"philadelphia" news and stories

The Kite and Key in Philadelphia. Photo: Kite and Key.

A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.

Celebrating Independence Day is a big deal all over America, but especially so in the City of Brotherly Love where that famous Declaration was signed.

Want to up the ante? Name your bar after one of our best-known founding fathers. (Kite ... key ... Ben Franklin ... get it?) The popular Philadelphia watering hole Kite and Key seems on top of its North American of events, including our brethren to the north. Those stopping by for Canada Day will find a firkin of Yards Brawler, boasting a touch of maple syrup.

But the big event hereabouts is July Fourth, and Kite and Key will be pulling pints of -- what else? -- Yards Ales of the Revolution. Inspired by colonial beers or brewed from actual historical recipes, brews like the unique, rosemary-like Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce Ale or highly drinkable Thomas Jefferson's Tavern Ale are about as close as one can get to a taste of history. Kite and Key will be offering up Yards on tap throughout the Independence Day holiday weekend.

Superb chicken wings and the current Kite and Key draft list, after the jump.

Being a beer writer isn't as fun and easy as it looks. Most weeks I spend more time staring down a computer than a pint. I do say "most weeks," however. This coming week will not be one of those weeks.

From Friday, March 6th through Sunday, March 15th, Philadelphia will be host to Philly Beer Week 2009 -- a 10 day extravaganza featuring over 650 events from well over 100 participants, including dozens of different breweries and brewers crashing the city limits and some points beyond.

They've tagged the event "America's Best Beer-Drinking City," and though that title can certainly be debated, the official Philly Beer Week website lays out some compelling evidence to back their claim. A quick look at the event map makes you wonder if there's anywhere in Philadelphia not involved in Beer Week and the list of events is nothing short of overwhelming.

I'll be in town tomorrow (Friday) until Wednesday, March 11th, blogging about events along the way. My first stop will be the Opening Tap if you want to come follow me around. But better yet, check out phillybeerweek.org and see what strikes your fancy. As a former Philly resident, so many of these amazing bars have a special place in my heart, I wouldn't even know how to start playing favorites. You'll probably see me everywhere, because almost anywhere you can get to is worth the stop.

Swallow, a Philadelphia BYOB, relaunched their menu today and their new offers are specifically designed to take the current economic downturn in mind. They've ditched their previous modern Italian menu and have replaced it with an entire menu of macaroni and cheese.

The menu allows you to design your own entree. You first pick small (base price $5) or large ($7) dish and then determine which two cheese you'd like. For an additional $2-3, you can choose three veggies, meats or herbs to mix into your mac and cheese. In addition the build your own menu, they have a selection of favorites that you can pick from if you're feeling overwhelmed by the number of choices.

This is the first time I've heard of a restaurant scrapping an entire menu in response to the economy. It could either be a brilliant move or a tragic misstep.

[via Meal Ticket]

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A weekly look at the draft selection at beer-friendly bars across the country.

For years now, Philadelphia has been making its case as the best beer drinking city in America. And I have to admit, as a former Philadelphian, I'm certainly biased. However, I'd also have to agree: Philly's really been on the cutting edge with beer for quite some time.

Case in point is a bar like Race Street Cafe: Not the most recognized beer bar in all of Philadelphia (that would probably be Monk's) or the one with the most extensive selection (which is perhaps Eulogy), but a bar that I constantly reference in conversation. Why? Well, it's indicative of a larger attitude towards beer that Philadelphia bars embrace.

Tucked away on what is more or less a side street near an I-95 on-ramp in the shadow of the Ben Franklin Bridge, the Race Street Cafe isn't drawing any people in with location. Instead, they pride themselves on having a truly "hand-selected" draft list. At 15 taps, it's an efficient size, and there's not a Budweiser or Heineken in the bunch. Every time you step into Race Street, you know you'll be presented with a carefully selected variety of drafts, specifically picked by the staff themselves and lovingly hand-printed in chalk on the blackboard.

Sometimes less is more, and knowing that every draft was chosen with care makes a somewhat more limited list that much more appealing because you know anything you try will be excellent. It's a trend that's been growing in bars across the Philadelphia area and the nation as a whole, but not many bars I've been to do it as well as Race Street.

Let's take a look at what is on draft today at the Race Street Cafe in Philadelphia...

Last night, I had dinner at Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It's a restaurant that is a throwback (but in a very good, comforting way) to the 1980's. It takes up the bulk of an old brick rowhouse on the edge of the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood, the downstairs dining room is lined in wood paneling and mirrors (thus the eighties feel) and diners are perch on scarred chairs or along a padded built in seat that runs the length of the wall. Neither fancy, nor cheap, the food is the sort of stuff that you might make at home if you had enough time or inclination to use that much butter.

While they've never done their own cookbook (like their now-shuttered former peer The Commissary), they've posted one of their most popular recipes on their website. I had this Cream of Mushroom Soup last night and it was one of the best things I've eaten in weeks. Smooth, but not in a way that resembles baby food, the mushroom flavor sings and the shot of cognac gives it a welcome, warming buzz. If it tastes as good in my kitchen as it did in the restaurant, I may be saying good-bye to my previous muchroom soup favorite.

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