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Food News
With the new year came a handful of changes at Center City's Minar Palace, at it since 2008 at 1304 Walnut after shutting down its O.G. Sansom location two years prior. They've expanded their already-huge menu to its heftiest size yet; check out it out in full (PDF). The Singh family has fully implemented tandoori ovens into its kitchen operation, using them to bake naan and other breads fresh to order in addition to roasting meats. Minar now offers a buffet option for both lunch ($9.95) and dinner ($12.95), running Monday to Friday and Monday to Saturday, respectively. They've stepped up their online game a bit, too, setting up relationships with both GrubHub and DiningIn.com.
Photo: Shirley Nicole Fonner
In late December, Dock Street (701 S. 50th St.) announced a new weekly promotion of sorts that jived with the anti-corporate ethos of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Every Wednesday, from open to close, the West Philly brewpub temporarily adopts a cash-only policy. This keeps them from having to pay the requisite 2 to 2.5 percent fee for every credit-card transaction, a discount they pass along to drinkers in the form of 3 percent off all food and drink. "Operating on a cash-only system allows us to keep the money in the pockets of the 99%," writes Dock Street on its website.
Andrew Gerson of the yet-to-launch Strada Pasta and the burgeoning Philadelphia Food Truck Association recently teamed up with Pitruco Pizza (see Adam Erace's review) to open a street-food commissary at 26 Mt. Airy Avenue in Mt. Airy, right near Earth Bread + Brewery. But serving as a certified home-base kitchen for the two mobile operations is only part of the plan for the space — they're also using it as a venue, hosting public and private events, "laidback chef tables" and tastings in the evenings. They've got the capability to do 20- to 25-person communal tables, as well as a scattering of four- and six-tops on the commissary floor. "The idea is a fun, relaxed BYO feel, relatively inexpensive," says Gerson, who will host the commissary's first event of 2012 this Thursday, Jan. 5, at 7 p.m. (Here's more info.) The plan is for Gerson and Co. to host events on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; he also wants to move into pastamaking classes after he launches his truck in March.
Photo: Andrew Gerson
The new-look Sidecar (2201 Christian St.), the end result of an expansion project we first noted nearly two years back, is ready to go — owner Adam Ritter is letting drinkers up into his second level, accessible via staircase from the beer bar's ground floor, as soon as the Sidey opens today at 3 p.m. Tricked out with tall windows, banquette seating and lots of custom wood work, this part of the Sidecar will cater more to eaters — the kitchen's now up here, and Ritter plans on using the space for beer dinners — but there's also the pretty walnut bar, which features the same dozen drafts as downstairs (just no hand pump). Adam Willner, who came over from Matyson to back up exec chef Brian Lofink (who oversees food at both Sidecar and Kraftwork), has helped expanded the bar's nightly specials considerably, and the offerings are only going to get more ambitious with the new elbow room. In a few weeks, Ritter adds, the newly multi-floored Sidecar will tweak its hours — they'll start serving at 10:30 a.m. every day, offering an abbreviated brunch-style menu before shifting over to dinner service.
The revamped Trestle Inn (339 N. 11th St.) picked a solid day to roll out brunch — they'll start serving theirs at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 1, providing an ace opportunity to soak up New Year's Eve excess and take preemptive measures against Two Street disaster in one beefy meal. Chef Travis Messman will do sweet likes housemade sticky buns and Nutella/banana crepes, plus savory stick-to-the-ribbers like biscuits and gravy, a full English and a bison bacon burger. Vegan/vegetarian options aplenty, too. Bar manager Jake Goldberg has developed a handful of brunchy cocktails, like Lulu Lost in Paris (gin, St. Germain, lemon, Champagne) and a host of different Bloody options.
Photo: Courtesy of The Trestle Inn
Food-fixated iPhone users now have a new hyperlocal toy to play with — Chefs Feed, a "mobile app cooked up with credibility" that takes restaurant and dish recommendations from chefs in major U.S. cities and places them in your touchscreen-savvy fingers. (Droid and BlackBerry versions are in the works.) The Philadelphia version, curated by Meal Ticket's own Adam Erace, launched the other day and is now available for free download. Erace surveyed 25 local chefs/professional food-type people, coaxing their five favorite Philadelphia restaurant dishes out of them, along with reasons why they picked them; each chef's picks are set up in a quickly browseable format (see above), complete with restaurant contact info, a quick link to a Google Map and so forth.
Right now, featured Philly chefs include Jonathan Adams, Pierre Calmels, Jennifer Carroll, Jose Garces, Georges Perrier, Mitch Prensky, Kevin Sbraga, John Taus, Marcie Turney, Marc Vetri, Peter Woolsey and others. Fifty more are coming, says Erace.
In addition to offering extended hours on Boxing Day and New Year's Day as they did last year, Pub & Kitchen (1946 Lombard St.) will be open all this week for lunch, too. (Full holiday schedule here.) Chef Jonathan Adams has created a few new dishes exclusive to the holiday menu, like a South Philly-style chicken cutlet sandwich and ribollita, Tuscan white bean soup. You can also find tried-and-true favorites like the Churchill Burger (above) and the barbecue pork sandwich, and even the fish and chips (currently served on Sundays only). They've also got Wells Bombardier, a classic English bitter, on tap, and are pouring $3 martinis today until 2 p.m. Full menu after the jump.
Photo: Drew Lazor
At 3 a.m., I don't always have the heart (or the wherewithal) to bike to Chinatown and acquire the shrimp lo mein my body demands. I'm clearly not the only one in this predicament, as the mysterious Chinatown Express services a host of drunk regulars who order everything from spring rolls to cheesesteaks in those early-morning hours.
Got 12 people? Got $37.50 each? Then get yourself to Brauhaus Schmitz (718 South St.), where chef Jeremy Nolen has started offering suckling pig dinners. (You don't have to have 12 people; the whole thing goes for $450 total.) He stuffs semi-boneless young hogs with housemade sausage, roasts them and serves them with family-style sides like spaetzle, spuds and sauerkraut. "When guests arrive, the table [is set with] sliced bread and herbed butter and an assortment of housemade pickles: mushrooms, pickled beets and eggs and cucumbers," Nolen says. We'd go just for that. For an additional $20 a head, there's all-you-can-drink draft Spaten, Hausbrau and Hefeweizen for parties, too. Deal! Give a call (267-909-8814); all Brauhaus needs is a week's notice.
Photo: Courtesy of Jeremy Nolen
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.
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