my food.) Open daily from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., the small takeout/delivery joint (they got a few tables) offers up al pastor, enchiladas con mole poblano and nice-priced entrées (tequila shrimp, filet tampiqueña), but we're most fixated on the sandwich selection, from chorizo-stuffed toluqueña to a "de pierna," crispy thin-sliced pork combo'd with red onion, pickled jalapeño and a smooth swipe of avocado (above). Fin de semana specials include tamales, carnitas and atole, the hot masa-based beverage slightly comparable to egg nog. Here's their full menu (PDF).
Photos: Drew Lazor
- Adam Erace is impressed by chef Anthony DiRienzo's cooking at Starr seafooderie Route 6, even if management ID'd him as a critic and gushed/hovered a bit unnecessarily. His can't-miss dish is the chicken-fried lobster tails, but there are plenty of other strong Maine-to-Maryland dishes to get into.
- In Feeding Frenzy: Nomad Pizza and Paris Wine Bar are new this week, while Bierstube is still wet behind the beer ears in Old City.
- In What's Cooking: V-Day plans galore, including a kid-friendly pizza class with Marc Vetri, baking classes at Whipped, an anti-Valentine dinner at Teri's and more.
- On a more serious note in News: Isaiah Thompson reports on an apparent city crackdown on feeding the homeless who live on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and if it's connected to the impending debut of the new Barnes Foundation.
Photo: Neal Santos
View galleryWHERE YOU AT? MilkBoy (1100 Chestnut St.) has been open for about six months now, the newest member of a family that includes older siblings in Ardmore and Bryn Mawr. Philly's the baby, but it's got a serious leg up on its Main Line counterparts: a liquor license. They had a tempting draft list when I showed up with some girlfriends for happy hour around 4:30 one evening last week. We sat at the bar (specials apply to booth sitters, too), and I was glad I did — our bartender was extra-generous, letting my friends and I try a sample a few drafts before committing. I ended up with the smoky Williamsburg Alewerks Washington's Porter; friends grabbed a Mission Shipwrecked IPA and an "Auntie Maxie" cocktail, a combination of Absolut wild tea, Barenjager and lemon sweetly served in a mason jar.
On Monday we told you a little about Russet (1521 Spruce St.), which Andrew and Kristin Wood are opening on V-Day. Though the BYO's food will be ever-evolving due to its aggressive local focus, we did manage to snag details on a few dishes that'll likely appear on the first draft of their dinner and brunch menus. The most glaringly delicious-sounding is their black truffle-topped roasted marrow (!), but here are some other peeks from dinner/dessert ...
Yards Brewing is rolling out its annual one-off beer in conjunction with the 2012 Philadelphia Science Festival, and we all get to vote on its name. This year's brew will be a weizenbock, a strong unfiltered wheat beer. Each proposed moniker is a twist on a different scientific theory or principle:
- Heisenberg's Drunken Principle
- Avogadro's Numbeer
- Bucky Ball Bock
- German String Beer-y
- Science FestivALE
- Atom Blonde
The beer will be on tap and in bottles at select bars/restaurants throughout the city from April 20 to 29. You've got until 10 a.m. tomorrow, Feb. 9, to vote for your favorite. For more information on each name, check out the PSF's blog. Yes, drinking can be somewhat educational.
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