Tomorrow morning at 11, roll by the corner of 11th and Fitzwater to check out Hawthornes, a new beer head’s cafĂ©/eatery from Chris Fetfatzes (of the across-the-street Bella Vista Beer Distributors Fetfatzes clan) and his girlfriend Heather Annechiarico.

BVBD is our usual go-to for harder-to-find American craft selections, and that theme’s carried over here, with around 1,000 12-ounce bottles for mix-a-sixes, but we’re most amped about Hawthornes’ growler system, which’ll pump up the 64-ounce branded containers (a $15 one-time purchase, plus a special $1.50 cap) via a special pressurized system to ensure flavor and carbonation stay intact. Fetfatzes tells Meal Ticket that the growler beer lineup will feature hard-to-find one-offs from breweries, as well as selections from spots that produce kegs only (Brooklyn’s Sixpoint, for example). Right now, you can grab beer-geek manna like Russian River Blind Pig and Damnation, Lost Abbey Red Barn and Bruery’s Mischief by the growler.

For eats (yes, you can purchase beer and drink it with your food), they’re keeping things relatively simple. There’s a selection of sandwiches — panini, ones stuffed with house-roasted meats, and grilled cheeses (like the Dankey, with fontina, mushroom and fresh sage) — plus cheese plates, soups and salads. Brunch, served Friday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., will see three-egg omelettes, crepes, French toast, pancakes and other hangover-smashing standards.

foodandwine.com

Food & Wine just published a photo slideshow of Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio’s extended road trip from Georgia to Philly. (Porsche lent him a Panamera 4S for the sojourn — tough life!) You might’ve noticed a mention of Tom C (and the Porsche) in Brian Howard’s Nov. 5 piece on garlic guru Tom Culton — here’s corroboration. Other local stops for Colicchio — Samuels & Son seafood and Vetri, where he exchanged baldhead slick tips with our favorite Italian chef and dined on “impossibly thin, buttery pastas and tender baby goat [that] could hold their own against any I’ve had.”

Last Friday, we teased a few photos of Percy Street Barbecue (900 South St.), which will open to the public this coming Tuesday, Nov. 17. Today we’ve got a few more shots of the Elisabeth Knapp-designed interior, as well as the opening food, beer and cocktail menus after the jump. Much more on the spot next week; for more right now, peep filmmaker Chandler Kaufman’s feature on the spot.

Click For More »

Here’s your first look at Benny Lai’s new Vietnam CafĂ© (816 S. 47th St.), which’ll open to the public this coming Tuesday, Nov. 17. We dropped in as architect Jesse Gardner, the Vietnam owner and general contractor Drew Miller (fourth pic, L-R) were putting the finishing touches on the 180-seat space (formerly Abbraccio), a blown-out version of the humble 22-seat BYO Lai opened just down the block in early 2008. (There are no pressing plans for that space, at 814 S. 47th, just yet, says Lai.) Split up into multiple rooms (some are able to be sealed off for private events), the space is characterized by an abundance of natural light and a number of neat design touches from Lai’s homeland, including a decorative mock-up of a bamboo rain-water collector near the bar as you enter.

The menu here will be comparable to the one at Lai’s flagship location in Chinatown (221 N. 11th St.), but the major difference here is a spacious bar area, where they’ll be serving Vietnam’s signature cocktails as soon their liquor license kicks in in about a month’s time. There are also plans to introduce a late-night bar menu that’ll be available on weekend nights.

Lai tells Meal Ticket he’ll be open out here from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily, with plans to extend hours in the coming weeks after they get their feet.

Meal Ticket just got back from Adam and Andrew Erace’s Green Aisle Grocery (1618 E.  Passyunk Ave.), which officially opened to the public earlier today. The spot, which we first mentioned back in June, is a a one-stop shop of sorts for greater-South-Philly home cooks and locavore types, as they carry a wide array of products sourced from the area in addition to harder-to-find boutique products (they’re the only spot in Philly to snag Q brand tonic waters, for example). Nearly all the produce they’re carrying is grown locally; they also have a number of products sourced from restaurants, including hummus from Zahav, barbecue sauce from Pub & Kitchen and (coming soon) fresh pasta from James. Bread and sweets come from the likes of Wild Flour Bakery and E of Foodaphilia. Vegetarian/vegan customers are accommodated, too, as Green Aisle’s stocking stuff like Ray’s Seitan and soups from Miss Rachel’s Pantry. (They’re also about to stock Stumptown Coffee, joining the likes of Honest Tom’s, Hub Bub and Savona as one of the few local places to get it.)

Adam, who’s Philadelphia Weekly’s restaurant critic, tells us he was initially paranoid about how running his own business might compromise his anonymity, but at this point he’s decided not to stress about it too much — after all, he and his brother have got a business to run. He does, however, admit that it’s “weird to be on the other side of it” — usually it’s him who’s bugging budding local food-biz owners for details, but now he’s the one getting bugged by people like us.

UPDATE: Here are the correct current hours, our bad: Mon.-Thu., noon-8 p.m.; Fri., noon-9 p.m.; Sat., 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sun., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Also, Green Aisle is currently cash only.

Back in September, we told you about Varga Bar owner George Anni and photog Christopher Gabello’s Varga Girl Calendar project, featuring 12 Philly girls done up in the style of pinup artist and Varga Bar namesake Alberto Vargas. Well, all the ladies have been shot — the calendar won’t be available to the public till mid-December (oversized versions of portraits will also be displayed in the bar on a month-to-month basis), but check out a peek of the lovely Margo after the jump. Schwing.

Click For More »

Photo | Drew Lazor

We’re gonna have much more on Percy Street Barbecue, from Steve Cook, Michael Solomonov and Erin O’Shea, in the coming days. But for right now we figure it couldn’t hurt to share a few quick photos from inside the space (900 South St.). The interior was designed by Elisabeth Knapp, who also handled Zahav and Xochitl; that chalkboard wall, which originated at a schoolhouse at 16th and Moore, comes from Provenance, the historical architectural salvage firm that’s done work for Pub & Kitchen and Oyster House.

For background on the project, check out Chandler Kaufman’s documentary feature.

Click For More »

There ain’t a whole lot of English to be found at OK Bakery & Snack, which opened recently on South between Sixth and Seventh streets. But here’s what we could surmise, before we were politely and smilingly shooed out of the door by a funny little lady for taking too many photos:

• It’s a tiny space with all the trappings of a Chinatown bakery.
• On one side of the store, there are a dozen or more display cases featuring all manner of buns, including ham and egg, fish meat, bacon and cheese, peanut, onion and this one amazing quadruple-compartmentalized one with hot dogs stuffed in the holes.
• These buns cost A DOLLAR.
• The main display case is full up with generous wedges of round sponge cake, a million different swirls and flavors.
• These cake slices cost 80 CENTS.
• They’re also doing bubble tea, hot drinks and a small selection of dim sum (shrimp dumplings, roast pork bun, crab shao mai, S&P shrimp, etc.).
• They’re open Monday to Thursday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday from 8 to 11, Saturday from 9 to 11 and Sunday from 9 to 10.

Joey Rocco, who worked as a teacher in Toms River for 30 years before retiring, got his start in the pizza biz early, running his father’s Kozy Korners store at 13th and Jackson as well as his uncle’s shops on the boardwalks of Seaside Heights and AC. Now the South Philly native’s doing his own thing with Joey’s Stone Fired Pizza, which soft-opened Saturday at 517 South Street (215-238-9999).

The pizza at the 64-seat Joey’s is thin crust and Neopolitan in style, with chunky imported plum tomatoes for the sauce and secret family blends for both the doughs (traditional or honey whole wheat) and cheese. They’re doing small 12-inch and large 16-inch pies, with pick-and-choose toppings like Fiorella’s sausage, imported capicola and pepperoni, calamata olives and house-roasted peppers. They’re also doing a handful of salads. No slices. (The “Stone” in the name refers to slabs of volcanic rock lining Rocco’s pizza ovens; he says they conduct heat in such a way that ensures the top and bottom of his pies cook evenly.)

They’re BYO right now but in the process of applying for a beer/wine license. Hours are still being ironed out, but Rocco says they’ve been opening at 11 a.m. daily so far.

Yesterday, Varga Bar (941 Spruce St.) was kind enough to treat Meal Ticket to a quick tour of their new “Speed Lunch” menu, which offers an array of soup/sandwich combos (salad-y stuff, too) for the flat rate of $9. We posted the mainstay menu on Monday, but chef/co-owner R. Evan Turney says he’ll offer special addendums to it on the daily. What we sampled:

• Roast pork sandwich with broccoli rabe, sharp provolone and natural jus; butternut squash soup (not pictured, ate it too fast)
• Grilled cheese (gruyere and fontina); tomato bisque
• Roasted portabella mushroom sandwich with roasted red peppers, arugula, warm mozzarella, olive oil and basil; onion soup
• Rib eye cheesesteak with chips
• Turkey and brie sandwich

All these plates are designed for expedience, so Varga’s able to guarantee you’re in, sat, fed and out in half an hour.