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Archive: April, 2012
When a casual Sunday stroll on the street where hippies meet revealed an orange sticker at 344 South, I had a sneaking feeling it had something to do with Billy Curry and Copabanana, which has held the Third-and-South corner down for three-and-a-half decades. So I asked Curry, who gave up the info on his new upscale wine, beer and whiskey bar called Redwood that should be open by late spring or early summer.
Huge coup for vegetation-minded Center Citizens: Former Horizons GM Nicole Marquis opened her vegan fast-food joint Hip City Veg (127 S. 18th St., 215-278-7605) in the old Pad Thai Shack yesterday. Steering clear of overt vegan propaganda and preachitude, Marquis' aim with Hip City is to provide a "100 percent plant-based" experience "familiar to meat eaters, without sacrificing affordability or taste." Her chef, Lauren Hooks, is knocking out a menu (see it here in PDF format) with populist appeal — think the "Ziggy" burger, a meatless riff on the Big Mac (yes, with "special sauce"), a crispy "chick'n" sandwich that plays off that popular fast-food option, and salads of the Caribbean, Asian and Mediterranean persuasions, all made with local ingredients. (Those bananas don't count.) That thoughtful approach extends into realms like packaging (compostable) and delivery (by bicycle, Spring Garden to Washington north to south and Front to the bridge east to west).
Hip City Veg has been slammed since opening its doors (here's a real-time shot of the lunch line!), but generous hours should help assuage the demand — they serve daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Hey y'all, so Team Meal Ticket's collective brain feels like and possibly resembles sunnysides so we're gonna take Monday to collect ourselves. See youse tomorrow.
- After some smack talkin' via Twitter (that's how everyone fights these days), ?uestlove went leg-to-leg with Momofuku's David Chang in a high-stakes fried chicken battle. (Questo recently launched his own food imprint, Quest Loves Food.) Jimmy Fallon refereed on his show, and Tina Fey, John Slattery and Steve Higgins were the official judges. Does ?uest have the chops to beat out Chang? Watch the vids! I'm not going to tell you who won, come on.
- Several beekeepers in Red Hook, Brooklyn have reported their bees yielding red honey. Unsure of how this was happening, one beekeeper speculated that the bees must've been pollinating an odd plant source, perhaps sumac. Turns out, they've just been hanging out at Dell's Maraschino Cherries Co.
Can you identify which restaurant is armed with this beautiful piece of hardware?
Peter McAndrews, the most Italian Irish guy we know, says his Media restaurant in the old Locust Crest Tavern (1191 N. Middletown Road) should be ready by next week. Name of the pizzeria has changed a bit, and changed sex, from Il Porto to La Porta — romance languages, you just gotta break balls with your masculine/feminine suffixes, don't you? — but still means "the door." Only now the door keeps saying how cute Jon Snow is.
Last Sunday, two boxers took the ring in what has become an annual slugging match between secular commercial interests and the capital-C Catholic Church. While the Easter Bunny has been a formidable opponent for our Lord and Savior in years past, this year he hit the mat hard and stayed down (at least in my world) thanks to a secret weapon: the Popener.
The Rome Gift Shop website sells these 3-inch long circular top-poppers with either Pope John Paul II or Pope Benedict XVI embossed on one side, St. Peter's Square on the other. Priced at just $19.99, every Popener also includes a postcard from St. Peter's, a prayer card and a rosary — to say nothing of the satisfaction of knowing that every beer you open has been co-signed by God.
Using the Popener does not guarantee holy behavior or entrance into the Pearly Gates. It may, however, gain you favor with your favorite Catholics.
This coming Monday, April 16, Fairmount's Lemon Hill (747 N. 25th St.) will be hosting a Brooklyn Brewery beer dinner and tap takeover TAP ATTACK. The dinner will include an amuse and four courses, each with a Brooklyn pairing (sneak a peek at the menu); bragging rights-obsessed beer geeks might want to make reservations if for no other reason than to drink Black Ops, the incredibly rare imperial stout that Lemon Hill managed to snag for the dessert pairing (Humboldt fog cheesecake, stout-poached sultanas, granola crumble). The dinner is $60 a head and there will be two seatings, at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Call 215-232-2299 or email keith.raimondi@lemonhillphilly.com for reservations.
If you can't swing the dinner but still want to get in on the Brooklyn action, get to the bar between 5 and 7 p.m. to taste tapped selections like Sorachi Ace, Dry Irish Stout, and Mary's Maple Porter, a rare one-off brewmaster's reserve. All drafts during the happy hour will run $5.
Took a quick spin through the fast-approaching Rittenhouse Tavern yesterday — the Restaurant Associates-helmed restaurant in the Art Alliance (251 S. 18th St.) is polishing up for a Tuesday, April 24 public debut. Run in front and back of house by Dan Elliott and Nicholas Elmi respectively, the Tavern is hoping to wedge into that very specific upscale-casual niche once lorded over in this neighborhood by Brasserie Perrier and Striped Bass — not stuffy or stilted, but dead serious about its food and drink. As you can see from the pics, no starched tablecloths, just pretty wood and mod banquettes throughout the multi-room concept. And R'house al fresco addicts will surely be geeked over the Tavern's flower-framed outdoor patio, accessible both through the main Alliance entrance on 18th and a gate along the building's park-facing side. Hearing that management is toying with the idea of teasing out impromptu happy hour-type events for this open-air space via Twitter.
The Food Trust's infinitely popular Night Market initiative, which has brought its lively street food/entertainment circus to Philly 'hoods like East Passyunk, West Philly and Chinatown, is kicking off the 2012 season with the announcment of two dates: Thursday May 24 in Northern Liberties (Second and Poplar) and Thursday, June 28 in the Italian Market (Ninth and Washington). Considering the rich options surrounding both intersections, these first two Night Markets should be a smash. The Food Trust also promises that they'll return to Mt. Airy, site of the most heavily attended market to date, sometime this summer. Keep eyes on nightmarketphilly.org for updates.
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