Loading ...Tiedhouse Reviewed in City Paper
Posted by Kirsten Henri on February 20th, 2009
In this week’s review of self-proclaimed cozy gastropub The Tiedhouse, the City Paper’s David Snyder first tries to define the difficult-to-define word itself:
It may be hard to pin down exactly what constitutes a gastropub, but as Justice Potter Stewart said in his famous U.S. Supreme Court opinion about pornography, “I know it when I see it.” At the Tiedhouse, unfortunately, I just don’t see it.
Although he sees potential in some dishes, he finds some serious flaws in the fare:
Ultimately, though, what solidifies Tiedhouse as a gastropub in name only is poor execution. Ever wonder how dry a meatball can be without turning to powder? Try the albondigas, Mexican-style meatballs. Think it’s impossible for french fries to be burnt and soggy at the same time? Tiedhouse found a way.
The bigger plates show that Tiedhouse is capable of coming up with truly good ideas, but an apparent lack of concentration claimed many of these dishes, as well.
On a related note, maybe it’s time to bring back that old discussion about creating a new term to replace gastropub? We still like Fooboozerie…
2001 Hamilton Street, Philadelphia, PA
Related Tags: David Snyder, Reviewed, Tiedhouse
February 20th, 2009 at 9:52 am
The menu when they first opened was fantastic… then, as this article mentioned, they tried to dumb it down. Very bad move on their part. The current menu is booring. A few items are fantastic, but not enough there to make someone want to go back more often than not.