|
|
|
Food News
Over the past few months, Bridgid's (726 N. 24th St.) has changed its look dramatically, adding hardwood floors, new lighting, an expanded gravity tap system and a brand-new second-floor kitchen for new chef David Clarke (Osteria, Morimoto). Prices are still 'hood-friendly — entrées are topping out at $23, and they still offer a more casual bar menu — but Clarke's managed to introduce a no-shortcuts ethos to the Fairmount beer bar, cranking out pastas like ravioli, agnolotti and fettucine in-house. Other highlights include wintry plates like braised veal breast with celeriac purée and roasted carrots and a braised lamb shank with goat cheese whipped potatoes, fennel and radicchio. Check out Bridgid's new menu in full after the jump (click to enlarge).
Fishtown's Interstate Draft House (1235 E. Palmer St.) has barely broken in the barstools and there’s already been a chef change. As of three weeks ago, Julio Rivera, who’s worked with Interstate owners Bob and Brandon Bitros since they owned Azure in NoLibs, is out, and Adam Scott is in. Scott, a 35-year-old Buxco native, comes most recently from Supper and has also cooked at Hawthornes and the Doylestown Country Club. He’s already making changes.
"It was very Spanish-oriented," Scott says of the menu he inherited, "but Brandon and Bob's vision from the get-go was a Southwestern/Southern/Creole kind of mix.” That concept will play out on more and more on upcoming rewrites; he’s already added jambalaya and po'boys, and “as we evolve, we're going to try to refine ourselves and bring in a lot more technique.” Which is not to say Interstate Draft House is going to shit-can the nachos and buy an immersion circulator. "We want to do upscale pub food without going full-on gastropub."
Translate that how you will, but know that Scott promises the prices will pretty much stay the same. See how he's doing so far in this week’s issue, when we review IDH.
Photo: Ptah Gabrie
If you're Jerz this evening, run through Collingswood's Scottish Rite Ballroom (315 White Horse Pike) between 5 and 9 to grub out at the Food Bank of South Jersey's third annual Mac-Off, a mac 'n' cheese competition that supports a good cause on this day of service. Price of admission ($5 for kids under 12; $10 for adults) gets you access to mac renditions from South Jersey restaurants like Tortilla Press, Blackbird, Pop Shop, IndeBlue, Aunt Bertha's, blueplate and more; each chef will create his or her signature comfort-food dish using pasta donated by Severino's. Chef Aaron McCargo, Food Network personality and Camden native, will select the ultimate victor at the fam-friendly cook-off. One hundred percent of proceeds will benefit the FBSJ.
Have yourself a bella mattina this weekend at East Falls' In Riva (4116 Ridge Ave.), which just rolled out Saturday and Sunday brunch. Served both days from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Arthur Cavaliere's Italiano starts with San Marzano bloodys and Lambrusco bellinis (!), moving into a selection of brunch-from-the-boot choices, like pancetta-laden breakfast pizza and polenta and eggs with pepperonata, rapini and grana padano. Full menu after the jump (click to enlarge).
Evan Inatome tells Meal Ticket he plans to move his Elixr Coffee, which has been open at 207 S. 15th Street for about a year, to a vacant storefront at Walnut and Sydenham — a part of the old Susanna Foo space left unoccupied by Chipotle. He's got a good reason, too: The building he's in is coming down. Metro Commercial Real Estate's Steven Gartner, who's overseeing the multi-level, glass-facaded building proposed for the intersection (here are two mockups of the plans), is not sharing much in terms of project details or timeline yet, but Inatome says he hopes to be out of his current café and brewing in his new one by Memorial Day. "It's at least 50 percent bigger," says Inatome of Elixr's soon-to-be new home, which will have much less direct foot traffic, allowing for a chill al fresco area. In terms of coffee, he plans on getting "even nerdier" with the extra room, bringing in a wider diversity of tools and equipment.
View galleryPumpkin (1713 South St.) hasn't changed a lick looks-wise since opening in 2004, but that ended New Year's Day, when Ian Moroney and Hillary Bor decided to kick off a intensive front-of-house overhaul of their teeny 28-seater. "The restaurant has grown and the food has grown," says Bor, "but the room has stayed the same." Can't say that anymore — designer Arnie Liguori landed all sorts of local reclaimed materials, from original wood panels from an abandoned Eraserhood factory to a central light fixture that once illuminated a school gymnasium, to grant a new feel to the BYO, which reopened this past weekend. They've lost two seats but there's so much more room to breathe for both staffers and diners. Speaking of dining, you should hit up their new tasting menu option — six courses of food from chef Christopher Kearse for $65, Tuesday through Thursday. They still offer their five-course, $35 tasting every Sunday.
The Headhouse Shambles have been home to the crown jewel of the The Food Trust's urban farmers market thrust for years now, so we're excited to learn that marketeers will soon get a chance to pull double duty at Second and Lombard. Tomorrow, Bobby Logue and Tom Henneman of Bodhi Coffee (410 S. Second St.) are meeting with the South Street Headhouse District to hammer out details of a new Friday-night market they plan to launch this spring. In contrast to Sunday morning's farmer- and restaurant-heavy lineup, this new weekly fixture will showcase the wares of local manufacturers.
We first talked to the folks at Philadelphia Mobile Food Association (PMFA) back in December when they were organizing their first-ever meeting — and still calling themselves the Philadelphia Food Truck Association. Founding member Andrew Gerson of Strada Pasta says they decided on a name change to make things more inclusive — vendors of all kinds are welcome to share their thoughts and voices with the organization.
They'll get a chance tomorrow, January 11, from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m., when the PMFA holds its second meeting at the Free Library (1901 Vine St., fourth floor). They'll get into the nuts and bolts of the association, including the formation of committees and the election of a board of directors. Discussion will also focus on the three communal vendor lots the PMFA hopes to get up and running soon, which would allow multiple vendors to operate at private gathering places. Gerson emphasizes that Philly eaters, and not just business owners, are encouraged to attend the meeting. “These food trucks are for Philadelphians," he says. "[Customers] should let us know where they want the food trucks and why."
Ever since Federal Donuts (1219 S. Second St.) opened in Pennsport this fall, the acquisition of the shop's lauded fried chicken has become a source of ire for the impatient — folks not so fond of the teeny café's finite, first-come first-served policy have griped about the inaccessibility of that mythic pollo, dusted and doused in unconventional seasonings like harissa and Korean-sticky red chile. Dramatic reenactment: "Waaaah I'll neeeeeeever get their chicken ughhhhhh!" *crumples to ground weeping*
Here's good news for the lot of you crestfallen cluckstalkers: FedNuts has amped up their operation to allow for evening fried chicken service on weekends, beginning January 14. They'll still adhere to their 12 p.m. chicken kickoff time during lunch on both days, but now they'll rock a second shift, at 5 p.m., every Saturday and Sunday. Same rules — they'll start handing out numbers about 15 minutes in advance and will begin taking orders promptly at 5; once every half bird, whole bird and order of wings (six or 12) is spoken for, they're all done.
Photo: Drew Lazor
Zavino (112 S. 13th St.) and its new chef, Carlos Aparicio, just got a boss shipment of truffles from Oregon, and they've wasted no time massaging them into their small plate-driven menu: Aparicio's already cranked out housemade gnocchi and fettucine specials infused with flecks of the Pacific Northwest fungi, and starting this weekend, he's shaving the jet-black jewels directly onto pizzas. The $18 beaut pictured above starts with the crust — that's their new whole-wheat; a gluten-free option's coming, too — and builds up from there with truffled bechamel, roasted sunchokes, fontina cheese, a pair of runny eggs and a bit of truffle to finish.
- 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
