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

Pork and Beer at Osteria

I find that most visits to Osteria end up turning into a pork extravaganza. Of course they have lots of other things on the menu, but the pig products are often highlights. So the prospect of an all-pork theme dinner was attractive on its own, but combined with beer from Brooklyn Brewery, it was irresistible. And the dinner did not disappoint: the food was delicious and the beers were not only interesting and well-matched, but also accompanied by commentary from brewmaster Garrett Oliver.

I knew things would be good when someone handed me a glass of Keller Helles within seconds of arrival. Moments later, raw oysters with strips of coppa salami were passed, as was pastrami pork pizza and crunchy involtini do moratori. Once everyone had arrived and gotten settled, the food started coming for real.

Potted pork terrine with artichoke mostarda and brioche
Culatello with rhubarb salad
Brooklyn-Scheider hopfen-weisse

The terrine was absolutely delicious, fatty, smooth, intensely porky. It was nice spread on the toasted brioche, but I actually preferred the more rustic toasts that were also provided. It really reached its apex when paired with the sweet artichoke mostarda. The terrine was beautifully presented in a large jar, which was attractive, but a laughably large portion. Even among the six of us at the table, we barely made a dent in it. We saw many almost-full jars heading back to the kitchen, and it was so heartbreaking to contemplate the fate of the terrine, one of our party made the bold request to take the rest of ours home. They were nice enough to oblige, and she ended up with a HUGE heap of the stuff for later. I must find out what she did with it. Of course it would be fine to just snack on as we had, but we'd also contemplated how it would taste fried-up in a pan with some eggs...

The Culatello (pictured at the top of this post) had a pleasing salty intensity, and was especially good paired with the fine julienne of rhubarb scatted on top.

Snail and black pepper salame spiedini with fava beans

Local One

We've long said that chef Michaud has a way with snails, and this theory was confirmed yet again with this dish. Assertively salty and peppery cubes of salame offset the milder snails and sweet onions, the purée of fava beans providing a creamy backdrop.


Wild ramp ravioli with pigs foot ragu
Testina cannelloni with chanterelle mushrooms
Extra Brune

This was a contender for my favorite dish of the night, the mildly garlicky greens inside the delicate pasta wrappers given richness by the tender, almost gelatinous ragu. I love all the ravioli at Osteria, but this might have been my favorite yet.

But then the canneloni threatened to overshadow the ravioli... the pigs-head stuffing was very mild, more disctinct in its decadent texture than by flavor. But the generous pile of wild mushrooms and dusting of cheese on top balanced the subtlety of the filling, making for an ever-changing parade of chewy, soft, melty, salty, earthy, fatty...

Spit-roasted baby pig with patate al forno and toasted fennel seed
Brooklynator doppelbock

We've had the roast pig here as a special, and loved it, but this somehow seemed even more porky than usual. With its crispy skin, juicy meat, an assertive kick from herbs and olive oil, it really was the ideal roast baby pig. I'm embarrassed to admit that I made some undignified moaning sounds upon my first bite, and I think they may have continued for a while. I'm not at all sure how this manages to be so delicious, it could be down to good ingredients, or the particular method of cooking, or both. In any case, I highly recommend trying it if you see it offered as a special.




Black chocolate stout bavarian with raspberry salad
Vintage Black Chocolate Stout (winter 2005-2006)

A creamy mousse that echoed and complimented the flavors of the excellent aged stout that accompanied it. I really need to drink more beer for dessert.

The beers were good throughout, the earlier, light ones were actually a bit surprising in their complexity. The later, heavier ones were very nicely matched with the food, and the explanations about ingredients, history and process that Brooklyn Brewery's brewmaster Garrett Oliver gave added to the enjoyment.

Loudest applause goes to chef Jeff Michaud for the consistently delicious food, but thank to the rest of the crew for putting it together. I'd come to another one of these things in a heartbeat.