Staff Blog
Memphis Taproom team to turn Yello’bar into Resurrection Ale House
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| Photo | Drew Lazor |
Brendan “Spanky” Hartranft and Leigh Maida, who already have two hits on their hands with Memphis Taproom and Local 44, have just signed a lease for challenge numero tres — they’re taking over G-Ho’s Yello’bar (2425 Grays Ferry Ave.) and converting it into Resurrection Ale House.
The couple will soon begin renovating and reconceptualizing the interior of the bar, which opened at the corner of Catharine and Grays Ferry in the spring of 2007. (Yello’bar just never quite hit its stride, despite a recent facelift.) A few years back, Hartranft and Maida actually used to live in the ‘hood, right near where The Sidecar is now.
How will Resurrection differ from the first two beer-toting gunboats in the Spanky/Leigh armada? Memphis is set apart by chef Jesse Kimball’s suds-spiked menu, while West Philly’s 20-tap Local 44 is a little more like a beer bar that also offers tasty complementary plates. Resurrection will do the beer right, but it’ll also be notably food-forward. “We’re focused (as always) on a stellar craft beer list, but we’re equally focused this time on the dining side of things, too,” says Maida in an e-mail. “For now, we’re sort of working under the term ‘beer bistro’ as a guiding principle.” No chef has been hired just yet.
Resurrection — Maida explains that the name’s a nod to the reemergence of the greater Graduate Hospital area, plus it sounds a little Belgian — is aiming to open the first week of September. They’re working on securing a keg of the Belgian-style Resurrection Ale from Bmore’s Brewer’s Art for the opening.
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