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Tag: Beer

  • 🍾 The coolest drink of the Summer of 2026 | Let’s Eat

    🍾 The coolest drink of the Summer of 2026 | Let’s Eat

    The temperature is approaching triple digits. (Or is that tipple digits?) Here’s one boozy relief drink you should know about.

    Also in this edition:

    • Down the shore: Craig LaBan hits the mainland for tasty meals.
    • Flying saucer returns: The city finally has signed a restaurant tenant at LOVE Park.
    • “Cambodian speakeasy”: Read on for restaurant dish.

    — Mike Klein

    If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

    Water ice martinis and other cooling treats

    The water ice martini is the cocktail of the summer, and Beatrice Forman chatted up the owner of John’s Water Ice, who developed it with Saloon.

    🍧 Extraordinary “ordinary” water ice: Here are our favorites.

    Ice cream options

    🍩 Stella’s Ice Cream out of Idaho (yes, Idaho) just opened on Front Street in Fishtown/Kensington, and Bea has the early scoop.

    🍩 Winners, rocking a feel-good message, is new on South Street in Graduate Hospital. As Kiki Aranita says, Winners’ appeal is more than just the flavors, like Sweet Success S’mores.

    🍩 Our guide to our favorite ice cream is right here.

    Down the shore with Craig LaBan

    Critic Craig LaBan is back from his annual Jersey Shore exploration, and he’s shaking the sand out of his notebook. In Part One of his roundup, he heads to the mainland to find some gems. Read that here.

    Looking ahead: Part Two, Craig’s reviews from Long Beach Island and thereabouts, will be online this weekend. On July 11, he’ll share his discoveries from points farther south in Part Three.

    Ember & Ash shuttered by fire

    Ember & Ash on East Passyunk Avenue will be closed for an undetermined period after smoke and flames shot up through the ventilation last week just after closing time. No injuries were reported.

    ‘Flying saucer’ building has liftoff

    This weekend will see the debut of Broad Street Beer Garden at LOVE Park, the first phase of a planning reuse of the so-called flying saucer building at 16th and JFK. Here’s the long history of the city landmark.

    The best things we ate last week

    We munched on fried silverfish that reminded us of French fries in Little Saigon, Argentine empanadas in West Philly, and a vegan po’ boy in Old City that tasted like the original.

    Scoops

    Intrigue! Albert Zheng, whose holdings include Javelin in Fairmount, is backing a yet-to be-named dual concept on the way to 808 Chestnut St., formerly a Dunkin’ Donuts. In front, the feature will be wagyu omakase, while the rear will be what he calls a Cambodian speakeasy. He says it’s six or seven months out.

    Mylar Bar, a cocktail bar inspired by the spirit of South Philly’s Dino’s Party Center, is expected to open later this summer from hospitality veterans Liv Arterbridge and Gina Piccari. They bought the former building at Ninth and Morris Streets where Dino’s sold balloons, decorations, and party supplies for decades before it moved across the street. “We want the whole thing to feel like a party,” Arterbridge said. “Nostalgic, fun, a little silly, intentionally unserious — but not a theme bar,” Piccari said. Cocktails will include martinis, punches, and classic drinks, alongside draft beer and familiar favorites. A full kitchen, led by chef Colin White, formerly of Sally and Emmett, will serve shareable “party snacks” and larger plates. They plan to offer late-night desserts, so food will be available until 1 a.m. with the bar wrapping at 2. Arterbridge, whose resume includes Cry Baby, Poison Heart, and a.bar, met Piccari while working at Boot & Saddle, where Piccari was manager. Piccari is now behind the bar at Le VirtĂč.

    Restaurant report

    Sixteen restaurants, bakeries, cafes, and bars — including Lillian’s, shown above — are opening in July. Read on for the rundown.

    Penny’s Bagels, on its way (for the last two years) to 212 Kings Highway East in Haddonfield, will hand out 250 red, white, and blue bagels on July 3 at the borough’s parade. The shop is eyeing an August opening, says owner Chris Fetfatzes.

    Maru, a fast-casual Korean-inspired restaurant from David Backhus and the team behind the now-closed Oori, is expected to open in August in what is now Collective Coffee & Bakery, which Backhus also owns, at 2922 Conestoga Rd. in Glenmoore. Maru’s menu will feature Korean fried chicken sandwiches, wings, tenders, house-made mochi doughnuts, and specialty coffee, while continuing to serve Collective Coffee and honor existing coffee subscriptions.

    Briefly noted

    Ota-Ya in Newtown has announced that Friday will be its last day after 30 years with the retirement of owners Jeff Wong and Cindy Tam.

    PETA is launching its “Nice Cream Trail,” highlighting 10 shops across the state serving vegan ice cream, and there are five local spots on the list: Dreams Ice Cream Factory in Glenside, Lu & Aug’s in Ardmore, the Main Freeze in Lansdale, Milk Jawn in South Philadelphia and Northern Liberties, and Scoop DeVille in Center City and Queen Village. The first Pennsylvania resident to complete the trail by visiting all 10 participating shops through August will win a vegan ice cream party with PETA’s “iScream” truck for themselves and up to 50 guests. Details are here.

    Two local BBQ chefs, Matt Groark (Medford Lakes, N.J.) and Maxwell McGibbon (Newark, Del.), are competing on Food Networks’ Pitmasters, premiering July 13 at 9 p.m.

    Diner en Blanc registration is still open. This year’s version of the pop-up picnic is Aug. 20.

    Miller’s Ale House, in the shopping center next to the Home Depot in Springfield, Delaware County, closed this week after 13 years, while Fishtown is abuzz with speculation that Bottle Bar East, which opened at 1308 Frankford Ave. around the same time in late 2012, has closed. The phone is down, and owners could not be reached for comment

    We all tried a new cheesesteak-flavored olive oil. I won’t say you have to.

    ❓Pop quiz

    Fountain Porter, the South Philly bar, just raised the price of its celebrated burger. How much is it now?

    A) $5

    B) $7

    C) $8

    D) $9

    Find out if you know the answer.

    Ask Mike anything

    When is Adda ever going to open in Fishtown? — Rich C.

    True, Adda has been a long time coming, since I initially wrote about it in June 2025 with an end-of-2025 target. Adda — from New York City’s Unapologetic Foods, whose establishments are acclaimed for their bold, no-holds-barred approach to Indian cooking — is now looking at a late-fall opening at 1700 Frankford Ave., the new building across from the Fishtown post office.

    Corrigendum: Reader Stephanie points out that Kalaya is the third Philadelphia restaurant, not the second, to win the James Beard Award for outstanding restaurant, as I wrote two weeks ago. Zahav was the first in 2019, while Friday Saturday Sunday won in 2023.

    📼 Have a question about food in Philly? Email your questions to me at mklein@inquirer.com for a chance to be featured in my newsletter.

    By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

  • The ‘flying saucer’ building at LOVE Park will host a beer garden and then a restaurant

    The ‘flying saucer’ building at LOVE Park will host a beer garden and then a restaurant

    More than six decades after it landed in LOVE Park, Philadelphia’s long-shuttered “flying saucer” building is preparing for its next mission. The first step begins Saturday — not inside the circular glass pavilion itself, but with a new outdoor beer garden surrounding it.

    Broad Street Beer Garden at LOVE Park is the opening phase of a food-and-drink operation led by Broad Street Brewing, the Bucks County brewery selected by the Philadelphia Department of Parks & Recreation as its operator after years of fits and starts.

    Saturday’s debut, on the final FIFA World Cup game in Philadelphia and amid the hoopla surrounding America250 festivities, will feature a beer garden with a limited food menu. Two Philadelphia companies, Rival Bros. Coffee and High Street Hospitality Group, will be involved as well. High Street, which operates Fork, a.kitchen, and the Bread Room, will assume a larger culinary role when the restored pavilion itself reopens in early 2027 as a year-round cafe, restaurant, and coffee bar. Its name has not yet been announced.

    Broad Street Brewing’s partners (from left) Ed Webber, Tim Lohse, and Brandon Wellington with brewer Andrew Balmer.

    For the Parks & Recreation Department, the concession is about more than filling the building at 16th Street and JFK Boulevard. Revenue from the operation will be reinvested in LOVE Park and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, helping fund programming, maintenance, and improvements.

    “This has been a long time coming,” said Katie Burns Kays, the department’s director of business and event development. “Our goal wasn’t just to find somebody to fill the space. We wanted a strong partner who would bring the kind of energy and story we want to be telling at LOVE Park, for both residents and visitors.”

    Kays said officials hope the arrangement becomes “a sustainable funding model for our public spaces.”

    Broad Street Brewing, which opened three years ago in Bristol, emerged from a field of applicants that included Four Corners Management, operator of Parks on Tap; Triple Bottom Brewing Co.; Tica’s Taco; Bower Penn, which operates Bower Cafe locations; and Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie, according to city documents.

    The center in November 2001, just before the Independence Visitor Center opened at Sixth and Market Street.

    Kays said the city used what it calls a “best value” procurement process, weighing community engagement, operational experience, partnerships, and programming alongside revenue. Financial terms were not disclosed. The department’s standard concessions run for one year with up to four renewals, and Parks & Recreation plans to seek City Council approval this fall for a longer-term agreement to support the investment, Kays said.

    “It’s exciting to feature three local businesses rather than a national chain,” Kays said. “We really want visitors to experience Philadelphia through Philadelphia businesses.”

    For Broad Street co-owner Brandon Wellington, the project is also something of a homecoming. When Wellington lived at Broad and Race Streets, he first began brewing beer before setting the hobby aside for more than a decade. During the pandemic, he and longtime friends Ed Webber and Tim Lohse left their previous careers to launch Broad Street. Although the brewery established its production facility and taproom there, Wellington said the long-term goal was always to return to Philadelphia. He reached out to High Street partner Ellen Yin — whom he knew through his commercial kitchen-ventilation business — about partnering.

    The opening phase will occupy the terrace surrounding the pavilion and about a third of the adjacent lawn, with about 250 seats divided among cafe tables, picnic tables, and Adirondack chairs. Wellington said the goal was to create a gathering place for commuters, office workers, tourists, and park visitors while bringing regular live music and community programming to LOVE Park. The initial beverage program will feature at least eight Broad Street beers on draft.

    Broad Street Brewing expects to operate the outdoor beer garden through late October, serving beer alongside grab-and-go items such as smash burgers and maintaining a presence during Christmas Village as the permanent indoor build-out continues.

    Once the historic pavilion can be outfitted with a commercial kitchen, the partners expect to open a year-round operation with about 100 indoor seats. High Street will oversee the food program, while Rival Bros. anchors the cafe. Wellington said they also envision rotating guest chefs and an automated tap wall pouring Broad Street beers alongside selections from breweries across Philadelphia. The indoor operation is expected to debut around March 2027.

    “I just don’t want people to think this is simply a beer garden,” Wellington said. “While it’s being quarterbacked by a brewery, this will be Center City’s ultimate open-air hub — an oasis where local commuters, corporate professionals, and tourists can relax and connect.”

    On Aug. 4, 1957, The Inquirer reported the plan for what become the flying saucer-like building. In those days, Ben Franklin Parkway extended through what is now JFK Plaza to City Hall.

    Long before it became known as Philadelphia’s “flying saucer,” the pavilion was conceived in the late 1950s as the Philadelphia Hospitality Center at what was then the corner of 16th Street and Pennsylvania Boulevard. News accounts placed the price tag at $150,000, exclusive of the land provided by the city.

    Designed by Roy F. Larson of Harbeson, Hough, Livingston & Larson, the circular building opened in 1960 as a visitor information center for an era when families increasingly arrived by automobile. Its broad cantilevered roof and nearly continuous glass walls embodied the optimism of the Space Age and Philadelphia’s postwar redevelopment under city planner Edmund Bacon.

    The pavilion predates both Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture and the boulevard that now borders it. When it opened, the roadway, which bisected the plaza, was called Pennsylvania Boulevard. Following President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, it was renamed John F. Kennedy Boulevard, giving the plaza the name by which it is now universally known.

    Renamed the Fairmount Park Welcome Center shortly after opening, the building later served as park offices, a cafe, a concession stand, and exhibition space. After the Independence Visitor Center opened at Sixth and Market Streets in 2001, however, it gradually lost its original purpose and sat vacant for years.

    Its future appeared uncertain during LOVE Park’s 2016-18 reconstruction. Although some questioned whether the aging structure should be demolished, preservation advocates successfully argued that it was among Philadelphia’s finest surviving examples of midcentury modern civic architecture. The city instead invested about $5.6 million to restore the pavilion, replacing its roof, mechanical systems, and custom-curved glass while preserving its distinctive appearance. It was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 2025.

    The rehabilitation did not immediately produce a tenant. In 2019, restaurateurs Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran planned a restaurant called Loveluck before withdrawing during the pandemic, and a subsequent request for proposals drew no bids.

    Last year, the city broadened its search, seeking a cafe, taproom, or other community-oriented food-and-beverage concept instead of a traditional restaurant. More than 50 prospective operators responded.

    Kays said the city deliberately slowed the process to avoid repeating earlier missteps.

    “The city has tried this before, and the business was not set up for success,” she said. “We wanted to be much more intentional this time.”

  • Tired Hands Brewing turned its original Ardmore outpost into a private event space as it navigates the future

    Tired Hands Brewing turned its original Ardmore outpost into a private event space as it navigates the future

    Tired Hands Brewing’s Ardmore Brewing Company brewpub has been turned into a private event space, for now, as its owner navigates the future of the beer company.

    Tired Hands’ Kennett Square taproom and bottle shop is permanently closed, owner Jean Broillet confirmed to The Inquirer on Feb. 19. Tired Hands’ Beer Park in Newtown Square also will not reopen this summer as the property’s owners are looking to redevelop it, Broillet said.

    Tired Hands’ Ardmore Fermentaria and Fishtown restaurant and brewpub St. Oner’s remain open for business. The brewing company’s MT. Airy Biergarten is a seasonal operation scheduled to reopen in the spring.

    Broillet said the decision to shift to private events at the Ardmore Brewing Company location was born out of a number of factors: having two Tired Hands locations in Ardmore was confusing for customers; ongoing construction in Ardmore created a “prohibitive environment” for doing business; and the changing landscape of brewing has prompted Tired Hands to begin reimagining parts of its business model.

    The changing face of Ardmore, and of Tired Hands

    When Broillet opened the first Tired Hands location, the BrewCafĂ©, in 2012, he said there was little by way of interesting, high-quality food and drink in Ardmore. At the time, he said, Tired Hands’ craft beer and artisan meats and cheeses stood in stark contrast to the Wawas and Irish pubs the area was accustomed to.

    Now, that era is a distant memory as Ardmore blossoms as a culinary destination on the Main Line.

    Ardmore “went from zero to 60 really quickly in terms” of dining and entertainment options, Broillet said. He added that Tired Hands was a catalyst for that progress.

    In 2015, Broillet and business partner and wife Julie Foster opened the Fermentaria at 35 Cricket Terrace, just blocks from Tired Hands’ first location at 16 Ardmore Ave.

    The Fermentaria was a major expansion for Tired Hands. It offered food options that extended beyond the BrewCafĂ©â€˜s sandwich-and-salad-based menu, like steak frites and baby back ribs. It also quadrupled Tired Hands’ production capacity.

    At the BrewCafĂ©, Tired Hands’ brewers were able to produce 1,000 barrels of beer annually. At the time of its opening, Broillet anticipated that the Fermentaria would increase production to 4,000 barrels per year.

    Tired Hands opened St. Oner’s in Fishtown in 2020.

    In the years that followed, Tired Hands opened the seasonal Biergarten in Mount Airy, the Kennett Square taproom, and the Beer Park in Newtown Square.

    In 2021, Broillet stepped down from daily operations after allegations of sexism and racism at Tired Hands proliferated on social media, including claims that women were held to different standards than their male counterparts and that employees were berated or publicly humiliated for mistakes. Broillet returned to his post at the helm of Tired Hands a year later.

    Broillet said that “lots of valuable lessons, worldly lessons, were learned during that process” and that Tired Hands is doing everything it can to “prevent that from ever happening again.”

    Ardmore Brewing Company, located at 16 Ardmore Ave. in Ardmore. Owner Tired Hands Brewing has transitioned the brewery into a private events space.

    Changes in Ardmore, closure in Kennett Square

    Though opening a second Ardmore outpost helped grow Tired Hands’ footprint on the Main Line, having “two of the same company” also made things “pretty confusing for people,” Broillet said.

    In efforts to iron out the confusion, Tired Hands rebranded its BrewCafé last spring, renaming it the Ardmore Brewing Company, upgrading its interior, and adding more food and cocktail options while cutting down its beer list.

    “The confusion was still there,” Broillet said.

    Broillet also brought on a culinary team that had extensive experience with private events. They began to host a handful of events at the brewery — retirement or birthday parties, for instance — which were a success.

    At the same time, major construction had created a “prohibitive environment for us to do business here on Ardmore Avenue,” Broillet said. Construction on the mixed-use Piazza project and Ardmore Avenue Community Center are ongoing, both of which are proximate to Ardmore Avenue and the businesses that operate there.

    The brewery shifted to exclusively hosting private events in the last few months, a decision Broillet said he “couldn’t be happier” with.

    The brewery owner said the Ardmore Avenue location will be open to the public again in the future, but did not specify in what form.

    The taproom and bottle shop in Kennett Square will not reopen.

    Broillet said he opened a Tired Hands outpost in Kennett Square, in part, to have a presence near his family members who lived there. Though it was a “fun” chapter, Broillet said it no longer made sense to operate in Kennett Square, where Tired Hands already has a strong network of distributors that can get their beers into people’s hands without making them trek to the bottle shop.

    What comes next?

    Broillet offered assurances that Ardmore Brewing Company will open up to the public again but said specifics aren’t clear yet. Tired Hands also plans on expanding its Mount Airy footprint with a permanent restaurant space.

    For brewers across the country, the specter of people drinking less alcohol looms large. Sales of craft beer fell 4% in 2024, and there were more brewery closings than openings in late 2024 and early 2025, the first time in 20 years such circumstances occurred.

    Brewerytown’s Crime & Punishment Brewing shuttered last April, with its owners citing a shifting culture around alcohol among the reasons for its closure. Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, a Philly-area craft brewing pioneer, abruptly shuttered all of its locations in September.

    Broillet said that though the changing dynamics of the industry remain on his mind, Tired Hands was not “acutely a victim of that downturn.” Sales had been down slightly over the past few years, but Broillet attributes that more to having two locations in Ardmore than to the state of the industry. He’s bullish about Tired Hands’ ability to distinguish itself and sees excitement in the changes.

    “Those sentiments have a way of just propelling you forward,” Broillet said.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.