Khyber Pass Pub Preview

Last night the brothers Egan were fortunate enough to score an invitation to a preview of the Khyber's newest, most southern-fried incarnation. Walking up 2nd St. we saw the old black and white Khyber signage being removed.

Upon entering the newly re-renamed Khyber Pass Pub it appears as though not much has changed. Still the same old beautiful bar with lots of great craft beer tap handles. It's a little cleaner and the bathrooms have (mercifully) been made over and now feature locks and functioning plumbing.

Really, it's when one turns the corner and enters the old performance space that the work that Steve Simons and co. put into the place becomes apparent. The long narrow room features banquettes on both sides and beadboard wainscotting. The formerly flyer'd over windows have been cleaned and the woodwork repainted. The new wood floors and the roughly finished tables looked fantastic in the dimly lit room. The space still feels a bit raw - the tin ceiling may yet get a paint job, some of the light fixtures were not installed - but overall it's remarkably inviting given its prior state. (Check out Mealticket's pictures from last night as they remembered to bring a camera that is not also a phone. Whoopsie Goldberg)

While perusing menus, we snacked on bacon fat popcorn with cajun spices. The glistening popped kernels packed some heat and were well salted. This brown bag snack might rival the truffled version from chef Mark McKinney's sister kitchen at the Royal Tavern.

We tried a few things from the regular menu as well. The fried chicken was far and away the favorite. The salty, crispy skin concealed some incredibly moist, succulent meat, and the collard greens were a surprise hit with a generous amount of smokey bacon. We also tried the gumbo and the fried oysters, which were solid choices.

Needing something sweet to counter all the fried food, we tried three desserts: chocolate pecan bread pudding (a must-have), bourbon-maple creme brulee (as awesome as it sounds) and vegan red velvet cake (a little dry with overly sweet icing).

Some beer highlights from a really interesting and diverse list of taps:

• Ballast Point "Even Keel" - A generously hopped session ale. Maybe the most memorable beer of the night. Incredible grapefruit/citrus aroma, juicy and herbal (notes of hibiscus) and wonderfully refreshing.
• Two Brothers "Heavy Handed" - A delicious harvest ale. Hoppy, straw colored with a nice foamy head. A nice counterpoint to the spicy bacon-fat popped kernels.
• Dock Street "West of Center" - On hand pump. Due to the malt character of this dark brew we mistook this for a bitter; but according to Dock St. it is a ("Not-So") Pale Ale. Great beer for a blustery, rainy Monday.
• Philadelphia Brewing Co. "Harvest from the Hood" - Neither overly sweet nor hoppy. Well-balanced with a roasted malt character. Possibly the best beer PBC has ever put out.

Overall the Khyber felt like a comfortable extension of the Royal Tavern in appearance, food and vibe. We look forward to trying more of the menu and seeing how the beer program develops.

Thanks to the folks at the Khyber for hosting and treating us.

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The Khyber Pass Pub

56 S. Second St.

Philadelphia, PA

Zahav: Restaurant Week Report

Philadelphia's Restaurant Week is on. The semi-annual promotion means you can eat at some of the city's best eateries at the set price of $35 for 3 or more courses.

Tonight, HM and I ate at Zahav, an Israeli restaurant in Old City owned and run by Michael Solomonov, an alum of Vetri and Marigold Kitchen. We agreed that it was the best Restaurant Week meal we've ever had, thanks to the kitchen's excellent cooking, the attentive service, and what we think was a case of mistaken identity.

We started off with drinks: HM with an "Adon Rimon" (Absolut Citron, pomegranate and rose) and I with a Ballast Point IPA (San Diego).

First course: Hummus with oven-hot laffa bread, and a sampler of 8 different cold salads. The tabbouleh, beets with tahini and the carrot with mint were particular highlights.

Second course: Mezze - small plates meant to be shared by the table. Crispy haloumi cheese with dates and nuts; bourekas (pastries) stuffed with mushrooms, feta and chard; fried kibbe (diced raw lamb) with bulgur wheat and pine nuts in a yogurt sauce; and stuffed baby peppers with rice, walnuts and feta. Our waiter also brought, "compliments of the kitchen," an order of burmuelos: crispy leek and mint fritters. This was an absurd amount of food -- I really think one mezze would have been enough for each of us (or maybe we ate too much laffa).

The Ballast Point IPA's bitterness and hoppiness was the perfect compliment to the "three C's" (coriander, cumin and cardamom) that spiced much of the food. One of the busboys saw me checking out the Ballast bottle (no draft beers at Zahav) and struck up a conversation about beer. He was a fan of the IPA, but also recommended the lone Israeli beer on the list, Goldstar. In his words: "It's like Yuengling, but it doesn't totally suck." Classic.

Third course: skewers. Monsieur Merguez (lamb sausage and cous cous) for me and the Galil (baby eggplant, pomegranate) for HM. By this point, we were so full from laffa and mezze that we only ate about half of the skewers and had the rest packaged up.

I should've taken the busboy's advice on Goldstar, but instead I ordered a River Horse Double White -- a good beer, but too soft for the aggressively spiced merguez. The crisp lager would have been a better choice.

After the skewers came our second treat "compliments of the chef" -- glasses of arak served with water and ice on the side. Arak, explained our waiter, is an anise-flavored liquor similar to ouzo or Sambuca. Like ouzo and absinthe, it pours clear but turns cloudy when mixed with water. I've never had ouzo, but I liked arak much better than Sambuca -- it's less sweet and syrupy. Enjoying our arak, we marveled at how Zahav was going all-out for its Restaurant Week patrons: Extra mezze! Free drinks! It was about to get surreal during dessert.

Fourth course: dessert. Lemon-poppy cake and chocolate-pistachio konafi. While we were eating, the chef/owner, Michael Solomonov, came to our table to introduce himself and asked how we were enjoying everything ("excellent!" said we). When he asked "if we were going to any of José's places this week," we knew something was up... assuming he meant José Garces, he must have thought we were high rollers on a first-name basis with one of Philly's hottest chefs. Not us! At first we thought he was making the rounds to all the tables, but he just went back to the kitchen.

I wonder who they thought we were?!?! I mean, we'd never eaten there before, we didn't drop any names, we're not in the business, we don't know José Garces, and we certainly don't eat out that much. We are not important people. It was a strange (and hilarious) end to a great, great meal. All that amazing food for $70 (not including tax, tip, and drinks). I feel like we got away with something.