|
|
|
Coffee
Chris Molieri, whose nascent GreenStreet launched in the summer of 2011, is upping his reach considerably in the local coffee-roasting market. (Peep Brion Shreffler's September '11 piece for more on local micro-roasters.) Molieri has bought out Blue Water Coffee, which serviced spots like Ants Pants Café, Hinge Café and Ida Mae's, inheriting that roaster's bean stock, equipment and clients. With the added pull, GreenStreet is aiming to add Whole Foods Markets to the list of locals that carry his coffees, a roster that already includes Café Clave, Rocket Cat Café, Honest Tom's Taco Shop and Metropolitan Bakery. Above's a shot of Molieri checking out beans in El Salvador on a recent trip to visit farms and co-ops.
View galleryLast month, we posted about the still-being-renovated Odd Fellows Café (1201 Spruce St.), the sister location of Spruce Street Espresso (1101 Spruce St.). Right now they're aiming to open on or around Jan. 28, but we swung by recently for a peek.
Evan Inatome tells Meal Ticket he plans to move his Elixr Coffee, which has been open at 207 S. 15th Street for about a year, to a vacant storefront at Walnut and Sydenham — a part of the old Susanna Foo space left unoccupied by Chipotle. He's got a good reason, too: The building he's in is coming down. Metro Commercial Real Estate's Steven Gartner, who's overseeing the multi-level, glass-facaded building proposed for the intersection (here are two mockups of the plans), is not sharing much in terms of project details or timeline yet, but Inatome says he hopes to be out of his current café and brewing in his new one by Memorial Day. "It's at least 50 percent bigger," says Inatome of Elixr's soon-to-be new home, which will have much less direct foot traffic, allowing for a chill al fresco area. In terms of coffee, he plans on getting "even nerdier" with the extra room, bringing in a wider diversity of tools and equipment.
La.Va Café (2100 South St.), already a purveyor of tremendous Israeli comfort food, is stepping up its dinner game. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 5:30 to 10, owners Victor and Liron Agiv convert the coffee shop into a full-service sit-down BYO with food from chef David Zaga (Four Seasons, Marathon Grill, R2L). Patrons can still grab coffee to go during these times, but tables will be reserved for diners digging into Zaga's grilled beef kebabs with green tahini, pan-roasted branzino and marinated short ribs. Full menus for tonight and tomorrow's service after the jump.
The latest word is "late spring" from Aaron Ultimo for he and wife Elizabeth's sequel to Ultimo Coffee (1900 S. 15th St.) at 2149 Catharine Street. (We first talked about it in May.) The space, just north of Graduate Hospital fave the The Sidecar (2201 Christian St.), will feature 1,000 square feet for a café on the ground floor, outfitted with seating for 40-plus and extra space for Ultimo to experiment. "We want to try to incorporate a few new brewing methods," he says. "We'll still have pourover, but possibly also siphon brewing and Eva Solo," a Danish company that uses carafes you strain rather than press to produce "chewier" brews. Food will the same ready-made goodies the Newbold cafe carries: Plenty sandwiches, Coco Love cookies, Betty's Tasty Buttons cupcakes, etc.
Back in February of this year, we mentioned that Spruce Street Espresso (1101 Spruce St.) would be opening a second coffee shop at 1201 Spruce, just one block away from their Counter Culture-brewing neighborhood hub. That new space will open to the public on Wednesday, Dec. 28, but it'll be more than just SSE Numero Dos.
"The idea has evolved — the project started as a café, but it's now transitioned into a restaurant," says Spruce Street's Faith Ortiz. That restaurant, called Odd Fellows Café after the historic property in which it resides, will open early (7 a.m.) for morning coffee service, but come Jan. 5, it'll also offer contemporary Latin food for lunch and dinner courtesy of Jorge Reyes, an El Vez alum who currently cooks at Collingswood's Casona.
Ortiz adds that Spruce Street will shut down temporarily on Dec. 27, right before Odd Fellows' debut, for two to three months of renovations, including the installation of new windows and a redesign of the interior.
Two weeks back we told you all about Rival Bros, the nascent roastery/coffee truck operation from Jonathan Adams (Pub & Kitchen, The Diving Horse) and Damien Pileggi (La Colombe). The duo quietly debuted their branded java whip in LOVE Park yesterday morning. From here on out, they'll serve from this spot Monday to Friday from 7 to 10:30 a.m. Check out their full menu after the jump (click to enlarge).
Photo: Jason Varney
Philly’s next Thursday Night Throwdown (TNT) latte art competition is set for tomorrow, Oct. 20, when Spruce Street Espresso (1101 Spruce St.) will participate in the first-ever TNT pitting city against city. Typically, the monthly event sees baristas from a single town competing against each other, but after some hardcore YouTube shit-talking from espresso jockeys based in our nation's capital (see above), it was decided that four reps from Philly and four from Washington, D.C. should go foam-to-foam in a bracket-style tournament. The event starts at 8 p.m., with the competition, which will be judged via webcam between Philly and D.C.., kicking off at 9. Winners will receive a prize package from Counter Culture Coffee, and they're sweetening the deal in Philly by making the evening a costume party with a cash prize for best get-up. We hope someone shows up as this (bride and groom optional). The TNT is free to attend and all are welcome to cheer on our city’s baristas. Bring it home, Philly!
Jonathan Adams, chef/partner at Pub & Kitchen (1946 Lombard St.) and The Diving Horse (2109 Dune Drive, Avalon, N.J.), has teamed up with his longtime buddy, La Colombe vet Damien Pileggi, to roll out Rival Bros., a small-batch roastery that will vend proprietary blends and internationally sourced single-varietal coffees via both a web hub and a soon-to-launch coffee truck.
For anyone who loves coffee as much as we do at Meal Ticket, check out the collab between Pumpkin (1713 South St.) and Philly Fair Trade Roasters this week. For three days, Oct. 11 to 13, chef Christopher Kearse will serve a $35 coffee-inspired tasting designed along with Joseph Cesa of Philly Fair Trade. Start the night with an infused amuse of Granny Smith apple custard with the flavors of a Nicaraguan medium roast blend, followed by three joltin' courses — long neck butternut squash cooked in coffee oil with coffee-cured foie; Berkshire pork shoulder brined in coffee; and chocolate cake and fig pate de fruit served with a Ugandan Vienna roast. Full menu details after the jump; for reservations, call 215-545-4448. Don’t forget Pumpkin is BYOB and cash-only.
- 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
