Staff Blog
Inside Distrito!
Earlier today, we took a little tour of Jose Garces' Distrito, which will open for dinner this Monday at 3945 Chestnut. (Check out our coverage here and here.)
Photo rundown after the jump.
FIRST SET
We start things off with a few shots of the VW Beetle table everyone's been talking about — no reservations for this, kids. It'll be pure luck of the draw.
Take special note of the fifth, sixth and seventh photos — Garces revealed that the unassuming shelving behind the hostess station is actually a secret Nancy Drew-like passageway that leads into a 20-person reservable private karaoke lounge. It's not 100 percent just yet, but we managed to rattle off a quick shot of the hyper-color stools and tables. There are long banquettes on either side; the windows will be one-way, so you can see out onto the street without pedestrians ogling your masa cakes. (Best interrogation room ever.)
SECOND SET
Elsewhere on the first floor, the bar is topped with fun, public-pool-esque signage pimping tequilas and cocktails. (Same deal for the kitchen on the second floor.) Bar stools are topped with a sparkly superball-like material that's wicked comfortable.
The dining area on the first floor features a corkboard where the restaurant's tacked up Distrito-branded postcards. You're encouraged to take them as souvenirs when you leave.
But oh man, the staircase to the second floor is where designer Jun Aizaki (Amada, Tinto, Alma de Cuba, Pod) really starts killing it. On the left as you ascend — a wall featuring hundreds of insanely detailed Mexican luchador wrestling masks. On the right — lit-up effervescent movie posters. The pink square surrounded by lights? That's going to house a gigantic screen that'll play loops of luchador wrestling clips.
THIRD SET
Assorted shots of the second floor dining area of the Mexico D.F.-themed spot. Diners will be able to actually rotate those high-backed rattan booths as they see fit (they're in two pieces), meaning you could check out a nice street view during your appetizer course and turn to watch the action in the open kitchen by dessert.
FOURTH SET
A few more shots to give you an idea of just how colorful this place really is — check out that second-floor ceiling! That jukebox — "Mi Casa es Su Casa," reads the neon — will blast music throughout the restaurant.
The pink table looks like a “pink dot” cookie from Sheetz. Flashbacks from my Central Pennsylvania college years come flooding back…
[...] Inside Distrito - The Clog [...]
yeah whatever!!
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[...] is BUGS. If insects don’t whet your palette, watch hometown hero Jose Garces (of the newly opened Distrito) tapdance on the face of major d-bag Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America. Rock on, [...]
[...] introduced our dude as merely the chef/owner of Amada. Since that time, he’s rolled out Tinto and Distrito in Philly and Mercat a la Planxa in his native Chicago.Garces’ sous chefs were Will Zuchman, former [...]
[...] greens of aquas. I was seated on a wicker swing. The stairs are lined with mexican wrester masks. Here - have some pictures. But that’s fine. There’s also fairly loud music. And a guy with a guitar singing [...]