The Swift Half has been steadily expanding its menu since opening this Spring. Check out the latest incarnation of the menu after the jump.

And don’t forget, on Mondays Swift Half offers half-pints for $2.
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Pub & Kitchen is kicking off its fall menu this evening. Back on the menu are the fish and chips with mushy peas and also the English onion soup.

Among the other highlights are the Welsh rarebit pub snack for $3, Strub Farm Wagyu meatloaf for $16 and the seasonal gnocchi dish now served with butternut squash, brussel sprouts, pork belly and brown butter for $11.

Full menu after the jump.

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Craig LaBan has been driven to haiku and song over the Good Dog so it was sure to be interesting to see what he had to say on the Swift Half, the sibling bar whose environs are almost sterile in comparison. And guess what, he likes it, finding nothing generic about the food.

Granted, there may not be any lightning bolts of bar-food brilliance on the level of that cheese-stuffed burger. But this menu is full of good ingredients and satisfying flavors, with a shade more culinary ambition and a lighter touch than the Good Dog’s comfort-food ruminations.

For starters, there is a pair of thick-cut lamb chops edged in a garlicky green marinade of mint chimichurri, fairly priced at $14. It’s easy to recall O’Donnell’s Striped Bass experience in the menu’s deft seafood items, like those gorgeous Jersey scallops with zucchini ribbons and cherry tomatoes. A simply grilled whole branzino was as plump and juicy as any I’ve had recently around town for $21. A $24 steak-frites is relatively pricey for Northern Liberties. But as meat goes, this tender strip steak glazed in jalapeño butter with good house-cut fries and a side of grilled corn was worth the cost.

Two Bells – Very Good

Swift Half [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Swift Half [Official Site]

Philadelphia is a city of bars, dive bars, neighborhood bars, gastropubs, wine bars, beer bars, hotel bars and a host of others that defy categorization. The Foobooz Top 50 Bars touches on all of them. See if your favorites made our list.

Top 50 Bars [f8b8z]
Top 50 Bars Mapped [f8b8z]

Village Whiskey is still brand new but it has already been haiku’d about and of course bloggers have made their way to Jose Garces’ latest. Here’s what they’re saying.

The Beer Lass checks out Village Whiskey on Saturday enjoying the nostalgic snacks, big burgers and duck-fat fries with beery cheese sauce. Jose himself told us that the secret ingredient in the cheese sauce is indeed Cheez Whiz! [Beer Lass]

Fidel Gastro digs the old timey chic of Village Whiskey but it is really about the short rib and cheddar fries. [Fidel Gastro]

BROG and friends take in Village Whiskey on opening day, sampling as much as the can. Highlights include the homemade mustard for the pretzel sticks, fries and cheese sauce as well as the Whiskey King burger which they write, lived up to the hype. [BROG]

Living on the Vegdge goes with the veggie burger and is left a little wanting. But not so much so that she won’t be back. [Living on the Vedge]

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]

Meal Ticket gets some photos from within Village Whiskey including lots of shots of pickled vegetables and just what Jose Garces means by cheese puffs.

Village Whiskey in pictures [Meal Ticket]

Jose Garces’ Village Whiskey opens next Thursday (11:30am if you’re particularly antsy) and the menus are now available for analysis.

The Whiskey King burger that Grub Street teased us with in July now has a price, a steep $24 for the 10oz  farm-raised Angus beef from Maine. It’s topped with foie gras, maple bourbon glazed cipolini, blue cheese and applewood bacon.There’s also a Village Burger for a more reasonable $9 that can be topped with a choice of Haystack Mountain Chevre, Jasper Hill Cheddar or Rogue Smokey Blue for $3 and bacon for $2.

There’s a lobster roll at an Oyster House matching $26 and a Kentucky Fried Quail with sweet potato, chanterelle and corn succotash, roast chicken gravy for $14.

The bar snacks intrigue with homemade cheese puffs, deviled eggs, tater tots and soft pretzels. But for decadent finger foods, we’re most intrigued by the duck fat french fries served with Sly Fox cheddar sauce. Go all out by adding shortrib to the fries. We’d like to think of this as some high-end version of Nick’s Cafe’s gravy and cheese fries.

Check out the complete food menu after the jump as well as the beer, wine, cocktails and whiskey menus.

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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]

If we asked you what the most happening corner was east of Rittenhouse Square and west of Old City what would you answer? A year ago we know you wouldn’t have said 10th and Spruce. But on a recent evening with the bustle of Kanella on one side and the buzz of Varga Bar on the other, we were convinced. Adam Erace noticed the same thing in his review of Varga Bar. He also noticed the sliders on R. Evan Turney’s almost All-American menu.

The memory of those sliders is still vivid. Turney added Boursin, bacon, caramelized shallots and tomato and packaged them neatly in fluffy LeBus brioche. All good, but the beef … damn. Each patty came with cores the color of bubblegum, perfectly medium-rare, surrounded by a trim brown seal. The attending bangle bracelet onion rings also happen to rock.

Varga Bar [Philadelphia Weekly]
Varga Bar [Official Site]