City Tap House

Not wanting to squander a rare lunch break in West Philly, Dan and I ventured in search of the best bar in the area. We ended up at City Tap House. This huge new space is beautiful, if weird. Located in the heart of University City, it has the potential to attract an annoying crowd. But we didn’t deal with any of that on our visit. The staff here is great, and our bartender was knowledgeable about his beer. He was willing to pour samples and offered carefully thought suggestions.

The space is beautiful. The bar is probably the largest in the city, and City Tap house also boasts a sizable dining room with an open kitchen. To top it off, there’s an great outdoor area complete with faux fire pits. Overall, the space is impressive and well used. even the bathrooms leave a good impression.

Let’s move on to the important part: Beer. The first time I visited City Tap House I was part of a record setting night: Most taps by a brewery in a single place at once. Ever. The brewery was Bell’s and there were some great beers available. Still, on a normal day, the Tap House boast a quite respectable list. With the sixty taps available, they offer something for everyone and are simultaneously able to have more than a few rare and impressive drinks on tap. I had a black IPA, Hop in the Dark, from Deschutes Brewery, and, at the moment, City Tap House is the only place in the state that has beer from Deschutes. I cannot imagine the person (other than those who do not like beer at all) that is unable to find something enjoyable.

The menu here is impressive. While ordering, I was wrestling between several different choices, and there is a dinner menu available that I didn’t even see. Because I believe the cheeseburger is the standard to which all other food at an establishment can be benchmarked, I ordered one medium rare with mushrooms and bleu. It came out quickly and well cooked. It was a huge burger, and in reality, I should have only ate half of it. Everything on the burger was high quality, with the bleu cheese as an incredible standout. While not my favorite burger I’ve ever had, I have no hesitation putting this on the highest echelon of burgers in the city. The thin, crispy fries perfectly round out the dish.

Dan ordered a pizza, and it came out perfectly cooked. The pizza is cooked in a brick oven, and the result is a crispy, thin pizza that, like the burger, is excellently crafted. Also like the burger, one pizza is more than enough food for one person. City Tap House offers several mouth watering combinations of toppings for the pies.

Bottom Line: Prices are on par with everything else in this area. The space is beautiful and huge, just like the tap list. The food rounds out this contender for the best bar in West Philadelphia.

Charcoal Pit

I have a booked called Hamburger America in my bathroom. It's a nice read, and it was also my inspiration for a spontaneous trip down to Delaware this weekend.

The Charcoal Pit win for one of the most awkward dining experiences I've ever had. When we first walked in, there was a small area chained off that made us think we had walked in the wrong entrance. The hostess then yelled at us, only half jokingly. We seated ourselves, and our server came over quickly. Everything she said was a statement, like "You want more time" and "You want mayo" instead of asking.

The atmosphere here is pretty traditional 50s diner, and although we were eating a little early (around 5pm) it was oddly almost exclusively populated by senior citizens.

For food, this place is supposed to have excellent ice cream as well as burgers. We were all too full from dinner to try dessert. The prices here are great. We each had a 8 oz cheeseburger, fries, and a drink and it was under $10.

The french fries were pathetically soggy. Our orders were all mixed up. When finally sorted out, I had a medium rare burger topped with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and onions. The fixings were good, but the bread was soggy and thin. My burger was cooked well, but I can't say the same for everyone at the table. Its great to bit into a burger and have to dripping juice, but overall meat wasn't anything special. Neither was the burger.

Bottom Line: George Mots, you mislead me on this one. The poor service coupled with an average burger produces less than desired results. I wouldn't go to this place if it was in Philadelphia, and I'm certainly not making a trip out of the state to go here again.

The Grey Lodge Pub

I'm rarely in the Northeast. But when I needed to take my car to Nick Schummer's shop, I used the trip to stop by the Grey Lodge. Many have said that this is one of the best bars in the city, and I hadn't given it more than a passing drink until this weekend.

It's hard to determine what is most notable about this bar. As many have remarked, the beer list is excellent. Eleven taps pour a good variety of styles and breweries. I started with a rare beer from Sierra Nevada: Charlie, Fred and Ken's Lager. It was an excellent beer. Grey Lodge also boasts one of the most impressive whiskey lists I've seen in Philadelphia.

I also love the atmosphere at this place. The bar is a large J shape that utilizes the space well. It's also generally busy with a motley mix of people. Whether its Northeasters drinking Bud, Mainliners, or snobby beer geeks, there's no judgement and everyone seems to be having a good time. I also remember remarking that the music here was awesome. Someone made some wise choices when stocking the jukebox. There are also several TVs on the first floor, and it's a good place to catch a Phillies game. To top it off, the mosaic of famous beer quotes in the bathroom is one of my favorite parts of the Grey Lodge.

The prices for everything are excellent. Even a few miles outside of center city Philadelphia the prices are lower than what I usually expect. I ordered a "surf and turf cheesesteak" a Philly cheese steak topped with shrimp, which was $9. It was standard, traditionally made cheesesteak, with the shrimp topping it off as a nice addition. I ordered a side of fries, a mix of potato and sweet potato, and these were good as well. Dan ordered and enjoyed the fish and chips. But both of us agreed that the food was good but nothing special. It's clear that the Grey Lodge does not approach their food menu with the same seriousness or care that do with their drink menu.

Bottom Line: For me, it's not worth making the trip to go to the Grey Lodge alone. The food is so-so, but the drinks, atmosphere and affordable prices more than make up the difference. Although I have no other bars to compare to, I'm sure this is one of the best in the northeast.

Essentials:

6235 Frankford (Frankford and Robbins)

(215) 825-5357

Hours: 10am-2am, sun 11am-2am

Avg Ent: 6-12

Cash only: No

Chicago Food in pictures

Gino's East:

Kuma's Corner:

Ann Sather's:

Giordano's

Beer Week Notes, Part 1

Beer week officially started Friday June 4th. As of writing this, it's been four full days of events.

I am less excited about Beer Week this year. Last year, it was a new experience for me and (I believe) the city of Philadelphia. It was a huge success, and this year many more restaurants and breweries wanted to get in on the action. Thus we have a less organized, lower aggregate quality, diluted Beer Week. But I digress, I've found a lot to enjoy. It's just like walking through a jewelry store looking for a gem (2009) versus walking through the swamp looking for one.

I had Bell's Hopslam for the first time. This is a hyped up beer, and I can't say I'm crazy about it. I was crazy about the Bell's event Monday night at the City Tap House. I was a part of a near 600 strong crowd that helped set a Guinness World Record - Most beers on tap by one brewery in one location. 31 in total. There were some great brews here, my favorite being the "Batch 6000." It was a great American strong ale complex enough to have several different tastes through the ten ounce pour.

Dan and I ventured down to Varga for a Terrapin event. I loved every drop of their wheat wine, Gamma Ray. Pick this up if you have a chance. In a short sighted move, Varga discontinued their speed lunch during beer week. I guess the idea was to create more space for the beer events. But when there is one table during occupied during your lunch rush, and (somehow) two bartenders, two servers, and a hostess can provide subpar service, the management needs to be called into question.

Sub par service continued at Triumph for the East Coast vs West Coast IPA event. I had tried a majority of the beer menu before visiting, but it was still a cool idea. By far, the best beer was from Allentown's Brew Works. This light, balanced IPA was my favorite drink of the day. I guessed the ABV to be between five and six and was floored when I learned it clocked in at 11.5. Great IPA from a generically named brewery that has been off my radar until now.

The most poorly managed event I attended was at Noddinghead. One of the advertised beers was never brewed, and two more were kicked less than halfway through the event. With beer, it's easy to have too little, and rarely a problem to have extra. The server was overworked and thus provided poor service. I did love that they had a pinata filled with homebrew supplies.

I loved that Memphis Taproom is right around the corner from my house. I like the idea of "No Repeat Beer Week" where they tap a brand new keg for ten days straight. I haven't had anything incredible yet, but I'll keep trying. There's definitely some great stuff in the queue.

The German Societies' festival was fun to briefly stop by at. Jonny and I had pork sandwiches with delicious German mustard. But a beer event that doesn't feature anything better than Spaten and Franziskaner needs some inspiration.

Jonny convinced me to visit Eulogy for a stout event while it was reaching 90 degrees outside. I'm glad he did though, because the Peche Mortel in an incredible drink, complex, flavorful and interesting. I highly recommend trying it if you have the chance.

I went to a Hitachino event at Kraftwork. I've never been a huge fan of this brewery; the beers are generally outrageously priced because they are shipped from Japan. After trying four new beers from Japan's foremost brewery, I have to stick to my guns. There are better beers available cheaper made closer to home. The witbeir is the most notable for me, and it's a great beer for the style, but I'm still not crazy about it.

I had Stoudt's Double IPA on firkin at the Oyster House. I don't love firkins, but it really mellowed out the hops in this beer, resulting in a drinkable double IPA. The beer prices here are terrible. To balance them out, visit from 5 to 7 and take advantage of buck a shuck: $1 for the oyster of the day.

Bottom Line: It may sound like I'm complaining, but I've tried some really exciting new beers and breweries that I've never heard of. This is the kind of stuff that I (and maybe you) need to develop a opinions and a palate to back them up. I look forward to the events I'll hit up the rest of the week. The service has been poor at several locations, but I understand that it can be hard to judge demand and attendance for events. It's easy to be a critic, but I shouldn't have to wait fifteen minutes for my first drink or another twenty for the check (twice in one day).