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Booze
Join Southwark (701 S. Fourth St.) this Wednesday, Nov. 16, for a four-course dinner inspired by the food and beer from their friends at Nodding Head (1516 Sansom St.). Nick Macri and crew will be cooking their own renditions of menu items at the Center City brewpub, all of which will be paired with the Head's house beers — nicoise salad (done with tuna crudo) and Saison; beer-steamed mussels and spicy house fennel sausage joined by IPA; a "French dip" (braised beef, caramelized onion/thyme broth, ricotta dumplings) with Grog; and chocolate pot du crème, Nodding Head owner Curt Decker's favorite dessert, with Phunkin Wishniak. There will be a 7 p.m. dining room seating, with the Nodding Head team on hand to talk up their wares; the $45 menu will also be offered throughout the evening to those who opt to sit at the bar. Call 215-238-1888 for reservations.
Photo: Courtesy of Southwark
Shoutout to seminal Internet art critic Hennessy Youngman (aka Jayson Musson) for sharing a drink that "you don't gotta be Tom Cruise in Cocktail" to put together. Peep the how-to for the Sun Over North Philly, a real back-to-basics two-ingredient beverage in these heady academic drinking times.
A few weeks back Lou Mancinelli told you all about the hard cider coming out of Desiato Vineyards, aged in Laird's applejack barrels by main cider man Rich Smithson (above).
While English-style hard cider is characteristically tart, Desiato's 7 percent ABV rendition is fashioned after the old-world French version. It's a thin-mouthed concoction made from a combination of apples — including Granny Smiths, Galas and heirloom and cider varieties — pressed off-site, fermented and aged in oak applejack barrels. When poured, it bubbles like a soda, resembling a Chardonnay in tint and aura. Upon first whiff you can detect a hint of whiskey generated from those barrels, which Smithson landed courtesy of Laird & Company ... the taste is light but substantial, like apple juice spiked by something strong, with a tang subtle enough to drink a few.
Now you'll have a chance to try the stuff within city limits: Tonight at 7, The Buxco-based beverage drops at London Grill (2301 Fairmount Ave.), where they'll tap a firkin of the brut-dry double hard cider on the bar.
Photo: Jessica Kourkounis
Tiny Dynamite, which put on the A Play, a Pie and a Pint theater/pizza/beer series in October, enjoyed sellout crowds for each of its four productions at Society Hill Playhouse, so organizer Emma Gibson (above) is serving a second helping at Fergie's Pub (1214 Sansom St.). Laugh your ass off during Steve Lyons' one-hour comedy, Peaches en Regalia, while sipping beers and grubbing on traditional English meat or veg pies (in lieu of pizza this time). The first performance will be this Wednesday, Nov. 9, with additional shows on Nov. 13 and 17. Tickets are $15.
Next Saturday, Nov. 12, there'll be 12 bars equipped with busses to cart your craft beer-lovin' behind all over this craft beer-lovin' city. You can start wherever you'd like, but the first neighborhood on the 2011 Craft Beer Express tour for us will be Fishtown: Kraftwork (541 E. Girard Ave.) will be featuring some strong nitro beers and Johnny Brenda's (1201 N. Frankford Ave.) is offering an all-wet-hopped lineup, including Philadelphia Brewing Co.'s seasonal Harvest from the Hood IPA, brewed with hops cultivated at Greensgrow Farms. In Northern Liberties, Standard Tap (901 N. Second St.) is planning on serving Dogfish Head's Ancient Ales; a little further west, there will an abundance of porters and stouts at The Institute (529 N. 12th St.).
Michigan's Bell's and New York's Ommegang will be taking over Fairmount's Bishop's Collar (2349 Fairmount Ave.) and Kite & Key (1836 Callowhill Ave.), respectively. Jose Pistola's (263 S. 15th St.) is the next stop on the Express before The Sidecar (2201 Christian St.) for Founders beers. The P.O.P.E. (1501 E. Passyunk Ave.) will have a slew of pumpkin brews on hand in South Philly; if you don't feel like waiting for a bus (they run on 25-minute circuits), just walk around the corner to Devil's Den (1148 S. 11th St.) for a variety of autumnal options. Brauhaus Schmitz (718 South St.) will pour a "Bock-It" list of doppelbocks before you stumble into a "battle" between reps from Great Lakes and New Holland Brewing at the end of the line, Old City's Race Street Café (208 Race St.).
Remember: Even though the CBX will take you to all these watering holes, you have to find your own safe ride home. The Express will run from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; tix available here.
From the esoteric beet-soda and grapefruit-sherbet cocktails and punches to the exotic Euro beers, there is an unholy amount of delectable things to drink at Farmer's Cabinet (1113 Walnut St.). It's unfair, really; they should serve a spare liver in lieu of bread. You'll have to wait a few weeks for my Official City Paper Review® — they have a new chef in Jason Goodman — but there's no harm in sharing now the golden glory of Birra del Borgo's Genziana. DL has lauded the Italian brewery's gentian-root ale in NFTWs past, and rightly so. At the Cabinet, the cascade of beer sparkled as a strappy-suspendered bartender poured it into a voluptuous Del Borgo goblet trapped its intense herbal, floral aroma. It's crisp as a just-picked apple, the gentian root bringing the refreshing bitterness but not the bite. Drink this immediately!
Photo: Drew Lazor
Bar Ferdinand (1030 N. Second St.) is kicking off the weekend with a new treat: Merienda Fridays, a Spanish tradition that translates to a little late-day relaxation coupled with a light snack. Every Friday from 5 to 7 p.m., Ferdy will present select wine, beer and spirits paired with tapas that change weekly; each event draws inspiration from various Spanish wine regions and artisan producers. Tonight's Merienda will feature three small plates, all matched with a glass — roasted cauliflower with sherried golden raisins and almonds paired with Amontillado ($9); a shrimp/morcilla pincho with a Muscat ($11); and fried bacalao with potato and basquaise sauce joined by a 2008 Bierzo ($12).
Tonight at 7, the crew at Perch Pub (1345 Locust St., second floor) is simul-tapping two pumpkin brews with the devious goal of kicking the crap out of both kegs. Southern Tier's Pumpking, widely regarded as one of the absolute best realizations of the style, is going to head to head with The Fear, a spicy imperial newcomer from Frederick, Md.'s Flying Dog. Time your booze consumption accordingly, as whoever lands the final pints from either keg will earn that beer free, a Perch Pub tee and a bunch of beer swag.
Tomorrow from 1 to 8 p.m., Varga Bar (941 Spruce St.) is hosting its "Up in Smoke" Pig Roast, which'll see the kitchen cranking out smoked, beer-brined suckling pig, free-range chicken and organic lamb along with sides (smoked purple kale with bacon, roasted fall veg) for $25 a head. Given the chilly forecast for the weekend, it's also an ace opportunity to try the latest beer from Downingtown's Victory: Otto Ale, a smoked, bottle-conditioned Belgian dubbel that'll do well warming your prematurely cold bones up quick. Keep an eye out for large-format bottles of the big-but-accessible beer at beer stores around town.
A tipster pointed us in the direction of remii.net, a splash page for a private "Chinese karaoke club" at 932 Race Street (formerly House of Chen). Look familiar? Every single thing on the site seems to have been swiped directly from The Franklin Mortgage and Investment Co. (112 S. 18th St.) — and Franklin proprietor Mike Welsh is not happy about it. "They've completely ripped off our [site] in so many different ways I can't count them," says Welsh. It's not an exaggeration — the logo, the font, the "a drinking establishment" tagline and even the imagery and geography of the page are 100 percent harvested from the cocktail cavern's thefranklinbar.com. (Here's a bigger view of the screengrab above.)
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