Messy and Picky go to Foobooz fave Southwark and Picky gets the best plate he’s had all year, the barbequed smoked pork belly served with baked beans, wilted collards, and Birchrun blue cheese sauce. [Messy & Picky]

Derek Lee has his anniversary dinner in the kitchen at Talula’s Table. [The Best Food Blog Ever]

CE Phood experiences the Little Fish Sunday prix fixe. [CE Phood]

Maria Valetta breaks down the Whiskey King experience at Village Whiskey. [Sips, Bites and Sites]

Veggicurious finally makes it to Modo Mio and finds it a “delicious steal.” [Veggicurious]

On Wednesday, November 11th Jose Garces is hosting a progressive dinner through his Philadelphia restaurants. Starting with the boarding of a trolley at 5pm in front of Amada guests will stop for small plates at Distrito, then to Tinto for more small plates with a cocktail from Village Whiskey, then off to Chifa and finally back to Amada for the finale.

The meal will cost $200 per person and will include beverage pairings. Space is limited and reservations are required.

Check out what will be served at each restaurant after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rick Nichols celebrates the resurgence of the art of the cocktail at Village Whiskey and other purveyors of adult cocktails.

[T]his is a place, especially on a quieter weeknight evening, to reunite with the well-made cocktail. Bartender Keith Raimondi will be happy to oblige, fashioning a proper Old Fashioned (dousing the sugar cubes first with house-made bitters), a moody Vieux Carre (rye, cognac, sweet vermouth and two kinds of bitters), or for a sip of the city’s roots (and provided you are not about operate heavy machinery), a sneaks-up-on-you Philadelphia Fish House Punch, which involves peach brandy, cognac, dark rum, and other accents, peels and spices that mask those initial ingredients.

Please then, won’t you raise your glass. . .

Takes a Village to raise a glass [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Village Whiskey [Official Site]

Craig LaBan and Jose Garces has an interesting online chat today. Among the most intersting things to come out of it:

Next Iron Chef

• Garces actually prepared the cock’s combs two ways: in a pressure cooker and braised.
• His best weapon on the show is his 15 years of cooking.
• Garces is trying to source cock’s combs for the weekend at Amada.
• What Philadelphia chefs would Garces trust with cock’s combs, stinky tufu or sea cucumber.
  • Marc Vetri (Vetri, Osteria)
  • Michael Stollenwerk (Little Fish, fish)
  • Terence Feury (Fork)
  • Michael Solomonov (Zahav)

Read the rest of this entry »

Hudson Beach Glass and the Garces Restaurant Group (GRG) are hosting a one-of-a-kind event on Friday, October 9th, a whiskey tasting where the star of the show is the glass.

Sean Gilvey, owner of Hudson Beach Glass has been working with Village Whiskey’s Stephen Seibert to create a whiskey glass that highlights the liquor.

Guests will have a chance to try the glass with three different whiskeys as Seibert explains the different flavors and effects of the glass.

Admission is $40 and includes one glass to take home, tastes of the different whiskeys and snacks provided by Amada.

Tickets are available online, by visiting Hudson Beach Glass or by calling 267-319-1887.

Hudson Beach Glass [Official Site]
Whiskey Tasting – It’s all in the Glass [Design Philadelphia]

Bloggers are continuing to investigate Jose Garces‘ Village Whiskey, one even breaks their gaze from the “meat monster” in order to talk about the liquor.

Count Kate of Philly Food and Drink among the decadent and gluttonous who have been wowed by the “Village King” burger. [Philly Food and Drink]

Phoodie sits down not to try the beef but to quaff an equally formidable lineup of drinks. [Phoodie.info]

Femme Fermentable on the other hand is disappointed with VW, and leaves a “Dear Jose” letter behind as she heads off to New England. Oddly, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a poor experience at a Jose Garces establishment framed as a break-up letter. [Femme Fermental]

Previous Village Whiskey Around the Web [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]

Village Whiskey has been open a week now and there’s been a lot of discussion of the $24 Whiskey King burger but none of that talk has been in the form of a Haiku. We fix that now!

An Exemplary

Juicy Bomb of a Burger

Hail The Whiskey King

Village Whiskey [Official Site]

Village Whiskey is a go. Jose Garces’ Whiskey bar will open at 11:30 Friday morning. We’ll be there!

Village Whiskey [Official Site]

Hope you’re not tired of Village Whiskey coverage yet. Today the Bite over analyzes the menu and the Illadelph breaks down the beer list.

And late yesterday Meal Ticket was back for more pictures, including the burgers and fries.

The worst news, Thursday’s opening will probably be pushed to Friday.

With latest, Garces does whiskey neat [Metro Philadelphia]
Opening Beer List at Village Whiskey [The Illadelph]
More Village Whiskey in pictures (yes, this includes the burgers) [Meal Ticket]