As I mentioned in “heat wave cuisine”, I just moved. New neighborhood–okay, very new neighborhood. I moved from the area around 21st and Lombard (where I had resided for five years) to 11th and Ellsworth. I’ve only been here for two weeks, so I will not rush to judgement. It’s very nice thus far.
I promise that I will get the review in just a minute, but first, I cant criticize a restaurant without saying a few things.
1) I read many many food blogs. Mostly vegetarian or local, or both. I am irritated by a local food blogger who is nothing but bratty and negative about everything that he or she may eat. I imagine this particular blogger to be incredibly irritating to dine with, I imagine s/he must often say “well my whole meal is ruined now”. I’m too grateful for the food on my plate to be that extreme. I’m also by no means a cook, a chef, or a trained critic (are they trained?). Most of the time, I probably can’t prepare it any better. So, whenever I chose to review a product or restaurant I assure you that it will be fair…and get this (if you know me, you’ll laugh) not hyper-critical and super-b*tchy.
2) The author of a different blog that I frequently read merely parrots what she hears on Top Chef or in LeBan’s column. Not in terms of exact opinions, but in terms of language. And I know she isn’t a qualified food critic, so why bother pretending. I doubt that I’ll ever say “The execution was spot on”…I mean c’mon, I’m not a chef and I won’t pretend that I am Padma Lakshimi (sp?).
All of this leaves me in a really bad spot right now because I can’t possibly give a good review of the meal that I ate last night at The Devil’s Den. However, I will try to avoid the a that I mentioned above.
When I announced to my friends that I was moving to the neighborhood, most everyone reminded me that I would be by the new place with lots of beer. As a matter of fact, the food blogosphere was filled with previews of the place and anticipation for its opening. Rightfully so, the place is tasteful in decor, the little logo is pretty cool looking, and the beer menu is better than the other ones that I’ve seen in the neighborhood.
The beer menu is setup really well. It is broken down by style rather than region. This is probably really helpful for non-beer people. I appreciate it because it is fun to see what types are favored and which ones are not. You can find the tap selections pretty much anywhere online, and I didn’t bother memorizing them either time that I went there. It seems like your standard mixed bag of ever-changing locals. I was happy to see that PBC has two taps. On my first visit I had two of my favorite beers (and I’m normally not a fruited beer person, it just so happened to go this way that night): Lancaster Brewing Co. Strawberry Wheat and Abita Purple Haze. God, I love Abita beers. Le Bon Temps, I will see you soon! The Lancaster was on draft, I’m not sure if they have a tap devoted to Lancaster however. The Abita was bottled. I wish more bars in Philly had Abita on draft. I miss you Sidecar. And I miss the superior Jockamo at Doobie’s.
The atmosphere is odd, but I can forgive it since it is so new. However, if there is a jukebox–it must be changed. The music is awful. 90’s Top 40 mixed in with WMGK standards and a light sprinkling of the Talking Heads (don’t hate, they are one of my favorites). This is THE DEVIL’S DEN??? the music needs to be changed. Otherwise the place feels bland.
On to the food. The Devil’s Den will be the kind of place where I stop by for a drink or two, but I doubt I’ll be eager to eat dinner there again. I ordered the Portabello Sandwich with the side of green salad. I love portabello. I’m pretty easy to please on that front-no fancy condiments or anything like that. The sandwich comes with cheese (provolone? I don’t remember), roasted tomatoes, and caramelized onions. I don’t care too much for the texture of caramelized onions, so I omitted those. My biggest gripe was that the mushroom didn’t taste like it had been marinaded in anything containing any flavor whatsoever. Maybe just olive oil?
When I marinade my portabello’s for roasting I use balsamic, veg broth, olive oil (or grapeseed if I have extra), dry cooking wine and a little garlic if I have time. These were lacking flavor. I wish they had been cared for better because I actually thought that they were grilled up pretty well– they were very thin and very tender, not overly chewy. To my knowledge I haven’t had portobello’s served that thinly before. Maybe in a panini.
The bread was a problem as well. It may have been on its way out. This can be resolved by throwing the bread out and buying new bread. Seriously, a baguette ain’t that expensive or difficult to come by.
All in all, the sandwich would have been improved if it had something tangy, acidy or really strong to liven up the flavors. Goat cheese and portabello with balsamic are just meant to be. This might work better.
My carnivorous partner was really craving some meat after eating all vegetarian since we moved and had been eating in to save money. He ordered a plain burger with a side of “frites”. The fries were possibly the bets part of the meal. At first they didn’t arrive, he was given salad (oh the horrors!). Upon asking for them the waitress happily had them out in less than a few minutes. I was really happy with that (and the service in general). After the fries cooled we debated on whether or not they were handcut or frozen—he didn’t care, but I decided they were handcut. And really quite good. Like my sandwich, they were a little greasy, but not too bad. The dip, which we immediately referred to as aioli…was not. Our first few tastes made us believe that it might have been plain old mayo. Thank goodness it was spiked with garlic. And quite delicious. It might be safe to throw some color in the dip so that it doesn’t incorrectly deter hungry garlic dip fans.
The very vest part of our night was the Philadelphia Brew Co.’s seasonal draft Fleur de Lehigh….as I sit in my window typing this about a block away from the Devil’s Den, I am so tempted to go get a fresh pint before it is too late. Drink this beer now!
The Devil’s Den needs some work, but I think it’ll come out alright. I would caution the team behind it to work to make sure you don’t leave the impression of being Ten Stone East! It can easily become that–a wannabe gastropub with an ok menu, awful service and nothing but miller lite drinking nova’s on a friday night. Simply having beer and calling your fries “frites” does not make you a gastropub. And oh how I want you to be a good one, my new neighbor!
edited to note: I have another comment that I just can not ignore. The chalkboard on the sidewalk advertised “philly’s game”…inexcusable given that at least five people an hour walk past the bar wearing Phillies tshirts.
1 response so far ↓
pfarls // June 12, 2008 at 5:20 am
Since this post is relatively recent and required necessary back story, I will let you slide on the lengthy pitchforkesque intro before you go into the meat of your review. At least it doesn’t begin with a rating of 5.7.
I will agree with your summation that this place is just not cutting it thus far if it hopes to survive in what I consider, and I feel you will come around to this conclusion in due time, an up and coming neighborhood in Philly.
I have been there twice, and thus far I must say that the aioli was nothing more than mayo. Not even comparable to the garlicky and slightly spicy version down the street at the Pope. In addition, I understand that the belgian style of “frites” are smaller, but they still felt like the the fries at the bottom of a Micky d’s cardboard container.
The lamb sandwich I got was bearable. The meat seemed decent, but the quality of the bun, in a neighborhood that prides itself on fine Italian rolls, fell well short. It was dried out and I basically just resorted to tossing it aside and tearing into the meat alone.
In terms of the jukebox I can’t knock the joint too much. This seems like a place that is marketed towards the entire neighborhood, and not just those, me included, who consider ourselves to have superior musical tastes. I will give credit, in my few experiences at the Devil’s Den, that the there is a healthy mix of old south philly locals and the recent influx of young, and for lack of a better word, hipsters. (I would need an entire blog on to itself to explain that I do not necessarily mean that in a derogatory manner. I am quite excited by the way in which the Italian Market neighborhood has become the epitome of a thriving cosmopolitan area of the city.) The mainstream rock is fine. They could maybe throw in some classic south philly teen idols from back in the day to spice it up.
On the plus side, the staff has always been top notch. Very knowledgeable in their beer selection. I was with a friend who was unfamiliar with certain types of brews and they were willing to throw out samples and recommendations that were very helpful.
All in all, the food needs some help but this is a decent neighborhood joint to watch a phils game and grab a few beers. The large HD flat screens and exotic beer selection far surpass anything else I have seen in south philly. If you want a giant crowd and shitty beer head to chickies down by the stadiums. However, if you want an interesting craft or imported brew and some oysters and other interesting appetizers, fuck those cheese wiz saturated econo bars and watch a game at the den. That’s right. I call it the den. I figure this may have given away my Penn State roots.
You must be logged in to post a comment.