Meetinghouse revamps a beloved gastropub with warmth and polished nostalgia

At some point in the career of a creative chef, brewer, artist, or yes, even a critic, there comes a time when pushing limits is no longer the ultimate thrill, and special satisfaction can found in reconsidering the basics.

It’s the only way to explain why I found myself suddenly so excited about the green salad at Meetinghouse, the tavern that replaced the pioneering Kensington gastropub Memphis Taproom three months ago. I’d normally glance right past that item on most menus. But chef-partner Drew DiTomo and his crew have lavished so much love on their towering piles of leaves, carefully building crowns of juicy sweet baby romaine ribs that rise around leggy tangles of peppery watercress, that it looked like a floral arrangement in shades of chive-dusted green. And what flavor! The delicacy of the lettuce is key, of course. But the dressing is electric, a traditional vinaigrette amped with extra Dijon and pureed whole shallots, then softened just enough with the sweetness and tang of verjus.

“It makes such a nice centerpiece for a meal,” says DiTomo, who says the entire kitchen stops to help build salads when orders for several come in.

That salad is as much a metaphor for the philosophy behind Meetinghouse as it is a menu highlight. At every turn, potentially overlooked classics are celebrated through a commitment to craft that elevates the mundane to the memorable. Whether it’s a roast beef sandwich, broiled fish, or a plain turkey cutlet, or the house beers designed by partner Colin McFadden — simply described as “pale,” “dark,” or “hoppy” — understated qualities here shine through with a special clarity.

After spending a decade at Tired Hands as director of production operations, chasing down unconventional ingredients for wacky cult beers (like 100 pounds of Astronaut ice cream for a “milkshake” DIPA), McFadden finds his latest chapter and personal venture with three partners more about honing approachable styles — and a broader audience. These simple but very well-crafted beers are more about fostering a casual pub experience than showcasing a brewer’s ego. Partner Marty West is another Tired Hands alum.

These are crushable, balanced, moderate-alcohol beers brewed to Meetinghouse’s specs by Tonewood in Oaklyn, suitable for washing down a plate of broiled clams or a club sandwich. Beer nerds might still home in on the citrusy Yakima hops for Mount Pleasant, the roasty but dry dark malts for Living Thing, or the long cold fermentation that makes Morning Swim drink like a pilsner. (They may also just head straight for the Belgian Orval.)

Partner Keith Shore, a graphic designer who previously helped craft the branding for Copenhagen’s Mikkeller Beer, designed the sky blue tiles that serenely accent the bar (made at Moravian Tile Works in Doylestown), and created murals for the spacious side patio, as well as the logo of two solemn figures bearing candles that appears on both the pub’s beer cans to go and the stained glass transom above the entrance. They’re a symbol, Shore says, “of the passing time.”

We could sense that delicate balance of reverence, commitment to simplicity, and warm community energy when we stumbled recently into a memorial celebration on the patio for McFadden’s late sister-in-law, Kara Mallon, which happened to coincide with the big-screen broadcast of a Phillies playoff game. The evening’s special was a tribute to her favorite dish, a fantastic turkey cutlet riff on cordon bleu, memorably topped with green bean salad. But the gathering was also buoyed by the crowds of neighborhood Phillies fans who’d gathered in full regalia to cheer their team to a suspenseful playoff victory.

Somehow, that juxtaposition of private sadness and tributes enveloped in a moment of communal joy felt so right — even more poignant — in this public space, where the whole endeavor feels like a fresh showcase for old souls, and the air of polished nostalgia is deliberate and organic. This brick building girded with glass block windows and deco steel trim at the corner of Cumberland and Memphis Streets has been a bar for at least 90 years, owned for much of that time by the Sawchyn family in a neighborhood steeped in Eastern European immigration. The Memphis Taproom gave it a bold gastropub makeover in 2008 with craft beers and vegan specialties, like its innovative smoked coconut club, right on cue to signal the coming gentrification of Kensington.

Meetinghouse’s beer focus is retro enough given that most beverage-driven projects are currently hybrid cocktail-natural wine bars. But it’s even more of a throwback on the menu to the shot-and-a-beer bars of yore that DiTomo’s dad used to take him to in Overbrook (Johnny’s Place) and Havertown (Oakmont National Pub) or South Philly, where Old Original Nick’s Roast Beef’s signature is the rightful “North Star” for DiTomo’s own roast beef sandwich. It’s a bold stand-in for a beef option where most bars would serve a burger, quick to produce and delicious in a way that makes you realize roast beef is the forgotten stepson of Philly’s sandwich tradition. Deeply flavored with garlic and herbs, and with flavorful au jus pooling on the plate beneath its soaked kaiser roll, this is the ultimate $10 bargain (complete with a pickle and side cup of horseradish) on a value-forward menu that’s remarkably almost entirely under $20 a plate.

That includes a perfectly minimalist turkey cutlet, a throwback to DiTomo’s Italian days as chef at Amis (where it was called turkey milanesa), whose secret is a relatively low fryer temperature that leaves its breading more evenly browned, silky, and rich. This is the kind of place where fleshy top neck clams are simply broiled with compound butter and wine, just as he was taught as a teen at Anthony’s Ristorante in Upper Darby (plus some Delco inspiration from Clam Tavern thrown in). The vegan version, made with fried oyster mushrooms, is just as good with a plate of shatteringly crisp fries to mop them up.

DiTomo opts for frozen fries over fresh for consistency, but also as a strategy to keep prices reasonable and focus his staff’s labor in more valuable places, like making rich stocks that lend a dish like the tender pork steak a sheen of demiglace-sauced luxury. Or however many hours it takes to peel all the baby potatoes that get perfectly boiled then rolled in a fringe of herbs to garnish a hunk of flaky broiled cod over a classic butter sauce. I’d say this is classic diner fare, but a romanticized version, where the quality of ingredients and execution is more refined. Is there a better fish entree in Philly for under $22? I doubt it. Meetinghouse’s Friday fish special, currently two branzino fillets for $25, is close behind.

DiTomo (still also a consultant on Servant, the Apple TV+ series) makes some gestures to modern trends with his Bikini, a stellar hot vegan sandwich of braised collard greens and dates layered with cauliflower puree, whose dairy-free creaminess lends a saucy balance. The chef flexes his Culinary Institute of America-trained skills with an open-faced pâté en croute made from pork steak trimmings and a tangy top glaze of sour cherry gelée.

The kitchen gets regular doses of creativity, meanwhile, with the Sunday Roast, a weekly changing meat dish paired with multiple veggies — our night a rustic wine-braised beef stew with carrots and buttery mashed potatoes.

The old-school vibes shuffle along into dessert, as well, where Meetinghouse serves a dark chocolate homage to the pot de crème from Dmitri’s (RIP), a silky scoop of Fiore Fine Foods vanilla ice cream with an optional midnight green dousing of crème de menthe, a classic cheesecake with bright red cherries and standard crème brûlée. Then there is also the Baked Pineapple, an homage to the crushed pineapple stuffing DiTomo’s maternal grandmother (”Mama” Shaw) used to serve with ham. With a generous helping of maple-sweetened vanilla cream poured over top, it’s transformed here into the bread pudding dessert of retro buffet dreams. And a nearly forgotten history, somehow, is made deliciously relevant again.

2331 E. Cumberland St.; meetinghousebeer.com

Open Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 4-11 p.m.; Friday until midnight; Saturday, 11 a.m.-midnight; Sunday 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Kitchen closes an hour before closing time.

Plates, $9.75-$21.50.

Not wheelchair accessible. The grandfathered space has stairs at both entrances and the bathroom is too narrow to accommodate a wheelchair.