Swift Half is adding weekend brunch tomorrow. It’ll start with a small menu but will include biscuits and gravy. Perfect for those days when the Standard Tap isn’t offering theirs. Also new at the Swift is a menu of $2 bar snacks. Look for fried pickles, homemade pretzels, deviled eggs and marinated olives.

P.Y.T. is adding daily lunch starting on Black Friday. The burger lounge is also starting a weekly burger and first up is a Thanksgivin’ Dinner Burger featuring a turkey burger topped with cranberry relish, stuffing and gravy. Also the always dangerous Victory Golden Monkey is $3 a pint during their half-priced 5-7pm happy hour. Be scared, be very scared.

Swift Half launches brunch this weekend [Meal Ticket]
Tommy Up [Facebook]

We tweet so you don’t have to be a twit. Here are some deals posted in the last hour or so on Twitter.

@TriaPhilly: Tria Twitter Treat: $2 off draft beer at Tria Rittenhouse until 8:07pm tonight. Password = “Hamels”

@Swifthalfpub: Specials for tonight’s game: 1/2 Price buffalo shrimp and Scallops and $3 Stoudt’s American Pale Ale. Let’s go Phillies!!

@bridgetfoys: Let’s go Phils! All the Way Dogs $3, Lagers $2.5, Kenzingers $3, Red October Cocktail $5!!!!! Tonight’s the night!!!!!!

@tommyup: Burgers, beers & baseball at PYT today…we got the free pickleback shots for the homeruns & Wii baseball before the game!

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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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]

This Sunday Craig LaBan reviews the Piazza at Schmidt’s Swift Half. How will the sibling to Good Dog do under Craig LaBan’s gaze. Will LaBan be inspired to song again or will he find fault in this sophomore effort?

Swift Half Reviews [f8b8z]
Craig LaBan’s review of Good Dog Bar & Restaurant [Philadelphia Inquirer]

David Snyder visits the Swift Half and finds the traditional pub fare excels as well as some of the upscale dishes.

Both the rich bacon-wrapped chicken liver/pistachio pâté (served with bright, tangy house-pickled beets) and the gamey duck prosciutto made me wish all of the bar’s charcuterie items were cured in-house. My favorite upscale dish was the lamb “lollichops.” The quarter-rack of chops were cooked to a perfect tenderness, but it was the mint chimichurri sauce – a playful take on the traditional mint/lamb combo – that gave this dish its smartest upgrade. Balancing the mint’s herbaceousness with a gentle warmth created depth and sophistication.

Prepare for swift-off [City Paper]

It might not be a clone of Good Dog but it’s good to know the burger’s at Swift Half has got Adam Erace’s back.

As at Good Dog, the Swift Half menu hinges on the almighty presence of a great burger. The beef is the same at both gastropubs: an 80/20 sirloin blend that cooked up pink and implausibly juicy. The cheese selection is luxe (Boucheron, Sardinian Pecorino, etc.); slabs of Stilton sat on my burger like slabs of Carrera marble with fine indigo veining. It melted slow, mingling with the toppings on its descent, depositing drops of smoky bacon and beef fats into the slightly sweet, sponge-like Wildflour brioche bun. If all that sounds a bit rich, there was also a piece of bibb lettuce and some tomato.

Swift Half [Philadelphia Weekly]
Swift Half [Official Site]

Sunday through Thursday the Swift Half at the Piazza offers a 20% off in the business discount.

Swift Half [Twitter]
Swift Half [Official Site]

Tonight, Flying Fish is debuting the latest in their Exit Series of beers. Exit 11 (the intersection of the Turnpike and the Garden State Expressway) is a hoppy American Wheat and you will be able to find it tonight from 7 to 9pm at the Swift Half and Varga Bar. It will also debut at both Foodery locations if you want to take it home with you.

The Flying Fish Exit Series has created a lot of buzz for the Cherry Hill brewery including raising the ire of MADD and prompting an Associated Press video piece. Today Grub Street interviews Flying Fish owner, Gene Muller.

When the Swift Half first opened at the Piazza at Schmidt’s it had a limited menu. But now the full menu has been rolled out. Best news, just about everything has dropped in price.

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