Pub & Kitchen

Despite frequent visits and eating out every time we’re in town, I’ve had an uneasy relationship with the Philadelphia dining scene. The main problem is that although there have been a number of places I’ve liked there has been something about each one of them that niggles. This means that my reaction when talking about the Philadelphia restaurants we’ve tried is “I liked it but……” (although there has also been a few that didn’t even get that positive a response).

Philadelphia magazine’s Top 50 list serves as a good barometer of places to try for someone remote to the city (although the 2014 list seems not to have happened). Pub & Kitchen was listed at #31 in 2013 and their mix of small plates and informal setting highlighted it as a good place to try for a group of five with mixed tastes.

The restaurant was established in late 2008 but the resignation of Johnny Mac as head chef in 2013 meant a revamp for the restaurant. The space was renovated and Eli Collins moved from Daniel Boulud’s DBGB to take charge of the kitchen. The restaurant is on the corner of Lombard and 20th Street an easy stroll south of the buzzing hub of Rittenhouse Square. We come here as neophytes, unsure what to expect but the menu that reads well has drawn us in.

The interior is spartan, all white walls, plain wood flooring and dark furniture. The space just inside the front door is dominated by a long bar to the left. The back of the room is the dining area with a mix of dining booths and tables for two.

The dinner menu lists a mix of 6 pub snacks, 8 starters and 7 mains with oysters on the half shell also available. The options all sounded so attractive that we opted to go for a mix of pub snacks and starters so we could try as many of them as possible. 

The first of the snacks to arrive is a warm whisky and sage bread accompanied by honey butter. The sage is not a strong flavour in the bread but its sweet tones work really well with the superb butter. The pleasure is in the details, though, and the presence of chives and barley in the butter have us fighting over the scraps. It’s a relatively low-key curtain raiser but certainly helps build anticipation.

The first of my “starters” is the crispy soft egg with smoked and pickled trout, radish, apple and asparagus. The dish is a real pleasure from the delicious egg with its rich runny yolk and asparagus soldiers to the fresh crunch of the apple and radish. But underneath the egg are the stars of the dish. The light smoked flavour of the trout is an excellent accompaniment to the egg but the chunks of pickled fish with their gentle vinegary contrast are even better.

The large bowl of thin crispy French fries with garlic aioli is a relatively simple snack that gets the seal of approval from everyone.

Next to arrive is the dish of smoked chicken wings with a chilli vinegar glaze. I don’t use the word awesome much but it applies perfectly to these. The juicy wing meat gains immeasurably from the smokiness but these aren’t just a one note dish. The subtle heat from the glaze rumbles nicely around the palate while the vinegar adds a wonderful acidic kick that rounds everything out perfectly.

The final course is a roasted squid with grilled celery, chorizo, almond and anchovy purée and it’s an excellent way to round out the meal. The tender squid is packed full of chorizo and the combination is superb. The crispy celery and crunchy almonds add textural interest but it’s how well these individual robust flavours work together that makes this a delight. 

The Pub & Kitchen experience is perfect for a group eating together. The food turns out to be well balanced combinations of flavours and it’s a pleasure to sample innovative takes on pub food like the wings. It’s probably not the best venue if you’re a lone diner because it gets raucous, especially late into the evening. It gets dark late too which is never a plus for me.

However, it’s a pleasure to be able to say that we’ve at last found a place in Philadelphia that we’d happily return to any time.

Overall Rating – 4.5/5