south philadelphia tap room


It took me way too long to get down here. I’ve always heard great things about the food Chef Scott Schroeder makes. He also tweets photos of his food and it always looks awesome. For example, there’s the grilled cheese & tomato soup and the extremely rare chicken fried cheesesteak. After seeing these, you’re probably wondering why it took me so long to go.

Grilled cheese in mind, I made my way down after work yesterday. To my surprise, an insert was handed out in addition to the regular menu which included Scott’s Dogs, hot dogs which will soon be served from a cart in a collaboration with Southwark Chef Nick Macri, an appetizer of “mexican construction worker style headcheese tacos”, and “my grandmom’s tomato and mayonnaise sandwich”. Whoa! If you follow Scott on Twitter, you have definitely seen him talk about a simple sandwich of tomato and mayo. I never thought it was weird, but I certainly have never had or heard of it. It certainly intrigued me. After I saw that Scott was offering this on the menu, I had no choice but to order it. I had to see what all the fuss was about. The sandwich (pictured above) is made from Lancaster county tomatoes, white bread, and mayo and is accompanied by a side of fries, salad, or pasta salad. It was freaking delicious. I would ramble on more, but my words honestly don’t do it any justice. You HAVE to make it down here.


grilled cheese & tomato soup

One of the three of us did get the grilled cheese and she was kind enough to let me try a piece. That was quite fantastic too. If I had a couple more beers in me, there’s no doubt in my mind I would have ordered a grilled cheese too. I also tried one of the headcheese tacos which was tasty. They had quite the spice kick!


mexican construction worker style headcheese tacos

I will definitely be back. The place has a chill vibe, the beer selection is good, and Scott’s food rocks. I also have unfinished business (grilled cheese/tomato soup, the burger, Scott’s Dogs, and a chicken fried cheesesteak…if I get lucky).

If you think it’s too far to get to it’s only a couple blocks northwest of the Snyder stop on the Broad Street Line. Do it.

South Philadelphia Tap Room
1509 Mifflin Street
Philadelphia, PA 19145
215.271.7787

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down the shore 2 – the zahav boat


Last Thursday, Zahav held their 2nd annual Down the Shore party. This year, the theme was The Zahav Boat so the staff were dressed like shipmates and all guests were lei’d upon entry.


my boarding ticket to the zahav boat

Down the Shore 2 featured an all-star chef lineup consisting of Pierre Calmels (Bibou), Jen Carroll (10 Arts), Monica Glass (10 Arts), David Katz (Meme), John Taus (The Corner), Peter Woolsey (Bistrot La Minette), Terence Feury (Fork), and of course, 2011 JBF Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic winner Mike Solomonov (Zahav).


woolsey’s black swan

Starting at 6 pm, guests were served several different small plates during the cocktail hour. In addition to the food, Harpoon beers were being served as was several different cocktails. The dishes the chefs served during the cocktail hour were as follows: Calmels – bouillabaise, poached dorade w/ lemon verbena; Carroll – scallop ceviche w/ toasted coconut; Katz – pork souvlaki; Taus – snapper fish sandwich w/ soda bread & garlic aioli; Woolsey – White Swan (cheese puff w/ beef & mushroom) & Black Swan (crab salad w/ tarragon mayo); Feury – lobster roll w/ pickled cucumbers.


chef moni in the shot room

In the side room, Monica Glass stood her post pouring shots of this delicious mango pina colada through the Zahav Boat ice sculpture. I personally don’t think we should have been limited to shots of this. We should have been getting these by the cupful. I may or may not have.


mike solo’s fried chicken

Once the cocktail hour was over, Mike Solo’s food was placed along the front and everyone formed a line buffet style. The dinner consisted of baked potatoes, salad, ham & pineapple, mac and cheese, eggplant parm sandwiches, and fried chicken. The fried chicken wasn’t a hint to the upcoming Federal Donuts was it??? Hmmmm…. It definitely had to be. It was delicious and had a crunchiness and outside texture that I’ve only experienced eating Korean fried chicken.


key lime pie

After the main course, I was in a food coma. The food was not over though, dessert was being served. Cups of key lime pie and chocolate mousse were being served in addition to cubes of watermelon topped with mint.


#twitterlesspersico & mike solo

It would be an understatement to say that I had an awesome time. The food and drinks were excellent. The chefs and staff were all friendly and were having just as good of a time as the guests were. I also ran into a couple familiar faces and met some new ones. There’s no way you want to miss this party next year. I’m still kind of hating myself for missing last year’s!

Check out the rest of the photos after the jump:

more

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fette sau


After a small batch tour and several beers at the Brooklyn Brewery, I went over to Fette Sau for a super indulgent, but downright delicious dinner.


Fette Sau is one of those BBQ joints where you order your food by the pound. Fueled by lots of Brooklyn beer, I chose well for my party of four. We got pork belly, sausage, beef brisket, boneless ribs, a side of German potato salad, and a side of burnt end baked beans.


This dinner was fantastic. Everything was delicious but the standouts were definitely the pork belly and the baked beans. The pork belly was tender, juicy, and served in slices about a 1/4″ thick! The burnt end baked beans were easily the best baked beans I’ve ever had. It’s honestly just one of those things that you’re just going to have to try to believe me.

You can also order beer in large quantities too. We had one gallon (yup, a gallon) of Sixpoint Vienna Pale to wash everything down.

I did absolutely nothing after dinner because the deep, deep food coma I was in but oh, was it worth it though. Definitely looking forward to coming back!

Fette Sau
354 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718.963.3404

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meme – fried chicken


It took a long time but I finally made it out a few weeks ago to have Meme’s fried chicken which is only available on Thursdays for lunch.

A friend and I met up to try this highly spoken of fried chicken. With the fried chicken, you get the option of adding a side and a choice of lemonade, iced tea, or a beer. Of course, I went with the beer. Everything I read up to this point mentioned receiving the Champagne of Beers, so I was pretty pumped. Unfortunately, I received an Amstel Light…maybe they ran out?

Beer aside, the chicken was pretty delicious. I was served a thigh and leg piece. Excellent choices since I’m all about the dark meat. It came with a tasty and moist corn muffin and a buffalo dipping sauce. I took some bites with and some without the sauce. Couldn’t quite tell whether I enjoyed it more with or without, but it was great nonetheless. The added side was corn on the cob which was quite good.

Meme’s fried chicken lunch was great. If I had gotten a High Life, things would have been fantastic. Unfortunately, I started my new gig already so it’s going to be a while until I get another opportunity to try this. If you have a free Thursday, definitely come and check it out!

Meme
2201 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA
215.735.4900

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hulmeville inn/bourbon barrel aged flying fish exit 13


A couple of weeks ago I finally made my way over to the Hulmeville Inn, a Langhorne/Feasterville area bar known for it’s great selection of craft beers. It was one of the last days I’d be up in the area, so me and some friends figured why not!


They recently opened up their backyard beer garden too! Me and my friends sat back here initally until we found out we could only order cans though. Anything draft would have to be ordered inside. The following is why we decided to move inside…


I honestly didn’t think I was ever going to try this. It was available at Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant during Prohibition Repeal Day and also at Monk’s for a tap takeover on a Monday. I almost took off to try it on that Monday too. After missing both opportunities, I pretty much had given up hope of trying it. Luckily for me, the Hulmeville Inn had an Exit Series night the day before I went.


My friend proceeded to order a pitcher of the Bourbon Barrel Aged Flying Fish Exit 13 even though I told him I just wanted a glass and that’s all. Not that I was complaining of course. The barrel aged Exit 13 had a much stronger flavor and was pretty delicious. I’m glad I was able to try it without going too out of my way to get it. The barrel aged Exit 13 was also kicked fairly quickly after that pitcher was poured.

I’m not sure when I’ll return to the Hulmeville Inn since it’s definitely out of my way but if you’re in the burbs and need a place to go for beer, check it out. They certainly have a great selection of craft beers available and if I were in the area, I’m sure this would easily be my go to spot.

Hulmeville Inn
4 Trenton Road
Hulmeville, PA 19047
215.750.6893

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