The Sizzle by Tizzle

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!

This establishment is a reliable thoroughbred in the Center City area. You know you are at the right place when you see the famous “pabbit” it’s legendary question of existence is up there with the likes of mermaids and sasquatches, I wonder what the pabbit call would sound like, oh well back to the point of this thing. I recommend this place to anyone who is coming into town for one night and wants to have good food in a classy but causal atmosphere. The neighborhood bar is always filled with millennials looking to have a good time. I met up with a few of my friends here to drink and eat. I started the night here with my go to beer when I’m at P and K (as the regulars call it) Old Speckled Hen English Ale, it’s a light refreshing ale that I could most likely finish a case of in a sitting. We drank at the bar for about an hour before we asked to be seated. As soon as we sat, we decided to split some appetizers and one entree as an appetizer. The appetizers were the best part of the meal hands down. We ordered a dozen of the oysters, the only way I like oysters is if they are perfectly fresh and clean and these were, you could suck them right down your gullet without worrying about choking on some grit. Next up came the Crab Cubano, this was a spectacular riff on a Cuban, you tasted the salty shaved pork belly and garlic mojo as soon as you bit into the sandwich and after a few chews you would start to get the fresh crab taste coming through. Finally out came the steak tartare with habanero aioli, this is a must have when you visit P and K the steak is chopped and seasoned exquisitely every time, while the habanero aioli gives it a subtle punch but not enough to overwhelm the taste of the steak and served with a side of some fantastic toasted baguettes that when all combined give the dish a delicious consistency of crunch and taste. After the appetizers I switched over to some Tempranillo, which is a nice spicy full bodied red wine. For entrees I ordered the special maple glazed pork chop with an egg on top, this was a little bland for my taste and the potatoes that came along with it were a little undercooked but still a solid meal. The other members at my table got the Cape Cod mussels, Pressed Lamb sandwich and the Waygu Bavette steak. The mussels come with a tasty bacon and sherry cream broth, yes everything is better with bacon, and are the perfect seafood comfort food for a cold winter night. The Pressed Lamb sandwich was a masterpiece of succulent lamb pressed between a freshly baked roll, but the best entree of the night was the Waygu Bavette Steak, the medium rare steak melted in your mouth and even though the potatoes were undercooked a little for this dish as well, the steak still wins out. After dinner and a long day at work I decided it was time for my nip so I ordered an old fashioned, it was prepared exactly how I like it and it did its job by warming me up before I had to bare the outside weather again. Like I said in the beginning if you are looking for a place to take an outta town friend this is your place, but if you live in the area it also works as your neighborhood bar as the service is excellent and the staff is extremely friendly.

If you like to have a good time in a classy causal atmosphere with good food and a great drink list this is your place. This is a 4 Tizzle destination.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

This is a blog about a man that likes to overindulge in life, but especially food and drink. I see myself as the Holy Trinity of Philadelphia a mix between Zane Lamprey, Andrew Zimmern and Anthony Bourdain. I was known as the host of Rittenhouse Square when I worked in the industry, but now that I have a job outside the industry I love to frequent the spectacular restaurant scene Philadelphia has to offer. And when I’m outta town I will let you know the scenes there as well.

My rating system goes from fizzle to Tizzle (1-5 and rarely 10)

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry!

A fantastic Gem in an up and coming neighborhood. After taking advantage of a free lyft drive out to fishtown from Center City I finally had the chance to try this gastropub. I met up with a buddy here to watch a couple of college hoops game and it was a great atmosphere to relax, talk and watch the games. The whiskey selection is great here, I got the special to start the Rob Roy for $6 and he drank the 4 roses small batch bourbon. I realized very quickly the Rob Roy wasn’t my thing. To start off we ordered the roasted nuts which were straight up addictive, they tasted like a chicken right out of the oven, I believe they used thyme and rosemary spices. I then ordered their flight of rye whiskey’s, if you like trying different types of whiskeys and bourbons, this is your place, my flight was terrific, each whiskey got better as it went from 2 to 5 to 10 yr. Next app up was the crispy fried duck skins, General Tao’s style, if you like pork skins you’ll love this, first you get the crunch then the burst of flavor of that took me back to my childhood Chinese restaurant memories. As my buddy kept on drinking the 4 roses I decided to switch up to beer, I ordered the yards rye beer which always goes well with pub food in my opinion. For dinner my buddy ordered the goat cheese gnocchi with wild mushrooms, black kale, kohlrabi and mushroom sauce which was solid, but who orders pasta at a pub, and I went with oxtail cheesesteak that comes with cheddar cheese, pickled shallot&jalapeno, this was amazing all the way around oxtail was braised perfectly, every bite was succulent the pieces of fat blended in smoothly with meat and to top it off the roll they used was perfect, a nice hard roll but not so hard you hurt the top of your mouth eating it. If you get this, I suggest you scoop up any of the oxtail that fell out of the sandwich with the potato chips that accompany it. To finish the night as always I needed a nip so I ordered a bullit rye neat. All in all this place is spectacular, if it was in my hood I’d be there every night.

If you like whiskey and good grub this is your place. This is a 4 Tizzle Destination.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!