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Archive: August, 2009
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| Courtesy of Coo's |
Longtime friends Tom Fario and Ed Curran are saying this Saturday (barring any inspection snags) for Coo's Sports Bar & Lounge at 822 N. Broad Street (Broad and Parrish, a few blocks north of Ridge Avenue). Managed by Tom's son Mike, the spot will feature 32 (!) flat-screens, including a 76-incher that looks over the entire property, two facing out into the street and one 19-incher in each of the four restrooms.
Name stems from a family story in which Curran, a graduate of Bucknell, was defeated in a game of Scrabble by his then-13-year-old daughter with the word. Guess he took the loss hard, as he's now naming his bar after the sound a dove makes.
There are two bars in Coo's, one that's full-service and another that's solely spirits. Here's the sports-themed menu. A few more pics, and the crafty 21-beer opening draft list, after the jump. (Back in July, Foobooz speculated that they were "probably not going to have Chimay on draft" due to the fact that their coming-soon banner featured a Coors Light logo. Guess they took that to heart!)
1. Franziskaner Hefe-Weiss Dunkel
2. Sly Fox Pikeland Pilsner
3. Yards Brawler (will rotate Yards drafts throughout the year)
4. Victory Hop Devil (will also rotate throughout the year)
5. Chimay White Tripel
6. Guiness
7. Warsteiner
8. Magic Hat No. 9
9. Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
10. Peroni
11. Stella Artois
12. Hoegaarden
13. Yuengling
14. Coors Light
15. Miller Lite
16. Samuel Adams Seasonal (rotates appropriately)
17. Flying Fish ESB Ale
18. Ommegang Hennepin
19.Lindeman's Francoise Lambic
20. TBD
21. TBD
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| Courtesy of Coo's |
So you can get a rib eye steak from Butcher and Singer for $18 but the folks at Coos think people will be ordering theirs for $27. Looks like not only the daughter named the place but made the menu as well
umm...the $18 option is a temporary buzz-creating deal at B&S. cmon.
I guess we're going to hear dove's cry when this place tanks over the insane prices. Is there a word for that too?
have you guys seen the link? it states- "The ONLY spot to wacth your favorite sports in Philadelphia!" really? wacth? and yeah, good luck with those prices in that area.
The menu pricing at Coo's is still under reveiw and was not ment to be posted on the website. Continue to check out the website for correct pricing.
[...] Coo’s Sports Bar & Lounge is hoping to open this weekend on north Broad Street. [Meal Ticket] [...]
For a brand new sportsbar, this place has gone balls to the wall and shot for an interesting and rare niche: a Sports "Lounge." Catering to a crowd that doesn't mind shelling out 10+ for a sandwich (as long as its a pretty damn good sandwich!) Coo's has definitely struck their mark. With delectable Coconut and Crab soups, Habenero Honey Hot Wings, and some delectable sandwiches named after Philly Mainstays, the Menu does not disappoint. Suprisingly, the alcohol is priced far cheaper than one would expect with food prices in the moderate to moderate-high range. Cheap booze, great food, and and even more impressive atmosphere (Over 30 flatscreens and even a shuffleboard table?!?) make Coo's a great spot to bring the boys, the girls or even a date to catch the game or just catch a brew. And Don't be suprised if you end up sharing one of the 20 well-chosen drafts with Owner Tom Fario, as he is constantly mixing it up with the crowd that, in my opinion, has grown exponentially since I've been there (twice) in the past week.
thanks for the post..
I was at Smokey Bones the other day and saw the greatest invention I have ever seen! It was a football field goal post with a football attached to urinal screen in the urinal and it was genius! Guys aim at it while relieving themselves. You have to see it yourself, the website of the company that makes them is at www.direct-aim.com and every sports bar should have these!
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Jose Garces' much-anticipated Village Whiskey (118 S. 20th St.) will most definitely open to the public next Thursday, September 3, according to Tinto GM Robert Scully, who's going to be running the show here, too. Meal Ticket will have lots more on the spot soon; in the meantime, check out our April post for some details on the beverage program and chef Dave Conn's menu.
UPDATE: Here's the food menu, the dessert menu, the cocktail list and the whiskey list.
[...] Village Whiskey takes a step away from Latin food as Garces’ embraces the trend that is all the rage in his native Chicago-land. Old fashioned cocktails, lotsa whiskey and affordable, simple bar food mean that this need not be a special occasion destination. But instead it could be your new local. Check out the entire press release here, and stay posted for more info once we get inside. Meal Ticket: The Wait is Over [...]
[...] link is being shared on Twitter right now. @mealticket said Opening date set for Jose Garces' Village [...]
[...] Garces’ “neats and eats” bar at the corner of 20th and Sansom. (As of right now, it’s up for a Thursday opening, but we hear there’s a slight chance that may change â we’ll keep everyone [...]
[...] â Jose Garces’ whiskey bar (118 S. 20th St.) is tossing open its doors to the public just one day after the opening date they projected last week. Hereâs the food menu, the dessert menu, the cocktail list and the [...]
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| CP Choice '08 | |
Whipped Bakeshop cakelady Zo� Lukas � she did a bunch of awesome work for last year's CP Choice issue � tells Meal Ticket that she's looking to October to open a storefront for Whipped at 636 Belgrade Street in Fishtown. (Up to this point, she's operated off the Web and Etsy.) The green-certified space will feature an open studio kitchen on the ground level, with an 800-square-foot top floor. It'll serve mostly as a place to for people to pick up custom creations, but Lukas says she'll also have a display case for walk-ins with cupcake/cookie hankerings. No word on whether Chase Utley cookies will be a regular feature. Sorry, ladies.
[...] Whipped Bakeshop is getting its own storefront in Fishtown. [Meal Ticket] [...]
[...] her Fishtown spot (636 Belgrade St.) tomorrow, so Meal Ticket dropped by today to check it out. (We originally mentioned the project back in August.) The LEED-certified corner space will largely serve as a workshop space for Lukas, whose services [...]
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| Unbreaded |
| Shank's Original chicken cutlet with rabe and prov |
Every Wednesday, Meal Ticket pokes around the food blog world to see what's simmering.
- Unbreaded pays a visit to the new, uptown Shank's Original and finds that you can take the chicken cutlet out of Souf Philly, but you can't take the Souf Philly out of the chicken cutlet (or the all-gal staff.)
- The former Valentino on the Square space will become Cicchetteria in October, reports Michael Klein at The Insider. Chef Dan Murphy, late of the Chelsea Hotel in A.C.,� will throw down "fun, shareable-type food, including pizzas."
- Over at The Restaurant Club, Victor Fiorillo susses out the romantic origins of boutique tonic waters Fever Tree and Q, and locates the elegant anti-malarials around town.
- Grub Street's Kirsten Henri gets the lowdown on Di Bruno's upcoming-but-not-until-the-New-Year wine bar in the former Pronto Space on Ninth Street, from owner Emilio Mignucci.
- It's always a good idea to check in with Chowhound and take the pulse of those avid eaters. This week we've got a lively thread on Philly Restaurant Dishes You Dream About � much like this week's Snack Time,� it seems the Italians are dominating our food fantasies.
Oh....those gnocchi. thought I'd gone to heaven!!!!
And mac 'n' cheese? (And a salad?)
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| Photos | Drew Lazor |
gotta be pro tap, almost ended up there last night myself, but braved the institute instead.
bhiladelphia, nice work. This is Prohibition Taproom. I can't believe I ate all that mac ...
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| Courtesy of Reading Terminal Market |
The White Dog Caf� Foundation's Fair Food Farmstand, currently in the process of relocating from its original Reading Terminal Market location to the much-bigger space that housed Rick's Steaks, is aiming for the first weekend of September for its soft opening, RTM GM Paul Steinke tells Meal Ticket.
There are also two new Terminal tenants making their debuts today � Barb & Suzy's Kitchen is now open at Avenue B and Eighth Avenue, offering Lancaster County sausage sandwiches, batter-dipped veggies and "bacon fries" (not sure what those are just yet but fairly sure we'll like them bacon cheese fries!) Just down the way from this stand is companion meat stop S&B Meats, which'll sell fresh/cured pork preparations from Stoltzfus Meats.
One more RTMer's on the way, too: On track for October is Beck's Cajun Caf�, which'll offer Nawlins-style classics like jambalaya, po'boys, etouffe and beignets.
UPDATE: In addition to meats from Stoltzfus, S&B will offer products from Illgs Meats of Chalfont. Both new shops will be open till 3 p.m. on Wednesdays at 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday to Saturday. Added a few more photos which you can check out after the jump.
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| Courtesy of Reading Terminal Market |
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| Bindifry's Flickr |
Cascading from the tap into its branded chalice, a burnished pour of Chimay Cinq Cents has been a staple of Philadelphia's beer bars since our salad days learning how to be America's Best Beer-Drinking City. The dry, slightly spicy ale can please both first-timers and seasoned geeks with its approachable flavor profile and heavy, heady credibility.
Monk's Caf� owners Tom Peters and Fergus Carey traveled to Belgium in 2001 to lobby the Scourmont Abbey to export kegs of their only beer packaged for the draft tower. A year later, the first barrel of Cinq Cents breached outside of Brussels was tapped at Monk's; the brew has been flowing through two dedicated draft lines ever since.
Until now. As of July 2009, Origlio Beverage distributes Chimay to Philadelphia wholesale accounts at a before-tax price of $199.35 per 20-liter keg (sixtel). Add on the 7 percent state and city liquor taxes, and the price comes to $213.30. In 2002, sixtels cost $150 before tax, and sales were brisk. "Somewhere, I have a plaque they gave me," says Peters. "We sold the most Chimay of any establishment in the United States."
The 10-ounce glass that cost the consumer $5 seven years ago is now $8. "That�s just too much for me to feel comfortable charging for a glass of draft beer, especially in this retracting economy," says Peters. "My keg sales went from 16-20 kegs per week a few years ago, down to around 8-10 per week these days. The consumer has spoken, and we have listened. We will run Chimay on tap occasionally, just no longer on a daily basis."
Michael Naessens, owner of Eulogy and Beneluxx, started serving draft Chimay in 2003. Both of his establishments still serve 10-ounce drafts of Cinq Cents, which run $7.99 at Eulogy and $7.49 at Beneluxx, before tax. Naessens plans to keep the beer on draft, despite its expense to himself and the customer. "I try to keep it on all the time," he says. "It is definitely expensive, but [Chimay gets] that price because they are who they are. I always do a dollar-per-ounce-of-alcohol analysis for customers � it's 8 percent, so that's the same as two Yuenglings, [and Cinq Cents] has less calories and better taste."
In separate interviews, each bar owner identified the same reason for Cinq Cents' high price � the weak dollar against the Euro. "I do not think the brewery/abbaye is making a huge profit on each keg," says Peters in an e-mail. "They may even be making less money on each keg than they were back in 2002. I think the problem arises in that the brewery charges in Euros and I pay in U.S. dollars. In January of 2002 the rate was 0.88932 and in July of 2009 the rate was 1.4092. That�s a huge difference."
Naessens concurs. "From $150 to $200 � that's about a 30 percent increase. It matches the change in the exchange rate from 2002 to today. They're killing us with the Euro, and the price of shipping has increased substantially, as well."
A few of the Philly bars that identify as "Belgian" are pouring Chimay every day. Peters and Carey's Belgian Caf� (where this writer bartends) pulled Cinq Cents off draft more than a year ago. Zot has never served it. "It's just too pricey for the size of the keg," says general manager Charles Brodvinksi. "You're lucky if you get 65 glasses out of it, and that's with no overpour or loss."
Bridgid's, near the Art Museum, serves Cinq Cents "regularly" on draft for $7 including tax. Jose Pistola's keeps Chimay in its rotation at $7.75 before tax for 10 ounces. "It ends up coming in around 40 percent cost, which is really high for draft beer," says general manager Suzanne O'Brien. "However, it is a specialty item, and we balance our costs by having Yards and other reasonable beers on tap. We sell PBR, too; Tom [Peters] doesn't."
Peters has a rep from Chimay's importer, Mannken-Brussel Imports, visiting him this week, but it is difficult to compromise on the price of a barrel without seriously denting the bottom line, since the Trappist monks who oversee Chimay do not produce and sell beer for profit. Revenues that exceed the monies required to sustain the abbey are put into numerous charitable causes and good works, including orphanages.
UPDATE:� This post has been edited to reflect the proper capacity of a 25cl Chimay glass.
At $8 per glass and ~65 glasses per keg, equals $520. Minus $213 cost per keg equals $307 profit. So $300 profit on a keg isn't enough to keep Chimay on tap?
"We sell PBR, too; Tom [Peters] doesnât.â The Best Belgian bar in the city also has cold water and hey, they don't charge for it. And what you do with the toilets is your own business.
What the heck does this jibberish mean? âThe Best Belgian bar in the city also has cold water and hey, they donât charge for it. And what you do with the toilets is your own business." Monk's should put Guinness on draft instead of Chimay since they are Irish owned.
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| Photo | Drew Lazor |
Leila Caf� (401 S. 13th St.), which David Snyder reviewed for us just last week, is doing a little renovation, and to accommodate, they'll be open from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. � aka IDEAL TEAM MEAL TICKET HOURS HOLY CRAP HOW DID YOU KNOW � till Sept. 19.
Yeah, a renovation called Ramadan. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but why the subterfuge?
We are modifying the menu to include more items during this Month. As soon as we are done, we will be adjusting and redoing our kitchen to handle the new food operations. Starting September 19th, we will be starting delivery and opening for breakfast. Regards, Mohamad Kammoun
Claudio's mozzarella and charcuterie, Otolith's sustainable seafood, Griggstown Quail Farm's poultry and Metropolitan Bakery's bread will all find a West Philadelphia outpost when Milk & Honey Market (4435 Baltimore Ave.) opens in September.
Husband-and-wife ownership team Annie Baum-Stein and Mauro Daigle renovated the market/eat-in space themselves � Daigle's a LEED-certified green builder and owner of MauHausNYC.� Indoor seating for 20 and outdoor tables accommodating 10 will be complemented by a play space for "the stroller set."
The food focus is on sustainable products from local producers, especially humanely raised meat and fish. Fresh produce will be sourced from Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op, as well as maple syrup, dairy, honey and jam. Name-droppers, take note: Milk & Honey's inventory reads like a who's-who of Philly food stars. In addition to the products already mentioned, there will be pints of Bassett's Ice Cream and scoops of Capogiro gelato, chocolates from �clat and John & Kira's, baked goods from Four Worlds and Wild Flour bakeries, vegan and vegetarian entr�es from Cosmic Catering and salads and panini made on-site.
Baum-Stein and Daigle, who live just a few blocks away from the market, are eager to bring their favorite foods to West Philly. Baum Stein summed their philosophy up in an e-mail: "Everything we stock are foods that we think are outstanding and otherwise unavailable in the neighborhood. Milk & Honey Market is an invitation to shop at our dream pantry. These are the foods that we always want to have at home and we think our neighbors will agree."
This is going to be huge for the Spruce Hill area. I know a lot of people that live around there that are going to be happy as clams.
But will we be able to buy cat litter? The People's Market was a dying breed; a functional, practical, cheap, independently-owned bodega -- what this neighborhood truly needed to remain grounded. I'm not going to say NIMBY to Milk & Honey, but, given the choice, I'd take being able to buy cleaning supplies and toilet paper over yet another place in Spruce Hill with six dollar ice cream and an espresso machine. Let me be clear; I'll happily patronize M&H. I just think it's replaced something far more essential.
I'm excited - but when is it opening? It's not replacing the cheap corner market - its replacing an empty storefront.
BT: Milk & Honey owner Annie Baum-Stein was unable to share an exact date with us, but the market should open in September.
@James Carmel--you could head up the hill just a little further to Fu Wah for toilet paper and cat litter. I like that Milk and Honey is taking the approach of complimenting the neighborhood. Fu Wah has the basics, plus lots of extra greats, like fresh tofu, and the ever-popular vietnamese hoagie. I think there will be room for everyone...
I stopped by today and it was open. The selection was really exciting--clearly everything was selected by someone who understands great fresh flavors above mere sustenance. I look forward to making this a frequent stop.
[...] Milk & Honey Market to bring gourmet goodies to West Philly [Meal Ticket] geopress_addEvent(window,"load", function() { geopress_makemap(111361,"Milk & Honey Market",39.949417,-75.212637,"google",Mapstraction.ROAD, { pan: true, zoom: 'small', overview: false, scale: false, map_type: false },15) }); [...] Spruce Hill? Its west philly folks. My parents have lived at 46 and Pine for 20 plus years and never have i heard anyone say they live in Spruce Hill This place sounds great. Im gonna check it out today if people support place like this instead of soda and potato chip style bodegas, we will all be better off
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I have been known to ring up my preferred watering holes to inquire if they have certain beers (and if that bread pudding is on tonight). As a bartender, I field similar sorts of calls from folks who want me to psychically predict when the Palm will kick so we can get to the Pliny.
Though it cannot make oracular pronouncements with any more certainty than your average annoyed bartender, BeerMenus.com will tell you where you can get your brew of choice right now.� The free, searchable site got started in New York; Philadelphia's page was launched June 29 of this year.
Type in your mission, be it "Dogfish Head Punkin Ale" or "cask ale," and the search engine will spit out places eager to give you what you want. The nitty-gritty of prices, descriptions, ABV and methods of delivery (bottle, draft) are listed for comparison. Genius, right?� Meal Ticket was so impressed with this innovation we caught up with Will Stephens, who founded BeerMenus.com along with brother Eric Stephens, Michael Leung and Elliott Draper.
Meal Ticket: Philly beer bars change their draft lists constantly. How will this information be kept up-to-date?
Will Stephens: Our site is set up so that bars, restaurants and beer stores can update their menu themselves by logging in and adding or removing beers when they change. We make it easy to browse recently updated menus so that you can easily find the most accurate information. Many bars already update daily in Philly and the number of bars updating grows every day.
ME:� Have you gone out beer drinking in Philly yet? What do you think?
WS:� I am in Philly every week going to bars and restaurants, and I am continually impressed by the number of local breweries and places selling local beers. Philly, of course, has a variety of places that specialize in great beer, but it's also exciting to see so much craft beer in places that do not specialize in craft beer. It's a real sign that Philly is a beer town.
ME: What are your most-searched beers for Philadelphia?
WS: Russian River Pliny The Elder, Yards Cape Of Good Hope IPA and Tr�egs Nugget Nectar.
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