Inside Hungry Pigeon in Queen Village

Let's get this one off the table first: Hungry Pigeon as the name of a restaurant?

Chef Scott Schroeder, who opened the comfy bistro with his longtime friend, pastry chef Pat O'Malley, at Fourth and Fitzwater Streets in Queen Village, chuckled at the inspiration:

The 3-year-old daughter of building owner Paul Markowich.

"Olivia called it 'the pigeon building' because it always had tons of pigeons on and around it," Schroeder said. "It was consequently covered in pigeon [poo] when we signed the lease. We took it as an omen."

The building, on Fabric Row, had been occupied by Jack B. Fabrics, which moved, sans birds, across the street.

The pigeons on site now at Hungry Pigeon happen to be those on the menu. This is not some locavore scam that sends squads of knit-capped, plaid-shirted hipster urban foragers sneaking up on the flock in the lot at the Home Depot on Oregon Avenue. They're sourced to Tom Culton, a 10th-generation Lancaster County farmer who raises game birds, including squab.

Schroeder (still chef at American Sardine Bar in Point Breeze) and pastry chef/bread specialist O'Malley (an alum of Balthazar Bakery) met a decade ago at the former ¡Pasion! in Center City.

They intend Hungry Pigeon as a neighborhood drop-in, with plant-filled windows, wood-topped tables, wooden floor, concrete bar, and a long communal table in the back beneath an enormous light fixture made of bird cages and beside walls of framed pictures.

Maria Beddia, Schroeder's girlfriend, designed the wallpaper (right), and O'Malley's fiancee, Ariel Yaroslawitz, did most of the design aspects.

Aaron Ultimo of Ultimo Coffee is acting as a resident barista/trainer these days to get the coffee just right.

It serves breakfast and lunch (counter service) and dinner (waiter service). They're steadfastly not instituting brunch. "We hate that word," Schroeder said.

Here are the menus.

At breakfast, O'Malley's croissants, muffins, and assorted pastries get menu space among Schroeder's egg sandwiches, frittatas, breakfast bowls, and the like. Schroeder is talking up the croissants. "Pat was the pastry chef at Balthazar forever and not even Balthazar can serve a croissant this fresh," he said. "They have too much to bake. We get to be small and cook in smaller batches. With an egg and cheese on housemade English muffins, I'm going head to head against McDonald's. Ours will cost more, but it'll be better and not give you diabetes!"

At lunch, the menu includes big bowls of soup, chicken salad and turkey salad sandwiches, a cheeseburger, and a few small entrees - "an ode to diner food," Schroeder said. "Just slightly elevated by nice, fresh, local ingredients."

Dinner is a mix of small plates and family-portioned items: O'Malley's chopped liver on rye; he cooks the livers to order and chops them with pickled eggs, half and full sour pickles, fresh dill and good mustard. A large plate based on pot roast made from Rineer Farms beef ($40, and meant to serve two to four people), and braised chicken in salsa verde with fresh tortillas and accompaniments for a build-your-own-tacos dish ($24 for a half). Or pigeon, which they'll serve half or whole, roasted and sometime in pigeon pot pies.

"All the menus will be vegetarian- and vegan-friendly," Schroeder said. "I'm going to do some decadent things but don't want to just do that. I'd like the menu to have some healthier accents to it. I feel it's something that is really lacking in Philly."

Wine list, curated by David McDuff of Bowler Wine, focuses on natural wines. Four are on tap, eight by the glass or bottle, and three with a slightly higher price tag just by the bottle.

Fred Sheaffer handles six beers on tap, with Forest & Main, Tired Hands, and Captain Lawrence all with permanent handles. Sheaffer also has set up a small cocktail list; one drink, Kip's Manhattan, pays homage to former neighbor Kip Wade, who with his wife, Sheri, recently sold Southwark up the street to new owners.