Sunday Suds: Bike and Beer Edition

In the absence of an official Philly Beer Week/Philly Cycling Championships mash-up, it was easy enough to make do on our own. With a tent for just about every bike shop in the greater Philly area pitched across the hillside and a keg under most, there was plenty of sampling to be done by the more ambitious of the Lemon Hill denizens.

Me? I stuck with a cup or two of Victory Prima Pils, offered up by the ever ready Lee Rogers of my house shop, Bicycle Therapy. A perfect late-morning, sunny-day brew if I do say so, and a more than adequate accompaniment to the cheeseburgers flying off the grates courtesy of Grillmaster Brian Hackford, the man behind Keswick Cycle. Brian's been sharing a tent on Lemon Hill with the Bike Therapy crew for just about as long as I can remember.


There were no worries when the keg kicked, as I'd brought along a backup supply of Farmhouse Summer Ale from another local cycling supporting brewery, Flying Fish. Served ice cold and straight from the bottle, I must say it was tasting great on a hot afternoon (even if it is brewed in New York rather than at Flying Fish's own facilities in Cherry Hill, NJ).

Lest you think today's festivities were all about the beer, let me assure you... there were a couple of bike races in the mix, too.

The women's race, which runs concurrently with the men's, was animated from the get-go this year. As usual, it came down to a field sprint in the end, but a small one, as the front pack had been whittled down to a mere 15-20 riders.

The men's race followed a familiar pattern as well, with an early sacrificial break forming within the first couple of laps and staying out front, by several minutes at one point, until eventually being reabsorbed by the main field with a couple of laps to go.

By the time everything came back together, the effort of raising the pace toward the finale was really beginning to show on the faces and bodies of the riders. 156 miles in the saddle is a long day by any rider's standards. Add to that the early June heat on the streets of Philadelphia and what were the windiest conditions I can ever remember witnessing on race day, and you've a pretty good recipe for suffering.

In addition to the fact that it's just a great, relaxed location from which to check out race day, one of the beautiful things about Lemon Hill is that you can tell the riders really love the vibe, too. It's a stiff little climb, especially after multiple laps at race pace, but it's not so excruciating that the riders can't take in the energy of the crowd and the scene. And in the late stages of the race, especially as some of the riders start to come off the back of the field, it's a good place to witness the camaraderie that exists within the pro peloton...


...or to grab a beer and cool off a little before the long, lonely ride to the finish. About the only thing Lemon Hill doesn't provide is a view of that finish. So, if you were hoping for the lowdown on the day's results, you'll have to go here.

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A Burger and a Beer at Swift Half Pub

It's really only by way of happy accident that our core BP-weekend group ended up at Swift Half Pub for lunch and to commence our adventures in pub crawling. At the request of my three Philly loving comrades, we'd actually headed out to Northern Liberties with lunch at Standard Tap in mind; problem was, I'd forgotten that Standard does lunch only on Saturday and Sunday.... So, a quick walk up 2nd Street it was. We momentarily contemplated Cantina Dos Segundos, but the Denverite amongst our group shot down that idea as he gets his regular fill of Mexican food back home on the Front Range. Continuing on then, we soon found ourselves at the Piazza at Schmidt's.

The Piazza itself is actually worth a visit if you find yourself in the neighborhood, both for its public courtyard design and its conceptual approach to community-focused living. I'm not sure I like the idea of having my living room or bedroom overlook a twenty-foot wide television screen and a courtyard designed for late night communal reveling. But I can see the appeal for those that are more socially minded than I. And I can certainly see the appeal of having a decent place or two to eat and drink within rolling distance of your front door; of the several options at the Piazza, we pointed ourselves straight for the Swift Half.

I'd expected Swift Half to have a hipster dive bar feel along the lines of Center City's Good Dog Bar, as both pubs are under the same ownership. Instead, we found a wide open space with large booths, airy lighting, ample seating and elbow room, finished brick walls, ESPN on the TV.... Kind of MOR one could say, definitely family friendly and, actually, very much in keeping with the open, contemporary, something-for-everyone design of the Piazza at Schmidt's.

Given that I'd worked up a ferocious hunger with that long hike up 2nd Street and that I hadn't filed A Burger and A Beer report since my trip to California back in the fall, it didn't take me long to figure out what to order.

Swift Half's "Traditional Burger" is aptly named as, unlike at Good Dog, where its counterpart is stuffed with molten blue cheese and topped with a mass of caramelized onions, here there are no bells and whistles. Just a half-pound, hand-formed patty of tender sirloin, a leaf of lettuce and a slice of tomato, all sandwiched between a just-barely-substantial-enough-to-hold-it-all-together brioche bun. I opted for a slice of Keen's aged cheddar, worth the $1.50 up-charge for the sharp, nutty, salty goodness it added to the burger, which I might add was copiously juicy and cooked just to the bloody side of medium-rare. Just how I like it. The shoestring fries were satisfying enough but, really, it's the burger that's worth the trip. That and the admirable tap list. A pint of Bell's Amber Ale, which seems to be making a resurgence around town at the moment, was just the thing with which to wash it all down.






Swift Half Pub
1001 North 2nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123
(215) 923-1600

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Tuesdays at Rosamunde (and Toronado)

Six days and seven nights a week, Rosamunde Sausage Grill makes it their business to grill up what I'm told are some of the best sausages available on the streets of San Francisco. I wouldn't know, though, as I've only been for lunch on a Tuesday, when the usual offerings of forced ground pork and game make way on the open-top grill at Rosamunde for hand-formed patties of ground beef.

Tuesday at Rosamunde's is "secret burger day," a weekly ritual that begins with a delivery of of fresh, Niman Ranch beef and ends as soon as the last of the day's 200 half-pound hamburgers is ordered by one of the legion of the hungry that began to line up along this otherwise relatively quiet block of the Lower Haight well before 11:00 AM.

A quick lunch break it's not, but you've got to be quick if you want in. The doors at Rosamunde open at 11:30 AM. The first order is taken shortly thereafter but it's another half-hour or so before the first burger is served. It's not too terribly much later that the last order is placed, usually sometime just after 1:00, and I'd guess you'd need to be in line a good hour ahead of that time to ensure you've got a chance. Sounds like an exercise in lunacy, I know, but it's damn well worth the wait. Read on and ye shall see.

We'd agreed to meet a friend at Rosamunde around 11:00 but made better than expected time on the crosstown train from Ferry Plaza, where we'd spent a leisurely morning working up our appetites by ogling the gustatory treasures at spots like Cowgirl Creamery, Acme Bread Company and Far West Fungi. At 10:45, the line had already snaked its way well down the block, tailed up when we arrived by the hat-headed guy above, who told us he never misses a week.

The sausage list looked tempting indeed, but we were there for one thing. The Tuesday burger. Three with everything, please. We decided there was no need to request a specific temperature, sensing that things would be just fine.


We were right. The guys at Rosamunde turn out what may just be the utmost example of textbook burger perfection. One generous patty, flame-grilled a perfect medium rare and set atop a toasted onion roll slathered with copious amounts of ketchup and mustard, and topped with melted cheddar, sauteed onions, lettuce and a slice of ripe tomato. A fistful of juicy, moan-and-groan-inducing goodness. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.


And we were getting thirsty waiting for it. Thankfully, that half-hour plus waiting period from order to delivery can be spent right next door at Toronado, a solid, neighborhood dive bar that happens to have a seriously killer on-tap beer program. When the runner from Rosamunde finally comes over and calls your name, it's no problem to bring your burger right back to Toronado, just in time for round two (or three if you're drinkin' like you don't have to go back to work after lunch).

It's tough enough finding Russian River Brewing Company offerings on tap back east, where the brewery has a cult following and the beers are tightly allocated. And at $4/pint... forget about it. Time for a little RR Blind Pig IPA, a bright, snappy contrast to the wholesome richness of the Rosamunde burger.

The man responsible for leading us into this mid-week, mid-day hedonism: Wine & Spirits Magazine editor, Wolfgang "Spume" Weber. Wolfgang first let me in on the "secret burger" over a bottle of Poulsard in New York a few months back. When I told him I'd be SF bound in the fall, he suggested our mission and I held him to it. Killer tour guide that he is, WW even suggested a post-burger walk that led us to what's got to be one of San Francisco's most photographed sites, just a few blocks uphill from Rosamunde. We needed some way to burn off some of what we'd wolfed down, after all.

Is the Rosamunde and Toronado combo the ultimate burger and a beer experience? I'd be hard put to argue otherwise.

Rosamunde Sausage Grill
545 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
(415) 437-6851


Toronado
547 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
(415) 863-2276

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A Burger and a Beer at Local 44

Amateur Night (def):

The purpose of Amateur Night is to provide a platform where amateur performers can showcase and develop their skills. The ultimate goal is to create a cadre of talented, well-trained and well-groomed performance professionals with an effective understanding of the entertainment industry.

– Photo and definition courtesy of the Apollo Theater, where aspiring artists have been putting it all out there just about every Wednesday night since 1934.

The definition of amateur night in the restaurant biz takes on a rather less auspicious tone. It generally focuses on dates such as Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, two of the busiest dining nights of the year, populated largely by inexperienced diners and people who don’t otherwise eat out with any frequency. True cynics might extend the definition to include any Friday and Saturday, when weekend warriors clamor for reservations and take over the tables at all the hottest spots in town. Applying the above parameters, dining out on the Friday night before Valentine’s Day (which fell on a Saturday this year) packed the distinct possibility of a double-whammy curse.

Everything I’d read about Local 44, the new University City venture (at the corner of 44th and Spruce) opened on the first of the year by Memphis Taproom owners Brendan Hartranft and Leigh Maida, led me to expect it would be unaffected by the V-Day phenomena. Early reports at The Brew Lounge, Seen Through a Glass and Femme Fermental had all left me thirsting for a good vibe and some great beer.

The bar and tap list at Local 44. (Photo courtesy of The Brew Lounge.)
The place was jammed on Friday the 13th, with throngs of students filling both the bar and dining sides of room. As expected, Valentine’s Day and amateur night dining didn’t seem to pose a problem; rather, I expect that’s the usual Friday night scenario for a “local” based only a few short blocks from UPenn’s campus.

The problem was that it seemed to be amateur night in the kitchen.

If there’s one thing a bar’s kitchen should have dialed in before anything else, it’s a hamburger (or, one might argue, fries). What I was served at Local 44 should never have been put down in front of me. The white bread roll was too stale even for the two-day-old bin at a corner bakery. The burger, which I ordered medium-rare, was just barely warm, bordering on raw yet still somehow greasy, and so loosely packed that clumps of ground beef fell from the bun at almost every bite. A lettuce leaf, unripe tomato slice and wedge of raw onion did little to make up for what they adorned, with a properly melted slice of decent cheddar (a $1 upcharge) providing the only saving grace. Perhaps the fact that it’s called a “Meat Burger” on the menu should have warned me off. The fries, thankfully, had decent, fresh cut potato flavor, even if they were limp and over-salted.

Since the food at Local 44 is clearly taking a back seat to what’s on tap, it’s comforting to find that they’ve at least gotten their core mission right. Don’t go looking for the usual line-up of bottled brews, as Orval is the one and only beer offered in bottle. It’s the draft line-up that’s already made Local 44 a worthy destination for beer geeks, with about two dozen selections at very fair prices. And it’s perfectly drawn offerings such as Coniston Bluebird Bitter and North Coast Brewing Company’s “Old Rasputin” Russian Imperial Stout that’ll keep me coming back for more. Just not on a Friday night. And not, anytime soon at least, for another shot at their burger.

Local 44
4333 Spruce Street [map]
Philadelphia, PA 19104
(215) 222-2337

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A Burger and a Beer: Standard Tap

Though the Electric Factory awkwardly straddles the no-man’s land between Chinatown, the Loft District and Northern Liberties, it lies within easy if less than picturesque walking distance to any of those neighborhoods. So when I decided to check out Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds last week, I struck out for a bite to eat first in Northern Liberties. Standard Tap beckoned. It’s a bastion of Philly’s gastropub scene for a reason, turning out solid dishes from all corners of its chalkboard menu. This night, though, I was hankering for a burger and a beer.

The Standard Burger may just be one of the most solid burgers in town. A standard setter, if you will. (Go ahead. Roll your eyes.) It may not win awards for ingenuity, in the vein of the bleu cheese infused burger at Good Dog, or reach out and grab your attention, like the topping of long hot peppers at Royal Tavern. But it's really, really sound, anchored by what’s most important – high quality beef that’s tender from not being over-handled, juicy and flavorful from adept cooking. In the comparisons above, I hardly meant to write-off the Standard’s toppings: sautéed mushrooms and onions, an ample lettuce leaf, a thick slice of beefsteak tomato (that was actually ripe and fresh unlike the pallid, wannabe tomatoes at most burger joints) and just the right amount of melted Monterey jack. The burger even shows off the talent of the chefs in the kitchen – and reflects the Tap’s vegetarian friendly menu – as the toppings are tasty in and of themselves and would work just as well on a veggie burger as on the omnivore option. Even the fries merit a mention, fried to a golden crisp, well-seasoned and cut medium so there’s a nice crunch to the exterior balanced by a wee bit of meatiness at center.

When I spotted Sly Fox IPA slotted into one of Standard’s two hand pumps, I looked no further. The more I drink from Sly Fox the more I’m impressed by the fine balance of their beers. This is really complete IPA, with a perfect hop/malt balance, fresh, floral aromas, no cattiness and a really sunny feel with just the right bitter edge on the finish. The beer’s creaminess when issued from the beer engine just adds to its appeal. And it’s also a righteous pairing with the burger. Get in there and grab a pint while the getting’s still good.

Standard Tap 901 N. 2nd Street (at Poplar) Philadelphia, PA 19123 [map] (215) 238-0630

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A Burger and a Beer: Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats

Even though I live closer to the Jersey shore than to Delaware’s beaches, over the last few years I’ve taken a keener liking to the first state’s shore points. Maybe it’s a throwback to childhood summer vacations, when my folks packed up the family car and took us to varying beaches on the DelMar peninsula for a week. Or maybe it’s the fact that dogs are welcome on some of Delaware’s beaches starting not long after the season finale of Labor Day. In any event, when it comes to Delaware's fairly short stretch of shoreline, there’s little doubt that Rehoboth Beach is the area’s economic epicenter as well as its focal point when it comes to options for good grub.

Since opening in 1995, Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats has been one of the anchors of Rehoboth’s casual dining scene. Maybe “dining” is not the right word, as DFHB&E is first and foremost a brewpub. The food is hearty, straightforward and honest, served in more than ample quantities in an environment that more or less matches the tone of the food. Given the relatively low bar set by the food at all too many brewpubs, I almost always choose a burger when eating at any brewpub for the first time, figuring that if they can’t get it right with a burger (and a beer, of course) then there’s little reason to explore further.

Even though I’d visited Dogfish’s brewpub a couple of times in the past, I could hardly pass up starting over as if from a blank slate. Their headliner, the “Indulgence Burger,” a hefty patty of locally bred beef topped with an onion ring, cheddar and bacon sounded hard to beat. Though there are other burger options available at Dogfish Head, I figured “why bother?” A choice well made, as it turned out. The “Indulgence” is not without room for improvement – the Kaiser roll was a touch meager for the scale of the sandwich and full strips of bacon would have delivered greater depth of flavor than the dried bacon crumbles. Those are minor quibbles, however, as the sandwich was more than satisfying – beefy without being greasy and cooked to a dead-on medium rare, just as ordered. It’s the onion ring, though, that really provides the burger’s signature. Sliced thick (it’s as large as the burger itself) and fried in beer batter made with Dogfish Head’s Shelter Pale Ale, the ring adds a sweet, earthy richness to the meatiness of the burger, pushing the whole combo right over the top.

What to drink with an over-the-top burger? How about an over-the-top beer? Dogfish Head has made a name for themselves producing some of the biggest, boldest and hoppiest beers on the craft brewing market. Their 90-Minute IPA – intensely hopped, rich with malty goodness and exhaling aromas of apricot and caramelized grapefruit – may just be the finest all-around beer in the Dogfish Head lineup. Tipping the scales at 9% ABV, it’s hardly a session beer but it’s well balanced and made a very fine match to the burger.

They got it right – the rudiments, that is – enough so that I was compelled to return again later in the week to explore the beers on tap menu a little further. But that’s another story for another day. This is just about a burger and a beer.

Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats
320 Rehoboth Avenue
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
(302) 226-2739

Exterior photo of restaurant courtesy of Dogfish.com

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Related reading:

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98 Degrees in the Shade

The sudden and severe heat wave that's currently smothering the Mid-Atlantic area arrived just in time for yesterday's Philadelphia International Cycling Championship. In the twenty-four year history of the race, it's never once rained. Yesterday, though, had to have been one of the hottest race days on record, making for a serious race of attrition. Matti Breschel, Danish rider for Team CSC, toughed it out to take the field sprint in the 156-mile men's race. The crowds around the course seemed a bit thinner than in years past but those fans that braved the heat had a blast as always. The race may have lost its status as the US Pro Championship a couple of years back but it's still one of the things that makes Philly a special place for me.

Does six-and-a-half hours of racing in 98 degree, high humidity weather sound like your idea of fun? The late race effort shows on the faces of riders as they grind up the penultimate ascent of Lemon Hill.

You don't see them around town very often but the Philadelphia Police force's motorcycle drill team makes an appearance at the race every year, leading the race caravan on their Harley-Davidson police cruisers.

A shady hiding place was a must. And of course, a spot near the kegs couldn't hurt.

Year in and year out, from the local criterium circuit to the Tour de France, the Mavic neutral support drivers are out there taking care of the racers' emergency mechanical needs.

The second year of A Burger and a Beer. This year, it was Brian of Keswick Cycles sweating it out at the grill on Lemon Hill.

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Much More than a Burger and a Beer at Maia in Villanova

Set in a rather antiseptically upscale strip mall and corporate office complex, Maia, the dining and food court megaplex that opened just three weeks ago in the center of Villanova, isn’t much to look at from the outside. Inside, though, there’s something for just about everyone. At least that seems to be the idea as conceived by chefs/owners/brothers Patrick and Terence Feury, along with their partners and investors in a bevy of pan-culinary suburban Philadelphia outposts that, in addition to Feury outpost Nectar, includes Basil, Cin Cin, Tango and Yangming.


The sheer scale at Maia is daunting. 22,000 square feet of showroom floor – the space was previously a briefly lived Fresh Grocer supermarket – allow for numerous subdivisions. Front and left, there’s a white tiled coffee, pastry and juice bar, seemingly tailored to the suburban mom on the move. Behind that is the large bar and lounge area – all brick and dark, right down to the parquet flooring – the site of both an apparently bustling weekend bar scene and of Maia’s full service but casual dining area. Beyond that yet, at rear and center, is an open kitchen clad in polished stainless steel. According to our delightfully helpful server, it’s just a fraction of Maia’s absolutely cavernous, luxe kitchen space.


Once past the gauntlet of hostesses in the entrance foyer, the right side of Maia’s ground floor is site to the market portion of the business as well as to its most casual dining space, more cafeteria than café. One entire wall is lined with refrigerated beverage cases, displaying an extremely deep selection of bottled beers. Following along the walls, from right to left, front to rear, there’s another coffee bar, more pastry, a charcuterie counter and, finally, the market’s prepared food selections, displayed in glass cases which run the length of the back wall, eventually converging with the open kitchen area.

And that’s just the ground floor. There’s a full second floor as well, home to Maia’s more formal, fine dining room.

The upside to all that space is the obvious opportunity it provides for diversity, even if it carries with it a certain lack of focus. The downside is an economy of scale in which the scale may just prove too large for the possibility of economic success. Time will tell, I suppose.

In any event, I’m getting well ahead of myself. I stopped into Maia recently for Sunday brunch with my wife and some friends. Stemming from our casual meal, this post was really just supposed to be an installment of A Burger and a Beer. So, on to the food.

In the Feury brothers’ own words, their menu draws on "the rich culinary traditions of Scandinavia, Alsace and the abundance of natural resources afforded by the East Coast's fertile soils." Their “bistro brunch” menu is peppered with Alsatian classics like choucroute, tarte flambé and a charcuterie platter. They take their place alongside a cured fish smörgåsbord and grilled Norwegian salmon, anchored by a balance of dishes that draw equally from French bistro and American café standards.


I started with something that showcases the restaurant’s attachment to the buy local phenomenon. Their “Bistro Salad” is an undeniably fresh assortment of arugula, radiccihio and red mustard greens, topped with a few candied walnuts and crumbled goat cheese from local Shellbark Hollow Farm. This may sound ridiculous but it was the best salad I’ve had in ages. Quality ingredients helped it along but what made it for me was the perfectly balanced, deeply flavorful citrus shallot vinaigrette.


The Maia Burger fell a little short of the standard-setting salad. The house ground, dry aged sirloin was intensely beefy. But somewhere between our order and the kitchen, the medium-rare test was failed. I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt on this occasion, as I think the mistake may have been in communication rather than entirely in the cook’s hands. Nonetheless, what arrived was a perfectly shaped (almost too much so) patty that had been cooked into completely gray submission. Choosing such a lean cut for a burger may make that a hard error to avoid. Luckily, the burger, like the salad, was clearly made from prime raw materials. Along with a generous topping of melted Pennsylvania Noble Cheddar, the quality of beef helped keep the burger flavorful in spite of its overcooked state. A welcome spark of heat was delivered from an unexpected quarter – the firm, black pepper potato roll on which the Maia Burger is served.

In addition to the aforementioned tremendous selection of beers in bottle, Maia also pours a solid lineup on draft. Choices are listed by style followed by brewery, name, location and alcohol information. Standouts on the current list include locals like Troegs Pale Ale and Sly Fox Pikeland Pils, and Belgians such as Grimbergen Dubbel and Géants “Goliath.” I whet my whistle with a crisp, refreshing Kölsch from Gaffel, a brewery in Köln, Germany, and then settled into a pint of Founders’ “Centennial” American IPA to accompany my burger. The list of wines available by the glass is a touch less exciting but does include a few reliable choices such as Weingut Huber’s Grüner Veltliner “Hugo” and the Crémant d’Alsace Rosé of Lucien Albrecht. Prices, running anywhere between 2x to 3x markups, are moderate relative to the oft outrageous PA scale.

It will take at least another half-dozen trips to Maia to really come to grips with all it has to offer. The temptation level is certainly there. Heck, even the ham and Gruyere sandwich in their to-go case looked damn good. I just hope there’s enough community demand to justify and support Maia’s huge scope.

Maia Restaurant and Market 789 East Lancaster Avenue Suite 150 Villanova, PA 19085 610-527-4888

Subsequent visits: July 2008

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