Standard Tap

Tonight (6/9) we chose a restaurant that I first had seen on Diners, Drive-in's and Dives called Standard Tap.  Standard Tap is located at 2nd and Poplar Streets in Philadelphia.  It is in the Northern Liberties section.  Albeit I work in Center City, I have not been to this section of the city in a long time and understand now why the younger generation is drawn to the area-- it is definitely being reconstructed and seems like the "hip" place to hangout.

Standard Tap is a bar that serves food rather than a restaurant which has a bar.  The restaurant is fairly no frills and is built around the bar.  There appeared to be additional seating upstairs, but we chose to sit in one of the rooms just off of the main bar area.  In addition to the menu, there were a number of specials on the blackboard and that is where I chose my meal from as did my dining companion.

The restaurant seems to specialize in American comfort food so I chose the Chicken Pie ($14).  This dish is one of my favorites when made right.  Upon arriving, this dish was like many other chicken pot pies in that it was too hot to eat because the crust really helps to lock in the heat; thus, I poked a few holes in the crust and broke it up playing the waiting game for it to cool.  In a traditional pot pie, there is usually a chicken style gravy, but this chicken pie was different.  It still had the chicken and carrots, but it did not have as many of the other vegetables with the gravy-- it had potatoes instead like a mashed potato.  Although it was still flavorful, I prefer the Chicken pot pie with a gravy.

My companion chose the Lamb Sandwich ($13) which was a shredded/pulled variety with a brie cheese and sauteed spinach.  This sandwich was quite good and was the better of the two choices.

I normally might not have gotten dessert in a bar setting, but the dessert special on the blackboard sounded good--  it was listed as a Peanut Butter Fudge Brownie served with ice cream ($7 with $2 of  that going towards a charity).  This was an interesting dessert because the brownie was warm and gooey, but the ice cream served with it was mint chocolate chip.  Let me say that this dessert worked and was tasty, but no where in the description of the dessert was I led to believe that I was going to have a mint ice cream of any kind.  That being said, this was very good.

Overall, this was a good place in Northern Liberties and would appeal to an after work crowd looking for a couple of beers and a quick sandwich.  For those looking for a more formal dinner setting, this is probably not your place.  Dinner for 2 with one glass of wine before tip was $45.

Overall:  3.25 Brownies