Beer Radar

Devil’s Den (11th & Ellsworth, South Philly) opened tonight. It’s a very handsome joint - lots of woodwork (by craftsman Cameron Barton), airy window seats, a chainsaw-carved fireplace and a pair of kick-ass flatscreens. The tap towers are handsome, but even more remarkable is the glassware selection - at least 10 different types.

This is a neighborhood bar, so it’ll attract mostly locals. But if you don’t live nearby, it’s absolutely worth a special trip. Parking is fairly ample (surprising since this is South Philly), along 11th Street. Here’s a tip if you’re driving: head down Broad Street, turn left of Ellsworth, then park anywhere after 13th - plenty of spots. The neighborhood is not as rough as it looks (there’s a police district station right across the street from the bar).

As you’d expect on opening night, there were a couple rough edges - notably, the kitchen fire sprinkler erupted and shut down food service. The menu from chef Joe Turissi (ex-Union League, Carribou) is clearly going the gastropub route, with the likes of asparagus-stuffed wasabi-laced Sako tuna ($23), salmon Oscar ($19) and steak au frites ($22). Lots of very affordable bar food, too, though: mussels for $9.50 and pork-and-veggie dumplings at $8.

But you’re here for the beer, right? In addition to a primo bottle lineup (Peche Mortel, Uerige Doppelsticke, Samichlaus Helles), there are 16 taps. Here’s tonight’s list:

• Dogfish Head Red & White
• Schneider Aventinus
• Spaten Lager
• Ommegang Rare Vos
• Founders Devil Dancer
• Lucifer
• Ayinger Celebrator
• Blanche de Bruxelles
• Yards Philly Pale Ale
• Philly Rowhouse Red
• Victory HopDevil
• St. Druon French Abbey
• Gaffel Kolsch
• Franziskaner Hefeweisse.

Hmm.. that’s only 14, so I must’ve missed a couple. Anyway, the thing that struck me was the number of Germans. I joked that it looked like the joint had taken over the best of the now-closed Ludwig’s Garten. Down the road, look for Devil’s Den to open a second-floor bar with more dining and taps. But don’t wait: this place is already a hit.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 7:19 pm and is filed under Tavern. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.