A week ago we received a press release touting Bar 210 at Lacroix’s happy hour. And we thought to ourselves, they haven’t had a happy hour?

Turns out they haven’t but starting tonight they will! From 5 to 7 tonight and every weeknight there will be custom-crafted cocktails half-price at $6 along with $5 wines and $4 bottled beers and most importantly, complimentary hors d’oeuvres from chef de cuisine Jason Cichonski.

And don’t forget you can get a full meal from the bar menu (PDF) nightly.

Bar 210 at Lacroix [Official Site]

Following on the heels of Matthew Levin leaving Lacroix, Adam Erace has a review of Bar 210, the more affordable bar at the Rittenhouse. It provides an interesting tease into what Levin could be planning next.

[Matthew Levin's] a sneaky bastard, slipping Coca-Cola into the tempura-fried shiitakes’ soy-sauce dip, spiking fresh-squeezed lemonade with tequila and jalapeños. In Levin’s world, the chicken “nuggets” are the size of bricks and the strawberry “pearls” floating in the cardamom-laced Champagne involve a gelling agent called Kappa and a medical syringe.

Levin captains Lacroix with the mischievous spirit of a little boy who just tricked his grandma into eating a bug. And Bar 210 sells the food he’d make for his co-conspirators: conceptual comfort stuff—ooh, the meatloaf gratin!—and guilty pleasures tapped from deep, dark places in our subconscious.

Playing the Numbers [Philadelphia Weekly]
Bar 210 at Lacroix [Official Site]

Last week we received a sneak preview of Bar 210, the new bar at Lacroix. The bar features its own menu looks like a relaxed and relatively inexpensive way to be introduced to chef Matthew Levin’s culinary skills. There’s also a collection of hand crafted cocktails that is sure to create some buzz, especially the “Bi-Sexual Bourbon,” a tasty concoction of Makers Mark, peach nectar, sugar syrup, smoked maple syrup and rimmed with freeze dried peaches. 

Full snack and cocktail menus after the jump.

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AD Amorosi lobs out this rumor, “is Stephen Starr doing designer Mexican for his Broad Street diner?” [Ice Pack, City Paper]

Paxia, the former Molcajete Mixto is having their official grand opening Monday. They’ll be offering a $25 three-course dinner. [Food and Drinq]

Phoodie.info has what John McCain ordered at Devon Seafood the other day. And yes, we think this does make Devon the new Bookbinders. [Phoodie.info]

Bar 210 at Lacroix is aiming for the second week of September for an opening. The Clog has the rundown of the design. We’re intrigued by the leather floor. [The Clog]

Bridge hoppers will be glad to hear that Old City’s Swanky Bubbles was unscathed from a fire yesterday morning and was open for business last night. [Dan Gross, Philadelphia Daily News]

In the still not open category, Earth Bread + Brewery and Minar Palace have yet to open their doors. Your guesses are as good as ours and maybe theirs.

In the still closed department, Blue Comet in Glenside hopes to be back in 30 to 90 days. [Ice Pack, City Paper]

And in the gutted and we didn’t notice dept., the Elephant and Castle at 18th and Market is no more.

This week The Bite takes a look at the new Bar 210 being built inside Lacroix and considers other restaurant bars that are worth sidling up to.

The Bite: Hungry? Saddle up [Metro Philadelphia]

Mid-September should see Bar 210, the new bar inside of Lacroix make its debut. [The Clog]

Stepen Starr’s Teplitzky’s still isn’t open in the Chelsea Hotel in A.C. A.D. says it is still a couple weeks out. [Ice Pack, City Paper]

Drew Lazor has a photographic tour of the new Pumpkin Market. [The Clog]

Georges Perrier will be closing Le Bec-Fin to update the decor sometime in November. We’d link to the story but the Philly.com link is wrong. Maybe this is an example of that Inquirer first philosophy. Update, found a working link! [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Government records say Julia Child was a spy! [comcast.net News]