The ultimate neighborhood guide on where to eat, drink, and play in South Philly’s Point Breeze
Don’t sleep on American Sardine Bar, Point Breeze’s watering hole for tinned fish aficionados. Perfect for a relaxed post-work bite and drink, its back patio — with comfy lawn chairs and string lights — invites cozy chats among locals. Inquirer.com
Philly chefs are cooking some exciting dishes for vegans
“Few bar chefs, though, give as much consistent attention to creative vegan options as much as Doreen DeMarco, who oversees three local pubs. At South Philadelphia Taproom (1509 Mifflin St.), she gives an American take on jackfruit, an ingredient often used in the nearby Indonesian restaurants. She marinates chunks of the meaty tropical fruit in Buffalo sauce and then fries them in seasoned breading for a hoagie roll with lettuce and vegan ranch. She uses crab cakes as inspiration for a version made with artichokes and faba-naise at Second District Brewery (1939 S. Bancroft St.). At American Sardine Bar (1800 Federal St.), meanwhile, she skips past the usual faux-meat vegan cheesesteak by transforming sheer slices of roasted eggplant — salt-cured, dehydrated, marinated with liquid smoke, soy, and mushroom powder then griddled like meat on the flat-top — for an eggplant Parm steak drizzled with a parsnip whiz reminiscent of Vedge’s rutabaga fondue masterpiece.” –Craig LaBan, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Philly’s 20 Essential Patios for Drinking and Dining Outdoors
With its lawn chairs and picnic tables, American Sardine Bar’s outdoor space in Point Breeze feels like hanging out in a friend’s backyard — a friend who put together a great beer list for the occasion.
Philly rock-paper-scissors championship lights up American Sardine Bar
On Wednesday, the Philadelphia Rock Paper Scissors Championship tournament took over the top floor of the Point Breeze pub. There, beneath twinkling strings of lights, Panty Bandit was joined by a rambunctious group including RPS competitors Pickle Rick, Geodude, V for Vendetta, Honey Donut and the personified manifestation of Unbridled Enthusiasm.
At the Sardine Bar this week, clusters of RPS teams and friend groups intermingled and bumped into one another, looking for all the world like — sorry — a tin of happy sardines.
The 70 or so people comprised a diverse mix: green-haired chicks in studded combat boots, balding dudes with truly impressive beards, baby-faced twenty-something yuppies, and an elderly fellow with a cane. All were fueled by adrenaline, beer-battered onion rings, Citywide specials and Monopoly-money gambling.
Food Critic Craig LaBan reviews American Sardine Bar chef, Doreen DeMarco
June 1, 2017 | Philly.com
Photo by Tom Gralish
“The ever-changing blackboard menu is full of hand-crafted (and sometimes surprisingly adventurous) flavors that almost always satisfy, from daily soups (Moroccan chicken was a favorite) to big sardines cooked three ways (get them grilled) and to what are still the city’s best onion rings. DeMarco’s spicy chili chicken wings also get my vote for Top 5 in Philly, the tender meat juicy from a star anise brine and its crackly crust shined with a sweet and spicy glaze infused with Sichuan peppercorns, sesame oil, and honey. A braised Korean short-rib sandwich amped with gochujang marinade stands in for any beefy cravings. But it is the nonmeat options where DeMarco’s creativity really shines. Her Asian salmon burger, laced with sesame, soy, and Thai chili mayo, is a satisfying burger alternative. But so was her vegan “cauli-burger” — a variation served on her gluten-free pizza crust — made from mashed cauliflower and tofu glazed in a vegan balsamic mayo emulsified with aquafaba — chickpea water. And then there was the Burmese green tea salad, a colorful pinwheel of crunchies arrayed over greens — yellow lentils, sunflower seeds, sesame, peanuts, and jalapeño rings — that was mixed with tender threads of fermented tea leaves and a squeeze of lemon into one of the most refreshingly snappy salads of the spring.
To wash it down, ASB always has a great beer list of cans and drafts, featuring sometimes-hard-to-find local stars, like Saint Benjamin, Tired Hands, Sterling Pig, and a particularly great wild ale fermented with fruit, Mr. Blueberry, from Highway Manor in Camp Hill, Pa. If ever there was a perfect brew to sip from a lawn chair in South Philly’s beer garden ode to seriously silly food, Mr. Blueberry is it.” – Craig LaBan, New faces give fresh life to Philly’s veteran gastropubs
Food Network names American Sardine Bar among “The 40 Best Bars in America for Food Lovers”
Leave those basic burgers and no-frills fries behind at these watering holes where you can slake your thirst without sacrificing your appetite.
Most swim to American Sardine Bar for the small but well-curated craft beer list that touches on almost every style of suds. But the name of the bar is a clue that there’s some food as well, namely sardines prepared four ways: sauteed, grilled, a la plancha or fried. (If you count sardines on a sandwich, the number rounds up to five.) The small but flavorful fish go great with a cold saison.
July 25, 2016 | Food Network
American Sardine Bar “wins Christmas”
Have you been to the American Sardine Bar this holiday season? With its backyard all tricked out in holiday glory, many of its guests have taken to social media to share their excitement at seeing the colorful spectacle curated by the gastro pub.
“American Sardine Bar wins Christmas” – Amanda Bernhardt
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American Sardine Bar Is Celebrating Its 4th Anniversary
American Sardine Bar in Point Breeze is celebrating 4 years.
Remember way back when (say, five years ago) when long-time residents of Point Breeze tried to stop real estate developer John Longacre from turning the former Wander Inn into a craft beer bar? Their fears of gentrification delayed the opening of American Sardine Bar by at least a year.
But open it did, and fans of Longacre’s landmark South Philly Tap Room a few blocks away now had another place to drink high-end beer from cans and curb their munchies with fried PB&J sandwiches. Things haven’t gotten much easier for Longacre–what with community members trying to shut down his Point Breeze Beer Garden this summer–but at least the Sardine Bar still stands, four years after opening.
And so tomorrow, starting at noon, Sardine staff and friends will celebrate the bar’s anniversary (and its tenacity) with a party. The kitchen will whip up a fanciful menu and guests will play games, compete for prizes and tipple a spectacular draft list.
Notice the PBC Kenzinger at the bottom – an easy-to-obtain local flagship that we can only presume is being kept on amidst the headliners as a gesture of friendship for the brewers who named one of their first beers “Newbold” after the new name Longacre gave to the SPTR neighborhood with good intentions yet over the objection of some residents.
Call it what you will, Newbold, Point Breeze and much of South Philly have become commercial and residential magnets for Longacre’s clientele and their friends, and PBC engenders that modern street cred, as do Longacre’s cluster of three establishments (the Brew bottle shop moved in nearby).
Certainly playing into the fears of his critics, Longacre told Craig LaBan in 2012, “I have no idea why hipsters like going into bad neighborhoods and obscure locations, but I’m glad they come. … I know I feel safe here. Plus, I’m more of a danger to myself.”
Source: PhillyMag
American Sardine Bar Tops “50 Best Bars of Philadelphia” List
Since 2013, the American Sardine has been climbing the Foobooz “50 Best Bars in Philadelphia” list.That year the gastro pub landed at #4; in 2014 at #2. The new list is out and we are honored to be seated at the head of the table at #1.
From Foobooz:
We reached out to bartenders, beer reps, booze writers and professional drinkers of all stripes, asked them to pick their most-loved bars in the area, added our own favorites, and then did a little cocktail-napkin math. A whole year’s worth of drinking, and it all comes down to this: one list, 50 bars (in order of greatness) and no apologies. Bottoms up, Philly.
American Sardine Bar, Point Breeze
1. You only have to spend a night at the friendly side of the long, polished bar here to get why American Sardine Bar is the best in Philly. It’s warm and welcoming, loud but convivial. They’ve got a great beer selection, bartenders who know you better the longer you sit, tasty sandwiches coming from the kitchen, frequent specials to keep things interesting. All that, and then there’s also the backyard that’s just as inviting and twice as cool as yours is ever going to be.
Check out what other great establishments made the list at PhillyMag.
American Sardine Bar hosts Presidential Candidate Martin OMalley
On September 10, 2015, American Sardine Bar proudly hosted Democratic Presidential candidate and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley.
“I know there’s a fine line between illusion and imagination when a man stands before you with 2 percent name recognition nationally and says he’s running for president of the United States,” O’Malley, a Democrat, said. “I like tough odds – must be an Irish thing.”
Making his pitch under a tent behind the bar, O’Malley noted that he was the only candidate in the field of either party with 15 years of executive experience – as governor and, earlier, as mayor of Baltimore. He said he was able to enact progressive policies others talk about, including legalization of same-sex marriage, an increased minimum wage, and benefits for the children of undocumented immigrants.
O’Malley closed out his speech playing a set of Irish pub songs with his former band, the Hooligans, who had one of their earliest gigs at the now-closed Finnigan’s Wake in Northern Liberties. Mike Driscoll, the politically active owner of that bar, introduced him Thursday.
Former City Councilman Bill Green was among the crowd of about 150 in Point Breeze.
Read the entire article at Philly.com.
