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Booze
Yet another nice get for Center City's The Farmers' Cabinet (1113 Walnut St.), which just landed Jason Goodman as its new chef the other day — bartender Christian Gaal, late of the just-sold-off Noble (2025 Sansom St.), now calls the F-Cab home.
Gaal, who is no stranger to CP — Felicia D'Ambrosio profiled him when he first started at Noble back in 2009, and he also helped us out with our fall 2010 piece on peculiar spirits — joins his ladyfriend Phoebe Esmon, who's been head bartender and bar manager at the Cabinet since it opened. Perhaps Gaal and Esmon will reprise the always-hilarious Saturday-night simul-mixing "Monogamous Cocktail Experience" we enjoyed more than a few times at Noble — Gaal's slated to hop behind the stick this weekend.
Photo: Jason Varney
In case you haven't heard of that — Tria Wine Room is the new name of Biba, which Jon Myerow and Co. opened last October at 3131 Walnut. Way better name recognition, no? Tonight till 11 p.m. they're celebrating the name change and technical third location of Tria by offering your first glass of 2004 Gran Reserva Cava for just $3.33 (subsequent glasses will run $8.50). That same $3.33 price will also apply to unlimited orders of Ewe Bloom, a camembert-esque sheep's milk cheese out of Prairie Fruits Farm in Illinois. Oh, and if you're in need of stemware — since they can't use 'em anymore, the Wine Room staff is selling off six-piece sets of Biba-branded Spiegelau Vino glasses for $36.
It's National Rum Day and Cuba Libre (10 S. Second St.) is celebrating all the spiced, aged, hint-of-vanilla, make-me-wanna-drink-like-a-sailor varieties with a “Caippy Hour" tonight from 5 to 7 p.m. They'll offer an impressive list of 80 types of rum from 17 countries and 35 different rum cocktails mixed and served at half price — $4 to $19 a glass. Seems like a good reason to indulge in some Tuesday tipsiness and try the bar’s special Bacardi Solera Cuba Libre 10th anniversary rum. The small-bar bites menu, offered at $4 a plate, is also up for grabs, with items like guacamole cubano, empanadas, yucca frita and salted cod fritters.
Tonight, Jose Garces' Tinto (114 S. 20th St.) will launch a new weekly happy hour, dubbed "Tinto Tuesdays," that'll feature special pricing on Basque snacks for $2 and drinks at $5 and under from 5 till 7.
Diners can choose from a varity of pintxo (say it PEEN-choes — the Basque equivalent of tapas), including baby artichokes with lemon and Idiazabal; pickled tomatoes with sheeps' cheese; Spanish octopus with smoked paprika and confit potato; sardines with piquillo and egg; and short rib motadito with pickled guindilla chile. Drink specials will include a $5 speciaity cocktail, $4 glasses of red and white wine, $2 select draft beer and half-price sangria.
RHUBY, the organic rhubarb-based Art in the Age spirit we first mentioned in July, will begin appearing on Pennsylvania state stores this week. Not sure on an exact day — these things often roll out in stagger-step — but keep your artisanal liquor-lovin' eyes peeled. In the meantime, scout out AITA on Facebook. They're firing off some preemptive fan-created RHUBY cocktail recipes, including this dope-sounding mix-up of the spirit with Fever Tree tonic and Bitter Truth lemon bitters. (Look at the color of the stuff!)
Photo: basilandco.tumblr.com via AITA on Facebook
Late last week we mentioned a big round of changes and renovations going down at Center City gay-bar institution Woody's (202 S. 13th St.). Now we hear that the new first-floor bar is set to open on Wednesday or Thursday of next week. After the jump, take a peek at what'll be on the new 32-beer, craft-influenced tap list. Did you ever fathom that you'd be able to catch fresh pints of Southern Tier, Dark Horse, Founders or Russian River at Woody's?
A little while back we reported that Xochitl (408 S. Second St.) was under new ownership. Right now there's talk about acquiring an outdoor seating license as well as creating a new look for the downstairs lounge, but what we're most excited for right now are the new bites available at the bar. Every night from 5 p.m. to midnight, grab a drink while you feast on four-chile calamar, torta sliders, tacos de suadero and smoked potato taquitos off chef Lucio Palazzo's street food-inspired bar menu. No major changes as far as the drink selection goes, but that's a good thing — $3 draft and half-off margaritas are still available for happy hour (5 to 7 p.m. daily), and again from 10 p.m. to midnight Thursday to Saturday in the lounge. See the full bar menu after the jump.
Michael and Billy Weiss, owners of 13th-and-Walnut institution Woody's (202 S. 13th St.), have been hammering away at a big renovation of their Center City gay bar for some time now, a series of updates that'll bring with it a dramatically altered beer approach overseen by Charlie and Heather Collazo of The Institute (549 N. 12th St.). The Collazos, who've known the Weiss brothers for years (Charlie, a professional lighting designer, has worked with them on their various ventures), have designed a program for the bar's impending 32-tap draft system. "Charlie and I are started out with a lot of locals, sticking to what we consider to be more of a 'gateway' tap list," says Heather, who adds that the list will grow and evolve gradually over time.
Out on the other side the bar, there's plenty changing, too. They're building new bars that'll feature granite bar tops, they've replaced the top-level dance floor with brand-new hardwood and they're working on plans for an outdoor seating café. Chef Thomas "Tommy D" Deeney, who we profiled back in 2009, will get an entirely updated dining room, too. We're hearing work will be completed in the next two weeks or so, with a grand relaunch party coming soon after.
View galleryThere were a few last-minute changes to the competitive eating portion of the National Watermelon Day festivities at City Tap House (3925 Walnut St.) yesterday evening. They broke the competition into two rounds: The first gave contestants 150 seconds to eat as much watermelon — sourced from Misty Mountain Farm via the Fair Food Farmstand — as possible, on the premise that those who ate the most, without using their hands, would move on to the finals. Contestants wearing costumes, such as the guy dressed as a cheeseburger, were given 15-second head start.
At the the end of time, the judges selected the biggest eaters for round two. All of these finalists were given two melon quarters, with the first eater to scarf down to the rinds winning the whole thing. That was Henry Yin, who received $200 cash for his efforts, with the rest of the competitors earning $25 Tap House gift cards. (The original prize, Kings of Leon tickets, had to be nixed after the band cancelled the remainder of its summer tour.)
Tap House beer steward Andy Farrell says the night was such a hit that he hopes to host similar events seasonally. Don't be surprised if you hear about a pumpkin beer night — and pumpkin pie-eating contest — this fall.
We've all seen alcoholic elements worked into bar and restaurant décor — the dangling jugs above Percy Street's bar, the cork wall at Vintage, the beer can wall at Resurrection Ale House, the sawed-in-half wine bottles as water glasses at Talula's. But what about actual alcohol? Lêe, who's working on opening Hop Sing Laundromat at 1029 Race (see our early-July sneak peek), is doing just that — tinting the freshly poured concrete floor of his impending cocktail bar with red wine.
Though there's been plenty of progress in the Chinatown space since we last checked on it (water's hooked up; vintage liquor licenses from various states framed and displayed on southern wall), the mono-named bar owner still won't give up a solid opening date. He was eager, though, to discuss this boozy DIY project. He went out and purchased a shitload of boxed Cabernet, which he puts through a process to ensure it colors the concrete without it seeping in too deep. The whole floor will be done this way. Next time you drunkenly drop a glass of red on your buddy's carpet, maybe take a cue from Lêe and upturn the rest of the bottle so everything matches.
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