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Archive: May, 2012
West Philly's Dock Street (701 S. 50th St.) is going big this Sunday, May 6. From noon to 4, their very limited-edition 750ml bottles will be on sale on a first-come, first-served basis. Belgian Black IPA, Super Saison, Dude de Garde and the funky fourth-anniversary Flemish Red Sour Ale will all be available for purchase, plus a dynamic series of abbey-style ales, single to quad (on tap, too, while supplies last). Jam to live music, scarf a slice of pizza and pick up a few bottles for the cellar. Meal Ticket's eternal gratitude for anyone who scoops a 750 of the sour for us.
Photo: Courtesy of Dock Street
After a long six months of construction and planning, Spiga (1305 Locust St.) will open its doors this coming Saturday. Chef Brian Wilson, formerly of the posh Le Castagne (1920 Chestnut St.), has teamed up with Giuseppe Sena, Anthony Masapollo (managing partner at Le Castagne) and Skip DiMassa to open the neighborhood spot. "We were just sitting around one night and decided we were crazy enough to open another restaurant," says Wilson.
Wilson and the team renovated Spiga — it translates roughly to "ear" or "spike," as in the stalk from which wheat is harvested — all by themselves. "We want people to come out to have a good meal and enjoy themselves without getting crushed price-wise," says Wilson of his departure from fine dining. The menu reflects this mentality with dishes like polenta fries with garlic aioli; crespelle with roasted eggplant cream, prosciutto and asiago; a strawberry, balsamic onion and robiola cheese pizza; and the Spiga Burger, an Angus beef patty with herbed goat cheese, onion mostarda, Applewood bacon, spinach and fries. Plates range from $4 to $20 for small plates, $12 to $15 for pastas, $12 to $14 for pizzas and $12 to $26 for entrees. Full opening menu after the jump (click to enlarge).
Spiga will be open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 to 10; Friday from 11 to 11; Saturday from 5 to 11; and Sunday from 11 to 4.
Head to Front and Master between the hours of 6 and 11 this evening to grub at the Philadelphia Mobile Food Association's inuagural food truck pop-up. The first installment in what will be a monthly series, the event will bring together Pitruco Pizza, Spot Burger, Little Baby's Ice Cream and the brand-new Zea May's Kitchen, which is serving a Native American-inspired menu. The foursome will set up shop in the parking lot of the Lutheran Settlement House (1340 Frankford Ave.) and a portion of sales will benefit the non-profit. No seating in the lot, but eaters can take their food across the street to the garden owned by the Settlement House, so pack a sixer and takd advantage of this chance at a truly unorthodox four-course meal.
On Tuesday, Greg Vernick, his wife Julie and GM Ryan Mulholland opened Vernick Food & Drink (2031 Walnut St.), the well-traveled chef's long-planned solo joint after years cooking all over the world for Jean-Georges Vongerichten and more recently at NYC's Toqueville. See our March 20 post for more background on the concept, food Vernick characterizes as "radically simple" — examples he cooked up for us the other day included his tuna with soy-laced tomato compote, charred spinach and leek toast, whole roasted organic Amish chicken and whole roasted "pocketbook-cut" dorade. Those last three items are a few examples of dishes Vernick is preparing in his Wood Stone oven, which he rocks around 550 degrees in the tucked-away open kitchen of the restaurant's ground floor. There's a chef's counter and room for walk-ins back here; heading back toward the street you've got the bar, featuring beer, wine and cocktail selections curated by Mulholland. Diners with reservations will mostly kick it in the restaurant's bright, clean-lined second-floor dining room.
Opening food and drink menus for Vernick are after the jump (click to enlarge). Right now they're open Tuesday to Sunday from 4:30 to 11.
- Old City's Reserve makes some mis-steaks during Adam Erace's meal, from burned potatoes and stale breadsticks to entrée problems of the follicular persuasion.
- In Feeding Frenzy: Hip City Veg, Spiga, Vernick, the Boot & Saddle reboot and The Food Trust's popular Headhouse market.
- In What's Cooking: IPA crazy at Hawthornes, the second annual Burger Brawl, an Artisanal beer dinner at P&K and Taste of the Nation.
Photo: Neal Santos
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. Consider this a place for good deals, great dishes, wicked cocktails, recipe triumphs (and tragedies), bizarro conversations and more. We're eager to share our notes, but especially excited to read yours.We encourage you to leave notes from YOUR weekend in the comments. Have at it! (View past NFTW installments at citypaper.net/notes.)
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