Restaurant Details

Nestled in a corner rowhouse so nondescript you could walk right by, this understated Fairmount gastropub turns out bar fare that would make it the envy of any neighborhood. There are a few artfully executed mainstays: the sell-out sausage roll (housemade Mangalica chorizo in a seeded Carangi roll drizzled with queso), the lavishly dressed Caesar salad showered in grated Parm, and the towering pile of wings drenched in sriracha-buffalo sauce. The reason Bad Brother is packed by 5:30 p.m., though, is chef Justin Koenig's ever-shifting entrees, like a grilled bone-in pork chop served over a peach glaze with confit potato and braised kale, or squares of polenta cake nestled in vegan creamed corn and topped with slabs of smoked trumpet mushrooms that are dead-ringers for crispy bacon. Add to that a long list of intriguing cocktails — a pink peppercorn gimlet, a Fruity Pebbles-infused milk punch, a Tahitian vanilla-spiced “saz-arak” — and you'll be plotting a return trip before you've even signed the check.