McMenimins

I've been meaning to go to McMenimins for months now. It's supposed to be the best bar in Germantown, and I needed to investigate this rumor.

I went out to dinner with John, Allie, and Rachel. The atmosphere here is pretty standard, a long dark bar greets you as from the front door. There is a back dinning room with a handful of tables, and a small outdoor seating area. The quality of seating varies in the outdoor area; one end is quite nice while the other is cramped, separated from the sidewalk only by a chain link fence. Choose your seat wisely.

The prices here are great for the food, and reasonable for the beer. As far as the beer list goes, it is good, even by Philadelphia standards. There have several American craft beers and a few Belgians. I started with the Kwak and then tried an IPA, but the names escapes me now.

Everyone else went with the fish and chips, while I opted for the burger. The rest of the group really enjoy the fish, and liked the fries even more. The first are the twice cooked fries that deliver crispy, perfect consistency inside and out; many spots could take lessons on these great fries.

For my burger, it only came with potato chips, which aren't the ideal side. Other than that, I was very happy with the burger, and would put it in the upper echelon of burgers in the city. The size and proportion of everything was great. I ordered medium rare and it came cooked to specification. It was large and messy, dripping with juices, and if I wasn't in such good company I may have been embarrassed by the process of eating this great burger.

Bottom Line: This is one of the best spots in Germantown. It doesn't have what it takes to bring me from my part of the city, but it's certainly worth visiting if you're in the neighborhood.

Essentials:

7071 Germantown Ave

215-247-9920

Hours: M-S: 11:30-2am; S 4pm-1am; Sunday during NFL 12:30-1am

Avg Ent: 7-15

Cash Only: No

Reservations: No

Earth Bread and Brewery

Last weekend, Saturday was a perfect day. I joined Jesse's Beer by Bike (photo credits) ride to do a 25 mile-ish bike ride out to Earth Bread and Brewery in Mt. Airy. As the name states , Earth only really serves up flat bread pizza and beer. They are a microbrewery, and only had two of their own beers available. Despite that, they have a decent selection.

For lunch, I had the seed flatbread. The pizza was topped with pine nuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and roasted garlic. It was delicious, and a great deal at $6. The rest of the group ordered all different kinds of flatbread, and with the exception of the traditional (which just looked like a tomato pie with a small pile of basil in the middle) everything looked great. I followed up my pizza with a cheese plate appetizer. It was mediocre, and at $9, I was wishing I has ordered more pizza instead.

For beer, I tried both of Earth's brews. They serve up two sizes of everything; 13 oz for $3.75 and 20oz for $5. For the beers on tap, these are decent prices. Monkey Brain Tonic (terrible name) was my first beer, which is a light Belgian ale at 2.8%. Since we had just taken the huge bike ride, this beer was so refreshing. I had their barley wine also, which was fine. It was nothing remarkable, but I was impressed since it was made in house.

Earth has a small bar and a few tables. There is also an upstairs dining area, but it wasn't open while I was there. There is an open brewing and kitchen area, complete with the brick oven right out in the open. It has a very cool atmosphere, and would be a great place to take kids. Jesse's kids, Jane and Maruke, watched the cook making pizza for quite some time. The one thing that I loved is that they are really working with the Earth theme. There were a few full cool maps covering the walls and some globes in strategic locations around the restaurant. The theme is right up my alley.

The bartender was cool, pretty diligent for how many people he was serving, and did a great job keeping all of the checks separate. For some reason, however, I have the feeling (and have heard) that Earth doesn't have very good service.

Bottom Line: I was pleased with Earth, but with the lack of variety, it will be a long time before I visit again. Earth is fine, and if it was around the corner I'd stop by every now and again. It's definitely good enough to check out at least once.

Essentials:
7136 Germantown Ave (Germantown and Durham)
215.242.MOON (6666)
Avg Ent: 6-15
Cash Only: No
Reservations: No