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Menu Time
What's better or more nostalgic than settling in with the Saturday-morning cartoons of your youth and a big bowl of sugary cereal? Settling in with cartoons, cereal and bacon-washed bourbon.
Tomorrow will mark the second go-round of the new Saturday Morning Cartoon Brunch at The Trestle Inn (339 N. 11th St.), when they project vintage 'toons (The Flintstones, Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner, etc.) onto the walls during brunch hours (11 a.m.-4 p.m.). Last week's debut was strong; they added a second day of brunch service after the success of Sunday's Drag Yo Ass Outta Bed Brunch.
The whiskey/go-go bar has a wealth of interesting a.m. cocktails to choose from, including a bacon-and-egg Bloody, The Breakfast Sour (the aforementioned bacon bourbon, maple syrup, OJ, egg white) and Bourbon Liquid Milk Punch (Old Grand-Dad, whole milk, simple, vanilla extract, Creme de Violette). Food-wise, dig into all-grown-up kids' cereal (a housemade fruit and oat mixture), piggies in a blanket and biscuits and gravy while you watch Fred drive with his feet. Here's the full brunch menu (PDF).
View galleryIt's hard for a restaurant to open quietly in Philly these days, especially when that spot specializes in something as universally lusted-after as Japanese noodle soup. Such is the case with the "soft-open" Ramen Boy (204 N. Ninth St.), filling brothy bowls for capacity houses since Friday night in C-Town.
"Ramen is so common and so popular in Japan," says owner Nelson Tam, who also has Yakitori Boy two blocks away. His popular karaoke joint does offer the stuff, but he "wanted to do a place and stand out only for ramen." He's got that here, with native-son chef Yuichi "Ben" Watanabe and his bandanna-rocking crew serving four varieties of soup — a traditional pork broth with chargrilled meat and naruto (pictured); a soy-and-miso with chicken; an spicy oxtail-based broth with sliced ribeye; and a vegan bowl featuring soy milk-based broth and a rotating lineup of 11 different vegetables. They're also doing gyoza (pork, chicken, shrimp and a cheesesteak-like beef/cheddar) fried on the flat-top, rice platters and a couple of sides. Full menu after the jump (click to enlarge).
Don't be discouraged if every seat's occupied when you swing by — people seem to come and go pretty quickly here, and your sidewalk-to-soup time can be considerably slashed if you grab a stool at the kitchen bar. Ramen Boy is open Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
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
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 ...
Stopped by London Grill (2301 Fairmount Ave.) last week to eyeball the room they're unveiling as Paris Wine Bar next Thursday, Feb. 9.
Accessible via both London's 23rd Street entrance and a dedicated door on Fairmount, the Paris space was most recently an insurance office; before this, it was London Grill Next Door, a coffeeshop owner Terry Berch McNally operated until 2009. Now, McNally and beverage manager Cristina Tessaro have brought in a state-of-the-art MicroMatic draft system (above) for their specialized, new-to-Philly concept — a bar pouring a kegged selection of wines strictly from Pennsylvania.
Today marks the grand opening of Green Olives (1941 E. Passyunk Ave.), a North African BYOB that replaces the short-lived Albanian BYOB Mondial Café. (DL had a funny experience there.) The former owners of Casablanca, a Moroccan spot just off City Line Avenue, are behind the Passyunk shop, which has been serving coffee and pastries for about a week. Crowd-pleasing pickies like mozzarella sticks make an appearance on the menu, but the focus is mostly Moroccan: tagines, kebabs, couscous, etc. (Menus in full after the jump; click to enlarge.) Green Olives is open daily, from 7 a.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. They're open till 11 every night.
Robert Halpern's Marigold Kitchen (501 S. 45th St.) has rolled out a brand-new brunch menu (PDF). The quiche with mushrooms, leeks and comte and the ricotta/strawberry blintz sound like solid vegetarian options. Carnivores should not despair, however, as Halpern has accounted for them with a bunch of meaty dishes, including plenty of duck (confit panini with goat cheese, cranberries and pickled red onions; duck fat-fried poutine with duck gravy). And for those agonizing over the age-old "sweet or savory?" brunch question, go with the "Elvis Style" French toast — peanut butter mousse, caramelized bananas and hickory-smoked bacon.
Way back in September we noted that Mike Naessens of Eulogy (136 Chestnut St.) was taking over the nearby Old City Asian Bistro (206 Market St.) for a Chinese/German restaurant called Tsingtau Lokal. Naessens tells Meal Ticket that he's quite close with the unique project, which now boasts a new name: Bierstube Tsingtau. The publican believes the use of "bierstube" — quite simply, the German term for tavern or pub — should help folks better wrap their heads around the concept, inspired by the antebellum Teutonic occupation of Qingdao in the early 20th century.
Opening a new spot on the first day of Restaurant Week? "Why not?" shrugged Marcie Turney during last night's staff tasting at Jamonera (105 S. 13th St., 215-922-6061), which she and Valerie Safran will roll out this Sunday, Jan. 22. They're pretty pro, after all — the couple employs more than 100 people all told at Lolita, Barbuzzo, Grocery, Open House and Verde; what's a little super-polished Spanish wine bar between friends?
The space at 743 S. Eighth is beginning to look cozy, and will soon be filled with the aroma of homemade stocks and garlicky scents familiar to Italian kitchens — next week, Bridget Coccia and Domenic Collaretti will be cooking at that address (Eighth, just off Fitzwater). Bridget and her husband Albert, married for 21 years, grew up working at his family's famed Frankie's Seafood Italiano at 11th and Tasker. Now they're launching their own breakfast/lunch café, The Cup and Saucer, in which Collaretti (Mary's Catering) is a partner, this coming Monday, January 23.
What can you expect from TC&S? La Colombe coffee through a manual drip, a breakfast menu featuring fruit-stuffed French toast and handmade crepes and a lunch menu with traditional Italian dishes as well as vegan specials and homemade soups. Steph Vacca from the Restaurant School does the desserts, while Bridget and Dom do the cooking seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. They're looking to keep prices between $6 and $14 and plan to host art exhibitions in the future. Their full opening menu is after the jump.
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