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
Miss Rachel’s Pantry featured on CBS3
“It is a bakery that invites to you make yourself at home around their farmhouse table. And it’s not the kind of eatery you’d expect to find in South Philly. What make this place so special?” Vittoria Woodill from Taste With Tori on CBS 3 reports.
Besides the delicious food and the ingredients that go into the dishes, this place offers people a once-a-week unique dining experience. Get ready to make a reservation.
Walking into Miss Rachel’s Pantry is like walking into your mom’s kitchen back in the ’50’s – that apron; those glasses; that refrigerator.
On the table warm sticky buns or maybe french chocolate brownies. Rachel Klein, owner of Miss Rachel’s Pantry is fussing to make everything perfect and everything vegan. No dairy, eggs or meat.
Style spread made from soy beans. How about a dip in the pub cheese?
“We take the cashews and grind them up and get to sleepover night with probiotics until they get nice and tart. Then it’s ground up with sun-dried tomatoes, smoked paprika,” Klein says.
Miss Rachel’s Pantry sells soups, sandwiches and sweets on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But on one of those days, something special happens here.
Continue reading at philadelphia.cbslocal.com.
Neighborhood News: Buckminster’s now open in Point Breeze
The former location of Burg’s Lounge at 21st and Federal has seen a huge transformation in the past year.
The once dated corner property is now home to an affordable neo-bistro by the name of Buckminster’s. This new restaurant from the owners of Cafe Lift, Kensington Quarters and Bufad opened on November 15.
Owner Michael Pasquarello thought of Buckminster Fuller, the 1950′s architect, as he was searching for light fixtures for this new restaurant. At the time, the restaurant had no concept or name. The idea of Fuller then helped shape the vision for the restaurant based on his values of sustainability, form and function. While the restaurant isn’t a full-on homage to Fuller, Pasquarello says, it is inspired by him in various ways.
Continue reading and view more photos at PassyunkPost.com.
reNewbold Resident Alison K. shares her story
Alison was one of the first people to move into reNewbold. We asked her about the experience.
How did you first become aware of reNewbold and what attracted you to the property?
I have been going to the South Philadelphia Tap Room for about 10 years and became friendly with John Longacre. When I decided that I wanted to move out of my house, he was one of the first calls I made. I knew that reNewbold was in process and with how John had been talking about it, I knew it was something special.
Did you live in South Philly before coming to reNewbold?
Yes, I lived in EPX before coming to reNewbold.
In regards to local amenities, which do you most frequent and support?
I work at home, so most of my day is spent in South Philly. There have been some amazing restaurants on Passyunk Avenue and there seems to be a new amazing happy hour every day. I am a big fan of shopping locally so I also frequent the craft and gift stores.
What would you say to someone who was on the fence about moving into a reNewbold property?
I would say that when I bought my first house on the other side of Broad, I had terrible buyer’s remorse. I worried I made the wrong decision and that I spent a lot of money and didn’t know what I was getting. With reNewbold, I haven’t felt that way once. I trust John and the team and I know they will do everything they can to make sure this is the best house I could have possibly purchased.
CRDA approves Longacre plan for armory
A plan to convert a historic midtown armory into a millennial-minded retail-residential complex was unanimously approved Tuesday by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority board.
The plan by developer John Longacre, 42, impressed CRDA officials last month as a bold, privately funded bet on Atlantic City by a man with a track record of running popular businesses in Philadelphia.
“This is a pretty big residential plan here,” said Board Vice Chairman Robert Mulcahy III before voting in favor of the project.
Longacre’s attorney, Nick Talvacchia of Cooper Levenson, on Tuesday detailed the plan to convert Morris Guards Armory at 10 S. New York Ave. into 25 one- and two-bedroom apartments with first-floor retail space.
“We’d like to starting leasing out this summer,” he said by phone Tuesday. “We are coming down there in a big way,” said Longacre, who speaks with evangelical zeal about his plan to create a hip enclave in Atlantic City.
Continue reading at PressOfAtlanticCity.
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.
Could a Point Breeze pop-up garden bring commerce back to ‘The Breeze’?
“The goal is to revitalize that commercial corridor. What we’d like to do is build something cool there that’s a combination [of residential and commercial].”
From PhillyVoice:
It all started with a pop-up.
On May 16, an otherwise uncontroversial pop-up garden surfaced at 1622 Point Breeze Ave. To anyone familiar with the neighborhood, you could be fooled into thinking it was a mirage — an unlikely birthing ground for an entertainment concept you’d expect to find occupying lots in major commercial corridors like South Street or Columbus Boulevard.
“Before they moved that garden over there, it was a dump,” a Point Breeze man locally referred to as “Wala Wala,” who lives directly across from the pop-up, told PhillyVoice outright. “It was garbage, trailers, old trucks. For 30 years, I rode by here, and it was a dump.”
Though, most residents can recall when the avenue wasn’t a “dump.”
Point Breeze Avenue, or “The Breeze,” as it’s called by longtime residents, hasn’t been a significant commercial corridor for decades. And while “dump” might not be the most tactful choice of words, it wouldn’t be a stretch to call the avenue a relic of its former self. It’s what makes the garden’s existence — what, with its food trucks, yoga and beer — such a curious one.
Because for residents who remember a bustling Point Breeze Avenue, the garden is a symbol of hope.
Fact: The pop-up garden will be gone in September. That won’t change. However, it’s not true that the space will return to its former state of vacancy once its array of merchants pack up for good.
That was never the plan for Longacre, who owns LPMG Properties and is responsible for the pop-up in the first place.
“It’s a test to see what we can do there,” he told PhillyVoice.
By implementing a space filled with amenities like food trucks, a produce cart and community programming, Longacre — the man behind South Philadelphia Tap Room and American Sardine Bar — wanted to experiment with how much interest merchants could generate in a neighborhood that’s less densely populated than an average (and more ideal) commercial site. Considering the garden has, he said, attracted “thousands” since its May opening, he’s considering the experiment a pretty successful one.
Now, Longacre is thinking long-term.
“The goal is to revitalize that commercial corridor,” Longacre explained. “And there’s two parts to that: You need amenity businesses, and you need residents. The residents won’t move in where there aren’t any amenity-based businesses, and amenity-based businesses won’t go where there aren’t residents. It’s a tricky balancing act, and what we’d like to do is build something cool there that’s a combination of both [residential and commercial].”
Read the complete article HERE.