|
|
|
Booze
Summer might be a month out but the balmy, pushing 80 temperatures are making us think that frozen drinks season is officially upon us. If you're in the market for something a little more Philly than your run-of-the-mill frozen margarita, head on down to Noir (1909 East Passyunk Ave.) for a selection of new, fiercely regional cocktails. Noir's new water ice cocktails are made with Passyunk neighbors Mancuso's water ice and 'cellos from Pollyodd. Think a slushy, boozy scoop of lemon, cherry or chocolate water ice spiked with cherry vodka and coordinating chocolate or limoncello. And since the water ice experience isn't really the same without a salty, crunchy accompaniment, each cocktail is served with a pretzel rod.
The good folks over at Thought Catalog have put together a list entitled What Your Favorite Alcohol Says About You and we've got to say it's pretty spot on, kind of like those Chinese zodiac placemats but infinitely more entertaining.
Are you a Miller fan? TC says "You are about as interesting as turkey on white. Either that or you are broke, which is excusable." Or perhaps more of a gin drinker? "Opinionated and abrasive, you go out of your way to make sure your worldviews conflict with everyone else’s." Is absinthe your drink of choice? (Is absinthe really anyone's go-to?) "You spend your free time reading Baudelaire or Emile Zola in windowsills, or else lounging around your refugee-chic apartment wearing a well-cultivated expression of ennui."
Head on over to Thought Catalog for the full rundown, we're particularly fond of their synopsis of those who prefer Jagermeister, Goldschlager or any other scary German liqueur.
Local roaster ReAnimator Coffee is looking to open a brick and mortar cafe and retail space in Fishtown. Grub's caught word that they're planning on landing at the corner of East Norris Street and Susquehanna Avenue pending zoning board approval. If you're into serious coffee in Fishtown show some love at the rec center (1202 East Montgomery Ave.) tonight at 7:30 p.m.
In beer news Foobooz is reporting that Casey Hughes, head brewer at just over the river Jersey brewery Flying Fish is headed south to Florida to head up his own brewery.
Down on East Passyunk Noir (1909 E. Passyunk Ave.) is shaking up a notable new cocktail, the Caprese Martini. That'd be basil infused vodka garnished with a cherry tomato-green-olive-mozzarella skewer. Consider us intrigued.
And finally if you're looking for another boozier option this afternoon, Barclay Prime (237 S.18th St.) has rolled out a new cocktail menu complete with drinks named after Bond villains.
Yesterday Team Meal Ticket headed up to Fishtown to check out the soon to open Cedar Point Bar and Kitchen (2370 E. Norris St.) and we've gotta say, thumbs up. Super solid chicken and waffles, wings and brussels sprouts and an ambitious vegan cheese board were all great but it's one particular cocktail that has us really excited: the kale martini.
Okay, sure, this blend of Beefeater, St. Germain, simple syrup and kale juice seems like it would be right at home on an episode of Portlandia but real talk, it's pretty damned tasty with the floral St. Germain balancing out the vegetal notes of the kale juice. We might not be doctors or anything but we highly recommend that you get your daily serving of dark leafy greens with a healthy pour of gin.
Meal Ticket guest blogger and SPTR/ABS chef Scott Schroeder has just informed us that in honor of St. Patrick's Day, he's going to be teaming up with Jason Cichonski for a Whiskey and Waffles brunch at Ela (627 S. 3rd St.) along with sous Mark Regan. (Was this the inspiration, dudes?)
The trio has put together a damned fine looking brunch menu that kicks off with "pancakes and syrup," a girly favorite shot of Cichonski's. The menu moves onto snacks like hash browns with bone marrow gravy and cereal crusted donuts and breakfasty mains include a coffee coddled egg with red-eye gravy and a whiskey-foie-waffle that we can't even wrap our head around.
This one time only Whiskey and Waffles brunch is a prix-fixe affair happening from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., $35 for the menu with an optional $20 whiskey pairing. We strongly suggest you go for the pairing because it's a very real fact that St. Patrick's Day is an excuse to be drunk and we'd rather see you getting drunk at Ela then, say Finnegan's Wake.
Editor's Note: Okay, so full disclosure, we came across this abomination in Jersey but don't worry, according to the Fine Wine & Good Spirits site these are available in store and SLO. Phew.
On a recent stock up trip we stumbled upon these colorful VineSmoothies tucked between bottles of Strawberry Twist Arbor Mist and gallon jugs of Carlo Rossi sangria. After a wave of nausea passed we decided that dropping $9.99 on a bottle of something that bills itself as blend of French chardonnay and Holland's Famous Dutch Cream wasn't going to happen.
But our interest was certainly piqued. A trip over to the VineSmoothie site turned up this copy gem:
"Imagine lounging by the poolside sipping a fruity VINESMOOTHIE while ocean breezes lightly sweep across your skin. A sailboat skims past. A seabird swoops down to the beach. You take another sip of that refreshing, tangy, creamy VINESMOOTHIE and say, “This is the life.”
Pretty good, right?
Other important information about this totally terrifying line of beverages: VineSmoothie is available in peach, berry, pineapple coconut and strawberry flavors, it's gluten-free and it can be left open and unrefrigerated for up to six months. Oh and of course it's made by the good folks who brought you another State Store favorite, ChocoVine.
Beer nerds enthusiasts, please drop what you're doing and get yourself to the South Philly Taproom (1509 Mifflin St.) immediately. At 2 p.m., mere minutes away they're going to be tapping the elusive, seasonal, golden hop-bomb that is Russian River's Pliny the Younger. SPTR is promising other rare drafts on the list as well including Allagash Yakuza. Go ahead, take the afternoon off, this stuff doesn't come around too often.
Here at Meal Ticket, once we're done with all of the restaurant openings, wild tasting menus, cocktail tutorials and all of the other post 9 to 5 events that keep us plenty busy outside of office hours, we manage to make it to see plenty of music in Philly. And on that note, we'd like to introduce another new column.
We're going to be guesting over on Critical Mass with a new series of booze concert reviews and the first one debuted yesterday. Please click on over to Crit Mass to read our review of Mac DeMarco and Kung Fu Necktie's $4 Citywides. (Spoiler: Mac was great at the Citywide was, well, a Citywide.)
And if you like what you see, please check out this video of Mac, it's pretty much just about Montreal bagels.
Good afternoon! We're going to go ahead and assume that you too were not aware that March 5th is National Absinthe Day. Okay, glad we got that out of the way. If you, like us, have not stocked your home bar with bottles of Vieux Carré and Mansinthe (oh, you didn't know that Marilyn Mason makes an absinthe?), no need to worry, Rex 1516 (1516 South St.)has got you covered. They're celebrating with an cocktail special, Pan's Elemental (an intriguing mix of rum, lime, cardamom amaro and absinthe) and an escargot app baked with Vieux Carré butter.
So please embrace your inner Toulouse-Lautrec and celebrate this very important holiday with plenty of Sazeracs or a Death in the Afternoon.
Okay, we know it's only Monday and happy hour is still a ways away but we're pretty excited about this Hemingway cocktail seminar happening this Sunday at Cuba Libre (10 S. 2nd St.) Local bartending pair Phoebe Esmon and Christian Gaal are going to be mixing up Papa-inspired cocktails with their friend Phil Greene, author of To Have and Have Another - A Hemingway Cocktail Companion.
The event is running from 6 to 8 p.m. and will include cocktails (obviously) along with a few small plates and plenty of booze-related Hemingway info from Greene's cocktail companion.
No word yet on the menu but we're assuming that there will be grapefruit-spiked Papa Dobles and The Sun Also Rises Jack Roses involved. Tickets are $50 and include a copy of To Have and Have Another.
- 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
