Philadelphia Gastronomy, Libations, and Art outside of the Gallery Scene
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The Franklin
I took my gentleman friend on a date the other night, and like any civilized couple, we started the evening with cocktails. I have been dying to try The Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co. since it opened, and rave reviews by other Art in Bars contributors only heightened my intrigue. As we gingerly made our way down the dark steps and through the mysterious doorway my partner whispered “I love this place already.” Wait till you get inside, baby. (more…)
Tonight it the Sly Fox U Buy The Glass Night at the Abbaye. A supremely affordable $10 will buy you a keepsake pint glass as well as free refills from 7-9 P.M. Featured Sly Fox beers include the Abbey Xtra, Dry Stout, and the Seamus Red Ale, which I recently sampled and thoroughly enjoyed. Who am I kidding? I love almost everything that Sly Fox brews. I’m totally biased. In addition to hanging out and drinking, U Keep the Glass Night also offers the chance to win a whole bunch of swag from the featured brewery. Then you can have a sensible late dinner while you keep drinking. Good times.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 7-9 P.M.
The Abbaye 637 N. 3rd St.
Let it Snow
I discovered the last time that it snowed that lots of bars and restaurants panic over the loss of business (especially since it seems as though the extreme weather has fallen on the weekends.) To try to lure people out they send out “hey, we’re still open” e-mails with specials. Now, I’m not subscribed to every restaurant mailing list in Philadelphia by far, but here are a few specials I know are happening today. Feel free to leave any others in the comments. Then if you’re hale and hearty, strap on the snow boots and support your local businesses.
Fork Restaurant (306 Market Street) is offering a complimentary “Blizzard” (LaColombe coffee, chocolate mint liqueur, kahlua and fresh whipped cream)! Just mention the e-mail. Valid only with the purchase of a dinner entree.
Tria Rittenhouse Square (123 S.18th Street) and Tria Washington Square West (1137 Spruce Street) – Are both offering Sunday-school style specials today. St. Joseph Syrah ’02 – meaty Rh√¥ne red. $5 Ewephoria – crunchy sheep’s milk Gouda. $5 Dogfish Head World Wide Stout – massive 18% rarity. $5 Starts at noon. Today only.
Brauhaus Schmitz has been open since the early AM for Konferenz Channel which is some . . . soccer thing. They’re offering a German breakfast of Brotchen, cheese, salami, ham, hard-boiled egg, butter and nutella! Specials include $1.50 Koelsch while FC Koeln plays and $4 beer specials for Franziskaner, Warsteiner and Hausbrau.
There is a metric crapton of Super Bowl Specials happening tomorrow, so perhaps people are waiting on this snow thing until it looks like we know what the weather is going to do. Surprised I haven’t heard anything yet from Varga or Foy’s . . .
The Venture Inn on Camac. Don't miss it!
Sometimes a bar is just a bar. You go there with friends, or because it is close by. Other times a bar may have a drink special that you love. But more often than not, the true magic from your favorite haunt comes from the distributor of libations, the keeper of recipes and tabs . . . the bartender!
The bartender can make or break a place for me. Of course I don’t want a rude bartender; forgetful is also a frustrating trait. On the other end of the spectrum too chipper or no personality at all is weird. And when you find that special barkeep you will go back to that institution again and again. And if that person leaves, you probably won’t go back again for a very long time.
So is the tale of the Venture Inn. Some folks may remember my very first ArtinBars post about a forgotten love between me and the Venture. The truth about the Venture is it is an old gay man’s bar, and I never had any business there at all. But after going a few times with friends, I noted that the bartender Anthony was very nice, and let’s just say he was heavy handed with his pours. Over time I started going a couple of times a week with my partner in drinking crime, Brian, but only on days Anthony worked because the other bartenders in the place were kind of rude. The three of us built a very awesome bartender/patron camaraderie. After a while the other regulars got to know us, and Alabama Slammers (Brian) and Red-Headed Sluts (Me) would appear before us without even ordering. Those were just the drinks assigned to us by this little community Wednesday and Friday nights on Pine and Camac.
Anthony the bartender set the tone for true awesomeness and fantastic memories. I have at least one hundred stories from my time at the Venture Inn, all of them different and fun. Most of them include TOO much fun. But what’s wrong with that? So you see dear readers the bartender is the most important part of the bar experience, they set the climate for the night. When Anthony left the Venture Inn, I only went back once. It wasn’t the same.
49 cent beers
Best Part Of the Cake Is the Frosting — I’m strolling down South St. peeping my two favorite things. Boobies. I love wearing my s.g.’s cause I can bug out for like a whole quarter block without looking like a registered sex offender. Though I “get it in like that” I sometimes find my self stunna free, so then I gotta pull my patented move “the tourist”, that’s when I bobble my head sharply from left to right, squint my eyes like I’m Mickey Rooney in a black and white movie, and tilt my head back at an obtuse angle until my top row of teeth are exposed and I invariably look like a lost “Neasty” thereby distracting any talent that passes by from noticing me noticing their “tastee cakes”. It’s a classic move and I fully intend on teaching it to my illegitimate half breed son I’ll end up having by mistake one night at a barn party in Amish Country after a comely gypsy with silken wings feeds me too many Root Beer and Bourbons, a concoction she likes to call “The Bat Masterson”.
If you know either my partner or myself, you are aware that we are a drinking household. Bottle of wine with pizza? Yes please. Meet you at a bar for lunch? But of course! We’re both fond of an evening cocktail, and those three kegs of homebrew in our living room aren’t going to drink themselves. Which is why with some trepidation I announced that I was going to attempt a Nodrink November. Just to make things even more interesting, I, the lover of offal was also going to attempt to make it NoMeat November as well. It’s like the opposite of Beerlass’ Porktoberfest. Of course, there were to be few blackout dates; birthdays and beer club meetings were planned, special ladydates¬† and cocktail parties that were already on the calendar, and I am going to enjoy wine with my Thanksgiving dinner.
It takes announcing that one is abstaining to really make one realize how much drinking is a part of one’s personal culture. People always asked why, and with the absence of a “good” reason, deemed the idea stupid and set out to tempt me at every occasion. I’ve done the meatless / drinkless month before (last September) and literally every single day of that month my partner offered me a drink. Not to test my will, but because the concept of me refusing a drink failed to stick in his mind. I soldiered through then, but alas, a mere week into this month I’ve already cheated three times and am thinking of throwing in the towel. For the drinking at least. There are just too many planned drinking occasions this month, and I enjoy the social aspect of it. People have suggested February might be better suited for teetotaling; less engagements and all.
In this friendly, freedom-loving land of ours - Beer belongs...enjoy it!
When I used to work as a barista (a job I think one is contractually required have at some point in time in order to receive a degree in Art History) I was rich both in cash tips and frustration with humanity. My third favorite place to blow off steam was 12 Steps Down.
There are some people (Jenn) who will say that 12 Steps Down is categorically NOT a dive, but rather a gastropub masquerading as a dive. Perhaps this is true with the *gasp* average pricing on the microbrews, and especially with the gourmet food they manage to churn out. However, much like their Karaoke Obscura night, it is an element of the bar that I remain completely ignorant of. 12 Steps Down is my favorite brunch dive.
You won't need to break the bank for this brunch
Of course, when one mentions “brunch” and “dive” in the same concept, eggs benedict are not involved. Rather, they have the best liquid brunch in the city. Sundays from 11 A.M. until 3P.M. there are $2 Mimosas and Blood Marys. This is insanely cheap for these cocktails, and they are really good ones at that. The mimosa is a nearly full flute of champagne with a whisper of orange juice, as well as a tip of triple sec. The Bloody Mary mix is made in house, spicy with horseradish but not too gritty, and no stranger with the vodka.
With pours that generous, prices that affordable, and no food to be had, the liquid brunch at 12 Steps Down is an event that must be experience at least once. There’s nothing quite like emerging buzzed from a basement bar, with still so much money in your pocket to realize the afternoon is still young. Take a walk around the Italian market. Enjoy the autumn air.
12 Steps Down
831 Christian