Since its February that means Presidents’ Day is here. To me this is one of those funny holidays that means nothing except it gives me a chance to go out on Sunday and not have to worry about having my Monday ruin my Sunday. I have wanted to hit up the new La Colombe in Fishtown and since I was supposed to meet friends at Yards brewing company later in the day I decided to head there for brunch. I remember reading an article when this place first opened saying they didn’t have wifi bc they didn’t want people hanging around there all day not buying anything, this made sense to me at the time now, but now it does not. The concept is a fizzle even though it makes up for it in other ways. When I got there I wanted to order the ham and butter sandwich on a baguette but they were not available at the time, it seems the restaurant prepares these in batches and the wait staff never knows when they will be ready which is a really weird way to try and please customers but whatever I can’t not like this place because it’s owned by the man who stars in dangerous grounds and more importantly he is married to Lauren Hart, who not only sings with Kate Smith in important Flyers games but is also the daughter of my 2nd favorite broadcaster ever, sorry Gene, Harry has a slight edge on you in my book. So after that meandering thought lets get back to business, I decided to order the chicken liver mousse and the Irish Americano drink.

The walk to the table was nerve wracking because I didn’t want to spill the drink on my way to the table, this was a trend I noticed with all customers that sat in the store. As you can tell and as I will continue to tell you, I do not like this concept, but the mousse was fantastic, not too organy with a nice punch of saltiness, unfortunately the toast wasn’t toast it was just slice bread and I am one who would much rather have some crunch with my chicken liver, they tried with the crispy shallots but it is too much work and effort to accomplish for my liking. The Irish Americano is the perfect hair of the dog to start the morning! Nothing like a double espresso and rum, I am not a usual fan of rum, but this one is good for me because it’s not too sweet.

After the mousse I stopped a staff person to see if he knew if there were any ham sandwiches ready and he told me yes, but he thought there was only one left, thankfully he was nice enough to check and make sure I got that last one. But then because of the concept, which to me there has to be a better way of keeping people away that don’t spend money then treating people that do like crap, I had to leave my table and go to the register and pay, at this point I also ordered the Yards Love Stout. This is a great beer for breakfast, the coffee and chocolate notes mix smoothly together for a refreshing taste on a cold morning in the Northeast. The ham and butter sandwich is the must have for anybody that visits this location, it’s perfect for everybody, even my niece who thinks I’m crazy for what I eat would love this sandwich. It seems so simple, but it’s not, because if it wasn’t for the perfectly baked baguette this sandwich would just be another ham sandwich. The sweet ham and butter combination with the crunchy baguette would be my breakfast everyday if I lived near by.

Before I headed out I ordered a can of the Conshohocken brewing company La Colombe Tandem, this was the first coffee ale I ever had and it won’t be my last, it had a perfect mix of cold ale taste to start with a nice stout touch to finish. This place is a 2.5 Tizzle Destination, if it wasn’t for the bad concept it would be a 3.5.

For me it was time to meet my friends at Yards Brewing Company.

This is where the day starts to become a little more of a funday than a food day. We were supposed to take a tour of the brewery but they were all sold out for the day so after a few of the Yard Rye’s we started to bounce around. First stop was Lloyds Whiskey Bar, which has quickly become a must go place for me anytime I’m in that area. We ordered the cheese and meat board, the duck prosciutto is fabulous, General Val’s crispy duck skins, roasted nuts, chickpea fries with Harissa aioli and grilled Spanish octopus with blood orange. The nuts and the duck skins are the must haves the others are a nice to have. I ordered a flight of whiskey here, which in my opinion every bar should offer, as well as some boilermakers. I felt pretty happy by this point and we decided to head to Frankford Hall, which if you are in the area and looking to drink like a German and play games like Jenga and Ping Pong is the place to go. My sausage fingers usually end every Jenga game I’m involved in early, but my performance really surprised myself this time as I only lost about 1 outta 10 games. Next up Ashton Cigar Bar, if you’re into cigars and bourbon, this a great place to end the night, where I was able to order some Bullit Bourbons along with my Ashton Churchill and pretend for a moment I was Tony Soprano. My friends I had met decided it was time for them to head home but I had another buddy in town and decided to meet up with him at Time, which is always a happening time, for some night caps. After a few more nips of bourbon, some laughs and a very nice hostess putting up with me,

I decided to head home order a pizza, stromboli, mozzarella sticks and some glasses of wine and call it a night. All in all, a 4 Tizzle Day.

Eat Drink and Be Merry!