Awesomeness Alert: Duck Fat Potato Chips at the Franklin

Update: the food has changed at the Franklin, now supervised by the folks at Supper, there's a wider variety, but sadly, no more duck fat chips... 

We tend to shorthand the real name of this place, just calling it The Franklin, but just to be clear: no, we don't mean the Franklin Fountain ice cream parlor, we're talking about the cocktail bar named the Franklin Mortgage and Investment Company.

You could be excused for confusing the retro design of both places, and the and fashion sense of their respective employees, but their products are pretty different. Although... I wouldn't be opposed to seeing what would happen if they joined forces...

The real reason to come to the Franklin Mortgage and Investment Company is for the cocktails. In what has become a pleasingly creative cocktail scene here in Philly, The Franklin can probably still be considered the top spot in town, although spirited competition is being provided by Village Whiskey, Chick's, Southwark and APO, as well as the bars at Noble, Oyster House and a few others.

All of these places have strong points, and I might prefer any of them at any given moment, but the Franklin has the largest original cocktail list, an impressive collection of spirits, and consistent talent behind the stick. Not only are the bartenders extremely knowledgeable, but the servers are too: in fact most times your servers are the bartenders, they tend to cycle out from behind the bar onto the floor, so you can get the same advice and personal attention out at a table as you can sitting at the tiny bar. There are many very interesting cocktails on the menu, but even better, this crew has a seemingly limitless repertoire of recipes old and new, so don't be reluctant to have them make you something not on the list. They're good with the classics, and perhaps even better coming up with something surprising and new based on your likes and dislikes, maybe even your mood at the moment.

Strangely, the excellent cocktails aren't the reason I'm posting an Awesomeness Alert. When the bar first opened, we were chronically longing for salty snacks, in fact there was no food at all. There's still not much, but now you can actually get a respectable cheese plate, some crazy-spicy nuts, or the subject of this alert: Duck-fat fried potato chips.

Potatoes, salt, duck fat. What could be bad about that? Oh, right, the duck fat french fries a couple blocks west at Whiskey Village are weirdly disappointing, unless buried under shortribs and cheese. But I'm happy to report that these potato chips are everything you wished WV's french fries were: perfectly crisp, assertively salty, and shrouded with a mysterious cloud of duck-fueled richness. They're also dangerously addictive. So, I'm sorry for telling you about them: your fat and salt intake levels are very likely going to spike in the near future.

$5 for a few ounces of chips might seem extreme, but you'll think it's worth it, and probably order another bowl, even though your cardiologist would probably recommend stopping at one. They're pretty great on their own, and somehow they make the drinks taste even better. Not that we really needed any encouragement to drink more at the Franklin...

The Franklin Mortgage and Investment Company
112 South 18th St (between Sansom and Chestnut)
http://thefranklinbar.com/

Awesomeness Alert: English Onion Soup at Pub and Kitchen

I'll readily admit it: I'm a snob about French Onion Soup. I do not like it when liberties are taken, especially the popular trend of using mozzarella and/or provolone for the cheese. This should be declared a culinary crime, and anyone using salad croutons as a support for the cheese, rather than proper toasts, should be subjected to a lethal injection of Lipton Cup-a-Soup.

I make a pretty respectable version of French Onion Soup in my own kitchen, and after myriad disappointments even in very good restaurants, I almost never order it out anymore.

But I trust Pub and Kitchen chef Johnny Mac, and when I saw this on their menu, listed as English Onion Soup, I was willing to take a chance. I was even willing to allow some slack, given that it clearly was meant as a riff on the classic.

And it is indeed an original interpretation: the rich broth is based on pork stock, rather than the traditional chicken or beef. Joining the expected caramelized onions in the bowl are large pieces of fall-apart tender chunks of pork. It's a surprising addition, but a good one. A couple of toasts hold up appropriate cheese. Most importantly, the whole package harmonizes perfectly. As the weather turns chilly, this is definitely going to be a go-to-soup.

While at Pub and Kitchen, it's hard to resist their famous Windsor Burger, with homemade bacon and English Cheddar, on a very good brioche bun. I especially liked the pickled onion that accompanied the lettuce and tomato. The burger itself was juicy and very beefy, and the sum of all the elements places it high among my favorite burgers. The fries are good too, although they fade a bit as they cool...

The rest of the smallish menu has much worth investigating as well, just don't skip the soup...

Pub & Kitchen
1946 Lombard St. (at 20th)
215-545-0350
http://thepubandkitchen.com/

If Pigs Could Fly...

OK, I'm starting to feel a little fickle, making multiple bold pronouncements about "the best bar snack." But I just keep running across really great ones! So, I do still love the Khyber's Pretzel Dog. I'm definitely still heading up to the Memphis Taproom for pasties. I do periodically need those bacon-wrapped, cheese-stuffed figs at Chick's.

But... I think we may have a new champion, and it's hard to imagine a credible challenge to this brilliant concept: Pork Wings.

Yes, that's right, like Buffalo Chicken Wings, but made with a vastly superior raw material. As far as I know, they haven't been doing any weird genetic modifications to cause pigs to sprout wings, these are actually pork shanks, with the bones frenched to make convenient handles. We had these as a special at Cantina Los Caballitos, although rumor has it that something similar is on the blackboard at Royal Tavern.

The sauce is more substantial than the traditional hot sauce and butter coating for buffalo wings, there's a nice barbecue-ish tang to it, and a bit of heat. The blue cheese dip might be a little predictable, but it's delicious, and a revered combo for a reason. The "wings" themselves are much meatier, with deeper flavor and less grease than a traditional chicken wing. It appears that they're grilled, or maybe broiled, definitely not deep-fried, giving them a perfect caramelized crust, but not an oily coating.

This one's going to be hard to beat... so I feel confident getting behind this one as the true champion, the best bar snack in the city.

We couldn't just get the wings though. So we needed some empanadas, which were better than ever. I really loved these when the Cantina first opened, then there was a mid-period when they were still good, but not transcendent, but I'm happy to say that they're back to being as good as ever, maybe better than ever. Tender pastry, wrapping a moist, flavorful shredded meat, that's all I ever ask for from an empanada.

We also got the Pork Anticuchos, rum-glazed grilled skewers of pork, served over a quinoa salad. Somehow I didn't manage to get a good photo of them, but they were quite attractive, but more importantly, delicious, with a nice char on the outside, but remaining juicy.

But the real reason we came was for the Goat Tacos. I've had a few goat tacos at taquerias around South Philly, but I never loved those. I'm not sure what prompted me to try these, they may have been recommended by Shola from StudioKitchen, and when he says something is worth checking out, I believe him!

And indeed, over the last six months or so, these have become one of my favorite things to eat anywhere. There's a depth of flavor to these that leaves most other tacos tasting bland in comparison, yet this version doesn't have that funky, gamey taste that so often shows up in this meat. There's something about the spicing and cooking technique that chef Mark McKinney uses that renders the meat tender, juicy, and vibrant.

I've been especially liking these with a little dab of guacamole and some pineapple salsa, but I'll also happily eat them plain. If you've never thought of eating goat, this might be the place to try it, you won't be sorry.

So, between the pork "wings" the empanadas and the goat tacos, this meal contained some of my favorite things. And the rest was pretty darn tasty too...

Cantina Los Caballitos
1651 East Passyunk Ave
South Philly
(215) 755-3550

The Memphis Taproom

As the edges of up-and-coming neighborhoods continue to expand and blur, it should be no surprise to find a gastropub up on the border of Fishtown and Port Richmond. I doubt the folks behind the Memphis Taproom use that term, they call it a "neighborhood kitchen and taproom" and while it's true enough that the menu is unpretentious and approachable, the ingredients and preparations indicate serious attention to the food. I kind of doubt that bufala mozzarella imported from Italy and vegan Seitan BBQ sandwiches are on the menus at too many other spots in the neighborhood...

Memphis Taproom strikes a good balance, with an esoteric yet approachable beer list and food that's both familiar and exotic. I don't see Cornish Pasties, Kielbasa or Rarebit on nearly enough bar menus, and this place makes me wonder why.

While perusing the menu, we enjoyed a couple draft beers, including an excellent Troeg's HopBack from the hand-pump. Then we started with a special of the day: imported bufala mozzarella with heirloom tomatoes and pesto. The tomatoes actually had flavor (on June 1st!) and the cheese was so creamy, it was hard to understand how it was maintaining a solid form.



The Pasties are an absolutely perfect bar snack: a light, flaky pastry filled with tender beer-braised beef, accented with a creamy horseradish sauce. Really, it's worth a trip just for these. Seriously, you should stop reading and get up there and order some pasties. Thank me later. Along with the Khyber's Pretzel Dog, this is one of those items that, in a perfect world, would be on every bar menu in town. Although in both cases it comes down to execution, and these are done beautifully. The wrappers are crisp and not greasy, the filling juicy and bursting with flavor. I might have liked a more aggressive horseradish kick from the sauce, but I'm a little masochistic that way. Even with the proliferation of empanadas around town, I'd say these are the best meat-stuffed pastries I've had in a while. I'm not sure whether to include Chinese pan-fried dumplings in this comparison, but these were good enough to even give the best of those some competition.

A special of celery root soup was intriguing. I worried it might be a little too hearty and wintery for what was a warm sunny afternoon, but what arrived in the bowl was actually surprisingly light, and infused with more celery flavor than I'd expected. I have to assume some of the tops were incorporated along with the root, giving a fresh, bright, green edge to the earthier root-vegetable flavors. It could have been served a little hotter, and I might have liked some bread alongside it, but those are minor quibbles.

One of the things that drew me to the Memphis Taproom on this particular day was the promise of the Port Richmond Platter. Recognizing the adjoining neighborhood's Polish population, this platter combines Kielbasa from Czerws, potato-filled pierogies, deep-fried potato pancakes and saurkraut. It's just about the perfect thing to eat while drinking beer, especially because each ingredient is so high quality. The pierogies are light and tender, dressed with perfectly sweet caramelized onions. The pancakes (perhaps too spherical to really be called pancakes, but we'll let it slide) are crispy outside and fluffy within, the kraut is fresh and tart. And the sausage... it's just an excellent product, simply split and grilled, and that's all you could ever ask for. Some good mustard is provided, but I rarely applied it, the sausage was so good on its own.

We also tried the Chicken Fried Chicken. The name is a little too logically circular for me - chicken made in the style of chicken-fried-steak, which is steak made in the style of fried chicken - aren't we back to "fried chicken?" This version is made with boneless breast meat, so I suppose it's not traditional fried chicken, but it's missing the creamy gravy that says "chicken-fried steak" to me. Regardless, it's very juicy, tasty chicken, with a good crisp crust, a mild red chile mayo underneath.

The biscuit and macaroni salad were undistinguished, but the greens were outstanding, with a bit of spice adding to their hearty flavor. I'd order this again, and maybe try to get an extra helping of greens... I wonder if we could talk them into offering the greens as a side order? And I'm still picturing this chicken with a cream gravy, and imagining that it would be pretty awesome like that. Still it's good as-is, I really should move past my general belief that gravy is good on most anything.

We were a little too stuffed with keilbasy to even think about desserts (that Port Richmond Platter is bigger than it looks in the photo!) but the Key Lime Tart sounded appealing for some reason. I'm glad we decided to indulge, it was very good, with excellent lime flavor complimented by freshly toasted almonds on top. (Note to purists: notice how it's not green? Finally, someone who makes key lime tart with real key limes, or at least real juice...)

Overall, we were very impressed by the Memphis Taproom. It's a lovely space, nicely renovated with a modern, but still pub-like feel. The beer selection is excellent, and the food is just as good. It's certainly worth the trip up to "Port Fishington" as they're calling that border zone between Fishtown and Port Richmond.

Memphis Taproom
http://memphistaproom.com
2331 E. Cumberland St (at Memphis)
Food from 11:30am-Midnight, 7 days