More on the Royal Tavern’s 7th anniversary. On Wednesday, November 11th the week long fun begins with a night for vegans and vegetarians. All of the blackboard specials will be vegetarian or vegan items and there will be a specialty cocktails crafted from cruelty free ingredients. It all starts at 5pm and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to PAWS.

Royal Tavern [Official Site]

Tuesday November 17th will mark the seventh anniversary of the Royal Tavern. To celebrate, the Bella Vista gastropub will be featuring DJs, drink specials, party favors and some of the most popular menu items and specials of all-time.

Stop in and fill out a ballot between now and Sunday, November 8th for your items that you wish would be brought back. Is it the smoked duck club, the poutine, Billy Ray’s fried chicken? Cast your vote and visit starting on the 11th as the specials are revealed and served daily.

Royal Tavern [Official Site]

Craig LaBan visits Bibou where he finds chef Pierre Calmels and his wife Charlotte creating another star French bistro on 8th Street in South Philadelphia. Of special note was the “gastro-splurge” of the seven-course $70 tasting dinner.

Our meal soared from an ethereally light but vivid chilled asparagus soup to a velvety-tender slice of poached veal tongue with sauce gribiche (a decadent throwback mayo with capers, cornichons, minced hard-cooked egg, and tarragon.) There were wonderfully crisped scallops with lime emulsion, sea beans and shaved cucumber noodles, another bowl of Madeira-sauced chanterelles (which I gratefully devoured), seared foie gras, and an intensely beefy hanger steak in a light green peppercorn sauce alongside snappy plumes of black trumpet mushrooms that glistened with a butter shine.

Three Bells – Excellent

Bibou [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Bibou [Official Site]

Philadelphia Magazine’s Joy Manning handed out an A- for the food at Bibou, calling the fare “the country cousin to the citified cuisine of Le Bec. It’s more rustic, without fussy embellishments or unnecessary elements, but just as genuine, and made with the same skill, the same obsessive attention to detail.” [Philadelphia Magazine]

Wine guru David McDuff visits Bibou on a Sunday prix fixe night for the $45 per person meal and finds the “plats principaux are the stars.” [McDuff's Food & Wine Trail]

Drew Lazor runs down what he had at his Sunday prix fixe and in addition to still being full the next day, he found it “ridiculously tasty.” [Meal Ticket]

Bibou also made the Philadelphia Weekly 50-Must Eats with its seven-course tasting menu for $70. PW calls Bibou’s foie gras some of the best in Philly. [Philadelphia Weekly]

Bibou [Official Site]

Adam Erace reviews Bibou, Philadelphia’s latest French bistro and finds the service and food is so good there’s nothing left to be done but some nitpicking.

To eat Calmels’ food is to, at least momentarily, depart the bistro parameters that have lately defined (or constrained, maybe) French in Philly. Sure, Bibou is a bistro at heart—in addition to ivory scallops ringed 
by couscous, summer squash ribbons and frothy gold curry (course No. 4), they also serve pigs feet and escargots—but the clean presentation, precise execution and sheer élan with which Calmels cooks puts it on another level.

Bibou [Philadelphia Weekly]
Bibou [Official Site]

For the haters of self promotion out there, here’s a restaurant review sure to warm your heart. David Snyder goes to Bibou which opened without much fanfare except for from some hardcore foodies in May and crowns it “the best French bistro in a city teeming with them.”

These upscale versions of French country fare far exceed the typical expectations and limitations of a bistro. After just one bite, the classical methods the chef perfected at several Michelin-rated restaurants in France, New York City’s Daniel and Philly’s Le Bec-Fin (where he was executive chef) are apparent.

Nowhere are these skills more vivid than in the chef’s sauces. It’s difficult to upstage perfect, double-seared hanger steak, but the depth that green peppercorn, red currant gelée and a touch of cream brought to the dish’s red wine bordelaise sauce (a Georges Perrier recipe Pierre tweaked) had me asking for more house-made bread to mop one of my companions’ plates. Grenadine syrup added structure to the rhubarb and Meyer lemon-zest sauce accompanying crisp-skinned sea bass. The whisper of clove in the Black Diamond plum chutney was a creative bridge to house-made pumpkin bread served with seared foie gras. Fresh sage from the Calmels’ personal garden made the jus in veal medallions sing.

Eiffel Power [City Paper]
Bibou [Official Site]

Chick’s Cafe has a new head bartender, Phoebe Esmon and Monday they’re formally introducing her with a fun event.

The $45 event will feature five of Esmon’s hand-crafted cocktails paired with four courses of Mediterranean inspired food. Among the highlights:

• Plymouth gin, cucumber and green Chartreuse elixir paired with a market fresh Italian crudo
• Spicy rye whiskey, orange pekoe tea and muddled mint cooler paired with Spanish influenced barbecue plate

Chick’s Cafe [Official Site]

Trey Popp is a Southerner and doesn’t bestow BBQ praise lightly but Bebe’s Barbecue has him singing.

The pork is moist yet deeply smoky, dressed with a zippy tomato-based vinegar sauce, and piled on a toasted hamburger bun in such a heap that a single pre-airport sandwich kept me going for 16 hours of sleepless and snackless travel. The fresh collards, flavored sublimely with liquid smoke rather than ham hocks, are tender but not at all mushy.

With meat this expertly smoked and hospitality this genuine, Bebe’s is set to become my biggest temptation on a street teeming with them

Right on ‘Cue [City Paper]
Bebe’s Barbecue [Official Site]

We admit that we weren’t personally that excited for the 12 different kinds of deviled eggs available at Supper’s happy hour last Wednesday. But the sheer energy of those who were that excited got us in the door. Well that and the $3 cans of Sly Fox.

But we have to admit we did enjoy all the varieties we chose and so did Mac & Cheese. And she wasn’t alone. 1080 deviled eggs were served up.

The deviled eggs will be available through July with a rotating menu of four and a Sly Fox beer can for $6.

Supper’s Deviled Egg Happy Hour [Mac & Cheese]
Supper [Official Site]

Inquirer food columnist and Foobooz crush object Rick Nichols goes to 12 Steps Down? 12 Steps Down? Yep, becuase the divey bar has “astonishingly better than your standard bar fare.”

Stepped-up bar eats [Philadelphia Inquirer]