Harp & Crown: Funky grandeur (and bowling) in Rittenhouse
The crew behind Double Knot, Sampan, Izakaya, and Independence Beer Garden heads to Sansom Street with luxe style. And bowling lanes.
Michael Schulson must have had a heck of a rec room growing up.
Double Knot, perhaps 2016's buzziest Center City restaurant opening, has a sumptuous, candlelit izakaya tucked into its basement, in addition to the restaurant's coffee bar/cafe/cocktail bar on the ground floor, at 120 S. 13th St. It's next to Sampan, his pan-Asian themer, and its adjacent Graffiti Bar.
On Oct. 11, Schulson and wife Nina Tinari-Schulson open Harp & Crown, at 1525 Sansom St. (215-330-2800), a few blocks away. It's directly across from the forthcoming Rooster Soup Company and Ladder 15 and Oscar's Tavern.
It's named after a colonial tavern in what is now Old City. (It was probably just "New City" then.)
While most of Harp & Crown is on the ground floor - in a moody, antique-filled setting reminiscent of Double Knot's basement - the potential for cool seems highest at the downstairs bar.
Elbow Lane - as it's dubbed, after a colonial street near the present-day Third and Arch Streets - is a large room beneath reclaimed tin ceiling tiles. Walls are lined with antique millwork and intricate mirror molds, and there's a 70-foot bar made of quartz and walnut, and comfy lounge seating. Also: two bowling lanes (available by reservation). The menu downstairs will be cocktails, wood-fired pizza, and charcuterie.
On its main level, Harp & Crown opens off the street through a glass facade into an airy, small dining room clad in wood, with marble-topped tables and plain wooden chairs. But step back, and the 140-seater unfolds beneath 24-foot ceilings, with heavy drapery suspended from the ceiling and a rear wall of paned mirrors making the grand room feel even deeper.
Four grand antique chandeliers cast light over funky vintage wallpaper and leather club chairs and millwork - assorted seating groups that work for cocktails or meals. The walls have been stripped down in spots to expose brick, plaster, and I-beams. That and the chunky wall sconces give off a slight industrial feel, as well.
A 32-seat wrap-around bar with a few TVs and a drink rail are at left; beverage director Zachary Davis handles the cocktails while general manager Michele DiPietro oversees the wines.
Rohe Creative did the design.
Executive chef Karen Nicolas, a Food & Wine Magazine Best New Chef in 2012 whose local work has included Simon Pearce, Citron + Rose, and Tria Fitler Square, is executing a seasonal new-American menu, which includes small and large plates, pizzas, charcuterie/cheese, salads, an extensive vegetable section, and dishes for two, including a whole chicken ($31), pork chops ($39), and a Neiman Ranch ribeye ($68).
Bar menu, served at the ground-floor bar as well as at Elbow Lane, is here.
Update: It's open for weekday lunch; here is the menu.
Dinner starts daily at 5 p.m. Elbow Lane will open daily at 5:30 p.m.; reservations are required to bowl.
Below is a video tour of Elbow Lane.