July 28-August 3, 2005

food

offthemenu

by Carolyn Wyman

There's still a full month of Wednesdays to check out the Center City district's summer "Sips" happy hour promotion, like I just did. All of the places I visited were offering the prescribed discount "sips" of beer, wine and cocktails for $2, $3 and $4 respectively. But what of the scene and the nibbles?

The god of the chowdown was Apollo, whose bar was laden with plates of stromboli and marinara-dressed mussels even too huge for the Live 8-like crowd to keep up with. (The few people ordering at the tables were either idiots or claustrophobes.)

Reports were that free food either had been or would soon be arriving at Bliss and Brasserie Perrier. But there was none when I stopped in.

Shortly after 5 p.m., Noché was deserted and Bar Noir's door was actually locked. I'll give you four words: too early, no appetizers.

Neither the tourists who were eating full-priced appetizers at the bar at Champion's nor the waitstaff seemed to know anything about its Sips promotion (one free small appetizer with any drink order, according to one manager).

Stephen Starr's Alma de Cuba was the overall Sips champion, with generous, delicious black bean empanadas on the bar and pepper barbecue chicken skewers individually plated in the back of a happenin' lounge. Starr ain't Philly restaurant king for nothin'. Wednesdays from 5-7 p.m. through Aug. 31, various locations, www.centercityphila.org.

In Short:

Two local hotel restaurants are meeting the sidewalk cafe competition with boxed lunch or picnic offerings this summer. The Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue has brought back its $39 to $59 Picnics from the Park, which feature gourmet backpack picnics for two (the Kelly Drive Boathouse Bounty includes ahi potato salad and smoked salmon on rye; the Pennypack Park Picnic, Italian meats and cheeses on a pretzel roll and proscuitto-wrapped melon). Order 24 hours in advance from 215-893-1234. Lacroix at The Rittenhouse is offering a new weekday summer salad lunch buffet: All you can eat of half-a-dozen salads, a cup of cold soup and a hunk of bread eaten there or packed to-go for the park, for $14. 210 W. Rittenhouse Sq., 215-546-9000.

In honor of their 145th, McGillin's Olde Ale House will treat 50 beer-loving patrons to a trip to Pottsville's Yuengling Brewery on Aug. 6. I say patrons because you have to locate this back-alley pub and fill out an entry form on-site to be eligible for the tour raffle drawings. 1310 Drury St., 215-735-5562.

Send Sips and other tips for Off the Menu to Carolyn Wyman at cwyman@citypaper.net.