Pub & Kitchen turns one this Wednesday and the Center City South gastropub is celebrating with $2 drafts, $3 sangria and Cape May oysters for $1 each.

Also to be debuted will be a special “One Year Anniversary Pub & Kitchen Ale” from Yards Brewing which will be tapped at 9pm.

At 11pm cake and champagne will be served to all.

Pub & Kitchen [Official Site]

Restaurant Week isn’t without its casualties, namely the staffs of the restaurants who wind up overworked, often undertipped (remember you’re getting a $50 dinner for a reduced $35 tab, tip on the $50 value) and generally haggard.

Pub & Kitchen comes to the rescue with 2 weeks of latenight (11pm to 1am) specials including a heavily discounted “half” Windsor burger and a host of other options.

Check them all out after the jump.

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Over the past week or so details have been coming out on the soon to open Resurrection Ale House on Grays Ferry Avenue.

The menu by chef Joe Chmiko has interesting seasonal items like watermelon, cucumber and mixed basil salad, hoisin braised pork ribs and twice fried chicken with watermelon and salted honey.

The bottled beer list will contain a unique concentration of Belgian Lambics plus owner Brendan Hartranft’s finely picked selection of other Belgians and quizzically, Natty Bo .

The opening is tentatively set for the September 9th but as Hartranft told Michael Klein,  he’s got “a punch list as long as my arm.”

When they do open though they will have a keg of Brewers Arts Resurrection Ale which they picked up themselves from the Baltimore brewery.

Resurrection, a Philadelphia Ale House. Soon. [Jack Curtin]
Sneak Peek at Resurrection Ale House Menu [Grub Street]
Dinging Bites [The Insider]
Resurrection Ale House [Official Site]

Mike Stollenwerk’s Fish is aiming for just after Labor Day at 1708 Lombard. Meal Ticket has an early look at the menu.

Skate with truffle spaetzle and a parmesan broth sounds great. Escolar? No thank you!

Sample menu for Mike Stollenwerk’s Fish [Meal Ticket]

Meritage reopens today at 5 after an intense 10-day overhaul that doubled the bar area and transformed the dining area.

Space

• New color scheme combining two yellows
  • Tuscan Sunrise
  • Tuscan Sunset
• Hardwood floors in dining room
• Butcher block tabletops
• Artwork features women, a tribute to the restaurants female owners and chef
• 50 seat dining room
• Bar area doubled by removing wine storage from bar

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Meritage closed last night for a  couple week renovation that aims to breathe new life into the restaurant that has sat in the shadow of Pub & Kitchen at the corner of 20th and Lombard.

Susanna Foo alum Anne Elizabeth Coll will be in the kitchen with a new more budget friendly menu and the space will be more open with an expanded bar area.

The menu will blend French techniques and Asian flavors, featuring snacks, small plates and large plates. The menu tops out at $21 for the roasted Maine cod.

The dining room will get hardwood floors, butcher block tables and new lighting.

Check out what will be on the menu when the restaurant reopens on Thursday, August 13th.

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We’ve received word from Leigh Maida that she and Brendan Hartranft of Memphis Taproom and Local 44 are set to open their third bar. Resurrection Ale House will take over Yello’Bar in September on Grays Ferry Avenue.

The spot will focus more on food than their other two spots, filling a glaring need in the neighborhood. But don’t take our word for it, check out Leigh’s words below.

The name will be Resurrection Ale House, and we’re hammering out a menu now that we think fills a gap in the neighborhood, casual, beer-centric, someplace you can feel like a grown up, and be catered to with care, but not have to spend a ton of money to feel like you got some real value out of your experience. We’re focused (as always) on a stellar craft beer list, but we’re equally focused this time on the dining side of things too. For now we’re sort of working under the term “beer bistro” as a guiding principle, for the menu, the decor, the over all vibe of the place. We’re hoping for the same kinds of laid back, food and beer savvy, mixed-bag of cool guests that we get to meet at Memphis and Local 44.

Resurrection Ale House [Official Site]

Craig LaBan takes on Novita Bistro, an Italian BYOB that thankfully comes with a Morrocan twist.

[I]t is [Chef Hassan] Zanzoul’s increasing willingness to cook the flavors of his native Morocco that has finally given this pleasant bistro its first air of distinction. The garlicky house-made merguez lamb sausage is among my favorites here, grilled to a crispy brown for an appetizer over a coarse hummuslike mash of chickpeas ringed by vibrant red charmoula sauce. It’s also served as an entree over couscous alongside a brochette of big marinated grilled shrimp. The ever-cautious Zanzoul makes these skinless links with less chile heat than I’d like (and he’d like, for that matter), but this also allows the spice box of other aromatics to surge forth in a chorus of cumin, anise, paprika, and allspice that finds an echo in the tangy charmoula, a citrusy brew tinged sunburst red and smoky with paprika and cayenne.

Two Bells – Very Good

Novita Bistro [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Novita Bistro [Official Site]

This Wednesday Pub & Kitchen is hosting a special wine dinner. Four courses will be paired with four American wines for $55.

Check out the menu of seasonal tastes after the jump.

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The Sidecar Bar and Grille has a new monthly event that is sure to do some damage. It’s their High Gravity Wednesday featuring 8 beers that are 9% ABV or higher.

The first of these high octane nights is tonight, check out the full lineup after the jump. Even the fruity beer is 11%.

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