Catch this traveling beer garden | Let’s Eat

Parks on Tap, the traveling beer garden, is heading back on the road again. Also this week, our Shore expert will steer you to the best happy hours in Atlantic City, we tell you about a national TV show coming to town, and we drop some hot intel about two classic Philly bars.

❓ But first, a quiz: The Girl Scouts have unveiled a new cookie, the Raspberry Rally, for 2023. What is the twist behind this cookie?

A.) You can pay in bitcoin.

B.) It’s a partnership with the Boy Scouts.

C.) It will be sold online only.

D.) It is gluten-free.

Think you know? Click here and find out.

📝 Send me tips, suggestions and questions here.

📧 If someone forwarded you this newsletter and you like what you’re reading, sign up here to get it free every week.

— Mike Klein

For four glorious seasons before 2020, Philly’s got to show off its parks via Parks on Tap, the traveling beer-garden series. But for two pandemic years, it was confined to just one or two locations, and has resided most of this summer at Fairmount Water Works. My colleague Jenn Ladd tells us that starting next week, the series heads back out, kicking off a five-park tour of changing locations each week until the end of October.

Nothing lasts forever. The lively Las Vegas Lounge, which has held forth at 704 Chestnut St. for 21 years, will have its last call after business Sept. 17. The building is part of a debated redevelopment project that also involves 700-702 Chestnut next door, which before the pandemic housed Jones.

Devil’s Den’s 14-year run at 11th and Ellsworth Streets in South Philadelphia wraps on Oct. 10 as Erin Wallace is planning to sell the pub to an entrepreneur from the Jersey Shore who will keep the taps flowing. Stay tuned.

Happy hour is a big deal in Atlantic City, and colleague Amy S. Rosenberg runs down the best. You have “the big three” — Kelsey’s, Dock’s Oyster House, and Knife & Fork (shown above) — plus one casino that offers three happy hours under one roof.

Sign up for Amy’s “Down the Shore” newsletter for beach news you can use.

With supermarket chains largely shunning low-income neighborhoods, it’s essential that the city look beyond entrepreneurship for answers, writes The Inquirer’s editorial board. One idea comes from Baltimore, which is working with a medical anthropologist at Johns Hopkins University on a way to incentivize grocery store owners to sell more healthful foods.

Chef Jim Burke, who lost his fight with cancer on Aug. 8, will be remembered in a service from 4-7 p.m. Sept. 19 at the Fairmount Park Horticulture Center (100 N. Horticultural Drive). His wife, Kristina, wants this to be a festive occasion, befitting his style. “If you wish to pay your respects, please refrain from black, and if you really want to honor Jim, you will try rocking a bow tie as he always did,” she said. Food and drink will be served.

The fifth season of the hit Netflix food show Somebody Feed Phil premiered in May, but the sixth is already just around the corner — and it will feature an episode showcasing Philadelphia’s culinary scene. It’s not 100% clear where creator/star Phil Rosenthal visits, but my colleague Nick Vadala offers a few clues.

Penang has been dishing Malaysian food for 24 years in cavernous, industrial quarters in Chinatown. Aim for a table across from the open kitchen, and it’s dinner and a show as the busy cooks stre-e-e-t-t-c-c-h the dough for the signature roti and work the flaming woks.

Everything is meant to be shared, and the staff is happy to steer patrons to dishes that suit their palates. Just about everyone here starts with roti canai, the crispy-edged flatbread that you tear apart and dunk into a curry sauce studded with potato cubes and pieces of chicken on the bone. For a twist, there’s roti Telur (shown above), where the roti pancake is filled with egg and onion.

Penang, 117 N. 10th St. Hours: 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Sunday

Briefly noted

The General Lafayette Inn’s time as a restaurant is up. An entrepreneur has bought the Montgomery County landmark and is refurbishing it as a private club for like-minded business folk.

One Zo, the bubble tea specialist from Taiwan that makes its boba in-house, has opened its first Pennsylvania location at 555 E. Gay St. in West Chester.

Colanzi’s Cafe, a corner tap in Lower Moyamensing, has been in Michael Powles’ extended family since 1935 and he grew up there. But back in 2009, as Powles explained, “we had a little situation.” The building was cited for violations and the liquor license was sold. Not a good situation for a bar, which closed. Powles worked for years to make repairs, and earlier this month, he and daughter Brianna opened it as Colanzi’s Moira’mensing Cafe. Moira is his grandmother and her name is pronounced “Maura.”

There’s no liquor license in this new incarnation. “We’re done with this,” he told me. “I’ve had it with liquor and cigarette smoking. Now we want families, and not even BYOB. If you want to drink, there’s plenty of nice bars and BYOB restaurants that you can go to around here. But if you want to have ice cream and not worry about drinking tonight, and this is probably going to be the place you come to.”

Lunch and dinner menu hits the South Philly Italian classics — pastas, cutlets, sandwiches, salads. There’s a brick oven for thin, crispy-crusted pizzas. The sausage bites shown above are house-made pork sausages that Powles splits, bakes lightly in ginger ale, and griddles on the flat-top before placing on buttery garlic bread made from a split rolls from Carangi Baking. That’s a sweetish barbecue sauce on top.

Salt-of-the-earth servers are under the direction of Michelle Sheridan, who was the night manager of the late, great Center City diner Little Pete’s before it closed five years ago.

Colanzi’s Moira’mensing Cafe, 1301 W. Moyamensing Ave. Hours: 7 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.

Reader @elichtine will always remember this appetizer from Vernick Food + Drink (2031 Walnut St.) for two reasons: 1. It’s a Viking Village scallop a la plancha with savory corn pudding, jalapeño relish, and micro-cilantro, and 2. it preceded the marriage proposal from her longtime beau, as they sat at the counter in front of the beaming chefs who were in on it. Congrats, Elysia and Philip! Below is one of those under-the-radar Philly delights: A cone of hot and crispy Belgian-style frites from longtime Old City snack shop European Republic (213 Chestnut St.), which @davidcparke enjoyed with Jamaican curry and peanut sauces — two of the 22 available.

🍲 Keep reading more food news.

📱 Follow me on Twitter. Or follow me on instagram.