Apo Bar + Lounge

102 S. 13th St., Philadelphia, PA

http://www.apothecarylounge.com/

Before seeing Rufus and Martha at Verizon Hall, we met some friends for drinks here, as I’d heard much about it, but hadn’t visited yet. We found the place fine, but our friends couldn’t do the same, as there’s no name anywhere to be found, just the iconic yet not immediately recognizable green cross indicating the place. 

 

Inside is a standard Philly shape, of a long narrow box. At Apo (I think they had to change it from the original Apothecary for some reason), the front of the room features tables, a long banquette, and accompanying ottomans/chairs. The back of the room features the bar with lots of space behind, which no doubt gets very crowded. Apparently, the bar is the place to be, as our neighboring visitors moved from their table to the bar once space opened up to see the mixology at work.

 

Given the complexity of the drinks, I can completely understand. Rick had a plain old martini, but the rest of us tried a special drink from the menu. I had the Immunity Idol, a sweet little number made of Hendrick’s Gin, Elderflower liqueur, champagne, pineapple and orange juices, and a bunch of other mumbo jumbo. It was sweet without being sickly, and very refreshing. I don’t purport to have the palate to pick up the elderflower, but it was a very nice combination. Our friends had Sage Wisdom (rum, an orange liqueur, grapefruit, sage, etc.) and the Aviation (Tanqueray 10, maraschino, creme de violette, and lemon juice), both of which elicited raves. I’m particularly interested in the Aviation, which sounds yummy — like a plucky gin and tonic. 

 

I sucked down my II in time for me to have Delirium Tremens on draft. In my top 5 of beers (the others, you ask? Harp on draft, Magic Hat #9, Iron Hill Raspberry Wheat, Victory Golden Monkey; that list may change though depending on level of inebriation), DT is a pure pleasure, and I think this is my first time every having it on draft. For that reason alone, Apo deserves another visit, besides it having a happy hour and other allures (good service! absinthe!). So, big thumbs-up for Apo, and I look forward to future visits.

Annamarie’s Place

347 Main St., Royersford, PA

On our way out to complete errands West on the 422 corridor, I decided it was time to re-visit Annamarie’s, where, “if it isn’t Annamarie’s, it isn’t breakfast.” Quite a statement.

 

And, given our few visits here, they do back up that assertion. The usual wait for a table wasn’t too long, maybe ten minutes. Once seated, we were served quickly with decent coffee and a normal sized grapefruit juice (compared to the thimbles one normally gets). We decided to each splurge a bit. Rick got the apple pie french toast, and I got one pancake and the Penny breakfast. The food arrived quickly and we dug in.

 

Rick’s apple pie french toast was a bit too sweet, which is to be expected really. I found that it worked well with just the sauce from the filling, but the toast itself was perfectly cooked — a slight crisp on the outside, but still soft inside.

 

The Penny is a scramble of sorts — eggs, spinach, and mozzarella. Sort of like a lazy omelette. It was very good. Not too cheesy, nor overpowered by too much spinach. The accompanying potatoes were great: having just tried to make home fries this morning, I’m even more appreciative of home fries that manage to be crispy not burnt, tender not greasy. These were nicely seasoned as well.

 

Annamarie’s pancakes are not to be trifled with. They actually say that if you can eat three on your own, they’re free (otherwise $5.50). They are probably a foot in diameter. For me, though, they are a tad too thick, such that they are a little too cakey in the middle, and don’t really hold up to a fork cutting through them and can get a bit messy. The taste though is really quite good, hardly needing any syrup in order to make them great. 

 

Altogether, breakfast was $15, which is pretty reasonable, especially for the quality of the food. And, everyone knows it, so be prepared to wait on the weekend.

El Fuego

2101 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA

http://www.elfuegoburritos.com/ (Still under construction)

I am forever in search of places to eat near chorus rehearsal, and I noticed this place last week while walking from the train. It appears they have another outposts on Walnut, but I was unfamiliar with them. So, always loving a Mexican option, I popped in this weekend for a quick lunch to go. 

The space is attractive, if not a bit derivative of Chipotle with its industrial chic. Oh, and if you didn’t know, this is a place in the same vein as Chipotle, Baja Fresh, Qdoba, California Tortilla, et al.: El Fuego calls it California burritos (um, whatever), but it’s basically a lot of stuffed crammed in a tortilla according to your instructions. I’m down with that. However, it’s not some taqueria hole-in-the-wall that will change your life and give you hipster cred for knowing a place others do not.

Unlike Qdoba or Chipotle, the service was not at all surly, but quite helpful, genial, and fast. The food they produced was also pretty darn good. The carnitas were spiced nicely and had some actual flavor, compared to some I’ve had at those other chains. Likewise, the medium salsa was actually medium and not plain old lame: there was some kick and some flavor. The other ingredients were fresh and in good balance, no doubt adding to the ease with which I ate the thing (some burritos become unwieldy if crammed the wrong way). The chips were fresh, crispy, and nicely salted. 

For $6.95, the burrito is a fair price, and given that the food is good and they serve alcohol, I have no doubt I will be back at some point.

Barrister’s Bagel Company

The Court at Upper Providence (Township Line Road and Ridge Pike), Royersford, PA

http://www.barristersbagels.com/

(No reviews in January? I must not have eaten very well or at any new places; how tragic!)

I’m a big fan of breakfast. I’m a big fan of carbs. Therefore, I’m a big fan of bagels, which is interesting considering I grew up in an area that was completely devoid of bagels. Honest: I didn’t have a bagel until I went to college. Tragic, huh? I didn’t really come to appreciate just how good a bagel could be until I lived on Long Island for two summers and got to experience hot and fresh bagels that were chewy and crispy and oh-so-satisfying.

Needless to say, Dunkin’ Donuts doesn’t really provide that experience, but that’s what we have around these parts for bagels. Until now, thanks to this new place opening up this past week. 

We excitedly went in Sunday morning, looking forward to a leisurely breakfast of fresh bagels and a nice coffee before heading out on errands. 

Not so much.

First, the space is something of a mess. As you enter, to the right is the one table in the place, which seats four; to the left is a quasi-bar area with three barstools where we eventually sat, after basically having to elbow people out of the way who were waiting for their orders. When you step further in, there are coolers to the right; on your left is the register. From the register back to the wall dividing us from the steaming ovens is a counter, culminating in a sort of shmear station; far, far above in too-small type is a menu. Why am I going into detail about the space? Why, because I had issues, of course! There is no logical place to place your order, nor is there a logical place to wait for your order: they are in desperate need of line ropes. Also, it’s really a farce to even put in seating when you only offer seven of them; go all in, or just admit that people just have to go somewhere to eat their food. I think they went a little crazy with the coolers — do we need a separate Naked juice cooler and a huge coke cooler (I think there might have been a third too)? Take out one of those and we might get to double digits for seats. Also, the reading the 8-point font of the menu wasn’t made any easier by the winter morning sunlight blinding me through the un-blinded windows.

It’s their first weekend, so I’m willing to forgive a fair amount on service issues. The seemingly petrified teen took our order confusedly; when we asked her if we ordered drinks from her or from the person at the register, she pointed to the coolers (but dear, I won’t find my coffee in there). Once she took our order, we just sort of stood there until we asked someone when we should pay. We got our bagels relatively quickly, though my request for it to be toasted was not heeded.

Barrister’s also believes in two bagel things I just do not understand, and maybe it’s my problem not theirs. First, I want the shmear on both sides of the bagel. I don’t get eating it like a sandwich. Second, I don’t want five gallons of shmear. There has to be a happy medium between a sprinkle and a deluge, right? Once I took off half of the low-fat scallion shmear, I was ready to dig in. It was good. I had it on an everything bagel that was more like a something bagel: it just didn’t have enough stuff on it. I mean, at least it wasn’t the poppy fest that Dunkin’s everything bagel is, but it could have used more garlic and onion. The coffee, provided by the heretofore unknown-to-me Burlap and Bean was fine — nothing stupendous like the other options of Kimberton or La Colombe — but certainly passable. I took home two more bagels, a burnt onion bagel and a plain bagel purporting to be a wheat one.

I’m really not as angry with them as it appears I am. I really wish them the best, as I do very much want a good bagel place. Unlike other recent local endeavors, my crystal ball thinks they are not doomed to failure. I think I’ll just wait a while to go back, when they might have things a bit better organized, and maybe scrounge together some more chairs.